Finding the house of Roberto "Ironman" Coloma was the easy part. The first person we asked as soon as we got to Slaughterhouse Barangay gave precise directions. Ron, Geoff, and myself walked down to a Y in the road and at the meager dwelling where he used to live, his mother met us.
Mrs. Coloma is in her 80s but she is still sharp and sprightly. We, on behalf of our batch mates, offered our deep condolences and the token amount that we collected (Php19,000) and expressed that we have not forgotten about him. She narrated Roberto's last days. This was the hard part.
He came home one day from work complaining of a bad head ache. When he took off his hat, his mother noticed that his hair was all clumped and stuck to his head. After a couple of days without any improvement they brought him to the hospital where a CT scan - which Mrs Coloma showed to us - revealed a big tumor in his brain. About a week later, he passed away.
He did not leave much on this earth. His mother and sister are his closest relatives in Baguio. His own family - a wife and three children - all perished in a ferry accident over ten years ago. They were on their way back to Baguio from a trip to Davao where Roberto used to work in a mining firm. He took it very hard and has not been the same since.
The doctor who diagnosed him said that Roberto must have known about his symptoms for a while but probably chose to keep them to himself, not wanting to be a burden to his mother and sister.
Or maybe he decided his terminal condition was the quickest way to be with his loved ones again.
