How Camille recovered from husband’s death

Losing a loved one is painful, all right, but it’s just a matter of time before you get over it.

“It’s how soon you accept the reality that he has already joined our Creator,” said Camille Prats who lost her husband Anthony Linsangan to cancer three years ago, a tragedy that cut short their three-year marriage which produced a son, Nathan, now six years old. She was 26 then.

Maybe it helped that during his year-long illness, Anthony had a chance to sort things out with Camille and thus prepared her and their son for a life without him.

“Of course,” added Camille, “it was very hard. The acceptance was easier because Anthony left me with a beautiful son. I see Anthony in Nathan. I am at peace knowing that Anthony is at peace, that he’s happy in the embrace of The Lord. It was a relief to see na tapos na ang paghihirap n’ya, that he’s free from pain already.”

When people ask her how she coped and was able to move on, Camille points to The One Above.

“Walang hindi nakukuha sa dasal,” Camille would tell them. As the song goes, let go, let it go, let it be. “Resist the temptation to dwell on the past. If you keep on torturing yourself with questions that have no answers…you know, ‘Bakit siya pa? Bakit siya namatay? Bakit ganito?…you will find it hard to move on. You just have to accept the fact that life has to go on.”

Other people keep a dear departed’s personal things, clinging to the desperate thought that, if ever he came back he would easily find his way. False hope.

“I keep some of Anthony’s things in a box,” admitted Camille, but she decided to give away some of them as part of moving on. “Otherwise, he might cling on to his life on earth which is not good; he has to be happy where he is now.”

The grieving period can be most trying because as time flies, the more intense the longing for the lost loved one becomes and the more acute the awareness that he’s no longer there, although his absence only makes you more aware of his presence in every nook and cranny of the house, of your life.

“Family support is very important,” said Camille. “Who else will you turn to? Who else will comfort you? My family and my friends have always been there for me. They keep me company, hindi nila nakakalimutang bigyan ako ng dahilan para tumawa at sumaya. I’m loved, I’m blessed. My son is there for me to hug and for him to hug me back.”

How did the loss of Anthony change the way Camille looks at life?

“I realized how short life is,” Camille sounded a bit sad, resigned. “You have to live life to the fullest. Dapat maging mabuti kang tao. You must make a good impression on people. Why make yourself and other people miserable if you can make it otherwise?”

Tianak and other horror movies

Did you know that before Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes directed Tiyanak (for Regal Films in 1988, with Janice de Belen) and remade it as T’yanak (with Judy Ann Santos) for the ongoing Sineng Pambansa Horror Plus Filmfest, there was a Tianak movie in 1932 starring Rosa del Rosario and Salvador Tinsay, produced by Jose Nepomuceno.

That’s what Funfare contributor Celso de Guzman Caparas found out in his research for the Tagalog Horror Films 1927-1954 which also includes Hiwaga sa Balete Drive (1954, starring Rosita Noble and Oscar Moreno, directed by Tor Vilano for Palanca Bros.) which is about a mysterious White Lady reported to be hitchhiking along that lonely street in Quezon City, a hoax confirmed by the late Nida Blanca who admitted in an interview with Philippine STAR that, with the connivance of fellow LVN star Delia Razon, she pretended to be that lady by covering herself with a white blanket. That misadventure caused them a tongue-lashing from LVN matriarch Doña Narcisa “Sisang” de Leon.

Other films on the list: Ang Manananggal (1927), Ang Multo sa Libingan (1931), Satanas (1932), Mang Tano (Nuno ng Mga Aswang (1932), Sa Labi ng Lumang Libingan (1932), Ulong Inasnan (1932), Ang Impierno sa Mundo (1932), Ang Aswang (1933), Doktor Kuba (1933), Sumpa ng Aswang (1935), Santong Diablo (1937), Bakas ng Kalansay (1937), Taong Demonyo (1937), Anak ng Kadiliman (1937), Ang Kamay na Bakal (1938), Tigre (Ang Taong Halimaw, 1938), Ang Tiktik (1941), Halimaw (1941), Ang Multo ni Yamashita (1947), El Diablo (1949), Kamay ni Satanas (1950), Satur (1951), Berdugo ng Mga Anghel (1951), Sandino (1952), Taong Paniki (1952) and Multo sa Opera (1954).

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