Odd couple running high for nobility of Pinoy

A priest and an ex-general: How’s that for cross-country jogging buddies for a cause?

But what amuses Carmelo Diola and Samson Tucay most about their campaign is that people they meet on the road sometimes get their identities or professions mixed up. At one inn, for example, Tucay got served “the best portions of a chicken because they thought I was the priest.”

And while the two were trudging through a town in Luzon several weeks ago, a bystander waved and shouted at Diola: “General Tucay!”

Hence, a note for those who would encounter the tandem on the rest of their journey: Diola is a 52-year-old priest, while Tucay, 59, is a retired police chief superintendent (the equivalent of a general in the military).

Together, the two men form the tireless spirit of “Takbo Maharlika,” a seven-month advocacy run along the Maharlika Highway (also known as the Pan-Philippine Highway) from Laoag to Zamboanga City promoting national unity, good citizenship and, of course, physical fitness.

Takbo was launched in August as the tandem hoped to cover 2,888 kilometers of Maharlika’s 3,517 km stretch.

Diola and Tucay, who began their run from up north in Laoag City, said they should reach Zamboanga City by March or April next year.

“We will also go on Christmas vacation,” the priest said in a recent interview.

Running in shifts

During parts of their journey, they will run in shifts and on select days of the week, so that either of them would have time to hold gatherings in the towns they pass through.

The Takbo Maharlika, while initially conceived to draw participants from the ranks of the Philippine National Police, is also open to Filipinos from all walks of life who have a passion for running and change.

“Sometimes we pass through a town and other people just join in, whether they are in running shoes or in plain sandals,” Tucay said.

Diola said the run serves as an awareness campaign to highlight the Filipino’s “nobility of character and ideals, our being maharlika (of noble blood).”

“In our forums, we urge people to be better citizens through simple things like coming to appointments on time, falling in line, following our laws and managing garbage properly,” Diola said.

They also hand out pamphlets containing “a prayer for peace and social transformation.”

The run is open to all Filipinos of all faiths. Both men recalled encountering Mormons and people of other religions along the way.

The pair have so far covered 816 km of the Maharlika Highway. Despite the obvious  difficulties, they said, an unseen hand had always been there to help them through the day.

Unpredictable

Even with a five-man support group, Tucay and Diola were often unsure where they would lay their tired bodies for the night.

“We have slept in convents, in hotels, in motels. That’s how unpredictable it is,” Tucay said, recalling how an inn manager once mistook him for a priest and offered him the best parts of a chicken dish.

On one leg in northern Luzon, a storm threatened to delay them. But surprisingly, the weather only got worse after they had finished the day’s run and found a place to stay.

“It’s as if the storm waited for us to finish first,” Diola said with a chuckle.

Unparalleled sightseeing

But beyond promoting fitness and good citizenship, Takbo had proven to be an unparalleled sightseeing tour for the tandem. Diola said he often found himself mesmerized by breathtaking sights from the highway, like the Cagayan River and the Patapat viaduct.

“I can’t help but be enchanted by what I see, and each time I wonder at how beautiful our country is,” he said.

Tucay said he also enjoyed their endless conversations and spurts of laughter during their run with total strangers, whether they were policemen or civilians.

Paradigm shift

“Through Takbo Maharlika, we hope to see a paradigm shift in how we see running, no longer as a form of punishment for policemen but as a fun activity,” Tucay added.

Tucay and Diola may be living proof that fitness and prayer can go hand in hand—and that a man of the cloth and a gun-wielding police official can really be friends.

Tucay’s last position was director of the National Police Training Institute. A member of the Philippine Military Academy’s Class of 1978, he retired in 2008.

Diola is currently based in Los Banos, Laguna.

Different but the same

Their brotherhood, however, had a tentative start in 2004, when they met each other for the first time at a function.

Each had his own misconceptions about the other: Diola thought Tucay was just like any other policeman, and Tucay had his own ideas about priests like Diola.

But as Diola put it, they may have different surfaces but they are the same men underneath.

At one point, they even wanted to be in the other man’s shoes. “As a boy, I wanted to be a priest. I helped around in a convent. But because my family was poor, I went to the PMA for the scholarship,” Tucay said.

Diola said he also wanted to enter the military in his younger years, but ended up an ordained priest.

Accountable brothers

But now, both agree that they are “accountable brothers and partners” in their mission for unity.

“(The term) ‘friends’ is too light. We are more of accountable brothers,” Diola said, noting that they also both know each others’ families.

They complement each other, according to Tucay. “If I have an idea, he threshes it out and (puts it) into action. Where I am weak, he is strong.”

The two men have become so close that one had been mistaken for the other. The priest recalled how a stranger in a crowd shouted at him, “General Tucay!” while looking at him and not at his running partner.

The real, soft-spoken Tucay added: “We always run together. If it rains, the priest runs. If there are rebels (in the area), Father Melo runs—because they will think he is me!”