Leo's halad

It all started as a mere joke or just a slip of the tongue from award winning broadcaster and columnist of this paper, Leo Lastimosa. That was last October during his daily program every morning called, "ARANGKADA." But it turned out to be a very serious grand KAPAMILYA event. Thousands of his listeners took that joke as a serious matter, especially the officers and members of the Association of Concerned Texters (ACT) who are avid and diehard supporters of every endeavor of Leo. Then, suppliers, government and military officials, department heads of private and public agencies, and the ordinary listeners, professional photographers, medical practitioners, dentists among many, pledged to render full support and volunteered their free services.

So, doctors voluntarily gave medical services. Dentists extracted defective dentures, a professional photographer gave workshops on photography, a computer programming institution gave free lessons on basic knowledge about the computer. The Integrated Bar of the Philippines Cebu Chapter gave legal aid. So it happened last November 6, a Sunday, finally, a whole day affair at the Plaza Independencia. Tents were lent for free from Cebu City Councilor Yayo Alcoseba and Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama saw to it that there would be peace and order. Despite the occasional downpour, the spirits of the volunteers were never dampened, also those who needed help in one way or another, or those who went just for mere curiosity. But even those who went for curiosity's sake received things they never expected and, above all, learned so much from the experience. Karen Davila and Ted Failon came, too. Volunteer performers like Chocolate, Shandee Hafil, Bryan Cabase, and the talents of Pro-life, entertained those who just attended. Regular Sunday programs of ABS-CBN were done live, like Jude Bacalso's "JUD MORNING."

Leo was just very grateful to everyone, although apologetic, because he admitted that there were really things that he overlooked like the rain showers. But he said he has learned a very valuable lesson, and promised to give the next event some serious planning. After all, the first one was a trial balloon which he even never expected would be realized to be as big an event as it turned out to be.

Leo, married to the very supportive Dr. Iris GT Jakosalem, was born in Palompon, Leyte. He grew up in several places due to his scholarship grant from The Aboitiz Group of Companies. He finished his high school in Talisay City, the reason why he received an award from the Talisay City Council as Talisay City's pride. He was chosen as the Best Newscaster in the Golden Dove Awards and his program, TV Patrol - Central Visayas, was adjudged last October 26 as best news program in the country by the Catholic Mass Media Awards (CAMMA).

He started his media career just by sending entries to "Johnny Pusong" over DYRC and became a campus reporter on Political Beat from 1984 to 1991 at radio station DYLA. He moved on as news director in DYRF until 1995, then became the manager of DYAB aside from, of course, being a fearless and respected columnist of The Freeman and Banat News. He used to be a faculty member of St. Therese College and has always been a favorite resource speaker in various seminars.