A LOVED one’s death affects a family in many ways. When I lost my mom in 2001, I felt an aching void in my heart; when Papa passed, I felt utterly rootless, floating, drifting. Others may not feel the same way, but I believe a parent’s death will always bring an acute sense of isolation; an utter disconnect; and an indescribable sense of loss. Children, no matter what age, are not exempt from this painful emotion.
Losing their remaining parent following the death of their mom, Nang Salud in 2022, I empathize with the loss that my second cousins feel about the passing of Nong Pepe. I know it’s not easy on Charles, Christopher, Charlemagne, Charina, and Chandro.
Felipe Torregosa, “Nong Pepe” as I fondly called him, always had a ready smile for me. I believe it was for everyone else being a gregarious person. “He was sociable; he would sing; he was the life of the party; and was generous with his jokes,” stressed Charlemagne. Who wouldn’t remember anyone like that, huh!
He was married to Nang Salud Racho Calope, my mom’s first cousin on the Calope side. Nang Salud was the daughter of Troadio Daray Calope and Exequila Lungay Racho. Troadio, a former sanitary inspector, was my Lola’s – Pateria Calope Lungay – brother on my mother’s side. Like the Lungays, the Calopes come from Balilihan, Bohol.
I have known Nong Pepe since my childhood days up to the time I left Bohol for my professional adventures. We worked together in the same industry although he served the National Power Corporation-Bohol Diesel Power Plant (NPC-BDPP) in Tagbilaran City until his retirement in 1997 while I worked for the National Power Corporation-Visayas Regional Center in Cebu City and the National Power Corporation-Southwestern Mindanao Area in General Santos City from 1988-2000. He served the industry for more than thirty years retiring as a maintenance supervisor.
Since I left Bohol for long, our interactions were limited but I was so blessed to have joined his 85th birthday in December 2019 – before the COVID-19 outbreak hit the world – and spent time engaging him in a meaningful conversation. We spoke about our shared industry; his short stint in politics in the municipality of Balilihan, his friendship with Papa, and his family life. There were several insights in that tête-à-tête. We ended our chat by posing for the camera through the lens of Aging Calope.
But it wasn’t always “Pepe.” In his hometown Jetafe, he was known as “Mussolini.” ‘Pepe’ originated in Balilihan, sticking with him for decades until his passing. Well, I have known many people whose nicknames have changed through the years. It’s part of our evolution as human beings.
This Wednesday while visiting the wake, I was able to listen to a speech delivered by Charina in response to a Program offered by the local government unit of Balilihan. She was delighted when she shared that on her Papa’s birth certificate, her grandfather on her father’s side – the late Tiburcio Jumao-as Torregosa, was documented as mayor of Jetafe, Bohol! This was before World War (WW) II. Mayor Torregosa was married to Dionesia Camacho Garcia, a homemaker, also of Jetafe, Bohol.
As Charina puts it, “I knew long before that my Lolo was a mayor, but it was only when I saw Papa’s PSA copy of live birth that I realized it was documented!” What a revelation, huh!
I could relate with Charina when she said that Nong Pepe’s desire for public service was influenced by the role of his father as mayor of Jetafe during the pre-war period. Following his retirement from the power industry, he served as municipal councilor of Balilihan from 2009-2013.
On the side, wanting to serve like her Papa, and Lolo, my cousin Charina Calope Torregosa Asunto, is throwing her hat in the political arena by running as vice mayor of Balilihan, Bohol in the upcoming May 2025 local elections. May the odds be ever in your favor, Charina.
Back to Nong Pepe. He first worked at the Bureau of Public Works and Highways, assigned at the Tagbilaran-Balilihan-Catigbian route. This job enabled him to meet his future wife, a public-school teacher, who was then teaching at Barangay Hagbuaya in Catigbian, Bohol. It is safe to say that his work with the bureau serendipitously introduced him to the woman of his life – a woman he would marry on June 27, 1964, at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Balilihan, Bohol.
Nong Pepe and Nang Salud had six children together: Charles, a former public servant; Chona, a nurse who passed away in 2023; Christopher, following in his father’s footsteps likewise works in the power industry; Charlemagne, a nurse based in Ontario, Canada; Charina, an entrepreneur-farmer; and Chandro, a retired PAF personnel.
Nong Pepe, being the third in the family, helped his younger siblings finish school in Cebu City. Bewildered, I asked why Cebu. Charlemagne and Charles both explained that Jetafe was nearer to Cebu than Tagbilaran. It’s one boat trip away. That made sense. He finished his automotive course in Cebu City, as well.
In an insightful conversation with Charlemagne, he intimated, “Papa encouraged us to learn household chores. He was very caring even while giving instructions. He would set the time schedule: time to wake up; time to eat; and time to rest.” “This was what he practiced in his workplace; he just adopted it in the home front,” added Charlemagne. “He was a disciplinarian, but he was reasonable.”
“He was always supportive of our needs and tried his best to provide. Since Mama was the treasurer and everything was budgeted, Papa always found a way to help. He always had money in his pocket,” he quipped with a smile.
From his stint at the bureau of public works and highways, he began working at the motor pool of the Provincial Engineer’s Office, followed by his long tenure at NPC-BDPP.
Both Charles and Charlemagne recounted a unique story passed on to them in their childhood about their Lolo Tiburcio, who was mayor of Jetafe, Bohol before WW II. “Manong Simplicio Daray Calope, a mayor of Balilihan in 1941, (an older brother of their grandfather, Troadio D. Calope), and their Lolo Tiburcio, who was also mayor of Jetafe at the time, met at “Behind the Clouds,” in Catigbian, Bohol during WW II.
For a bit of history. On June 29, 1942, Behind the Clouds, a Bohol guerrilla unit, operated in northern and central Bohol Island. Lt Arcadio Fontanilla, a feared guerilla leader, formed the nucleus of the guerrilla force in Maitum, Balilihan (now under Catigbian) together with a handful of United States Army Forces in the Far East soldiers and volunteers.
According to an article published by the Bohol Provincial Library, the force had no name in the beginning but when Capt Francisco Salazar joined the movement on July 1, 1942, he unintentionally provided the name “Behind the Clouds Force.”
Salazar coined the name Behind the Clouds, said Capt Vicente Cabrera, an engineer and builder of the force’s headquarters. Cabrera said it was initially found in a message Salazar wrote for the Japanese army. In that legendary message, Capt Salazar told the Japanese, “If you care to find us, search us behind the clouds.” Thus, the origin of Behind the Clouds.
Serendipity! I thought it was written in the stars and fated that both mayors – Manong Pelicio Calope and their Lolo Tiburcio Torregosa had met twenty years earlier, and by June 27, 1964, their descendants, Nong Pepe and Nang Salud, would tie the knot. The romantic in me can’t help but smile at this seeming innocent happenstance. Well, I do not believe in coincidences. Events happen for a reason, and twenty years earlier, was just the beginning of a union that would finally come to fruition twenty years later. I just love romance!
Born on December 27, 1934, Nong Pepe turned ninety in 2024.
Farewell, Nong Pepe, keep that mischievous grin in heaven.
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The writer hosts Woman Talk with Belinda Sales every Saturday, 10 a.m. at 91.1 Balita FM Tagbilaran City. Email at belindabelsales@gmail.com. X @ShilohRuthie./PN
