My dad would have denounced smoking

By Herbert Vego

IN this month of April, 31 years ago, Juan “Johnny” Vego (my father) was moving from one hospital to another in a futile fight against lung cancer despite his doctors being “the best” in Iloilo City.

He turned out to be a “Johnny come lately”; his cancer had metastasized beyond redemption.

To cut his suffering short, God allowed him to pass away within six months in 1992.

Had he recovered, he would have “preached” against smoking.

He would also have asked a congressman to file a bill banning cigarette smoking in public places and in public utility vehicles.

Anyway, that’s already water under the bridge. There is now such a law, Republic Act 9211 or Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003, aimed at penalizing abusive smokers with a fine of ₱500 to ₱1,000 on first offense; ₱1,000 to ₱5,000 on second; and ₱5,000 to ₱10,000 on third offense.

But this is not about the law, which is hardly imposed. For whatever deterrent purposes it may serve cigarette addicts, I would rather dwell on how smoking snuffed the life out of my father.

Dad was a healthy man who ate vegetables daily as an “antidote” to his smoking vice. But he would eventually turn out wrong.

When I was in grade school, he would often ask me to buy two sticks of cigarettes. Whenever I asked why two sticks only, he would say it was his way of minimizing his daily consumption. By the end of the day, however, I would have gone back to the sari-sari store thrice or more for two sticks each time.

Growing up, I thought it was normal for male adults to smoke. It made me happy whenever my father received boxes of cigarettes from his friends on his birthday, since it would free me from running to the cigarette store for several days.

My late mother Alicia, a non-smoker, would often advise us children not to follow the smoking habit of our father.  To which he would joke, “Follow what she says, not what I do.”

Out of curiosity, however, I would occasionally light a stick out of sight. It took days before I, too, began craving to puff.

Fortunately, while in high school, I read a magazine article illustrating the mortal effects of cigarette smoking.  I got scared.

One day, I tried to convince Tatay about smoking-induced lung cancer that had killed people everywhere on earth. But he laughed it off, “Not bad. That would launch my trip to heaven.”

In time, when I was already married and the father of a son, I stopped fearing that lung cancer would claim Dad. On retiring from his job at age 65, he was still alive and literally kicking. He took it to mean he had a strong immune system.

One day, however, Dad went down with a bad cough. Since ordinary medication could not stop it, we had him confined in one hospital after another. He would often be tethered to an oxygen tank and had to sleep in a sitting position in order to breathe. By then, he had lost appetite for cigarettes.

Dr. Rene Juaneza subjected him to laboratory tests, x-rays and CT scans, which all led to the finding that he had a thumb-size lung tumor.

Despite ebbing financial resources and the knowledge that his chance of recovery was “microscopic,” we agreed to have him operated on by a renowned surgeon. But we never revealed to him it was the big C consuming him. He lived for one more month until he succumbed to the disease at age 72.

Unfortunately, there are still smokers who don’t learn from others’ experiences. They would rather learn from their own – alas, only when it’s too late.

Migo Red, please bear that in mind.

-oOo-

IGNITING A JOINT VENTURE

THERE is no better solution in sight to the problem than for a joint venture agreement between the beleaguered Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) and Ignite Power Corporation.

This is how a consumer group, Power Watch Negros (PWN), stands on the issue of a deepening power crisis in Bacolod City and suburbs because of Ceneco’s unstable operation due to financial losses estimated at ₱15- ₱20 million monthly.

In an interview with Bacolod radio stations, PWN convenor Wennie Sancho said he had written a letter to Councilor Claudio Jesus Raymundo Puentevella, chairman of the Sangguniang Panglunsod’s Committee on Energy, confirming the group’s support to the proposed Ignite Power-CENECO joint venture agreement.

Ignite Power, being a subsidiary of the financially stable MORE Power of Iloilo City, has specified its role in the agreement – which is to infuse funds needed to cover the cooperative’s debts and to rehabilitate its obsolete facilities – in a presentation made by its president, Roel Z. Castro, before the co-op management.

“A shot in the arm” is what CENECO acting general manager Arnel Lapore calls the forthcoming alliance with Ignite Power.