The life story inspires Justice Edgardo L. delos Santos (Eddie to his family, classmates and townmates) to dream big, fueled by the heartfelt appreciation of his parents and siblings of the modest academic honors that he consistently received since his elementary years. Born on June 12, 1952, Eddie has always abided by the teachings of his parents to do his best, never be arrogant, never complain but always remain optimistic.
As a shy and quiet boy, he enjoyed collecting slogans, quotations, adages or proverbs, and realized that they can help him chart his future, and not solely rely on fate or destiny. These mottos pointed him towards the direction of his goals, and inspired the young Eddie to pull the best from within him into the outside.
“Shyness is no good comrade for a needy man” is one line he remembers after reading Homer’s Iliad and the Odyssey.
Awareness of this caveat notwithstanding, it still took him several years to overcome timidity, occasioned by the disparaging thought that he was born in the coastal town of Palompon, Leyte to a small-time fisher and a dressmaker whose presence was a source of strength to her husband and their children.
When not attending classes, Eddie would help his father paddle their small banca to his father’s fish corral, as early as 4 in the morning. He is the ninth of 12 children. Seven girls were born first, followed by five boys; three of his sisters died either at birth or during infancy. Thus, Eddie knew early on the hardship of a big family, and the need for sacrifices, perseverance, and hard work. What struck him most was the admonition of his father to value education and hard work, and not to be content in being a fisherman like him — working under the scorching heat of the sun or paddling out to sea amidst thunder, lightning, and rain.
To help augment the meager income of his parents who were then spending for three sisters in college aspiring to become teachers, Eddie did menial jobs like grinding cacao for his neighbors who were selling native tsokolate. He would also peddle charcoal, buko ice drop, puto or suman-cassava, in addition to selling fish caught by his father. Together with friends, he would gather firewood from the mountains on the weekends. He was also the family labandera throughout his high school years.
His lived an austere life as a student, marked by the backwardness of that era. He went to school barefooted, and was only able to wear his first pair of “Dragon” rubber slippers when he was the school’s contestant in the General Information category competed by top students in the region. His classmates, the principal, and his class advisers always designated him as group leader, and they would work on their projects under the street lamp because his house had no electricity; only dim and flickering kerosene lamps. He was consistently elected class president of Section A in elementary and high school.
Eddie finished high school without having to rent and pay for any books, relying only on books borrowed from his classmates before the start of classes.
Frugal living extended to university days in Cebu. His parents based in Leyte would send him bundles of firewood, food and other provisions which he would carry on his shoulders from Pier 3 to his lodging house about 500 meters away. Even up to the time he was taking up Law, he would do his own laundry, and prepared the meals for his two siblings. His parents’ kind of upbringing — instilling the values of honesty, humility, hard work, perseverance, and self-sacrifice — has been deeply-ingrained that even to this day, “Justice Edsa” lives like that person born and raised in a small coastal town in Leyte where simplicity is synonymous with contentment.
His discipline and unwavering commitment to realize his goals paid off, and he eventually graduated in 1977 with a law degree from the University of San Carlos in Cebu. He took the Bar the same year, and hurdled it with a rating of 83.8 percent. He immediately landed a job in the judicial branch as legal researcher of then Judge Abelardo Dayrit of the Court of First Instance of Manila, Branch 399. Prior to his judgeship appointment, Eddie was Court confidential attorney of Chief Justice Felix V. Makasiar.
On April 27, 1983, Eddie was appointed as Municipal Trial Court judge at the age of 30, and got married the next year on May 19. With the meager salary of an MTC judge, he gained the moniker “habal-habal Judge” in Negros Oriental as he would devotedly drive his wife to work and their three children to schools on his Honda EconoPower motorbike — to the amusement of the people. After two more children were born, the habal-habal Judge upgraded his “service” to a pedicab that could sit about six.
As a father, he would equally share with his wife the burden of rearing their five children. When their children were infants, he would also wake up to bottle-feed them or change their diapers. He believes his voice has greatly improved after continuously singing lullabies to each of his five children. As they say, “Practice makes perfect.”
From1987 to 1993 as Executive Judge of the Municipal Trial Court in Dumaguete until his promotion as RTC Judge of Bacolod City, his attentiveness to his children continued even when they were of school age. To this day, lawyers and his staff remember one time during a recess from a Court hearing when Judge Edsa sneaked out for about 15 minutes to deliver the baon of his kids in school.
He seemed like the perpetual president of the PTA, from the pre-elementary years up to the high school years of each of his five children. As he would say, he would rather join organizations that would benefit his children.
The more that 200-kilometer distance between Dumaguete and Bacolod never deterred him from watching and actively participating in the school activities of his children. Almost always, he would use up his vacation leave credits to attend his children’s Recognition Day in Dumaguete, for example, without sacrificing his work obligations in Bacolod. He would always find himself rushing home to Dumaguete each time Bacolod had a non-working holiday. It was simply because of his Family First outlook in life.
The extent of what a father will go through for his family was tested during the infamous fiasco of a college assurance plan company that affected three of his children. He remembers having to bear the humiliation of pleading for exam permits from business office personnel and officials of Silliman University, at times signing promissory notes. He would hear sarcastic remarks, short of ridicule, why he was making such requests. That went on for the next four semesters. At that time, he was Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals.
Looking back, Justice Edsa — who was RTC Judge for 16 years in Bacolod, and now Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals for the last eight years in Cebu while his family continues to live in Negros Oriental — can say he has modestly accomplished his role as a caring father, distance notwithstanding. Four of his children are now professionals going into their second courses, while his youngest is a Grade 6 pupil.
Perhaps Eddie has achieved more than what his fisherman father had envisioned for his son. Perhaps Justice Edsa cannot be prouder of the achievements he has attained as padre de familia, all of which were borne out of that admonition from his father long ago in Palompon not to be content in being a fisherman like him — working under the scorching heat of the sun or paddling out to sea amidst thunder, lightning, and rain.
Sometimes in life, the humblest of our past ends up creating our noble future. Together with his wife, Justice Edsa continuous to struggle to live up to the saying that “Parents are the bones on which children sharpen their teeth.” (Contributed biography)
