The other day, I met seaman Jose (Lito) Quadra who won first prize in our Christmas contest last December but couldn’t claim his bounty personally because he was at sea on a cargo vessel headed for Japan. While he was away, his wife Bernadeth and son Vince came to The Star office to pick up his prize. Lito had asked if we could meet when his ship comes in.
Lito was chosen as the first prize winner because he had the right answers to the three questions in the contest and his essay on what ails Philippine sports was on point. This was what he wrote: “The main reasons why Philippine sports can’t seem to progress are – 1. Low priority of the government in sports and athletic development due to insufficient funding, 2. Lack of world-class training centers, 3. Sports leaders whose leadership leaves a lot to be desired. I believe that we just need to be efficient in using funds given by the government and the private sector, like identifying sports where we excel, choosing well-deserved athletes and sending them to world-class tournaments to gain experience and boost their confidence. We also need to build cost-effective but world-class training centers to further improve our athletes’ performance and finally, for some of our sports leaders to step down and let the young and vibrant ones take over.”
The only thing I knew about Lito then was what he mentioned in his entry, that he was a seaman. My heart fell when I found out his wife suffered a stroke at the age of 44 four years ago and had to give up her job with the Phinma Group. She’s now 48 and Lito, 49. They have four children – Von Vienell, 29, a factory worker in South Korea; Inna Veronica, 26, a pharmacist whose office is in Ortigas; Vince Jorell, 25, an apprentice seaman and Frances Isaiah Viel, 10, a Grade 5 student. The family lives in Guagua, Pampanga.
Lito said he’s been a seaman for over 20 years, working in cargo ships on more than 20 contracts, averaging eight months each. He’s been employed at Unisea since 2012. Lito started in maintenance and now is a pilot’s assistant. He recalled crying on his first trip out because it got so lonely at sea but now, he’s used to the grind. Once, he went on a 30-day journey from Brazil to deposit coal in Cagayan de Oro where the ship was docked for 48 hours before moving on. His wife and eight other wives of co-seamen took a trip from Manila to Cagayan de Oro just to be with their husbands for two days. The longest port-to-port travel he endured on board was a 45-day trip from Australia and Germany.
Lito said he’s worked with Greeks, Ukrainians, Croatians and other foreigners from around the world. “They know Filipinos to be hard-working, loyal and honest,” he said. “I’m proud to be an OFW. Luckily, about 60 percent of my shipmates are Filipinos. We look out for each other. If there’s a Filipino in the kitchen, we get to eat Filipino food. If I’m on a shift, others who are off-duty download news on the internet and share with everyone on the ship so it’s like we have a 24-hour Filipino channel.”
Lito said he’s been a sports fan since he was a boy watching basketball games at the Rizal Memorial. “I’ve always been a Samboy Lim fan,” he said. “I watched Samboy when he was with Letran. I followed his career in the PABL playing with Jojo Lastimosa for Lhuillier. He was the first player I saw doing a 360. When he went to the PBA, I also watched his games. At the ULTRA, I remember Samboy grabbing an offensive rebound out of Bobby Parks’ hands from his own missed free throw and laying it in. He was such an exciting player and a good guy. I saw Samboy once at Megamall and approached him. He was injured at the time and I asked how his knee was. Samboy talked to me like we were old friends. It’s because of Samboy that San Miguel Beer is my favorite PBA team.”
Another player whom Lito idolized was Dondon Hontiveros. Among today’s promising stars, Lito said he admires NLEX’s Kiefer Ravena. “Kiefer plays like a 10-year veteran, not like a rookie,” he said. “He plays with a lot of heart and guts. In a FIBA game against Japan, he dove for the loose ball like he wasn’t afraid to get hurt. His father Bong was the Rookie of the Year in 1992 when Ato Agustin was the MVP. I’m a trivia buff so I know a lot of details about players. I remember even telling a friend that Danny Seigle came from Wagner College. During that time, there was still no Google but I got my information from The Philippine Star.”