Conrado B. Pascasio

It was in the fields of Nipaco, Paniqui, Tarlac, that Conrado saw the first rising and setting of the sun. Born to Marcelo Evangelista Pascasio and Emiliana Calla Bagaoisan on Sept. 4, 1931, third in a brood of seven who were named in alphabetical order – Alejandro, Benjamin, Conrado, Dominador, Eufemia, Victorio (out of sequence because he was born during the Liberation), Romeo, and Gloria. Word was, Conrado was the serious one among the siblings, so since their childhood, he scared the bejesus out of them.

Life was not easy in that household. They were taught to help with all the chores. While Benjamin and Dominador, supposedly the goodlooking ones, were out chasing the girls and attending fiesta dances, Conrado was helping out with the chores. Little wonder that, as a carry over to his youth, until he was too ill to do it, Conrado loved gardening, watering the plants, weeding the ground, cooking, folding laundry, ironing clothes, shining shoes, etc. He loved ironing the clothes of his grandson Yuri.

Conrado attended Nipaco Elementary School, then Paniqui South Elementary Schools, then off to Dr. Nicanor Reyes Memorial College to start his Bachelor’s degree. Despite his chores, he managed to stay on top of his class in high school, and graduated as Class Valedictorian. To celebrate this proud event, Conrado’s parents planned a big family party for him and reserved a pig for slaughter. Unfortunately, his sister Gloria got so sick and had to be brought to the hospital. Conrado told his parents to go ahead and sell the pig to pay for Gloria’s hospitalization.

Such selfless sacrifice for his family characterized his life. Due to poverty, he had to get out of school to give way to the studies of his younger siblings. He was a very dedicated student in pursuit of his dream of being a lawyer, so you can just imagine how difficult the decision was to stop school to help your parents support the family. He started working at the Philippine Virginia Tobacco Administration when he was 20. He started as a janitor and worked his way up the civil service ladder, a career which spanned 45 years and culminating in the position of Division Chief. Even as he was earning a paltry salary, his generousity knew no bounds. One incident was when he learned that a cousin of his was crying because her dad didn’t want to buy her a college ring; Conrado paid for his cousin’s college ring. He also helped his nieces and nephews with their college education. He also invited family members to work with him at PVTA and helped boost their application by putting a good word for them. He deprived himself of luxuries just to spread his good fortune around. He was frugal in lifestyle and raised his family in this same frugal way.

Not giving up on his dream of finishing school, he went back to college when he was in his 50’s. On his first day of school, he entered the classroom and the students stood up and greeted him a good afternoon thinking that he was the professor. His classmates liked to be with him in class because he loved participating in class discussions, which got them off the recitation list. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from Ortanez University in 1988, the same year that his wife Adoracion obtained her Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD), and her daughter, her Bachelor of Laws (Ll B). As previously stated, he was so frugal and self-denying that he would not go shopping nor spend on clothes. When he was rewarded a bonus for his length of service, he took his family shopping but did not spend a single centavo for himself. His daughter recalls that the first paycheck he received after she passed the Philippine Bar, he went shopping and bought himself several shirts in all colors of the color wheel.

This frugality characterized his lifestyle to his last breath. He would rather wear old shirts which have turned soft and thin over the years of washing, and glue the soles back on his favorite shoe, rather than wear new ones. When he was bedridden, he was embarrassed by his tattered shirts and asked for a forgotten luggage which he brought with him from the Philippines in 2007. Inside the luggage was brand new shirts, socks, and underwear which still had their tags on them.

Conrado was very particular about grooming. He would comb and flatten the hair of his grandchildren, straighten their collar, put creases on their pants, polish their shoes, iron their shirts, darn their socks, and sew on buttons, to name a few. To the extent he deprived himself, he was generous to his grandchildren. When he receives his money at the beginning of the month, he would call his grandson to his room and give him money. For his other grandson who was away at college, he saved an envelope where he would put an equal amount of that he would give him everytime he was home. Everytime he sees his grandson scrounging over for food in the fridge, he would order pizza, or buy ice cream.

Conrado loves gardening and working in the yard. He has a green thumb. He would stick a branch on the soil and it would live and grow. The day before trash day, he would pull weeds and trim the plants. He did this even when he started having backaches. He would sit on the ground and slide on his bottom from spot to spot to do it to avoid constant bending.

He is a polyglot. He can speak five languages fluently – English, Tagalog, Ilocano, Kapampangan, and Pangalatok. He has a smattering of Ilonggo. This shows that he has a sharp mind that he did not waste even when he stopped school. He loved reading the newspaper and watching the news.

Conrado loves sports – all kinds of sports – from basketball to lumberjack competitions. On top of the list, though, is boxing. He wanted to be a boxer in his youth; that’s why he never missed a Pacquiao fight, even after he was already bedridden. He would watch reruns of boxing bouts. He would even make notes of sports statistics.

But, much as he loves sports, he was a couch sportsman. The closest to sports playing he has come, is playing the lottery, which he never won.

He loves to write – from poems to speeches, from prayers to vocabulary words, from valedictory addresses to political speeches. His daughter recalls that town personalities who were asked to give a speech would contact him to write a speech for them. But more than his love for writing, he loves orating and giving speeches. He was asked to toast town celebrities, give eulogies, give honor to town beauties, and introduce guest speakers, who would, in fact, give the speech he has written for them.

Conrado is big on family. His pride of family extends to ensuring that you do not sully the family name. He is fiercely loyal to the family name, and makes no bones about letting a family member know that one’s transgressions affect the honor of the entire family. He is an honorable man; A strict disciplinarian who set moral standards that he himself does not breach. He may have his faults, as everybody does, but you will never say that he played to a different set of rules. What he expects of anybody, he imposes on himself.

Conrado Bagaoisan Pascasio is married to Adoracion Canonizado Echiverre. They were blessed with a daughter , Emiluz, who, with husband Albert Reyes, gave Conrado and Adoracion two very fine grand sons, Alberto (Luigi), aged 22, and Andrei (Yuri), aged 12.

Conrado was taken away from us on Dec. 24, 2016. He fought valiantly, but in the end, Stage 4 prostate cancer with extensive metastasis to the bones defeated him. He will be missed.