Araw ng Kagitingan: Remembering my grandpa

Today is 77th commemoration of the Araw ng Kagitingan and President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte is expected to go to the Mt. Samat National Shrine in Pilar, Bataan, and honor our dead heroes and the remaining veterans of World War II. I also suggest that we use this day to honor the Filipino soldiers who died fighting for Marawi City and the 24 Special Action Force troopers who died in Mamasapano.

Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor) is for those Filipinos who gave their lives for our country. Actually, Araw ng Kagitingan is an important date for my family as our maternal grandfather, Captain Valeriano Jamal Segura (yes, I was named after him) died fighting the Japanese in Bataan. My late uncle, Colonel Manuel F. Segura (who died five years ago) would encourage me to visit Mt. Samal to honor my grandpa, but then this is still in my bucket list.

My uncle told me that after the end of the war (he was one of the guerrillas under Colonel James Cushing of the Cebu Area Command) he went to Bataan to try and find the remains of his father, Captain Segura. He told me that there were army details scouring the mountains of Bataan, and he was told that Captain Segura could have been buried in a few places where the Philippine Scouts retreated until the Japanese troops surrounded them.

Thus, many Army soldiers told my uncle, Colonel Segura, that they collected thousands of bones in Bataan and told him that his father’s remains must be among those they dug and placed in one area. He was told later that these bones were taken to Manila and buried at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani. At this point, we can only surmise that the bones of my grandfather were interred with the other bones. I never met my grandfather, but I served during my time in the Reserve Officers Training Corps to honor him.

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Last Saturday I decided to go to Anda, Bohol, as I did not join my bike group in their ride to Iloilo City to join the National Federation of Motorcycle Clubs of the Philippines (NFMCP) at the Iloilo Convention Center. By evening, a friend of mine sent me a short video of President Duterte speaking before the big bikers and on stage, I also saw Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino. So while the president was speaking I texted Dino if the president discussed the important issues of the motorcycle world; the issue about license plates.

Dino texted back and told me that President Duterte plans to suspend the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act. President Duterte told the bikers that he will suspend the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act, which he signed recently, because it is not good for motorcycle riders. He signed Republic Act 11235 last March 8, requiring motorcycles to have larger and more readable license plates as a way to prevent crimes committed by the so-called riding-in-tandem. The president also said that he will discuss the matter with the Land Transportation Office and Senator Richard Gordon, the author of the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act, in order to come up with a fair solution and compromise.

I’ve been writing on this issue since the president signed this bill into a law and told Manolet Lamata, chairman emeritus of the NFMCP to make this the main issue during the 25th national convention because I was more than sure that they will invite the president to be the main speaker in this convention. As far as the issue of the size of the license plates is concerned, President Duterte stressed that he is amenable to increasing the size of the license plate but only from a fourth its current size. “Make it larger, especially the license plates in the rear. What is important is the rear plate,” the president stressed.

Another issue that was brought into the open was the issue of installing license plates in front of the motorcycle. This was declared as “dangerous” by President Duterte. Indeed, only a biker can understand why this is dangerous and President Duterte was a member of Davao City’s On Any Sunday Motorcycle Club. So he knows what he is talking about. During our last ride to Davao City, I met then mayor Digong on his Yamaha 1100 Virago, a bike that I also rode to Davao City.