A couple of years ago the picture below appeared in the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the story of an extraordinary little boy who in spite of having only one leg has became a great surfer. We covered his picture in our June-July 1999 issue.

SAN JUAN, La Union – more than a year after the story of one-legged surfer Ronnie Esquivel broke through the front page of the Inquirer, few things have changed in the boy’s life. The 15-year-old still lives in a 4X5-meter hut by the beach with his parents and four siblings, and uses every chance he could snatch between school and feeding chickens to do what he loves best — surfing.

High School Scholarship

His simple life has been spiced up only by occasional visits from media people who almost always asked him, much to his delight, the same questions that made him take a plunge into the waves for a good shot. Despite his media exposure, Ronnie has remained laconic and shy but always eager to share his story without expecting anything in return. Perhaps the best thing that happened to Ronnie since he gained public attention was when he received a full high school scholarship from San Juan Mayor Anturo Valdriz.

Addiction

For sometime now, he has been a full-fledged high school student with a passable academic performance at the La Union National High School in San Fernando City. Although he should be in school from 7am to 4pm, a few times, good waves would seem to beckon him and he could not help but cut classes, his mother Thelma said.

“Isa ka talagang kutong dagat,” she would tell the boy but quickly added that surfing was better than any other form of “addiction” that most youths are susceptible to these days. Thus, she has been reluctant to curb the boy’s passion. 

Gifts from tourist-friends

Perhaps another good thing that  happened is that Ronnie now has two surf boards, the latest being a brand new all-fiberglass short board gifted him recently by Australian surfing enthusiast Carl Schafer. Another tourist-friend has promised to bring him another board by yearend as a gift. It is not unusual for tourists billeted at nearby resorts to take a fancy on Ronnie and sometimes hand him some cash or treat him to meals. Such forms of encouragement from friends have not come to naught.

New maneuvers

Frequent practice plus a much brawnier adolescent body have also made Ronnie a better board rider. According to him, he can now do maneuvers, such as the 360-degree turn, the cutback and the reentry floater. With these new moves, he now looks forward to joining the national surfing competition on Jan. 2 in his hometown. 

At Christmas, the Exquivel family had lechon manok and pancit shared by 10 people, including a daughter-in-law and a grandchild. And on New Year’s Eve, perhaps a fare a bit more grand, if Thelma’ husband Rogelio, a utility worker of the Department of Public Works and highways, would receive his bonuses. “Siguro barbecue na lang; basta walang manok,” she quipped. She explained that her hardships in the past years seemed to have been caused by a practice of serving chicken, believed to make good luck take flight, on New Year’s Eve.
But when she did not serve chicken last year, things seemed to have become better for her family, she said. “Kahit ganito kami ngayon, kahit papaano, may nai-uulam kami sa kanin. Dati, minsan wala talaga,” she recalled.

Christmas Wish

What is Ronnie’s Christmas wish?  This writer waited for his answer as his mother stoked the fire in the wood-burning makeshift stove under a pot of rice. He was too shy to say and averted from my gaze by looking under the table. One could admire Ronnie for a lot of things. But I admired him because he was not one who considered himself disabled and different and was not one who would ask for help. Perhaps, had he not looked under the table, I would have forgotten that he had only one leg. Surely, he would be the last person to call himself a one-legged surfer. He surfs with passion and plays basketball and his latest injury is a scrape which he got while skateboarding another hobby he recently took up.

Artificial Leg

He has defied all the odds. He seems content to have the sea, his boards, his family, his friends and his school. But his mother said he has a hard time lugging his surfboard or his schoolbooks while holding on to his crutch. The first time he was interviewed by inquirer reporter, Jerry Esplanada, Ronnie said he was told that a foreign benefactor had promised, if not already donated, an artificial leg for him. Unfortunately on Esplanada’s return trip, Ronnie was not home to learn what had become of this promise. And there has been no more talk about his artificial leg since. Without his saying it, we already know what Ronnie’s Christmas wish is.