For Ric Paloma
Posted on Tuesday, 7 October 2014
For Ric Paloma
By Apolinario Villalobos
To say goodbye to a beloved
Is hard enough, how much
more
If that beloved has
impressed
In our heart everything
That he can impart
Just so, in this world, we
can later
Be at our best
As we do our part.
He tried his best right from
the start
Earning his keeps by honest
toil
Firm determination and bold
foresight
To be where he would be
someday
And he did not fail
As all of us can now say.
He will always be a part of
our memory –
An inspiration that shall
guide us
For what he has left for us
to keep
Is a legacy that shall guide
us along
While we tread the road
towards our destiny.
Let us thank him, this man
Ric or Ricky to some
But Tatang to most of us who
have known him
As a big brother and a
doting father;
He whom we see as the
perfectionist
He who wants nothing but the
best for us to learn
Though how hard it could be
… and that, friends, is his
legacy.
(A tribute to the late, Mr. Ric Paloma. Just like most
of PALers, who built their career on a humble, yet sturdy foundation of lowly
position, Ric started as a porter in Davao station, moving up till he became a
VP for Marketing and Sales-Phils., and as SVP-Finance, a job he held until he
was 65 He instructed his secretary, Bill Trinidad, to clip my poems and essays
that saw print in dailies and magazines, showed them the me, gave me Xerox
copies, while we were having coffee, as he packed his things to bid PAL
goodbye, as a retiree.)
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