HOTSPOT
As I write this, we in our Manila Science High School (MaSci) barkada are still in shock by the passing of our classmate and stalwart friend Eddie Akim on Wednesday night at a hospital in Dagupan City.
What limited news we have swiftly spread among batchmates, straight to our group chat for a forthcoming party celebrating our pearl class anniversary.
We cannot begin to imagine the grief especially of Eddie’s partner and kids, and the Akim family based in Malate. Wake and funeral arrangements might be finalized by the time this column sees print.
Eddie and I belonged to the same section in our first year at MaSci. We stayed close throughout our high school years and beyond. In between, there are a lot of stories to tell about visits to Nonino’s, the Akim house at Adriatico in Malate, the FEMII Penthouse in Intramuros and other places. Eddie was our ever-happy big man who loved to act, dance, sing, and tell stories.
We fondly called Eddie “Pulis,” partly in honor of his father who was a cop. Prior to joining the BPO industry, I remember that he worked in the Bureau of Fire Protection. He later became a family man and a doting father, especially to his firstborn son Adrian Joe.
Our barkada’s big man Edgar Allan Lavilla, whose dad Tito Onie was only too happy to host us at the penthouse for days or weeks on end. Eddie practically lived there for months, like he was Edgar’s brother from another mother.
Other regulars at the penthouse were Darwin Portugal, Elvin Abalahin, Menard Oseña and even Cris Santiago. This was already in our post-MaSci years, which was an early sign of the lifelong friendships we’ve built.
It broke our hearts when Edgar passed on in October 2017. It is broken yet again for Eddie.
It feels like losing a member of a family, because that’s what good and longtime friends become. Adopted or chosen family, second family, kinakapatid.
When this comes out, there’s another reunion event I’m supposed to go to, this time at UPLB. Edgar and I went there for college, and stayed in the same dorm and in the same dorm room for a year. We looked after each other from afar when we chose different paths. He would keep on presiding over us close friends at the penthouse in Intramuros, with Eddie in tow.
Our MaSci pearl class anniversary reunion this October would be an opportunity to come together, to reconnect, to celebrate victories, and to remember those who have gone ahead of us.
Like many people, I would pick high school years as more memorable than college years. Reunions, big or small, could be opportunities to make new memories with longtime or long-lost friends.
Eddie, Edgar and other batchmates who have passed on would surely be missed at our coming reunion. Their absence would be felt, but they would live on in our stories.
Rest now, Eddie and friends.