Blessed Pedro's bewildered sub

Ronald Tubid, guard-forward of the University of the East Red Warriors, thought it was just one of those things, but barely 24 hours after his face appeared in the newspapers, he was overwhelmed.

"Marami akong phone calls na natatanggap maya't maya," said Tubid, a bit amused when interviewed in the Warriors headquarters at the K.B. Lepanto Bldg near the UE campus on Gastambide st., Sampaloc.

He said his callers started calling him "Pedro", after Blessed Pedro Calungsod, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in ceremonies at the Vatican last weekend.

From among over 100 possible candidates, Tubid, now 18, was chosen to stand in as model for the 16th century martyr two years ago. A huge portrait, produced by painter Rafael de Casal from photos taken of Tubid, was unveiled during the beatification ceremonies.

Throughout the day yesterday, Tubid was hounded by calls by his friends and members of the UE Warriors teasing him "Pedro".

"Pati ang girl friend ko binibiro ako," he mused.

Even his team, the Ana Water Dispensers, in the PBL, is being christened "Ana Blessed Water" and the young cager himself is being called "Ronald Tubig."

"Okay lang naman sa akin iyan," said Tubid.

Fr. Catalino Arevalo of the Archdiocese of Cebu picked him to be the model of the martyr whom he described as a "brave, strong, dexterous and loyal" catechist who was killed by the Chamorro tribesmen in the Marianas Islands in 1672.

Arevalo said it was not easy to choose who among the more than 100 young men really looked like Calungsod. All the young men listed as models were carefully reviewed and studied by the Archdiocese of Cebu.

"Each one of them was interviewed, their background investigated and their families examined by the Catholic Church," Arevalo said.

He said that while he was in deep prayer, a quick flash of lightning appeared in front of him and a face smilar to Tubid came into sight.

"My feelings were very strong that Tubid had the young blessed's feature," Arevalo said. Tubid was chosen when he was 17, about as old as the Blessed Pedro Calungsod when the latter was murdered.

Tubid also appeared to be the "right person" for the purpose because of his features, and by coincidence, he also comes from Oton, Iloilo, where the Blessed Calungsod is believed to have lived before he joined the Catholic mission to the Marianas.

"Sa bayan namin, maraming Calungsod, Calunsod o Calongsod. When the beatification rites were held at the Vatican, I was told there was a big celebration - like a fiesta - in my town and in the towns of Molo, Tigbawal and Leon, Iloilo," he said.

Tubid may not be the "blessed" that he portrays in leaflets, but he was raised by a Catholic family and started living a more "directed, disciplined" life when his father died last January.

His mother teaches accounting subjects at the University of Iloilo while his younger brother, 15, is still in high school. He said he was already a UE freshman when he was tapped for the portraiture.

"Ang gusto ko ngayon ay makatapos. Ang konting allowance na natatanggap ko eh pinadadala ko naman sa amin," said Tubid, who normed 12 points per game for the Warriors last season and 10 ppg for Ana Dispenser.

"I sometimes fail to go to Church on Sundays because of my hectic basketball schedule, but I always try to find the time, lalo na ngayong wala pang laro sa UAAP," he said.

Things have, indeed, changed for this sturdy youth from Iloilo who found himself unwittingly thrust into the limelight for being a stand-in for the country's second Blessed Filipino, and hoped to be, to use a basketball parlance, his worthy substitute. - With report from Sandy Araneta