THERE ARE MANY STORIES TO TELL ABOUT RUBEN, AND NOT ONLY BECAUSE
RUBEN HAD A LARGER THAN LIFE PRESENCE, THE 800 POUND GORILLA, EVEN
WHEN HE IS NOT IN THE ROOM.
HOW TO EULOGIZE RUBEN AND GIVE IT JUSTICE? HE TRANSCENDS DESCRIPTION.
FULL OF LIFE, HE HAS THIS UNFORGETTABLE LAUGH, PASSIONATE, INTEGRITY,
COMMITTED TO SOCIAL JUSTICE, DEEPLY EMOTIONAL, A HOPELESS ROMANTIC,
SYMPATICO, EXUDING AN AURA OF CHARM….AND I HEAR, A WONDERFUL LOVER.
I HAD INTENDED TO HAVE A ONE ON ONE WITH RUBEN BUT NEVER DID GET A
CHANCE. NOW IT IS TOO LATE. I WILL HAVE TO HAVE A CONVERSATION LATER
WITH TESS AS TO RUBEN’S SECRETS.
HE HAD HIS HUMAN FRAILTIES AS WE ALL HAVE, BUT HE MANAGED TO
MASK IT WITH GRACE.
I SAW A DIFFERENT RUBEN THAN MANY OF YOU KNOW. AS BROTHERS IN THE
FRATERNITY, MINE IS A PERSONAL AND SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY.
I DISTINCTLY REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME I MET RUBEN. IT WAS AT THE END OF
A WELL PLACED OPEN HAND SLAP THAT SHATTERS JAWS, HE A WELL
RESPECTED NEWSPAPERMAN WITH THE EVENING NEWS/PHILIPPINE HERALD,
AND I, THE NEOPHYTE.
WHEN WE MOVED TO CANADA IN THE MID 70’S WE STUMBLED INTO EACH AS
NEIGHBOURS AT DUNDIX DEVELOPMENT IN MISSISISAUGA. ALONG WITH OTHER
TORONTO BASED UPSILONIANS, EDDIE LEE, PUBLISHER OF ATIN ITO, TONY JUN
CRUZ, NOEL CRUZ AND JIMMY BORRES, WE SPENT MOST WEEKENDS AND
VACATIONED TOGETHER. INEVITABLY HAD MANY NIGHTS DISCUSSING THE
ISSUES THAT CONFRONTED THE FLEDGLING BUT GROWING FILIPINO
COMMUNITY IN CANADA. WE WERE A CLOSE KNIT GROUP.
SO CLOSE THAT WHENEVER RUBEN HAD DOMESTIC QUARRELS HE WOULD
SEEK SHELTER AND SOLACE AT HOME TO CRY HIS HEART OUT IN ANGER AND
FRUSTRATION.
AS A NEW IMMIGRANT, WE DECIDED AT THAT TIME TO FORM A CREDIT UNION TO HELP THE COMMUNITY’S ECONOMIC NEEDS. WE INITIALLY SET UP SHOP IN THE OFFICES OF DR. EDGARDO LIM, ANOTHER UPSILONIAN, IN HIS CLINIC IN RONCESVALLES.
FROM THERE WE STARTED A NEWSLETTER. BUT RUBEN’S JOURNALISTIC
TALENTS WERE NOT BEING FULLY UTILIZED. SO THE IDEA OF STARTING THE
COMMUNITY PAPER “ATIN ITO” EMERGED WITH RUBEN AS EDITOR AND
SUCCESSFULLY REPLACED A US BASED FILIPINO NEWSPAPER TO BECOME THE
DOMINANT NEWSPAPER IN TORONTO.
BUT THE TRAJECTORY OF THE MARCOS YEARS TORE US APART.
TENSION AND DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSING POLITICAL VIEWS MADE IT DIFFICULT
TO RUN THE NEWSPAPER. JUN CRUZ, NOW DECEASED, AND RUBEN WERE
KUMPARES, THE BEST OF FRIENDS AND THE WORST POLITICAL ENEMIES. THE
REST OF US TRIED OUR BEST TO MODERATE.
FINALLY, IT CAME TO A HEAD. RUBEN ASKED THAT WE SELL THE NEWSPAPER TO HIM OR HE WOULD TO RESIGN. IN A MEETING AT THE YMCA, WHERE JIMMY BORRES NOW A COUNCILOR IN QUEZON CITY, WORKED, WE SOUGHT TO FIND RESOLUTION.
WE CRIED LIKE BABIES, ESPECIALLY RUBEN AND JUN CRUZ. WE KNEW IN OUR
HEARTS THAT WE WOULD NOT BE SPEAKING TO EACH OTHER AGAIN, AT LEAST
NOT FOR A LONG TIME. THIS WAS THE GENESIS OF RUBEN’S NEWSPAPER, BALITA.
AND THAT STARTED THE NEWSPAPER WAR BETWEEN BALITA AND ATIN ITO TO
A POINT THAT LIBEL SUITS AND ASSAULT CHARGES WERE LAID.
AND FOR MANY YEARS AND OTHER THAN TIDBITS OF GOSSIP ABOUT RUBENS
ROMANTIC INTERLUDE WE GREW APART AND DID NOT MEET. THEN TRAGEDY
STRUCK. AN ACCIDENT HAD HIM HANGING TO LIFE BY A THREAD AND IN A
SINGLE STROKE, THE PAST BECAME PETTY AND INCONSEQUENTIAL.
BUT JUST LIKE MANY OTHER UPSILONIANS WHO HAVE SAT ON OPPOSING
POLITICAL POSITIONS; MARCOS AND NINOY, TOLENTINO, DOY LAUREL, MEL
GLOR, AND MANY MORE, WE HAVE ALWAYS VIEWED EACH OTHER WITH
RESPECT.
IF NOT FOR TESS’ HEROIC SACRIFICE, RUBEN WOULD HAVE BEEN LOST TO US A
LONG TIME AGO. FOR THIS, WE HAVE TO THANK TESS. RUBEN MAY NOT HAVE 9
LIVES BUT HE FOUND A WAY TO CARRY ON EVEN WHEN UNABLE TO SPEAK.
MY REGRET WAS THAT WE HAD LOST A STRONG COMMUNITY VOICE AS HE
WOULD OR COULD NO LONGER WRITE, NO MATTER WHAT WE SAID TO URGE HIM
TO PICK UP HIS PEN AGAIN.
WE ALWAYS KNEW IT WAS A FRAGILE EXISTENCE. BUT WHENEVER I MET RUBEN
IN FRATERNITY GATHERINGS HE ALWAYS HAD THAT BIG LAUGH AND A THUMBS
UP WHENEVER I TEASED HIM. HE HAD THIS UNBELIEVABLE ZEST FOR LIFE.
AND TODAY, HUNDREDS OF UPSILONIANS BROTHERS MOURN OUR LOSS WITH
HEAVY HEARTS. IN HIS FINAL HOURS, HE WAS A LOYAL AND FANATICAL
UPSILONIAN AND WE WILL HONOUR HIM WITH HIS WISH THAT THE BRODS BE
HIS PALL BEARERS TO CARRY HIM TO HIS GRAVE.
SO BROD RUBEN, YOU HAVE DONE YOUR DUTY, TO YOUR GOD, FAMILY,
COMMUNITY, MOTHERLAND, CANADA AND NOT LEAST OF ALL THE UPSILON
SIGMA PHI FRATERNITY. WE ARE PROUD AND SALUTE YOU.
I CAN CLEARLY SEE RUBEN AND JUN CRUZ SITTING IN THE CORNER OF THIS
ROOM LAUGHING AND EMBRACING, JUN ASKING RUBEN, BROD, WHAT TOOK YOU
SO LONG? AND WE ARE HAPPY TO JOIN THEM WITH A CHEER FOR A LIFE WELL
DONE.
A FINAL SONG OF TRIBUTE FOR RUBEN IF I CAN ASK THE FELLOWS TO JOIN ME.
“WERE UPSILONIANS”
ROGIE CONCEPCION ‘66