BY GLENDA TAYONA
“If your heart is in public service, even if you’re not a politician you will find a way to answer that calling, even in a pandemic.”
So said Francis Basco, a former Sangguniang Bayan member of Guimbal, Iloilo, who turned radio broadcaster of DYRI RMN Iloilo.
The coronavirus pandemic may have upended his world but it also opened his heart again to his first love.
In mid-March, Basco heard the clamor of taxi drivers displaced by the stringent community quarantine. Public transportation was restricted and most of the drivers had to go home to their towns to find an alternative livelihood.
Some resorted to vegetable gardening just to put food on the table.
The thought of having a farm project within the city crossed Basco’s mind.
After weeks of rumination, Basco decided to establish a livelihood farm later known as “Talamnan ni Tino” in Barangay Buntatala, Jaro, Iloilo.
According to Basco, the project aimed to help more than 60 taxi drivers economically displaced by the ongoing pandemic.
“Hambal ko sa ila, manguma ta bala. Mananom kita utan kag masagod isda para inkaso indi ta man mabaligya, may kuhaon kita kag kan-on,” Basco said.
Putting up the livelihood farm did not come easy. But with the help of Basco’s International Fans Club, the project materialized and everything went on smoothly.
Basco’s second cousin Cynthia Nisay and her husband Joe, who are currently based in Guam, as well as the fans club administrator Fe Capada, were the first persons to give financial help.
If COVID-19 was the reason Talamnan ni Tino was born, it also became the reason why Francis unintentionally neglected the farm.
Basco battled the virus himself. Last October, he got infected.
His job as a field reporter exposed him to the viral illness but where and how he contracted the disease remain unclear.
His wife and his son, too, got infected. They were asymptomatic.
His ordeal was too much to bear but Basco remained hopeful he would triumph these trial.
It took him more than a month to completely recover from the illness.
The Talaman ni Tino and the love of his family and close friends, coworkers at RMN Iloilo, fueled his hope to overcome the challenges.
For Francis, this Christmas is a celebration and thanksgiving for his second life./PN