A Visit to an Old Classmate in Prison

Dear All,

I would like to share this email that I sent to my La Salle mailing list about a classmate I visited in prison. I improved it alittle but the message remains the same. It is the first time I went in the biggest prison in the land and I thought of it as a deep, enriching experience for both my classmate and myselfl. To those of you who have friends or relatives like Mark, I encourage you to visit them. You walk out of that place with a bit of pity but at the same time there is a feeling that you managed to cheer someone up even for awhile.

Have a Peaceful New Year.

Martin Velasco

Yesterday I visited a classmate in Muntinlupa. INSIDE the Bilibid Prison. Mark was my 2-B classmate (as in Grade School). Mark lived across LSGH Gate 8 and I used to hang with him at his house after class. His family was generous and kind, often giving Mark's pesky classmate ice cream, cookies or whatever you give 8-year olds after a day of school. This kindness and generosity are things that 8-year olds never forget. Mark stopped school for a year in Grade 5 to live in Europe for a year. In High School, he had to do Third Year again making him finish in '89. If I remember right, Mark won an over-all championship for his batch's sportsfest. He was that good in all sports back then.

I found out a few months back that he was in the slammer for a botched drug deal. I committed to visit him over the holidays to make sure he was there and to check on him. I also wanted to ask his permission to let the other classmates know of his plight. Why? I really do not know. It was like a voice in me said so. Being true to my word and myself, I made good on my promise. Besides, I do not really recall the last or if there was any "meaningful" act that I did for Christmas (or whatever occassion for that matter).

I got to Bilibid way past visitng hours at about 5:00 pm. It was my first time to go inside the facility. It was eerie, bordering on the bizarre. When you register, you get a stamp on the wrist that will identify you as a free man as opposed to the 12,000 inmates living on the other side of the thick, cold iron bars. Yup. 12,000 as in thousands of inmates. It was a cool late afternoon nearing sunset, the Northern winds gave that pleasant nippy January breeze that really make the steel bars colder. From the second gate where they call out the inmate, the place actually looked like a public park, bustling with activity, a lotta people (even foreigners) in orange shirts, beach shirts and sandals. Like I mean throw in a guy selling balloons, balut and fishball or DVD vendors and its Luneta on a Sunday. Most visitors allowed inside were leaving.

Let's just say I "preferred" to stay in the controlled area to wait. No, I was not thinking of things like my recent visit to my other classmate Dr. Leo Ona and the steel rod boa for my rectal exam.... I was also not afraid that my stamp would be erased somehow. I swear I was not afraid. Really. Anyway....

Mark was paged and out he came after about 20 minutes. I did not recognize him because aside from being in an orange shirt, he looked great. Prison tennis and qutting drugs was his therapy. He is in the same building as the Vizconde Boys (Hubert et al) and is a member of Sputnik. I got a chance to see his tats. For those of you who wanna get nice tats for a hundred bucks, Mark can refer you to his guy. I am serious. When Mark came out he did not recognize me and was actually very surprised that a classmate was there. Out of pity, I hugged him with no shame. He later told me he does not get much visitors aside from his bro and sister. We chatted talked life over a cold Coke Zero and prison monay bread. I gave the guards some drinks as as well since they were nice to allow me in even after visiting hours. Mark told me how he got there (Manila City Jail 2 years and Bilibid for a year), his life, memories of grade school. I recall that I used to bump into Mark at parties and bars back in the day, (He used to manage Giraffe) and also at Subic when I was working there. Mark remembers those times.

There awas a point in my visit that Mark mentioned how hard his life was. According to him, the jailhouse is not as bad as depicted or percieved to be. Nevertheless, it is hard, the food sucks, eensie weensy living space with a lot of convicts. Amusingly, you can DVD yourself to death in there. I shared my difficulties with Mark. I could only say that we all have struggles and that we are in our own prisons somehow. To some, prison is walking this Earth all alone. Mark is outrageously gay btw. Things like that don't matter among classmates.

It was getting dark. I had to go. I asked Mark what else I could do for him, what he needed. Mark did not ask for money or anything like that. He said he would appreciate visits and reading materials for the library. Back issues of Popular Mechanics, Gadget stuff, National Geographic, Reader's Digest would be great according to him. These materials would help him pass the time for his Life or about 20 year sentence If you ask me, classmate visits to him would be nice. If you guys can't, a text would be fine (+63920) 5045599 . You can also bring reading materials to our next reunion that I would gladly deliver to him. I am glad I visited him. At least, I was able to genuinely cheer up an old friend in my own little way.

I left. As I walked away through the now darker hall, feeling the night breeze getting colder, I looked back at Mark being frisked, going back in from the holding area. Mark was smiling. I knew that he wasn't smiling that way for some time. To our classmates who know Mark, maybe you can also do something for him. In your own way.