PANABO CITY — Perhaps it was by fate that I found myself roaming inside the Divine Mercy Sanctuary.
Auntie Carmen (Igpit-Diamante) told the family members to pay a visit to the Divine Mercy Sanctuary Chapel located at the White Sand Beach in Barrio San Pedro, here and offer our prayers.
After that, uncle Pol Diamante, a long-time Kaabag at the Sto.Nino Parish, started to tell us a little history of the place and how the family made its fortune in the banana industry and then built the Divine Mercy Sanctuary that has been used for free by churchgoers.
Being a Bol-anon and coming from a pioneering family in Panabo, auntie Carmen would always take the opportunity to visit a church and offer a prayer. In fact, the family has been attending the Misa De Gallo.
When uncle Pol eventually recalled the family name, Puyod, I started to talk about Mauro Puyod, or Dr. Mauro Puyod to others, to friends, Doc Maui, who is a dentist by profession and who dearly loves editorial cartooning and mountainbiking.
The staff present at the gate confirmed that it is indeed the Puyod Family who owns the Sanctuary and told me and auntie Carmen that Doc Maui’s ashes was laid to rest there.
So surprised, that I shouted Maui’s name telling him that I am around and would like to say Hi!
Before Mauro’s passing, he has been planning to visit the Alberta Province’s Banff and Jasper towns in the summer to test his mountainbiking skills in Canada.
So, I told him in one of our FB video talks that he is always welcome to come, a good excuse for me to take a break and go back to the mountains again.
You see ladies and gentlemen, Doc Maui is a good friend to sportswriters that started when he promoted the Davao All-Terrain Bikers Association (DATBA) in the 1990’s. We became part of the PR team when DATBA organized the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asian Grown Area (BIMP-EAGA) Mountainbiking Competition in Samal Island.
But Doc Maui “left” this world early and the planned trip to Canada did not happen.
If he happens to be around the Sanctuary, we could have again raised our glasses of beer and talk about mountainbiking all over again.
But Doc Maui “left” too early.
Uncle Pol said that it is always “sayang” for good people to leave this world early. And I totally agree.
Davao sportswriters have very easy access to mountainbiking news because Mauro was quick to give us an update before. He would even drop by at the weekly Davao Sportswriters Association (DSA) Forum to give us an update.
That’s Mauro.
We always talked about the good things in life, mountainbiking development and how our beer tastes so good when it is ice cold, LoL.
What I am saying, dear friends in the sports community is that life is short, so we must do what needs to be done.
And since it is just a few days before Christmas, let us be reminded to be like Doc Maui, always sporting a positive attitude despite the challenges in life, always wearing a wide smile when seeing friends and share a bottle or two of San Miguel Beer, when necessary, LoL.
To you Doc Maui, I will raise my bottle of San Miguel Beer and say, see you around my good friend and keep on mountainbiking Up There.
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