I WAS not really that close to Sen. Raul Roco.

        I met him once during our student days when the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) which he organized had a national convention in Naga City (Colegio de Sta. Isabel). After that, our paths never crossed until after the 1987 congressional elections that he almost lost to Mrs. Virginia Felipe-Perez, the sister of Rep. Ramon H. Felipe.

        Raul must have known that I had brought Mrs. Perez and her son to Peping Cojuanco, along with the late Rep. Elfren Sarte and Rep. Edcel C. Lagman, both of Albay, my very close friends.

        As head of the special desk on the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao during the Marcos years, I was the one who knew all the Muslim leaders who were then affiliated with the Lapian ng Bagong Lipunan of President Marcos, from Ali Dimparo of Lanao to Bob Tugung of Basilan.

        So when Mrs. Margarita “Tingting” Cojuanco was appointed presidential assistant on Muslim Mindanao, she came to my office after EDSA 1 because she needed someone to coordinate with her on the Muslim leaders, some of whom would go directly to her house in Dasmarinas Village from the airport with their luggage and expect to be attended to. That’s how Peping and Tingting came to know me, and I became a frequent guest in their home.

        So when I learned that some congressional candidates were trooping to the house of Peping for campaign assistance, I wrote him a memo about helping Elfren and Edcel. But when I got the call to go to their house with Elfren and Edcel, Mrs. Perez came along to visit Tio Isong Calleja, the finance chief in Malacanang, and Tio Isong (I was then in his office) asked me to help Mrs. Perez, too. So I brought her to Dasma with me, and she got her share of the logistics from Peping.

        After the elections, Elfren, who had visited Peping to thank him and express his support for Peping to be Speaker, invited all Bicolano congressmen to dinner at the Quezon City Sports Center, to endorse me as House Secretary, with the blessings of Peping. Along with my friend the late Rep. Moy Tapia of Catanduanes, Elfren had prepared an endorsement for me, to be signed by all Bicolano Congressmen.

        The group of Raul Roco, Elfren Sarte, Moy Tapia and Edcel Lagman were seated around one round table, while my wife, Mrs. Roco and I were in a separate table. There was a commotion at the table of Raul, because after signing the endorsement, he got the paper back and crossed his name in anger. Elfren had to pacify him, and after the facts were explained to him, he calmed down and signed again on top of his crossed signature. He thought I was Louie Villafuerte’s “spy”. The late Boboy Alfelor told him that I came from his district and that his late father and my father were Liberals. Raul apologized to me. I did not get the House secretaryship because of the Almonte incident, but that’s another story.

        Years later, when Raul was already a Senator, then DOLE Secretary Leo Quisumbing got a call from Raul’s staff to attend a sub-committee of labor meeting headed by Raul to discuss a bill giving women with desminoria (menstruation) a sick leave of absence of at least three days. It was an administration bill, and as DOLE Assistant Secretary and legislative liaison, I was tasked to assist in defending it. Raul (he was almost always punctual in these sessions), was the first Senator to arrive and we had time to chat in Bicol (Raul almost always talks to you in Bicol if you are a Bicolando). He asked for my personal opinion on the bill. I gave it to him: the bill is discriminatory to men and other women who are already menopause and those who do not menstruate regularly. During the hearing, and without putting me to embarrassment as I had the official version in front of me, which was the opposite of what I told him, Raul cleverly steered the discussion to my personal observation, and that was what appeared in the minutes. The bill died on the vine. I was hooked to Raul Roco from then on. I worked long and hard for his presidential campaign. Like many others, I spent time and treasure in the hope that he will become the next President of the Philippines. It was not be. Raul Roco was the best President this country could have had.