Farewell, Kumpare

I have been too emotional these past few days because one of my friends has just joined our Creator.
He passed away due to a lot of complications that made his body so weak.

I would like to share my two letters for him:
Dear Sir/Kumpare/Tol/Mar,
This is so sudden. Had I known it, I would have paid you a regular visit at home. I was too confident that we would all be seeing you on Monday.
I'm sure that before you joined our Creator, memories that you had with us, your friends, were replayed right before your eyes. The first time we met, together with our younger sisters and our mothers in the open lot beside the oldest building of WBNHS, the love-hate relationship that we had as friends/classmates because of our individual differences,the times that we had sleepless nights because we had to prepare for Histoquiz and Geography Quiz Bee, and the times that I had to give you unsolicited advice about love. I also remembered how diligent you were way back then.I remembered how you patiently walked a few kilometers just to go to school early, even sometimes without “baon”. I witnessed how you studied harder that you even went to school early just to study our lessons, although our classroom was not equipped with electricity and descent chairs. We were so impressed with how well you performed in our class, especially in AP. I remembered how you recited the anecdotes about Mabini, Bonifacio and others and the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. Did you also remember the debate about “morality of presidential candidates” and “death penalty”?I was supposed to join your team but I chose not to, and you knew why. I just produced the evidence though. You also made our Alma Mater soar high due to your numerous awards. I'm sure our teachers will never forget how diligent you were as a student, and that our students would realize that they were blessed because you became a part of their lives.
Did you remember the day that you won her heart, then broke off after a few months, then won her back after a year? Did you remember her debut party that we had to pretend that I was your girlfriend? How I wished you had ended up with her instead of someone else. Did you also remember the times you gave me a tour around PNU and SM Manila? I was so thrilled to see that place but I chose to enroll in another school.How about the time that we shared about our adventures as student-teachers of two different schools, then we paid a short visit to Sir Danny to ask for advice about our career then you suddenly disappeared? We didn't have any news about you for seven years until we both decided to try our luck in the government, thanks to Facebook we got reconnected .Truth be told, I wouldn't be here without your help because I was too lazy to follow-up our application. We worked together as we were both wondering how it feels like working with your former classmate.“Tol ha, walang iwanan”, as you have often said. But now you left.
Pards, I'm sure you're now in a happier place. You've already suffered a lot. You've fought the good fight. No more pain, loans to pay, bills to worry about. You're with Lola Teresa and uncle now. Thank you for being one of my closest friend who'd always teased me with my ex-crushes, for your concern towards my family and career, for unselfishly sharing everything that you had. There's no one to tease me about weight gain anymore. There's no one to remind me to continue studying, and when I reply "tinatamad na ako pre" you'd always remind me "Di ka naman ganyan dati ah". Nakakainis, nakakaiyak. I had to stop.
There's no Facebook in heaven but at least you can now rest in God's loving embrace. Posting loooong rants on FB isn't my style, but I couldn't help it. It was just so sudden.

For Delmar Ramos Guillermo
RIP