47. 5 INSPIRING PHYSICALLY-CHALLENGED KAPAMPANGAN ACHIEVERS

Five inspiring stories of Kapampangans who surmounted their physical impediments to become leaders, achievers, and outstanding citizens—living proofs of the triumph of the human spirit over personal handicaps and adversities.

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ATTY. AHMED C. GARCIA, San Fernando

Disability: Total Blindness

Claim to Fame: Practicing Lawyer for over 30 Years, using Braille.

Atty. Ahmed C. Garcia has one of the most remarkable careers in the field of law—for he was not only a brilliant lawyer, but he was also completely blind. Born with a normal sight, he was allowed to enroll at the U.P. College of Law, on scholarship. Among his classmates were kabalen Renato D. Tayag  and the future president, Ferdinand E. Marcos. Four years after graduation, Garcia went completely blind. He went to America in 1947, but doctors confirmed that he would be blind for the rest of his life. While in the U.S. ,Garcia deemed it wise to learn Braille at a Braille Sight Saving School, which he mastered.

His marriage to 18 year old Marcelina Ocampo  in 1948 prompted him to resume his stalled legal career. His keen sense of hearing compensated for his blindness. He could navigate around the courthouse, recognize a person through his voice, and feel his way through the railings of buildings. In his court appearances, Garcia relies on his wife who reads and reviews his notes with him, helps in preparing his briefs and in describing witnesses’ reactions.  Otherwise, he takes down his own notes in Braille.

One of his high-profile clients was Huk leader Casto Alejandrino. In 1961,  Garcia decried as unconstitutional, a  1957 law that outlawed the Communist Party of the Philippines, because “it denied individuals to group among themselves”.  He assiduously pursued the case all the way to the Supreme Court, but Alejandrino’s conviction was upheld.

At their 1964 Silver Anniversary Reunion, Garcia’s classmates honored him with an award “in recognition of his courage, perseverance and determination in the pursuit of the legal profession as a practitioner, despite adversity imposed by total loss of sight”.

MANUEL ABAD SANTOS, Angeles

Disability: Lost one leg in a shooting

Claim to Fame: The Fighting-est Mayor of Angeles

Elected in 1951, Manuel Abad Santos is best remembered as a town leader who stood firmly on one leg and a crutch, sticking firmly to his principle of standing up for the common good of his people. Born  26 March 1907 to parents Irineo Abad Santos of San Fernando and Teofila Dizon of Angeles, Manuel counts the late martyr-jurist Jose Abad Santos and the great people’s leader, Pedro Abad Santos as uncles.

 An incident in 1926 would leave him physically maimed for the rest of his life. While in a San Fernando entertainment place, he was caught in a gunfire started by a PC trooper who suddenly went on a shooting rampage. He lost his left leg in that carnage. Once recovered from his wounds, however, he went back to Ateneo and earned a pre-law degree,  which he finished in 1927. Manuel, however, opted to work right after college, joining his parents in expanding their burgeoning moviehouse business.

In 1951, Abad Santos, then already in his mid-40s,  joined the political fray. Running as a minority candidate, he won the mayorship of Angeles by a landslide, signalling the beginning of a long, fruitful career.  In 1955, he was re-elected but this time, his term was marked with bitter and contentious moments with Clark Field and socio-civic groups. Nevertheless, this “only one-legged mayor of the Philippines and the one with the most kick inspite of his handicap”, would continue running the affairs of the town with nationalist zeal. To him,  there is no other accomplishment greater than protecting the rights of the people whom he vowed to serve.

NORMA LAPUZ

Disability: Blindness

Claim to Fame: “The Blind Songstress”

Kapampangan Norma Lapuz was just 16 years old when word of the blind girl’s singing talent reached the LVN Studios. She had made waves as a singer in Clover Theater along Rizal Avenue, the one of the hottest entertainment spots in the city back in the 50s, along with Diomedes Maturan and Elsie Oria.  And so, in 1959, Lapuz was given the title role in the movie “Ginintuang Tinig”,  the “blind girl with a silver song” paired with “the most popular voice in the Philippines”, Diomedes Maturan.  The film turned her into a full-fledged movie star, but it was still her extraordinary voice that people remember, with signature songs like “Kung Maging Ulila” (a kundiman by Prof. Jose Silos), “Ligaya Mo, Ligaya Ko” (a Tagalog adaptation of the hit theme song, “To Sir With Love). By 1961, she was one of the top recording artists of the country, ranking along Sylvia La Torre, Diomedes Maturam Tres Rosas, Reycard Duets, Pilita Corrales and Fred Panopio.

RONNIE MANALANG, Angeles

Disability: Lost both hands, part of arms and left leg in an electrical accident.

Claim to Fame: Finished Architecture at age 46

Ronnie Manalang was 20 years old when he was working in the construction of a building in Angeles. It was breaktime, but Ronnie was still at his post, hold an iron rod. Then, the unthinkable happened. The iron rod touched a power line, immediately delivering 13,800 volts to his body. When his arms and left foot were severely burned, 80 % of his body electrocuted. His recovery was long and expensive, but good thing his mother Yolanda met William Pitsenberg who made it possible for Ronnie to get reconstructive orthopedic treatments and surgery at Shriner’s Hospital in Boston and Los Angeles. While undergoing treatments, Ronnie managed to take up drafting courses in California. Outfitted with iron-hooked hands he designed himself and with his health back, he returned to the Philippines in 1997, and continued with his schooling. At age 46, with his wife Catherine and son Tyron in attendance, Ronnie Manalang walked proudly on stage to receive his diploma, achieving his dream against all odds.

ERWIN V. DAYRIT, San Fernando

Disability: Born with a brittle-bone disease

Claim to Fame: Multi-Awarded Visual Artist

An Outstanding Fernandino awardee for 2011, artist Erwin “Weng” Dayrit was born in 1979 with osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle-bone disease), which gave him a barrel-shaped rib cage and a short, dwarfish stature. Despite this, the young Erwin flourished and persevered, finishing a drafting course at Don Honorio Ventura State University. He put up an art and sign business along with friends, but it was his amazing artwork pieces drawn using ballpoint pens that made him well known in the local art circle. Soon, Erwin was winning competitions, and began receiving extensive media coverage for his art. His inspiring life story was featured in the popular Channel 7 drama anthology program, “Magpakailanman”, hosted by Mel Tiangco, in an episode entitled “Abot-Kamay ang Pangarap: The Erwin Dayrit Story”, which aired on 18 March 2017. Erwin Dayrit portrayed himself in the biopic, that also starred Aicelle Santos, Ana Capri, Gary Estrada, Jazz Ocampo, and David Remo,  as the child Erwin.

SOURCES:
AHMED GARCIA: Carpio, Solomon T., “Pampanga, Blind Lawyer: Courtroom Celebrity”, The Sunday Times Magazine, pp. 38-39
MANUEL ABAD SANTOS: Manuel Abad Santos, The Fighting Mayor of Angeles 
NORMA LAPUZ: Jessie B. garcia, A Movie Album Quizbook, Erehwon Books and Magazines, 2004.
RONNIE MANALANG: Universitas, Holy Angel University publication
ERWIN V. DAYRIT: Edwin V. Dayrit FB page
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/showbiz/chikaminute/603707/may-kapansanang-artist-na-si-erwin-dayrit-sasabak-sa-acting-sa-magpakailanman/story/