Full of Life, A Full Life

“Hi pads.” Whenever I was online, this will always be the greeting I would get from David in a private message on my Facebook. We would exchange private messages, updating each other on our plans and activities. He would share with me his recent climb to Mt. Apo, or his outreach project to Jolo or Mt. Pulag, or the peace mural in Camp Aguinaldo. He would also regularly send me invites for the gigs of Kinaiya or Makiling, hoping that I would be in Manila on the scheduled date. And everytime I would ask how each trip, project or gig turned out, he only has one word to describe his feelings – “saya!”

I met Andrew David Sicam on an outreach project to Camiguin Norte in 2011. I was the parish priest then of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish, a mission parish of the Dominicans in the Babuyan Islands. It was then that a group of volunteers was formed and came to be called “Selda Trese.” We were stranded for five days at the dormitory of the Franciscan sisters in Sta. Ana Cagayan. We were like prisoners left with nothing to do but to eat and sleep together in one dormitory before we got to cross to the island. We went back to Camiguin Norte in 2012 to help paint wall murals on a newly constructed public library for the locals. After that outreach project, I continued to keep in touch with this group of volunteers through the Facebook group called “Selda Trese.”

On the island, Debid, as we fondly call him, was our guitarist, our singer and our all around entertainer. There was never a dull moment with him. He always sees the bright and funny side of things, even when we were stranded on the island for a week and cannot go home as scheduled, due to bad weather.  He was an excellent “lechonero”, the group’s master chef who prepares the most delicious lechon on the island. In the summer of 2012, he brought along Agong to Babuyan Islands. I saw the joy in David being able to share with Agong the experience of watching the humpback whales in the waters of the Babuyan Channel. Indeed those bonding moments between father and son were priceless.

When I got assigned to Mindanao, I still got in touch with David. Having stayed in Davao City for a year, which happened to be David’s hometown, I got to pursue some activities with him whenever he was in town for a visit or a vacation. He taught me how to restore and play music on a “kuglong” that we bought from a souvenir shop in the city.  One time he volunteered to share his music to a group of Ata youth in our mission house in Davao City. That was just after their climb to Mt. Apo, where he brought along his 6 year old son Agong to the summit of the highest peak in the Philippines. I also requested him to compose and record a song for the typhoon Pablo victims in Mindanao. He came up with a song that inspired and gave hope to the survivors, which was fittingly entitled “Sa Ating Panahon (Babangon Tayo).” Last December, he was one of the resource speakers in a music retreat that we organized for a group of youth in Davao City. Those who attended the activity said they were truly inspired by what David shared with them.

Just recently, after having missed two chances of being able to summit Mt. Apo with David, I finally resolved to go with him on his next climb in August. I told him that this time I will surely go with him because it’s my 50th year. From our exchange of messages on Facebook, I felt his excitement with my promise to him that I will make it this time. I got the usual reply from him encapsulated in one word – “saya!”

Like most of his friends, it took sometime for me to accept the fact that David was gone, gone too soon. It was only after having read several news articles from social media about the accident that I finally came to accept that he has gone ahead of us. But with doing what he loves doing – celebrating life simply but fully, up to the last moment, was enough to say it was a full life no matter how seemingly short it was.

(On February 7, 2014, a bus with 45 passengers bound for Bontoc, Mountain Province, fell off a ravine near Bontoc. 14 passengers perished in the accident, including Andrew David Sicam, 35. His wife, Abigail is in critical condition while his sons Agong, 7, suffered minor bone injuries, and Amian, 4, sustained minor bruises.)