Cerge: ‘I will leave it to God’

When I met Cerge in October 1992 he was a Cebuano with capital C and Cebu was the center of his universe. I remember telling him that there are many other nice places in the Philippines but he insisted that there was no place like Cebu. A couple of years later he scolded me when he overheard me talking in Tagalog to a taxi driver in Cebu City. If you can’t speak Cebuano, he said, speak in English.

Cerge remained a Cebuano with capital C throughout his too short life, but his universe expanded as he got the opportunity to travel the country from Aparri to Jolo, as he would put it. He got so used to speaking in Tagalog that he would often use it when everybody else spoke in English.

Even when Cebu was the center of his universe, Cerge had dreams and ambitions that went beyond his native province. He had already established himself as a popular radio commentator in Cebu but his decision to run for Congress in 1992 forced him to leave radio broadcasting for a couple of years. After losing the elections to Rep. Raul del Mar, Cerge was appointed Director for International Affairs of the Associated Labor Unions. ALU owns VIMCONTU Broadcasting Corp. for which Cerge worked.

Cerge was not happy in Manila then. He lived in his office. He missed Cebu. But this was also the time that he started building his own network in Metro Manila. Cerge—who was able to regain his position as general manager of VIMCONTU—got more active in the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) and he represented ALU in various conferences.

Even after Cerge returned to Cebu in 1994 he continued to deepen his engagement in KBP. He became a director, then vice chairman and eventually chairman. He was nervous during the elections. In the early years he would retreat to the hotel room when the counting of votes started. Call me when its over, Cerge would tell me.

It was through KBP that Cerge got to work with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Cerge introduced me to Mrs. Arroyo sometime in 1995. Then a senator, Mrs. Arroyo was the guest of honor at the monthly KBP General Membership Meeting at Dusit Hotel. On that occasion, she became an honorary member of the organization. Mrs. Arroyo was keynote speaker at the KBP’s annual Top Level Management Conference even before she became president. However, during the ouster of President Joseph Estrada, KBP remained neutral. As Cerge—who was then the KBP national chairman—said, the organization had its Erap supporters as well and he could not allow KBP to be divided because of national politics.

After nine years in government service, Cerge was going to return to the private sector, this time print media. However, Cerge had also been “forced” to accept the request of lawyer Democrito Mendoza to become the second nominee of the Trade Union Congress Party. The old man (as Cerge and I would call him) was waiting for Cerge after the Fluvial Procession of the Sinulog on January 16 to talk to him about TUCP. Cerge couldn’t say no to lawyer Mendoza, his boss for many years and a man who treated Cerge as a son. But Cerge wasn’t happy about it either. He didn’t want anything to jeopardize his work as press secretary. He had also made a commitment to his future employer. We discussed back and forth the possible consequences of Cerge’s granting Atty. Mendoza’s request, and Cerge eventually simply said “I will leave it to God.”

Sometime early 2000, the KBP had a MOA signing with the Supreme Court. There were representatives from government, NGOs and even foreign agencies. I noticed how Cerge seemed to know everybody while his KBP friends from Manila—people who were born, grew up and went to school in Metro Manila—apparently only knew each other. Cerge compensated for his lack of influential relatives and classmates by reaching out to everybody.

This was Cerge. His dreams and ambitions coupled with hard work and his ability to reach out to people from all walks of life brought him from the market stall where he helped his mother sell mangoes and torta, to Malacañang. We will miss him. –MARIT STINUS-REMONDE, Manila Times

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