A farewell to one of ‘Manila’s Finest,’ a solon who was proud to be a policeman

Former Senator Robert Z. Barbers died on Christmas Day – and his friends and admirers, like myself (indeed, he was in a way a "nephew" of mine) were well aware of the significance of his leaving this pale of ours on the feastday of the Christ Child, for throughout his life Bobby had been a devotee of the Sto. Niño – the Holy Infant of Prague. At the necrological Mass in the San Francisco chapel of the Santuario de San Antonio in Makati, there was, above Bobby’s coffin a little statue of the Infant Jesus, saluting, in police uniform.

On the chapel wall was a portrait of the Senator in his police officer’s khakis. Bobby Barbers was a fighting cop, for all his subsequent success in politics – a courageous law and order man throughout his career. And for this he will proudly be remembered.

When he began to lose his voice when cancer of the throat seized him in 2001, it could be said that this was awful for a politician who was both blunt in speech and forthright in action. However, Bobby bore this affliction with the accustomed courage and forebearance.

Although he had been born in Surigao City – his sons are political leaders in Surigao del Norte – Robert Zagala Barbers’ original roots are in our province of Ilocos Sur. His uncle was my cousin, the formidable Police General and former Vice-Mayor of Manila, James "Jimmy" Barbers – the Barbers family hailed from Cabugao, Ilocos Sur, but their grandfather had been an American soldier. It was family "legend" that the Barbieri clan, originally from Sicily, were a Cosa Nostra family – Jimmy used to tell us with a wink that some of his "cousins" over in New York and Chicago were Mafiosi. True or not, the Barbers always had that gutsy approach to problems typical of the old gangland clans, but in our country they were dedicated to law enforcement, not vice-versa.

It had been Uncle Jimmy, then chief of the INP-Western Police District, who enlisted Bobby in the police force. Bobby, an honor student and student leader, topped the exams for enlistment in the Manila Police Department, it goes without saying.

I knew Bobby from his days as a young police lieutenant. From patrolman, he rose from the ranks to become one of the toughest gangbusters of "Manila’s Finest" – a title our Manila policemen copied from "New York’s Finest," the NYPD. His 27 years as a cop were distinguished by the solution of major crimes and the personal arrest of some of the most powerful ganglords.

For instance, when serving under Fred Lim, Bobby and Captain Rey Jaylo arrested the much feared Drug Czar, "Don Pepe" Oyson, despite his army of bodyguards, then, in the NBI blue van, a scuffle ensued in which Oyson was said to have grabbed for a gun, but was shot dead in the melee. (There was not much grief over Oyson’s demise since, among his "suspected" crimes, had been the abduction, torture and murder of a journalist who had been writing exposes on the drug menace, Tim Olivarez).

Some of you will remember the movie made about Barbers’ exploits as a crime buster, Bobby Barbers – Parak. (Anyway, thank goodness, nobody will make a movie about yours truly).

Inevitably, Bobby went into politics, being elected to the House of Representatives in 1992 (2nd district of Surigao del Norte), a congressional seat his son, Rep. Robert Ace Barbers occupies today (having served two terms already, one of the original "Spice Boys", I might add).

For Bobby, from congressman to Senator was just hop, skip and jump. In both his House of Representatives and Senate roles, it was always clear that his first love – in truth his passion, was law enforcement. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Illegal Drugs, he continued tirelessly combatting criminality, injustice – and dangerous drugs. In his first Senatorial term, he filed over a hundred bills involving both law enforcement and peace and order.

When he was Secretary of the Interior and Local Government, Bobby was in his element. He went in with a will. Nothing more need to be said.

We will miss him most because he was a fighter all the way. And, a very human person at the same time. What’s more, Bobby was truly devoted, without cosmetics, to the Santo Niño, crediting the Christ child for his every success.

This was not mere lip service. When my wife Precious and I arrived in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2001, who did we bump into the airport there but Bobby, his wife Virgie, and almost the entire family. It turned out that immediately after electoral victory, all of them had flown to Prague to "thank" the Santo Niño de Praga – the Holy Infant of Prague – in his own shrine. (This is the same Sto. Niño of Cebu, as well as of China and Vietnam, all of which countries venerate the miraculous statue of the original Infant Jesus).

The Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague in the Mala Strana has been the home of the little statue of the Sto. Niño for four centuries. We were surprised on our first visit there to find the Sto. Niño so tiny, but bedecked in beautiful gowns, some of the most gorgeous donated as offerings by Filipinos. Here’s the story of that miraculous Holy Infant statue – so venerated by many of us, especially the late Bobby:

The original Carmelite Monastery of Our Lady of the Victory in Mala Strana in Prague was its first resting place. In the year 1631 the Saxons invaded Prague and the plundering did not bypass the monastery. The sculpture of the Child Jesus was thrown out with the waste behind the High Altar. Here Father Cyril a Matre Dei found it when he returned to the abandoned church in Mala Strana from Munchen. The sculpture was damaged. After many attempts in vain, Father Cyril was happy to get some money from a Prague citizen for repairing the broken arms. The Infant Jesus thus became again the object of worship and a number of miracles were linked to the statue and also the protection of Prague from the Swedes.

At first the Infant Jesus was placed in the chapel of the Holy Rood. In 1741 because of the great number of pilgrims, it was transferred to the side altar of St. Joachim and St. Anne, opposite the miraculous picture of the Virgin Mary of Mantua. The Altar in its construction shows two lines. The vertical line goes from the Holy Ghoste via God the Father to the Child Jesus. The other – horizontal line passes from the Virgin Mary over the Child Jesus to St. Joseph. These represent the two levels of the human and the divine family. At that time small silver pieces like links were placed around as signs of thanksgiving. This peaceful time did not last long. After the death of the Empress Mary Theresa, her son Joseph II followed her on the throne in Austria. He abolished the Carmelite monastery on July 3rd 1784. The church became a parish, that was administered by the Maltese Knights.

In the 19th century the fame of the miraculous Infant Jesus spread to the Spanish speaking countries of South America and Italy. And not only there. In some monasteries they used a special liturgical prayer to the Infant Jesus of Prague. Many far away Asiatic countries are thanking the Infant Jesus for miracles, like the Philippines, China and Vietnam.

Now that Bobby Barbers is "home" in the arms of his beloved Infant Jesus, we rejoice – not mourn him. May he accept, this tardy, final salute!