Romeo Panilagao Catiben

Romeo Panilagao Catiben  by Zai

 
Born 27 December 1943 at Ngan Compostela Valley.
Mother was Margarita Delumbar Panilagao Adana and his father was Osmenia Catiben.
I have heard him being called as Mio, Manoy Romy.
He studied in Tagum for his elementary years. According to Zamel, he met one of papa's classmates who was a teacher at Letran.

In college, papa went to Philippine Harvardian College, where he took a commerce degree. (This is Davao History Post taken from Facebook

Rise and fall of Harvardian by Antonio V. Figueroa
Founded in 1950 by Arayat, Pampanga native Dr. Ildefonso D. Yap, International Harvardian Colleges (later university) was once the most populous academic institution in Davao. At its peak, it was the leader in the region’s annual tactical inspections for Reserve Officers Training Course conducted under the auspices of the Philippine Constabulary.)

He was a Judo Karate practitioner. This helped him when someone attacked him with a knife which maimed his left hand. This also influenced Zamel to take karate when he was a kid until he used to spar in competitions.
 

Papa also learned to be a electrical technician. He used to work for Radiowealth as a technician. He was there for sometime until the company got bankrupted and we had to go to Tagum. He was good with electrical stuff and would tinker at home. He was very particular with his gear and took good care of it.

He knew how to speak Calagan or what we would have termed as a Muslim language. One of his Muslim cousins used to visit him at our Tagum home. Or he would get invited to weddings and he would bring home some Muslim delicacies.

He loved music. He used to play his LP loudly in Tagum. He used to own a music system and it got rented out for the "sayawan" in Tipaz. He knew how to play harmonica. He used to play it from time to time. He taught us the only Muslim song we know called Elipranong Tagbebe.

He loved breeding fighting cocks. He dedicated a lot of time with his roosters and spend time and money on them. He won sometimes, but it did not give him a lot of money.

He was a charming man, a real Romeo. So much so that he had children with 3 women. 

When we were in Tagum, he devoted his time to his fighting cocks, he also invested money in gold mining even though he did not have so much money to invest. He had to borrow money from Uncle Nonoy, which caused some problems. The men who worked from him in the mines stayed with us in Tipaz. Eventually when the mining venture did not pay off, they helped him with his Cardava buy and sell business. 

 

 

He fought to have his share of the land of his ancestors. That is how we got the land in Dumlan, Tipaz and Daneco.  He sold part of the land so he can buy a truck he can use for his buy and sell business. Then later, he sold the truck and got a multicab so he can drive in Davao City.

In 2003, he got flu and was given medication. But he may have been misdiagnosed and given the wrong medication. This resulted with more health issues which eventually caused issues with his liver. But it could also be just a result of taking so much medication in previous years for his rheumatism and gout. He used to pop Alaxan whenever he felt the pain. Whatever it is, his liver could no longer take it. He lost a lot of weight and in December 2004, he took a jeepney from downtown Davao to Gulfview and the ride was too bumpy.This may have ruptured some internal organ. He passed away on 15th December 2004.

My fond memories of papa will be him fetching me from university every night for four years. I wish we had talked then, but communication was never one of our talents.

He was a not a disciplinarian, but we were scared of him. I believe the most memorable disciplinary action he did was when Zharina accidentally broke the 'salog' of a bullock cart. Papa got angry and put her in a sack as punishment.