Retired soldiers, families deal with looming demolition

LIKE others around the country, Ret. 2nd Lt. “Tatay” Eriberto enjoyed watching the title fight between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto at his bungalow home in sitio San Miguel, barangay Apas in Cebu City

His enjoyment of the fight at least postponed the anxiety he and his family shared with other neighbors whose homes are scheduled for demolition anytime.

The identities of Eriberto and his family were withheld upon his request.

“Tatay” as what the family members call him, recalled with fondness how he and his family transferred to the lot the court declared as legally owned by Mariano Godinez.

“We were legally transferred by our commander of the former Third Infantry Division, now the Central Command here in Cebu in 1959 after I was reassigned from Luzon,” said Tatay.

He later brought his childhood sweetheart three years after his reassignment, in 1962. The couple hailed from Sta. Barbara town in Iloilo.

They sold their properties to send their five children to school.

All of them have careers in medicine, architecture, education and computer science.

“We have relatives there but we can no longer transfer there for good because we already sold the lots,” Tatay said.

Beside their recent lot was an old hangar surrounded with cornfields where their five kids played around.

Tatay’s 44-year old daughter, a nurse, recounted how she and her neighbors played volleyball in front of their yard which was vacant then.

She and her siblings preferred to walk to school since their place is very accessible to the University of Southern Philippines.

Inside their house is a grotto of Virgin Mary where they used to peek at the soldiers training there.

The daughter said the drainage system clogged, emitting a foul odor that drove away residents and visitors.

She and her parents said they would surely miss not only their homes once the demolition starts but also their neighbors as well.

“It’s really hard to leave the place where we grew up, we bonded with the community through the years,” she said.

Tatay said he and his wife would miss the area where they jogged every morning rain and shine.

The daughter said she noticed her mother, a retired nurse, staring blankly outside their house, as if expecting the arrival of the demolition team.

The family house which used to be made of light materials was renovated slowly through the years.

Recently, they started dismantling their grotto because of the threat of demolition that may come anytime.

For now, the 81-year-old Tatay said they hope they will be given financial assistance for their transfer.

He said they plan to stay in one of their eldest daughter’s houses in Talisay City.

“We have no choice but to follow the court order; we are willing to vacate even if it’s hard on our part,” said Tatay.

Like Tatay, the other retired soldiers are coming to terms with the possibility of starting anew once the demolition pushes through.

“It doesn’t matter if we go back to zero as long as we live comfortably, it’s okay we are already old anyway,” Tatay said. /Tweeny M. Malinao, Correspondent