Domini Torrevillas, 80
Photo from Domini Torrevillas Facebook page.
AT 80, Domini Torrevillas was still writing and filing her column, From the Stands for The Philippine Star. A brief fatal illness ended 49 years of work as a journalist and a life lived with zest and in its fullness.
She died in her native Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental where she and her husband, peace advocate, Saeed Daof, had moved to live their retirement years. It was her place of birth, where she grew up and finished high school at the Gingoog Institute.
Domini finished her AB degree in Silliman University and spent a year of study at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University where she earned her Masters degree in 1967. Silliman University recognized her work as journalist with the Outstanding Silliman Award in .
Dr. Florangel Rosario Braid
What indeed is terrifying to septuagenarians and octogenarians like me, is that we are losing some of our colleagues, not to old age but to the dreaded COVID-19. When we open our Facebook pages, it seems like notes of condolences and prayers are beginning to catch up with congratulatory messages on birthday and wedding anniversaries. The same with wakes on Zoom.
Kailan pa ba ito matatapos? Helpless and hopeless, we read reports about the surge, and tents being installed because Metro Manila and nearby hospitals have reached full capacity. Many get treated or are recovering at home. Which is why we cannot trust current statistics on number of cases, mild or serious, or deaths because of the absence of accurate documentation on the out-of hospital cases.
Dr. Florangel Rosario Braid
2021 is the Year of the Metal Ox which is an inauspicious or boring year. Nonetheless, since the ox is an animal that “delivers dedicated consistent labor,” it is deemed to be a lucky year.
Someone had earlier written that the worst Christmas was in 1941 which was the start of World War 2 and for us, the beginning of the Japanese Occupation. The following New Year was likewise the same.
I remember my mother picking me, a 10-year-old fifth grader, and my sister,7, from school on December 8, just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. But it was two days after Christmas when we evacuated to a farm some 50 kilometers from where we lived. Macabito was a rustic barrio in Malasiqui, located two km from the poblacion road. To reach the place, we had to ride in a carabao sled. For three months we lived in a nipa house located near a sugar cane mill and a vast sugar cane field owned by a relative.