A great loss indeed

My good friend Pocholo Ramirez passed away in the early morning of Wednesday, March 18. His devoted wife, Ellen, was beside him when he passed on at 1:11 a.m, Ellen lifting him up to the Lord after a brave fight with the Big C. It was a long hard fight that started in July 2007. We all thought he had licked it, his treatment a combination of science courtesy of his doctors at Medical City and a sustained protocol of alternative medicine. He had about forty days of continuous radiation and rested only on weekends. He opted to skip chemotherapy because according to him he wanted a quality life rather than lay prostrate in bed, weakened by the effects of chemo. As a concession to medical science, he opted instead for the less invasive radiation, although this weakened him tremendously as well and deadened his taste buds for months.

Poch was never a gourmand. He was the best example of eating to live, which most of us cannot claim for ourselves. Yet, seeing him in that state, with everything on a plate repulsive to him, was difficult for his family and friends.

Being a healthy eater himself, he did not have much trouble with the organic foods that alternative medicine espoused. Yet, who could readily eat raw pork pancreas and raw beef liver three or four times a day, everyday for months on end? The sight of it alone was enough to repulse anybody, let alone a recuperating cancer patient undergoing massive radiation treatments. Yet, Pochie braved his platefuls of pancreas and liver, and lived three months short of two years after his diagnosis before his body gave up the fight. His spirit never did though, and to the end, until he could walk and sit up for the cameras, he never thought of hanging up his Motoring Today shirt. He bravely faced the cameras and actually looked forward to taping. Towards the latter part, when it was already too difficult for him to walk the long corridors of Valle Verde Country Club to go to the taping room, our crew went to his house instead to allow him a few minutes of greetings to his loyal viewers. Pochie had always been a part of Motoring Today from day one, and if Mohammed couldn’t go to the mountain, then the mountain just had to go to him, no matter what it took.

His cremation was a small private affair, attended only by family. His numerous friends will just have to understand that the legion is just too big, because when a legend passes, virtually the whole world wants to condole. We have been a part of his life, and he of ours, for three decades, and we consider it a privilege to be counted as family. We celebrated a mass for him last Wednesday before the cremation rites, and with this mass, we celebrated the life that he had thoroughly enjoyed. He lived life to the fullest, and died at age 76.

I would gladly pay tribute to Pocholo Ramirez, the family man, sportsman and friend in my other column, Motoring Today which comes out on Wednesday next week in this paper. Meanwhile, the 9-day novena started last Thursday at the Christ the King Church in Greenmeadows. Today, the rest of the novena will be continued in Valle Verde Country Club, his home for decades as the Club’s General Manager, until the end of the nine days which will be this coming Friday. His friends in the automotive industry, his racing peers and fans are welcome to pray with the family on these days. The family requests that flowers be omitted please.

Readers react

I didn’t expect a deluge of reaction on my column about the tariff distortion on plastic last week. Anyway, here’s one of them, from Hill Roberts of Spain who is married to a Brit and who also happens to be a “big fan and regular reader of this column.”

“....I’d like to comment briefly on plastic which is now being shunned, at least partially, in supermarkets in UK. I many not be a lover of plastic, but plastic has its uses, especially for wrapping dog poop, which is quite common here in Spain. Those in the UK who love to admonish their citizens are usually from pressure groups which, for reasons other than being publicity-seekers, are not really sincere in their cause. ......

How on earth do households up and down the five continents dispose of their rubbish, filth, excrement, vials, needles, blood? Those in the UK make me sick. They like to lecture on developing countries not to use plastic bags-but what the hell is a better alternative?...How on earth did they come to the conclusion that plastic disintegrates in 500 years!!!.....So please, let’s continue making and supporting our plastic industry there...Let’s have our own rules about plastic bags. Let those supermarkets and hypermarkets use/supply them to shoppers. And to hell with those so-called environmentalists who wish to prevent others from disposing their rubbish in a most desirable, correct, practical manner.”

Allow me to publish another letter we received, this one from Armando Ang. I took the liberty of editing a little, due to space constraints.

“A recent report in one of the dailies claimed that 85 percent of the homebuyers are complaining to the HLURB on how they can get their refund back after investing in some of the housing projects on a pre-selling and installment basis. The advice given by HLURB is to read RA 6552, the Realty Installment Buyer Protection Act or more commonly known as the Maceda Law.” This was approved in 1972 when there was no pre-selling and zero interest installments for 5 years till the unit is finished. Back then, the homebuyers get to enjoy the home after a short wait for the processing of documents. Today, a homebuyer can lose all his initial investment such as down payment (as high as 30 percent of unit cost), and the monthly installments if he had not made good at least 24 monthly payments (in which case he is entitled to 50 percent refund of total payments made) and after 5 yrs of installment, an additional five percent every year but not to exceed 90 percent. A buyer who bought a unit under a 10-yr installment could lose more than half his contribution to the purchase of the unit without ever seeing his precious home. By the end of the 5-yr period, he would have paid more than half of the balance of the cost of the unit plus the down payment (30 percent). All he gets in return by way of refund is only 55 percent. This is very unfair to innocent buyers which the law seeks to protect but made them instead victims of the law. The law needs to be updated to reflect the present situation and for the benefit of the homebuyers which was its original intention.

Furthermore, the developers are engaged in quasi-banking business which I believe is not sanctioned by their corporation laws. At the very least, if the lenders were financial institutions engaged in loan and mortgage business, the lender has to undergo foreclosure proceedings, giving the borrower ample time to make good his payment.”

What says the HLURB to this?

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino

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