Blind to defeat

In 1997, Eleazer Espina, 47, of Upper Mohon in Talisay City was accused of abducting a female neighbor who worked for him as part-time secretary.

But because Espina that time was already living in “total blindness for nearly a decade”, his condition made it impossible for him to commit the crime.

Personnel from the National Bureau of Investigation placed Espina under surveillance while he and the woman were tending a small store in Sta. Monica, Dumaguete City.

When he was approached and told that he is a subject of a warrant for abduction, the NBI agent need not hear further explanation as he clearly understood that the woman eloped with Espina to Dumaguete City.

“The family of my wife was against our relationship then, obviously because they feared that I may not be able to support her,” Espina said.

Now with 10-year-old son EJ Janel and eight-year-old daughter Chochie Mae excelling in their studies, his wife’s family praised him for raising his family well.

He narrated that he wasn’t born blind. Vitamin A deficiency resulted to glaucoma which was diagnosed when he was still a sophomore at the Gullas High School in Pardo, Cebu City.

The condition was aggravated when his teachers – who noticed him to be nearsighted - advised him to take advantage of free eyeglasses distributed by a civic club at their school one day.

“Wearing the eyeglass was a wrong move. Before I should have worn them, I should have consulted an ophthalmologist first. But I didn’t go through the correct procedure,” Espina said.

Upon learning that he would soon lose his sight, Espina attempted several times to end his life by crossing carelessly the highway near Pardo church.

“Gikasab-an man hinoon ko kay mangangin kuno ko…but then I’d rather die that time than becoming blind,” Espina said.

It’s good to know that encouragements received from peers and teachers in high school made him change his mind.

After graduating in 1978, Espina decided to serve the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints of which his family and he are members.

Church leaders, he said, noticed that he is articulate and recognized his talent which led to a stint in preaching.

Through the “Study Now, Pay Later Program” of their church, Espina decided to enroll in college. But because he enrolled late, the Registrar’s Office first refused to accept him. However, when the college president saw his desire to study and because a program of then President Ferdinand Marcos dubbed “Back to School Youth” was stringently enforced, his application was nevertheless considered.

Back at the Registrar’s Office, the personnel told him “they are washing their hands from whatever consequences he would suffer as he might fail in his subjects because of his literally poor vision.”

“I remember telling them that their business is to accept me and that whether I fail or not is already my business,” Espina said.

And so he diligently attended to the first semester of his first year as a Bachelor of Science in Education Major in English student despite blurry vision.

He is thankful that there were classmates who were supportive of him. They would read out lessons from their books and would have the notes recorded for Espina to listen to. During examinations, some would read to him the questions.

In the second semester, an officer from the Registrar’s Office congratulated him as the school’s Board of Trustees approved of his taking up a four-year course.

And so the study system he had adopted continued with the help of his classmates and a girlfriend from another university.

Because his eyesight was becoming blurry day by day, Espina said he was thankful then that his girlfriend was there to accompany him to school when her schedule permits and sometimes, even fetch him from their house.

During internship, he moved on to complete the hours required of his practicum as a high school teacher.

But in 1988, shortly three months prior to their graduation, he was told that he was not included in the list of candidates for graduation. He said he was so “down that year.” Adding salt to injury, his girlfriend broke up with him probably fearing for her own future with him.

Espina said he would have wanted to go to court and run after the school’s officials who assured him he would be able to earn a degree. But where would he get the money?

After several days of sulking over his problems, his church took him as a cook to attend to American members. He cooked and served the church for five years. With over 200 units earned in college that never conferred upon him his bachelor’s degree, he ventured into marketing and networking opportunities and eventually climbed from being mere staff to becoming branch manager and then to division manager of a company that sells herbal medicines and children’s books.

It was then that he hired as part-time secretary his female neighbor to take the telephone calls while he goes out on sales calls/sales blitz.

He and the secretary became “very close”, he said. After some time, news broke out that he abducted the woman who turned out to have agreed to live with him.

Espina admits it is very difficult for a blind man like him to support financially his family. The hardest part of all comes when a family member is sick and one is financially constrained.

He could only wish that if only he has the capital, he would revive the enterprise of cooking party dishes and baking Filipino delicacies like puto cuchinta, palitaw, leche flan and calamansi pie which he began several years ago. The business venture stopped when the cooking equipment which he and his wife purchased from their meager savings all vanished in a fire that gutted their house in Basak.

After going through rough and tough times, Espina now refuses to succumb to defeat. He said that though he is physically blind, life has to keep on looking forward to the unfolding of brighter days ahead. — MEEV