Happy days when Pablo’s cheeks were fuller. With Arthur and Christine Espiritu
Let The Wind Blow: A Musical Bouquet for Pablo will be held on Sept. 26, 2025, 7:30 p.m., at the Mirror Theater Studio, SJG Center, 8463 Kalayaan Ave., Brgy. Poblacion, Makati City.
Writer-journalist Pablo A. Tariman occasionally likes to open his Facebook status or poem with an epigram. When he was awarded another of many recognitions for his reportage on the arts, he posted this Jane Fonda quote as if to remind himself and his followers that he hasn’t turned into a swellhead: “You don’t learn from successes; you don’t learn from awards; you don’t learn from celebrity; you only learn from wounds and scars and mistakes and failures. And that’s the truth.”
As he lies on his sickbed in a public hospital today, Fonda’s words may be running through his mind again along with Hippocrates’ reminder: “As to diseases, make a habit of two things—to help, or at least, to do no harm.”
And help is pouring in generously from friends, colleagues, anonymous donors, even the office of Sen. Loren Legarda, as he fights the seemingly biggest physical battle of his life. At first, friends tried to keep his assorted ailments confidential to protect his privacy until pictures leaked out showing how skinny he was. I was about to call him a survivor of the Auschwitz camp until I thought that would be tactless and insensitive.
I sensed that he was growing progressively weaker when he just sent his grandson Emmanuel Acosta and his girlfriend Mao Lienna Fortaliza to receive his Salute Award for poetry and short fiction in the Philippines Graphic literary awards night last month. He instructed me to take as many photos of Emman and his family (his wife Merlita was also a Salute awardee) as I could, and since there was WiFi available at Luxent Hotel, the venue, I sent said photos to him. Immediately, he posted them on his FB account. His frequent posting was to me an indicator all was still well with him.
Until I received a text telling me that he had fallen on the stairs at home and was rushed to a children’s hospital nearby, at which our common friend, Chit Roces Santos, quipped, “Isn’t he too overaged for a children’s hospital?” What followed were long hours seated in the hospital hallway, he and his family waiting for a vacant bed or room.
Concerned for his well-being and comfort, the family moved him to Medical City so he could rest. By this time, word of his pre-existing conditions leaked out when the call for support was uploaded in many a friend’s FB account. So readers and sympathizers learned of his malnutrition on top of his diabetes, hypertension and prostate problem. The scars on his body became public knowledge. Merlita made an understatement when she told me, “He’s in bad shape.”
He was moved to the public Rizal Medical Center where he is now recuperating.
This I told him—Pablo, you’re like the classical musicians you write about. Your sicknesses mirror theirs. It wasn’t long before the other impresario (Pablo being the more famous one), Joseph Uy, decided to organize Let the Wind Blow: A Musical Bouquet for Pablo, featuring many of the talents the beneficiary had supported throughout his writing years.
The title Let the Wind Blow is from Pablo’s poem dedicated to his rebel daughter, Kerima. It was originally interpreted by acclaimed actress Shamaine Centenera Buencamino. On Sept. 26 at 7:30 p.m., theater actress Jay Valencia Glorioso will read it at the Mirror Theater Studio, SJG Center, 8463 Kalayaan Ave., Brgy. Poblacion, Makati City.
Stefanie Quintin Avila
Angeli Benipayo
Ruzzel Clemeno
Violinist Cedie Nunez
Apart from her, the other performers are tenor Arthur Espiritu, whom Pablo dubbed “The Prince of Cantabile,” sopranos Stefanie Quintin Avila and Angeli Benipayo, baritone Ruzzel Clemeno, guitarist Aaron Aguila, cellist Renato Lucas, pianists Gabriel Allan Ferros Paguirigan and GJ Frias, clarinetist Herald Sison and violinists Ghio Karylle Esteban and Cedie Nuñez. All are donating their services and talents to Pablo.
Earlier this year, when Pablo temporarily stopped writing due to a dip in mood, he confided that he seemed to be living just to finish the year for the sake of Emman and pianist Cecile Licad, whose Manila performance and provincial outreach this month and next he was central in organizing. My reaction was to pooh-pooh this bluesy statement and remind him of what he taught me: “Life is beautiful.” And that his old sparkle is just resting
For ticket reservations, text or call Cultural Arts Events Organizers at 0920-954-0053 or 0918-347-3027, or visit the website www.veniccio.com or email josephuy@yahoo.com.
LET THE WIND BLOW
Let the wind blow
Where it should
On the mountains and hills
Where once you have lived
To be with the people
You fought for.
Let the wind blow
Where it should
On the shadow
Of the perfect cone
Where you first saw
The light of day.
Let the wind blow
Where it should
In the island
Where once you lived
With the poor
And the unfortunate.
Let the wind
Be warm in your soul
After a good fight.
Let the wind
Bring back days
Of your youthful days
In Mt. Makiling
Or the ravines of Sierra Madre
To the deep mysterious mountain ranges
Of Mt. Silay where you breathed
Your last
On a bloody Friday morning.
You will find repose
On a Friday afternoon
On a date when your grandmother
Was born.
Let the wind blow
Where it should
In the realm of memory
Of your short but fulfilled life.
Let your son
Live your shortened life.
Let your father contemplate
The rest of his last season
Minus a rebel daughter.
Let the wind
Bring you back
To where you want
In the realm of silence
Full of remembrance
Of things past.
~ Pablo A. Tariman
