Back for the long haul

THE SOUTH China Sea is still as blue as in my dreams.

The “mesquite” trees, known as “romas” around these parts, are more robust in leaves and thorns.

The birds of paradise are in full plumage and the bougainvillea plants are reaching for the sky.

My wife and I are back in our Candon City place we christened “Della del Mar” on the Ilocos Sur coast.

The plan is to stay for the long haul, until it is time for the yearly visit with the kids and “apos” in Sacramento. The four grandsons are our share of what Ka Johnny Mercado calls “a sprinkling of stardust” in our not-so-youthful years.

After almost 25 years of state service and two tours of duty as a spokesperson for the Governor’s energy department, I finally found the heart to say goodbye to the troops.

But I would be lying like a dog if I tell you I don’t miss the action surrounding the life of a public information officer in Sacramento, the state capital of California.

At the seat of the sixth largest economy in the world, media managers do not let state officials, including Arnold, sing in public, shield their bosses from the “clusterf_ck” (the term assigned to the uncontrolled mob of news reporters lying in ambush) and are wont to hire lawyers as the face of state government.

A lawyer has the gift of gab, is cool under pressure, but does not end up as a spokesperson in Sacramento because of perception. If a barrister can stretch facts in the glare of the courtroom, he can stretch the facts outside of it.

So much for my life as a PIO since I have been ceremoniously sent to my retirement with a few memorabilia, including a signed photograph from the “governator” and letters of praise I have all framed for my library, courtesy of California’s Senate president pro tempore, a United States congresswoman, the assemblyman from my district and the mayor of Sacramento.

Hizzoner’s message has special meaning because, as a former NBA great, Kevin Johnson has helped me ease back to my other life as a sportswriter.

* * *

Emmanuel E.A. Perez de Tagle, whose sterling stint as writer and editor has become a lasting symbol of arguably the golden years of Philippine sports writing in the 70s, has died.

Tito Tagle was 82 when he left for that Big Press Box in the Sky.

Tito was an incurable romantic; he was fast with the ladies as he was with his pen. His “school” of journalism has produced some of the best reporters, columnists and editors in the business and nurtured media practitioners who became successful politicians and even jurists.

Farewell, old friend and thanks for being one heck of a teacher of literature in a hurry.