PILAR, Bataan- She may be confined to a wheelchair and can no longer walk and see, but the mind and hearing of Teodora “Doray” Baluyot who celebrated her 100th birthday Friday are still sharp.
Thanks, perhaps, to her being cheerful, tirelessly and repeatedly singing songs like her rendition of “Ay, Ay Kay Lungkot” and “Bukid ay Basa”, among some others. And maybe for her fondness for “paksiw na isda, sinigang sa kamatis na isda,” vegetables and shrimps.
“Mahilig siya sa paksiw na isda at hinalabos na hipon sa almusal,” said retired school teacher Rosa Valerio, 70, one of her eight children with one already dead. Of the seven living children, two are businessmen, two retired members of the United States Navy, one a retired budget analyst, one a farmer and another one a teacher.
Asked for her birthday wish, the centenarian said “sana maging maligaya tayong lahat at humaba ang buhay.
Maalis lahat karamdaman sa ating katawan para maging masaya.” “Magmahalan kayo, magtulungan at laging manalangin sa Diyos,” Rosa quoted her mother as always advising them. Hearing this, the old woman recited “Ama Namin.”
“Very blessed kaming magkakapatid dahil mabuting asal ang itinuro sa amin ng aming ina. Humaba pa sana buhay niya sapagka’t siya ang inspirasyon namin at gabay,” said Rodolfo Baluyot, 60, the youngest child and retired member of the US Navy. Rosa said their mother dissuaded them and even the granddaughters from eloping with their boyfriends.
“Ayaw niyang maulit ang nangyari sa kanya na 16 na taong gulang pa lamang siya ay nagtanan at nag-asawa na,” she said. She said that their farmer- father and mother sacrificed a lot rearing all of them by selling palay grains in Olongapo City. Her mother became a widow in 2001.
During the Holy Mass held in the residence of Rosa in Bantan Munti, Pilar the centenarian opened her lips trying to sing the Christian songs. In “Hallelujah” and the “Lord’s Prayer,” the old woman was in high spirits joining in the singing and prayer. When Fr. Josue Enero, parish priest of Pilar, led in the singing of “Happy Birthday,” the old woman sang with the audience, clapping her hands.
When the singing stopped, she alone continued singing the birthday song. “Maraming salamat,” the centenarian said when asked by the priest what she wanted to tell her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and other relatives.
She has 31 grandchildren and 53 great grandchildren from eight children. “Kami ang dapat magpasalamat sa inyo dahil inspirasyon kayo sa amin,” Fr. Enero said. The old woman suffered a fracture in one of her legs about two years ago and since then was resigned to her wheelchair. Glaucoma blinded both her eyes five years ago.
