After completing my usual paper works past midnight last night, I thought of just writing this entry to pay special tribute to him. But luck was still not on my side. When I clicked my mouse to publish my completed entry, my Internet line had an abrupt disconnection and so I lost everything that I wrote.  I was exasperated. I looked at my computer clock and it’s almost 3 am and I knew I had to sleep, especially so that I have to deliver a lecture before a group of brothers and sisters in the legal profession at 10 am.

And so I could not let this morning pass without writing something about him.  I am not even sure if he would be able to read this. With his old age, I know he is not a technical savvy. But something within me is telling me to just go ahead.

I met this great man sometime in 1988 at his office in the South Wing of the Batasang Pambansa. At that time, I qualified with 25 other young men and women across the nation (that included now congressmen Neric Acosta and Joey Salceda) in the 1st Philippine Congressional Fellowship Program (PCFP) under the auspices of the Speaker Ramon Mitra-led House of Representatives and the Asia Foundation. As part of the program, we have to be assigned to a solon of our choice.  I could not recall now what led me to this man because my first choice then was congressman Oscar Orbos or Felicito Payumo. But as I love to personally say as a guiding faith, there must be a reason for everything.

If my memory serves my right, I was an incoming senior law student in UST when I competed for the PCFP.  After besting hundreds of candidates in Central Luzon, my inner sense was telling me that this was the break I was looking for in my life. For one, the program offered an attractive monthly stipend to the participants, and I must say that I had not received such amount of salary since I graduated from college in 1982.  Coming from a poor family, and a self-supporting student at that, it thought it was a good break. And it was.

And so I went against the advice of my law professor then, now UST law dean, Augusto Aligada, not to quit law school just to join the program because I was already in my senior year. But I still did, I would even say for the nth time. But it was a decision I never regretted.  Looking back, I would not have been a lawyer now if I did not meet and work for this great man.

What really attracted me to be with this guy for my internship was his desire, and commitment, to make me finish my law degree, aside from the trivial fact that he also completed his law degree in UST. After the scholarship program, he absorbed me as a congressional staff and later designated me as his Chief of Staff. He kept on reminding me that my studies were my topmost priority, even over and above my pressing duties in his office.

The man provided me with all the necessary exposure, as well as all the financial, emotional, and psychological support, to finish law. He did give me the opportunity to also work part time in his law office to provide me the necessary legal exposure. He practically egged me to take a leave for six months with pay while reviewing for the 1990 bar examinations, to the point that he personally delivers my monthly salary at my residence. In short, he was always there to support me even without me asking for it. And what amazes me is that all his generosity had no strings attached, no favors to return, and was not based on any expectation, just be a lawyer period.

At that time when I had no father to look up to, this man was there to be one.  In fact, I know in my heart that he will always be a ’dad’ to me for as long as I live.

As a congressman, he was a true public servant.  I was a living witness to his work ethic and impeccable honesty, even with his tempting pork barrel funds. He truly exemplified the constitutional dictum that a public office is a public trust. He always puts emphasis on accountability. I personally witnessed how he would travel abroad for an official mission using his own personal funds. I personally know how he would borrow money privately just to continue supporting his charitable and social causes. For all of these, he always did things quietly, without fanfare, without publicity.

The man always preached love of country. He is very much fond of Jose Rizal, in fact. I can still recall his favorite quote (that still reverberates in my ears until now) was that of Martin Luther King Jr. that says that for evil to triumph, it only takes a good man to do nothing. In the halls of Congress, he was always reconciliatory, to the point that some of his colleagues then refer to him as “Father Gerry”. Even at his angriest moments, he is still soft-spoken.

The man hates political dynasties and public officials who cling on to power.  For which reason perhaps, he did not run for re-election or sought another elective office after serving his term. He broke the Assitio dynasty, so to speak, when he won a seat in Congress after a protracted election contest.  But never did he allow any of his brilliant children to join the political fray under his own sphere of political influence.

He is a man of God. He has a special acquaintance with some priests and support the causes of many religious missions, like the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Mindanao and the Our Lady of Grace Parish in his congressional district, to name a few.

He never speaks ill of other people.  He loves art especially good paintings. He loves collecting and reading books about practically every subject matter. He loves planting trees and particularly concerned about how people take care of the environment.

His compassion for others, particularly the less-privileged, was simply sincere.  In one instance, I recalled having asked his wife if she was not worried about the way this man spends for charity using family resources. She replied that he has been in that mode since he was a young lawyer but the family did not become any poorer. I am sure the man is truly blessed because of his good heart.

The man was not only a benefactor to me. He is also a constant inspiration. He was a mentor. He is also a great father I wish I had. Many of his ways and principles in life are the same things that guide me in my own today.

Everytime someone calls me ‘attorney’, my memory would always brings me back to our good old times in Congress and the shopping malls where we would have coffee, a tete-a-tete, and sometimes window shopping. Understandably so, I owe this title to him.

By the way, that great man I am referring to is none other than former congressman of Caloocan City (2nd District), Atty. Gerardo “Gerry” P. Cabochan.

I don’t know if this tribute would ever reach you after all. Maybe just like any other blog entries, this personal message would just be buried and consigned in the inner pages of virtual space.

But in any case, I sincerely wish you another year of good health and prosperity. I hope to see you again one of these days.  I do miss you.  I love you ‘dad’.

It was only when I came back to the Philippines that I learned from the news that this unassuming Dominican priest by the name of Regino O. Cortes is a bibilical expert. At the height of the public debate over a film “The Da Vinci Code” based on Dan Brown’s novel of the same title, Fr. Cortes led in the defense of the Catholic faith and published his book entitled: “The Da Vinci Code: An Exegetical Review“,

The obituary of major newspapers today, August 29, 2006, announced that Rev. Fr. Regino O. Cortes, O.P., a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and Regent of the College of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Santo Tomas, peacefully joined his Creator on August 28, 2006.

The world has once again just lost a very good man of great faith. Our loss though of his earthly presence is surely heaven’s gain.

That few minutes of my meeting with Fr. Cortes will always linger in my mind.