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Roderick Flores “Erick was 15, and like Dominic Savio he was not just a boy; he was a spiritually mature person. Like Dominic Savio, Erick understood perfectly well what Don Bosco said about Confession and Communion: ‘Give me a boy who regularly receives Confession and Communion and he will give you no trouble.” —(Bishop Francesco Panfilo, SDB, DD) "His heroism was a culmination of numberless acts of generosity he had done to help those in need. —(Bishop Francesco Panfilo, SDB, DD)
Quickly responding to the situation, Flores and Benedicto swam towards the sinking juniors while Bro. San Juan and Giron moved ashore for a rope. The two seniors reached the juniors but a big wave drifted the group farther into the rough sea. At this point, Flores himself experienced cramps and called on Benedicto who shoved him to the shore. Benedicto turned to Magsadia who limply hung on to Benedicto’s shoulders, sinking both of them. Upon seeing this, Flores, instead of seeking the safety of the shore, went back to the rough sea for the two sinking companions. Reaching them, Flores grabbed Magsadia with one hand and felt the whereabouts of Benedicto with the other. Just then, another gigantic wave rushed upon them and when it finally calmed down, Benedicto, Magsadia and Briones were ashore. A frantic, painful, sacrifice-laden search by his family, the Salesians , friends and sympathizers for Roderick’s body ended in the opposite shore of San Juan in Batangas Province on 25 August 1984, exactly one week after that fateful day. The occasion of his death caused so much pain among his family and friends, but it also brought out the best in the educative-pastoral community, attested Mrs. Enriquetta Benesa, Roderick’s adviser and the first lay principal of the school – “when so many tried to help scouring the sea for his body, when we felt we were really one big family, sympathizing with one another because we’ve lost a loved one. It was also an occasion of pride because Don Bosco has produced a boy-hero.” The four-day wake that followed in the chapel of the 18th century building in Don Bosco Mandaluyong saw throngs of people coming from all sectors, paying homage to a Bosconian who reached the ultimate expression of love- that of sacrificing one’s life for others. He was laid to rest among some deceased members of the Salesian Family at the so-called “Salesian garden” of the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque on 30 August 1984. How could one who was as normal and as regular as the next guy his age be so heroic? How could one so young put his life on the line to save another’s? “It was all in character,” attested now Bishop of Alotau-Sidea, Papua New Guinea, Msgr. Francesco Panfilo, who was then Roderick’s rector and friend-confessor since the boy was in grade three. “ His heroism was a culmination of numberless acts of generosity he had done to help those in need.” Bishop Panfilo mused: “I can honestly say that, at least during the eight years of my rectorship, no one can surpass the generosity and the goodness of Roderick Flores.” Roderick was born on 3 January 1969,the second child of Mariette de la Cruz and Ernesto Flores. His family lived a stone’s throw from his school at 175 C A. Bonifacio St. , Mandaluyong. Rather frail and allergic, his mother would rub alcohol on Roderick whenever visitors could not resist kissing the boy’s cute face. While his elder sister Leslie studied in St. Paul College in Pasig City, Roderick was enrolled in Don Bosco Technical College in Mandaluyong City. Cousin Loida remembers that Roderick loved to stay in school often. Here Roderick excelled in soccer, taekwondo and swimming. High school classmate Fletcher von Aquino one day challenged Erick to prove his mastery of taekwondo. Erick stood on one leg and started to kick Fletcher with his other leg. Fletcher tried to block Erick’s kick by holding Erick’s leg. Erick’s kick still went through and Fletcher’s school uniform got dirty that day. Since then he had no doubts about Erick’s skills in martial arts. He should have taken note that Erick was a blackbelter in taekwondo. Fr. Jose Ma. Viola, an alumnus of Don Bosco-Mandaluyong and one of the boys of the school who first formed what was then the Youth Marian Crusade and now a local religious congregation known as the Oblate Adorers of the Two Hearts (OATH), remembers: “ Our mothers were friends since college until they had families of their own and lived in the same neighborhood. Both our families frequented each other’s homes and these encounters became the foundation of my friendship with Roderick.” Roderick was more than a friend to Fr. Viola: “ As a child he already manifested extraordinary gifts. At eight years old he already read the newspaper with proficiency, a reason for my mom to challenge me. Once my mom said: ‘Son, look at Roderick. He can now read the newspaper very well. You should imitate him.’ My mom’s words struck me and made me see my friend in a different perspective. From then on he was more than a friend; he was my model.” Fr. Viola still keeps a picture of his first communion together with Roderick. He believes this was the beginning of Roderick’s strong desire to keep Jesus’ presence in his life. “He was always compassionate with others,” Fr. Viola continues, “the kind of friend one can always rely on.” He adds: “Roderick always liked to be in the background.” Roderick loved to watch TV and read comics. He liked “taho” and “pansit palabok.” His favorite show was the Japanese anime series Voltes 5. He had, in fact, the biggest robot of Voltes 5 at home. Cousin Loida remembers Roderick as a very thoughtful brother. When he felt that his sister Leslie wanted any of his toys, he would at once give his sister that toy. Roderick had winning ways with younger children. He loved to be with them. Cousins Loida and Junjun would often sit on Roderick’s lap, amused at their elder counsin’s antics. Roderick’s mother left for the States when he was in Grade 4. A hardworking mother, Mariette wanted to give her children the best education she could afford. Relationship with her husband became strained while she was abroad. The couple eventually parted ways, but Roderick never came to know about the separation even until death. Mariette now works as a legal secretary in a law firm at the Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. At his funeral, then Fr. Panfilo recalled in his homily how Roderick nurtured his Bosconian spirituality more seriously than anyone would sense.
One of the joys that God brings to the life of a priest is that of seeing a young soul grow, and reach full maturity in his spiritual life, in his faith, to be like the ‘mustard seed that is the smallest of seeds, but when it grows up it is the biggest of all plants . It becomes a tree, so that birds come and make their nests in its branches’ (Mt.13:31-32). God has brought to my priestly life such joy : to see and experience the growth of a spiritual son. Erick had been one of my spiritual sons. It began for me in 1977. Erick was in Grade 3 and I was the new Rector here. Since 1977 up to the time he died, Eric would come to Mass here in our chapel, at either 5:30 or 6:30 pm. But before attending Mass every Sunday he would pass by the confessional box for his confession. My last encounter with him was on the Sunday before the incident. He would not confess face to face but I knew him because he had a peculiar way of starting his confession. He would say: “Father, this is my 51st confession… this is my 52nd confession… this is my 110th confession…” This shows that he was taking his confession seriously. He was keeping a record of his encounters with the merciful Lord to find out whether he was making progress. It was only when he was in Grade 5 or 6 that I told him not to keep a record anymore of his confessions. He continued to come. He made use of this sacrament not just as a way of washing himself clean, but instead as a means to grow, to love the Lord more and more, to perfect himself. He understood the words of Christ: “ Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Roderick was a typical teenager. He loved sports, dancing and hanging out with his peers. He would go with some classmates after classes to fetch some friends at some girls’ schools nearby. Joshua Buenaventura, a classmate, recalls that one day the basketball team of the school had a heated game against another boys’ school. A fight was beginning to boil between the two rival schools, but Erick tried to calm his companions down. Joel Fernando, another classmate writing from China, narrates the same story, but adds that Erick was so protective of the red bag he was carrying that he was willing to take the blows in its stead. The red bag contained the cassette recorder Erick would use fro his dancing practice. In high school, he was an above-average student. He excelled in Drafting and Christian Doctrine. His conduct grades were consistently excellent. He had a perfect attendance in high school , except in his third year when he had one absence in the third quarter of the school year. One of the habits he had was a visit to the Blessed Sacrament in the small chapel of the school before classes woud start in the morning. Erick was prim and proper inside the classroom. And though unassuming, he was elected class president during his third year high school. Mrs. Cora Manua, the class adviser, wondered then how Erick was voted as class leader when there were many others who were assertive and outgoing in her class. Mrs. Manua later realized how influential this quiet boy was. She muses: “One time I asked for Roderick’s help. I think it was either because I scolded the class or I made a decision about something the class had to do. After that, I became apprehensive that the class might not like what I said and they might become hostile towards me. I was new in Don Bosco then. It was the first time I taught in an exclusive school for boys in Metro Manila. On the same day that I approached Roderick, he came to me saying, “Ma’am, everything is alright.” Roderick became a member of the Social Action Club. One time, the members went to Golden Acres. To entertain the old people there, Roderick danced the “break dance.” He was fond of dancing. Together with his friends, he would often go to a classmate’s house r stay in the classroom to practice dancing. He was in his third year in high school when Roderick met his girlfriend, Marissa Suclan, during a class soiree with girls from St. Paul College. During Roderick’s burial, some girls from St. Paul College came in their school uniform, grieving for the loss of a noble friend.
He belonged to the electronics section with the best students of the graduating batch. The class called itself 430 SLC, after the super luxury car of Mercedes Benz, the students’ way of describing themselves as boys aiming for quality and excellence. Since his death in August, no one among his classmates occupied his seat at the back row of class 430. It remained empty, the same emptiness that lingers long in the hearts of people who loved him. Booddie Pigao, classmate of Erick, has one memory of Erick that until now he finds “difficult to explain, difficult to believe, and difficult to write.” Booddie narrates the story he had told to Erick’s family , the Salesians and a newspaper columnist. “It was around 5:00 in the morning of that Saturday after Erick drowned. I woke up and saw a figure standing beside my bed. The figure resembled Roderick. He started to speak and said ‘Help me. Please help me…I am in San Juan, Batangas.’ I thought I was only dreaming and so I went back to sleep. That afternoon I was hanging around in front of La Cantina with some of my friends. Fr. Larry , the principal, passed by. I asked him fro updates on the search for Erick’s body. He told me that all the leads turned out futile. He also added that they were almost giving up the search. Fr. Larry mentioned that there was, however, a recent call, but it was too farfetched to believe. Before he could continue, I said: ‘Is it in Batangas, Father?’ He was shocked: ‘How did you know.’ I responded with another question: ‘Is it in San Juan Batangas, Father?’ Utterly surprised, the priest rushed to the convent to let everyone know.” That same day, some of Erick’s classmates drove to San Juan, Batangas with the superiors of the school and a team from the Philippine Navy. There they found a body by the shore and identified it as Roderick’s. Towards the end of his homily at Roderick’s funeral Mass, Bishop Panfilo summarized: “ Erick lived only for 15 years, but they were 15 years of life lived to the full. He did not approach God empty-handed; he approached God in purity of his heart, with hands full of acts of love, with a soul pleasing to the Lord. God loved him because he was good, because he was generous and pure and so He took him before the evils of this world would touch him.” On that fateful day of 18 August 1984, while the rest of the scouts were still exerting inertia from a tiring trip, Roderick willingly volunteered to set up the tents of the campers. Unmindful till the end of his own self, his life of generosity was crowned later that day with that one last act of Christ-like love, the laying down his life for his friends. At the end of his homily, Bishop Panfilo declared: “My friends, we have gathered here to pray for Erick. When all this is over, I dare to say: don’t pray For him, instead pray TO him.” To this day, Bishop Francesco Panfilo keeps a picture of Roderick in his breviary to ask for the boy’s intercession for his mentor’s intentions.
Other links about Roderick Flores:
Don Bosco
Mandaluyong
When Fr. Louis Ferrari and his group of Salesian priests and brothers arrived in January 1953, they took shelters with the parish priest of Mandaluyong and with the St. Paul and San Beda fathers, pending negotiations with Msgr. Rufino Santos, then Apostolic Administrator of Manila and Msgr. Egidio Vagnozzi, Papal Nuncio, for a site of their own. Earlier, in November 1951, Fr. Pierangelo Quaranta, with some Salesians, came at the expressed invitation of Msgr. Gabriel Reyes, then Archbishop of Manila , to scout the place. On March 19, 1953, the Salesians were officially given sole possession of the dilapidated San Carlos Seminary in Mandaluyong.
Batch '85 Scores 4 in a Row
The Don Bosco Mandaluyong Alumni Association (DBMAA) celebrated its 2007 Grand Alumni Homecoming last January 27, 2007. This year’s silver jubilarians and host is High School Batch ’82. It was another fun-filled alumni homecoming as our batch bagged the coveted "Fr. Pierangelo Quaranta Memorial Award" for Best Attendance for the 4th consecutive year. The event started promptly at 4:30 pm with the holy mass. It was a concelebrated mass led by Bishop Drona, a golden jubilarian and Fr. Larry Tan. Our batchmate, Fr. Jose Mari Viola was among the priests who concelebranted the mass. After the mass, there was the usual awards given to outstanding alumni, accomplishment report from DBMAA president Nap Manalo and induction of new officers for the DBMAA. They also awarded the trophies for the winners during the recently concluded 3rd season of the Don Miguel Solaroli Alumni Basketball league. Asst. Coach Omeng Gratil and yours truly received our award for winning 3rd place in the seniors division. Then came the program proper hosted by my brother Dondo and Ms.Menchu Antigua, a Cebuana beauty and Ms Earth Phils. Runner-up. Live Music were provided by the Silk Band(1st & 2nd set) and Silhouette band for the last set amidst the glitter of lights, glimmer of smoke and sexy young ladies dancing on the ledge located at the middle of the audience. Intermittently raffle prizes were given. Newbies There were several batchmates who attended for the first time. Jong Tobias, Bujie Alvero and Frederick Sta. Maria(elementary batchmate) came from Metro Manila. From out of town we have Jojo "Italiano" Buenaventura from Baguio and Fr. Jose Mari Viola from Nueva Ecija. From abroad we have Randall Antonio from Denver , Stephen Yap from New Jersey , and Dr. Paul Huwa-chu from China (town). Returnees Among those who came back from temporary hiatus were Angelo Butingan, Neil Macalino, Badong Salvador and Allan "The Migratory Bird" Antenor. Awards A new award was given to the batch with the best uniform. It was given to our batch. (Not bad for a recycled uniform from last year!) Our batch president, Fletch Aquino was accompanied by Councilor Jon Abalos. Unknowing that Jon Abalos was a councilor, he was kiddingly scolded by the hosts for being "not in proper uniform". He gamely called out for help to Lyndon Bonifacio, who was more than willing to lend his sweat-filled and beer-drenched uniform. Then Jon was all smiles as he proudly wore our uniform at the top of the stage. We also won the Fr. Quaranta Award for the 4th straight year. Fletch untiringly went up the stage again to proudly receive the award accompanied by Omeng Gratil and yours truly. Fletch was too bashful, so yours truly delivered the short but “spicy” gratitude speech. We also received 4 cases of beer (2 per award) and 2 pizzas(1 per award) as a prize given by the host batch to go with the trophy.
Raffle Winners Several batchmates won in the raffle. These are Allan Balicanta, Ramir Bernal, Milden Villarba and Peter Estampador. Peter won a washing machine. Notes, Footnotes and anecdotes (feel free to share yours) Probably one of the funniest moment was when Lyndon wore the cassock of Fr. Jose Viola , paraded and blessed everybody in the ground that he can lay his hands on. "Pangarap ko kasi talagang maging pari.", he said while Fr. Larry Tan can only shake his head….. the Shakey's waitress came from different branches, and the pretty ones were selected to serve. Our batchmates can't help themselves but to engage them to a "group hug"….. Fr. Viola came from the order Apostles of Twin Hearts of Jesus and Mary. This is a new order founded by Fr. Arellano, SDB. He was recruited because he was former member of the Marian Club when we were in HS…..before the homecoming, we were asked to choose the location of our table. The officers decided to take the ones at the side instead of the usual center to give a "low profile." In hindsight, did we make the right decision?....Dindo Bautista example is very inspiring. For those of you who can't remember, he is a paraplegic. He showed us that no amount of disability can hinder his desire to meet us and attend the homecoming. Keep it up Dindo!....Benny'tor feasted on our table but refused to engage Tito Peps to a drinking duel. He helped our batch in the ligpitan…..As usual, Mr. Jim Marcelo, our Pilipino teacher and adviser of class 450 chose to stay longer in our table more than any other batch. He is really close to our batch. Gratitude Thanks to our sponsors, our solicitors and helped in the preparations namely: Fletch, Ricky, Gilfred, Allan Rey, Mate, Arnel, Edwin and Obet. Special thanks and happy birthday to Ludwig! He sent us the 2 lechon de leche. Many of our batchmates developed arthritis the morning after! Thanks also to Peter, for personally preparing the food despite being under the weather. And finally to you, dear batchmates for making this year's edition of homecoming a truly fun-filled night of nostalgia and camaraderie:
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It
was around 2:45 pm of 18 August 1984 when senior scouts Roderick Flores, Eric
Edmund Benedicto and Joseph Victor Giron sensed an imminent danger for junior
scouts Glen Magsadia and Noel Briones. Both junior scouts had an attack of
cramps while swimming with then Bro. Jose San Juan, now a Salesian missionary
priest in Timor, in the waters of Ternate Naval Station in Cavite Province, site
of a three-day camp of the boy scouts of Don Bosco Technical College in
Mandaluyong City, Philippines.
“Erick
Flores is a hero not because last Saturday he selflessly went to
help someone in trouble. That action was the ultimate in a long
stretch of numberless acts of generosity he had done during his 15
years of life. He is a hero because he disciplined himself to serve,
to love, to be generous. I would dare say that Erick was bound to
die a hero because he always helped anyone in need. It happened at
sea, but it could have happened anywhere someone needed his help…
Roderick
is remembered as serious-looking, ruggedly handsome, with thick
eyebrows, well-shaped nose, and a pair of soulful eyes. Both peers
and priests in school remember him as a student disposed to silence
and deep thoughts. His reflective demeanor was faithfully caught by
Ed Castrillo, a past pupil himself of the school and a Philippine
national artist for sculpture, who created Roderick’s bust that is
now mounted in his memorial found in the school.
