A whiff of fresh air from a radioman

The most depressing story in the country today is the rising number of mediamen felled by assassins’ bullets.

The latest, of course, was the shooting of Danilo Aguirre, 25, of Mindanao Bulletin in General Santos City last week. There were no easy solutions to these murders. Thus, over the years, the Philippines has earned the reputation as a country whose journalists belong to the endangered species.

Just this year alone, seven journalists have fallen victim to assassins, although Aguirre remains under guard in a hospital in General Santos City. The motive for the assault is still being investigated by the Criminal and Investigation Detection Group.

Somehow, amid all these tales of murders and attempted assassinations, Negrenses last week woke up to the realization that a mediaman can also be a hero. And members of the Negros media as well as the community in general rejoiced with the story of broadcaster Raymundo "Munding" Adeva, a stringer-reporter of Radio-Pilipino Network (RPN) dyKB Radyo Ronda of Bacolod.

The story of 67-year-old Adeva, of Purok Limbo, Barangay Poblacion, Bago City, is worth retelling if only to provide youngsters an example of a model journalist who has devoted himself to a life of honesty and integrity.

Munding and his wife, Nelly, have five children — Jerry, 42; Terry, 38; Marites, 36; Rodalia, 34; and Raymundo Jr., 31. They call them their inner strength.

Adeva found a black clutch bag owned by sugar planter Rene Durupan of Dumaguete City inside the St. John the Baptist Parish Church in Bago City last Saturday afternoon.

It may have been an ordinary clutch bag, if not for the fact that it contained P250,000 in cash, checks amounting to about P500,000, and ATM cards. Durupan left the bag in church after he stood as a principal sponsor of a wedding that morning.

Adeva said he did not tell his wife and children about his find. "I could not sleep because I was disturbed by the money and the checks inside the clutch bag. I never had second thoughts about returning them to the rightful owner," he said.

Call For The Owner

On Sunday morning, anchorman Raul Jacolo kept plugging Durupan’s call for the finder to return the clutch bag. But it was only last Monday morning when Durupan traced the clutch bag to Adeva.

All the contents, he discovered, were intact. Nothing was missing.

The grateful Durupan rewarded Adeva with P5,000. He also bought four cases of beer for Adeva’s neighbors and relatives. It was the only time Adeva’s children and wife learned about the clutch bag he had found in the church.

But his children pointed out that it was not the first time their father had found a bag with plenty of cash and returned it. Once, they said, he found a bag with P15,000 in it. Then he found another one that contained P30,000. He returned the bags to their owners with the cash intact.

But Munding, as Adeva is fondly called, did not keep to himself the reward money Durupan gave him. He shared some of it with the La Filipina Independiente Church in Bago City. He also bought sacks of rice for his children.

Asked about his reaction to the find, Munding simply replied: "I live simply and live with God."

NPC honors Adeva

Negros Press Club president Primo Esleyer paid tribute to Adeva upon hearing about the tale of the honest journalist. "What Adeva did is worthy of emulation by all mediamen," he said.

The NPC board immediately passed a special resolution inviting Adeva to become a member of the Negros Press Club.

On Oct. 15, Adeva will be honored by the NPC at the Bay Center in Bacolod City, Esleyer said.

RMN’s Zerafin Ploteria Jr., president of the KBP Negros Occidental Chapter, said Adeva will also be honored during the KBP Night in December.

But prior to that, Adeva will be featured in all AM radio and television station reports and public affairs programs in the province of Negros Occidental. This was agreed upon by all the KBP station managers of the province, Ploteria said.

Ploteria pointed out that Adeva was the first mediaman to have responded positively to the KBP’s December slogan of "Responsible and Professional Active Partners in Progress."

Bago City Mayor Janet Torres and engineer Rainier Villanueva, secretary to the mayor, said the members of the city’s Sangguniang Panglunsod will meet soon and discuss the Adeva story and how best to honor the journalist-hero.

This is truly a refreshing story amid a deluge of depressing stories about politicos mixing things up and political brats lording it over the airlanes.

ADDENDA. There seems to be a developing scramble among investors to put up distilleries of bioethanol in Negros Occidental and other parts of the country as the price of oil continues to rise. There has been talk of four groups looking into the possibility of setting up ethanol plants in southern and central Negros Occidental and in other parts of the country. The latest was a group of Japanese investors of the Energy and Environmental Management Department of the Pacific Consultants Inc. (PCI) of Japan who called on Negros Gov. Joseph Marañon to conduct a preliminary study of a bioethanol plant in the province. In the group were Tetusya Yoshida, Shoichi Ushimoto and Hisashi Maza. They were accompanied by sugar farmer Ramon Penalosa of Victorias City and provincial agriculturist Igmediao Tabianan… In Iloilo City, veterinarian Dr. Tomas Forteza wants the Molo slaughterhouse closed for being unsanitary. He suggested that the animals be slaughtered instead at the Passi City slaughterhouse. Vice Mayor Guillermo de la Llana wants Forteza to formally submit his recommendations to Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas. Incidentally, Treñas is currently attending a conference in Canada… Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra has ordered an in-depth investigation into an alleged letter to President Arroyo asking for a reversal of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales’ recommendation to dismiss illegal logging charges against Don Salvador Benedicto Mayor Cynthia de la Cruz, her husband, former mayor Nehemias de la Cruz, and several others. Navarra told the Sun STAR, which brought him a copy of the telefaxed letter, that none of his aides admitted having sent the letter to the media.