NOW THEY MEET IN HEAVEN. OLYMPIAN IAN LARIBA AND DR. ALPHONSO DEL FIERRO HAVE NOW BEEN REUNITED WIITH THEIR CREATOR.
THE death of Dr. Alfonso del Fierro last April 3, 2020 was a shock to the local sports community particularly the football community here in Cagayan de Oro City.
The 73-year-old owner of Corpus Christi School in Macasanding and Pueblo is considered as the biggest supporter of sports in the City of Friendship.
He has turned Corpus Christi School not only into top notched educational institution but also a powerhouse in all sports which has overshadowed other bigger schools like Xavier University.
CCS has dominated local sports for a long time now and has even produced an Olympian, the table tennis great, the late Ian Lariba.
The school has also been a powerhouse in local football since Dr. Del Fierro introduced the sport to the school in 2015 when he hired veteran coach Wilbert Racines.
The Corpus boys dominated the local Cagayan de Oro Athletic Association (COAA) high school contest from 2015-2019 winning four titles allowing perennial rival Rosevale School to win only once in 2016.
They also won the COAA elementary boys football title in 2018 earning a place in the regional and eventually in the Palarong Pambansa in Davao in 2019.
Last year, the Corpus boys earned the right to represent Region 10 in the Palaro after winning the regional last December 2019.
They once again defeated Rosevale School in the COAA meet to gain the right to represent COAA in the regional.
They could have represented Region 10 in the Palarong Pambansa in Marikina, however the cruel COVID 19 virus has devastated the country and the Palaro is presumably cancelled.
The Dr. del Fierro formula of winning was very simple. Get a good coach who would later recruit the best athletes in Cagayan de Oro city and from other nearby provinces.
Then he gave the athletes scholarships and give them all out support. That formula is tested and not only used by CCS but also by other big schools in Manila and Cebu.
He did this not only in football but also in all the other sports. No other private high school in Cagayan de Oro is doing this.
No wonder CCS always wins. Just check the Regional 10 team which is supposed to compete in the Palaro this year and count how many of them are Corpus kids.
Aside from his love for sports, what really stood out for Dr. Del Fierro was his big heart. He has given free education to countless of poor athletes from all over the region.
However a particular event out from sports touched my heart in 2016 when I was the General Manager of SunStar CdO.
Our chief press operator during that time Miguel, had a daughter Mary Owen who was suffering from a brain tumour.
I organised a fund raising to collect money from our readers to help Mary Owen. We needed around P100,000 for the operation.
A doctor from Digos, Davao Oriental Dr. Daya volunteered his services but more money were needed for transportation, medication and for her recovery.
We raised more than half of the money needed but we still needed around P30,000 to make it easier for Miguel’s family and for Mary Owen to complete her recovery.
I told the family to pray hard. A week before she was scheduled for operation, I got a phone call from the secretary of Dr. del Fierro and was told to go to his office in Corpus Christi School in Macasandig.
It was for the first time that I met the Dr. del Fierro. We had a short talk and he then gave me P30,000 cash to complete the amount needed for the care and medications of Mary Owen.
He even told me not to mention his name in the newspaper. From that time on, I realised how big his heart was. It was also during that time that I recognised him and I remembered meeting him every Sunday at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Xavier Estates.
I then never failed to kiss his hand every time I met him in the Church to say hello. I wondered why the past months I have not seen him and his wife Cora in their usual place in the Church.
His children Mark and Marla and his grandchildren were always present during Church services. He was gravely ill with cancer and passed away during the Holy Monday (April 3, 2020) and was buried last April 13, 2020.
The Cagayan de Oro sports community lost an ‘Angel’ with a golden heart. The COVID 19 epidemic did not allow many athletes and people whom he helped to pay their last respect and visit his wake.
However, his legacy in Cagayan de Oro has been etched into the hearts of the people he touched like me and it is impossible to follow. (l.biantan@gmail.com)
