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Homage to Lito
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Like most flights bound for Manila, the plane was filled with the chatter of Filipinas with their children and the banter of Filipino seamen. Their excitement to be with their families in a matter of hours was palpable throughout the 14-hour ride. I, on the other hand was preparing myself for another sad homecoming, another arrival in the NAIA—but without my husband to meet me at the airport. I told myself, though, that I was not alone. I imagine many Filipinos working abroad go through this experience of having to say a final good-bye to their loved ones. This indeed is one of the dreaded moments for us Filipinos living abroad, to get news of a family member’s death . |
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Lito and I were not part of the same units or organizations that straddled the years following 1986 when the Marcos regime fell, or more particularly the years following January 2001, when the Estrada government collapsed. Neither were we buddies, though we would bump into each other several times in the intervening years, and those were always wonderful occasions—a spaghetti dinner at UP, a beer-drinking night-out in Katipunan, a sing-a-long or karaoke night at Timog, a lot of concerts, and a lot of reunions too.
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Cristina Morales-Alikpala, our young colleague at AER and a gifted upcoming professional economist, sums up Tolits’s inspiring qualities: “After I heard the tributes and all, I realized that Lito’s life is exactly the life that I’ve been striving to achieve these past few years. He was a teacher who loved teaching, an activist who dedicated himself to social change, and a husband and father who above all else loved his family.”
I am sure that Tolits, the humble, inconspicuous economist, would like to be remembered by his friends and colleagues in the way that Cristina described him: a dedicated teacher, a selfless activist, and above all else, one who unconditionally loved his wife and daughters. |
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ang labo mo tol, di ka man lang nagpainom muna sa orig na kabarkada bago ka bumyahe. pero oks lang tol, wala naman makapagsasabi talaga, di ba? ganyan talaga buhay, parang kandila, di inaasahan minsan, bigla na lang hihipan ng hangin at mauupos na wala sa oras. di bale, napakarami mo na ring nagawa at natamo sa buhay na to. nakatatak na yun sa kasaysayan ng bayan nating sawi. sayang nga lang, marami ka pa sanang maiaambag sa lipunan. mami-miss ka namin, tol. peksman. o pano. kita-kits na lang sa kabilang ibayo. sana me bilyaran at smb din dyan sa bagong destino mo tol. ikamusta mo na lang kami kina francis, rollie, tets atbp.
taas-kamaong saludo,
opi |
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Like perhaps many in the women’s movement, I first knew of Lito through Carol. It was only in the Department of Agrarian Reform that I really got to know Lito.
Pancho Lara couldn’t be more right about the bond that the three of us formed during our time in DAR. Lito became one of my touchstones. I would turn to him when in doubt and knew that I could rely on him because of the constancy of his beliefs. He had—I came to know—the ability to separate what’s real from what’s not. His was a reassuring presence in the oftentimes
confusing world of politics and posturing.
I would also like to add a few words about Lito’s devotion to his kids. The work at DAR took a toll on Lito at a much more personal level. It broke his heart when he could not be there for his daughters, and on several occasions, he and I would spend time, as the evenings turned late, discussing the tradeoffs that the job forced him to make in his personal commitments. I appreciated those talks, in part, because it gave me deeper insights into the kinds of commitments that Lito had made, and the values that structured his life. These were good commitments, and strong values, and I deeply respected him for both.
I will miss him dearly.
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In my encounters with him, I remember Lito Anonuevo as a warm friend and who was meticulous about making rigorous analysis and being true to basic principles. This comes out well in the story about his wanting to remove your joint thesis from the
archives.
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| Action for Economic Reforms (AER) is an independent, reform-oriented public interest organization that conducts policy analysis and advocacy on key economic issues. |
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