Sendong brings Cristalle, Hayden together

Misery does love company.

Look at Hayden Kho Jr. and Cristalle Belo, daughter of Hayden’s beloved Dr. Vicki Belo.              

Despite their differences, on Dec. 22 last year, they went to Iligan City together to lend a helping hand to the Sendong victims. Derek Ramsay, a Belo endorser, volunteered to go with them. Other members of the group were business woman Nelly Sy (owner of Pink Box), Belo doctors Grace Purificacion and Nina Cesa, UST pediatrician Dr. Dennis Flores, and De La Salle orthopedic surgeon Dr. Mike Muñoz .

The group was organized by Hayden who has been devoting most of his efforts to charity. “I might not have my medical license but I still have the heart of a doctor to help,” said Hayden who was spotted at the UST pediatrics charity ward, giving children money for tickets to go home to spend Christmas with their families.

Philippine Airlines was kind enough to support the cause and did not charge them for 600-kg excess baggage.

“Since most of the help was concentrated in Cagayan de Oro, the team together with the Red Cross, decided to go to Iligan City, two hours away from CDO,” said a Belo Essentials staffer.

Hayden Kho Jr. attends to a patient at the evacuation center in Iligan City. Below: Derek Ramsay gets a hug from a Sendong victim.

Upon arriving at Echavez Elementary School in CDO, the group was met by the 300 families evacuated there. It turned out that because of their inaccessibility the refugees had not eaten for three days. Most of the families were from Lambaguhon. They lost their homes in the flash floods caused by the illegal logging in the area.

The medical group, headed by Hayden, immediately went to work on evacuees with big open wounds, giving tetanus shots, curing coughs and colds, and administering to pregnant women and their children.

The lay group headed by Cristalle handed out food items, blankets, soaps, sleeping mats, sardines, and cooking and eating utensils. Hundreds of new clothe from Maldita were distributed.

Of course, the Derek Ramsay magic worked wonders. The evacuees forgot their hunger, homelessness and other problems as Derek entertained them.

“Derek was extremely accommodating even as people pinched him, making gigil and dragged him here and there for the unending picture-taking,” added the Belo staffer. “He never showed the pain he was feeling as people kept touching and tugging at his arm where the fresh surgical wound from his recent surgery was throbbing.” Hayden and Cristalle led the games that filled the evacuation center with laughter. The group stayed for two days; they plan to go back with more medical help, food and supplies.

While Cristalle and Hayden were civil towards each other, there was still an obvious coolness between them, observed an eyewitness. In spite of this, it’s heart-warming to see how two people who could put personal issues aside to help those in need. (Sponsors of the Sendong relief project are Maldita, Century Tuna, Belo Medical Group, Red Cross and Hayden Fragrances. With every purchase of any 100-ml bottle of a Hayden Fragrance, Hayden Kho promises to donate 100 percent of the payment to the Sendong Relief project.)

More about the Beatles’ Yesterday

This corner’s recent item about the story behind the Beatles song Yesterday drew the following reactions:

• From Pocholo Concepcion: You mentioned George Martin as a band member who “dropped out” or something. There was no Beatle member who did that. Among ex Beatle members, bassist Stu Sutcliffe died of brain cancer and drummer Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr. You must be referring to guitarist George Harrison but he never dropped out though he walked out during an argument with Paul McCartney during the Let It Be sessions around 1968. And George Martin was actually the band’s long-time record producer. Thanks from another Beatles fan.

• From reader Felmar Sol: George Martin was not a former Beatle. He was considered the 5th Beatle simply because he was a frequent collaborator in the Fab Four’s albums. If you’re talking about a former member who eventually dropped out (as you said in your article), then you’re referring to Pete Best.

• From election lawyer Romy Macalintal: Everytime I hear or read about Yesterday, I always remember the late great broadcast icon Joey Lardizabal. He had a very funny and amusing version of the lyrics of the song which would have been very apt had Yesterday been titled Scrambled Eggs with the ºlines “Oh my baby, how I love your legs” included in the final copy. The only lines I could remember from Lardizabal’s version were something like, “Yesterday, five wise guys took my wife away; oh, I thank God for yesterday.” I’ve been looking for a copy of the complete text of Lardizabal’s version but to no avail. Perhaps some Baby Boomers and fans of Lardizabal’s could remember or could help us on this. I’ll be glad to have coffee with them. By the way, for the new generation’s information, Lardizabal was a radio announcer of DZHP and later DZWS in the late ‘60s known for his immense sense of humor, broad knowledge of songs and even current events. He also used to read love poems in his radio program which, incidentally, inspired me to someday have my own radio show where I could read love poems and play love songs which I have with my current program over DWBR, 104.3FM, 8 to 9 p.m. every Saturday, The Law of the Heart is Love.

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