Brod Conrado "Ding"
Navarro
UP Diliman 1963
A Tear Drop for Brod Ding
by Rolly Reyes'66
[Photos by Joe Lalas]
We trooped to Funeraria Paz at
Manila Memorial Park during that warm summer night to pay homage to one of
the pillars of our brotherhood - Brod Ding Navarro. Donning our black
armbands, we dedicated our final ceremonial goodbye to a person dearly
loved by everyone, his name always mentioned with pride among the brods of
the sixties synonymous to professionalism of a high ranking public servant
with the UP Betan Seal etched in his heart and mind.
Ding's understandable frustration
of his medical condition brought this early departure. A man possessing
such zest for life backed by a long history of active involvement with any
task that came his way, he was not able to come to terms with the
challenges that suddenly changed the course of his mortal existence. He
had to suffer a stroke, a seizure repeated while being operated yet his
fighting stance to cling to life eventually succeeded.
A few months after, while
recuperating, his house was burned to ashes by a fire. He had to move and
live with his son's family. Before he got operated at PGH, he was even
texting me thru his cellphone alerting me that he may need lots of blood
during the operation and asked my help to secure blood through the
Philippine Red Cross. I got an instant reply from then Senator Dick Gordon
and promptly got in touch with PGH to alert them that Red Cross would
fully support the requirements. He even joked that - bakit ko raw nauutusan
ang isang "Lonsi".
Such is that gem of a man that is
a Beta Sigman inside and out and that remarkable character will be simply
hard to forget. The gift of life is sometimes strange. Like a candle, the
flame may cease by just a gust of wind...but the immortality of that life
is always triumphantly sealed by a loving tear drop. And that night, the
Betans cried to mourn a great loss.
Atty. Enrique "Iking"Agana, Jr. and
Ambassador Jimmy Yambao pay their respects to their batchmate
Residents and alumni (among them, on
right pic - Joe Lalas, Ross Fernando, Rolly Reyes & Nelson Rivera) honor
Ding as well
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remembering Brod Ding Navarro
by Willie Vergara'67
Ding with then fellow co-Philippine
Undersectary Rene de Rueda - San Francisco, CA, Dec. 2004
Two of the relatively “younger brods” who know Ding Navarro quite well are
Yay Topacio and myself. Ding could have been my “ninong sa kasal” but did
not push through due to certain circumstances. Yay was his close friend
and barkada for many years until Yay decided to migrate to the US in 2003.
When Yay and I invited Ding to come for a visit in California, telling him
that he didn’t have to worry about his lodging, he immediately obliged. He
worried on one thing though: US Immigration authorities might deport him
right at the San Francisco airport because of possible derogatory records
on account of his attendance at a communist conference in Cuba.
But that fear quite unfounded after all. He just whisked through US
Immigration and joined us immediately on the day of his arrival. Ding had
a real good clean fun while he was visiting UP Northern California way
back in November to December 2004. While in Sacramento, he stayed with me,
then with Johnny Regadio, then with a relative. Ding had the chance to go
around the Capitol, Old Town Sacramento, Napa Valley, and other places in
Northern California. He and his fellow co-Undersecretary Rene de Rueda
attended our Christmas Party in early December where they had the chance
to fellowship with the brods and sisses of UP North. During the Christmas
Party, Ding was given some air time to deliver some endearing messages to
the brods, and made special mention of Sigma Betan Ping Zunio as “the most
beautiful Sis during our time”. (On that occasion, I also remember Brod
Rene de Rueda declare that Beta Sigma is the only fraternity.)
Willie & Tess Vergara give Ding a
tour of Sacramento
In our private moments together, I noticed that something stuck in Ding’s
mind. He was trying to figure out the quality of our closeness here, not
only among brods but also among the wives and children as well. “It may be
because the situation warrants it, being that you are in a foreign land”,
he opined. At my end, I didn’t find it important to tell him that we had
to work very hard during the past 6 years or so to reach such state
solidarity. After staying with Eric Punzalan and attending the latter’s
birthday party, Ding had to chance to march with the UP Lantern Parade in
San Francisco.
I’m sure that Ding brought this memory back home, as did Tony Panajon, Jun
Advincula, Rene de Rueda, Jopet Laraya, Bernie Bantegui, and many other
visitors of UP North.
UP North celebrates traditional
Christmas party '04 with RP guests, Brods Ding Navarro & Rene de Rueda
(Back ---> In Memoriam)
