A tale of two Lawyers

I remember back in High School we frequented houses of two friends whose fathers were lawyers. At the same time these two lawyers had some affinity with my father who was also a lawyer. During the many parent teacher conferences in High school I was quite happy that my dad became friends with the dads of my classmates. 

During our 4E reunion last friday April 3,  my good friends Bong Berbano and Dino Tanjuatco were confirmed to go but on the last minute suddenly changed their minds as both their dads were in a critical stage in their illness.  Dino's dad Tito Ding passed away last Sunday morning and Bong's dad followed two days after. Sadness was in the air as these two lawyers were father figures to me when I was in High school.

Emigdio "Ding" Tanjuatco Jr. was our idol when we were in High school. He was then at the forefront of the fight against the Marcos regime as he was one of the many Assemblymen (this was the counterpart of the congressman then) who walked out of the counting proceedings at the Batasang Pambansa when they could not bear anymore the massive cheating in the 1986 snap elections. After Marcos was overthrown Tito Ding eventually became congressman and was loved by his constituents as he was voted to three consecutive terms. More than that, his son and my classmate Dino was the picture of generosity back then and still now since he would constantly host parties and sleep overs for us. It was no joke hosting parties and sleep overs back then since the weekly groceries of houses we sleep in eventually goes haywire since our appetite back then was at its peak. Dino would not bat an eyelash when it comes to inviting us to their house and the countless parties in their house was really one for the books. All of us from our High School class will always have fond memories of Tito Ding. 

Special Prosecutor Roger Berbano can be described as the incorruptible.  He gained prominence after being a part of the prosecution team in the very celebrated Kuratong Baleleng case in the 1990's. I remember that time back in 1996 when my good friend Bong said their family was getting death threats. For Tito Roger his family comes first and he made sure that he made the right choice as he pulled some strings to make those threats go away.  The Berbanos live in Brookside in Cainta and we were just happy to spend time with them and meet their whole family, Tita Norie, Anne, Dette and Arvin. From Bong's stories he said that his father is always happy whenever he told stories about our barkada's fun moments. Before he joined the creator Tito Roger suffered a stroke which eventually got him weak over the past decade and the last time I was able to talk to him was during the wedding of dette in 2006.

My father already knew Tito Roger even before Bong and I became friends. On the other hand my father was also a member of the Aquila Legis fraternity where Tito Ding is also a member of. I am just happy that the ties that all our families had made our High school lives very happy.  Both Tito Roger and Tito Ding will be missed and I would like express my sincerest condolences to both the Berbanos and the Tanjuatcos.