Fate cuts

By Lito A. Tacujan

The man was in a rush to get back to his relatives' place in Quezon City for an overnight stay, aware that he was only halfway through his journey after a circuitous trip from Lyon, France. His final destination was home in Davao.

He went out of the airport with the rest of the team and barely bid his friends and teammates adieu.

He never did say goodbye.

Taekwondo jin Gerald "Tonypet" Pingoy, in fact, never reached his destination. He was one of those who perished in the Air Philippines flight GAP 541 which crashed at around 6:40 a.m. in Samal Island.

Pingoy, 28, was only some five minutes away from home when it happened.

"Sige, bay, pagdating ko sa Davao, padadalhan ko kayo ng durian (See you, buddy, when I reach Davao I' ll send you durian)," were the last words he told his teammates before they broke up.

Pingoy was one of the 16 Filipino taekwondo jins who competed in the World Championship in Lyon together with the four members of the RP team bound for the Sydney Games. In fact, he was a bronze medallist in the heavyweight division in the last Southeast Asian Games in Brunei last August. In Lyon, however, he failed to get past the first round, losing to a Taiwanese rival.

But the Lyon jaunt was not just all competition for the Filipino jins. It was more like a bonding trip as the members of the contingent became close, forming a closely-knit group bred out of friendship.

And Tonypet was one of those they call true friends.

"Pagkabait-bait. Sobra. Palabiro. Hindi mo maririnig na magsalita ng masama,'" said Twinkle Charisse Capalan, who figured in the flyweight class.

Pinweight Tschomlee Go said they "were super-close, went out malling together. He joked a lot. Masayahin."

The team arrived from France at around 6 p.m. Tuesday, according to Sun Chong Hong, vice-president of the Philippine Taekwondo Association who was with the RP delegation to the world meet.

"I was shocked (to hear the news). He really wanted to go home to Davao at once. He took that flight because he was afraid he might not get a booking from other airlines this being the Holy Week break. How sad," said Hong.

Hong, a Korean businessman who is the spearhead of the taekwondo movement in the country, said he has asked his personnel in Davao to help in the crash site and try to identify Tonypet's remains.

"At the moment that's all we can do. It's very sad. He's a good boy. I lost a good athlete, I lost a good friend," said Hong.

Pingoy had plans to go back to Manila after a brief rest in Davao. The stocky, 5-foot-11, 275-pound jin, a cousin of Vice-Governor Arthur Pingoy, had a degree in education and friends said he had thought of taking the evaluation exam in Camp Aguinaldo in a bid to join the Air Force after the France trip.

He had worked hard for his stint in the World Championships in Lyon. But it seemed he had also missed home because every now and then in Lyon or in Frankfurt he would buy some items for his mother and members of his family. A teammate said he had bought Adidas perfume, Fossil shoulder bags, lighter and watch for his dear ones in Davao.

He left the city at the crack of dawn bringing along these gifts for that final leg of his trip but by midday of the same day, the phone rang in the taekwondo office at the Rizal Complex. It was Tonypet's mom, confirming the dreaded news, saying "please, could you tell the rest of the team that my son was gone."