Telegram from Purgatory

By Fr. Eammon Fleming

It was summertime in Lanao del Sur, Mindanao. In that year 1974 there was turmoil in the Province. I was parish priest of St. Mary‘s parish in Marawi City and chaplain to the Mindanao State University. There had been an insurrection a few years earlier and since we were still under Martial Law there were many skirmishes between the army and the Moro National Liberation Force.

Students Stranded

During the Summer four young Christian students from a town on the other side of Lake Lanao called Balabagan came to the Mindanao State University (MSU) to the scholarship examination and they got board and lodging at the university for three days. Then the disturbance reached their town and they couldn’t return home. Two of the students were sons of a local public school teacher and the other two brothers with the most unusual surname Purgatorio were sons of the parish catechist in that town. When their funds ran out they naturally turned to the parish priest of St. Mary’s for help in that city of 45, 000 Muslims. Traditionally the parish Covento was open house to all Christian who were stranded. So I gave them free board and lodging for three weeks but eventually a decision had to be made as to which of the four would go home to inform the parents as to their whereabouts. I chose Michael Purgatorio and sent him off. He arrived home safe and sound and sent us a telegram to say that all was well.

Fatal Ambush

Four days later Michael and his younger brother Lito (who was not with us in Marawi City) decided to go on an errand to Cotabato City and they hitched a ride on a 6x6 army truck with some soldiers, a dangerous thing to do in the country even in peace time. The truck was ambushed by the rebels and Michael was killed. Lito got hit with shrapnel and a bullet pierced one of his insteps making a gaping whole. He was taken to the emergency ward of the local public hospitals in Cotabato and got first aid treatment for his wounds but as there was no payment forthcoming that was the extent of his medical treatment.

Recovery

Having heard of the sad news in Marawi City, I went to Cotabato and brought him personally to the orthopedic hospital of Dr. Angel Medina in Ozamis City where the Columbans had a Central House. After two or three months he recovered completely and was taken by an aunt to Cebu to pursue his third level of education in accountancy. After graduation he landed a good job in a supermarket in Davao City.

Happy Ending

Every October 28 I received a special telegram from Lito for my birthday and a card for Christmas. Last March we met for the first time in many years after I received the following telegram requesting me to solemnize his wedding to his beautiful wife Esther.

The invitation read:
“I could never forget the priest who saved my life and made it possible for me to walk again. Esther and I will be highly honoured if you will come to Davao and witness our exchange of vows in Holy Matrimony.”