During the month of December, we celebrate 3 birthdays in our family.
December 20 is the birthday of my brother, Dr. Eugene C. Castillo. He's a nephrologist and one of the professors (and associate dean, if I'm not mistaken) of the Medical School which was formerly known as GEAC (General Emilio Aguinaldo College of Medicine), and its present name escapes my memory. He's been back and forth the US a long time ago to study his specialization and I believe he's found himself a niche in his field of expertise. He's married to the beautiful dermatologist, Dra. Vitalia Beltran Castillo, with whom he has three Gorgeous sons - Gino, Gelo and Gioco.
On December 21, my other brother Jose Ramon C. Castillo also celebrates his birthday. He's a pre-med graduate but he worked first as a steward with Philippine Airlines and then presently is working as a nurse somewhere in Canada where he lives with his stunning wife Carmina Feliciano-Castillo, and their two kids, Melissa and Miguel.
December 22 is the celebration of the birthday of my deceased father, Salvador Colendrino Castillo. He was a loyal former employee of ABS-CBN - in fact, even before ABS-CBN became what it is today (the merger of two pioneer Philippine media corporation), my father was already working for the Lopez' company. When martial law shut down ABS-CBN, and all other networks not friendly to then President Marcos, my father stayed on to protect and make sure the "sequester-ers" wouldn't destroy the ABS-CBN buildings and important equipments inside. Later, he was forced to leave the building and transferred employment at the Channel 7 station (I believe the only one spared from Marcos' sequestrations), as did some of the other employees of ABS-CBN. Little do most of us know that GMA-7 became a premier broadcasting station because of the transfer of those key employees of ABS-CBN. Not to prolong your agony, my dear reader, I'd just like to say that in most of the early part of the history of broadcasting in the Philippines, my father was a witness and participant ... I wish he'd had the chance to write about it but he passed away just right after the restoration of ABS-CBN and so broadcasting has never been the same since.
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The last article about your father was the piece I liked the most. Too bad he would have wrote memoirs of first hand experience during that time. I believe there can be lessons learned.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bro. Art! I really wished he had the chance to retire and write about his memoirs in relation to the history of broadcasting - yes there may have been lessons learned.
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