By J. Irving

I am a proud Daeteño.

To be from Daet is to carry a quiet, enduring pride—rooted in history, shaped by struggle, and anchored in home. It formed my values, my identity, and the place where my heart will always return.

This Holy Week, at 70, I reflect with pain. I feel abandoned by kababayans—people who now refuse to return what my mother entrusted to them, believing it is easy to take advantage of the old.

Yet Daet is not a place of smallness— it is a place of courage. From Ildefonso Moreno to Vicente Lukban, Wenceslao Vinzons, and Francisco “Turko” Boayes—their lives remind us what it means to stand for honor.

I do not claim their greatness. But as a soldier, I lived by the same spirit: “Hindi bale na mamatay, huwag lang mapahiya.” At Pata Island, facing death, I told my men: “Kung mamatay lang rin tayo, ipakita natin na tayo ay hindi duwag.” In that moment, I thought only of my mother what her town-mates would learn — while being laid to rest in Daet cemetery, beside my father.

Even as a cadet at Philippine Military Academy, I carried Daet with pride. I had no permanent home—only an identity. And that identity was Daet. 

My parents never had a house in Daet, or anywhere else. We stayed with cousins during summertimes. I consider myself as a nomad, joining my family living inside camps wherever my father was assigned as a constable.

Our town has given the nation voices like Ricky Lee and Robin Padilla, and it stands as the home of the first Rizal monument—proof that even a small town can lead in patriotism.

But beyond history, Daet is its people—resilient, proud, and bound by community. That is why this hurts. Because being Daeteño means honor, fairness, and respect for what is right.

I ask, not in anger but in hope, that those entrusted—Atty. Debbee Francisco, Kapitan Cocoy Villarin, and the barangay officials (Edwin Sayson, Luis Baldorado, Danilo DeQuiros Jr., Arnel Luna, and Simeon Naing) – to remember what it means to be a Daeteño. Please allow me to build a house on my mother’s lot. I seek peace, not conflict, in the place where I wish to spend my final years.

To be Daeteño is to carry both strength and humility—to honor what is right, even when it is difficult.

And despite everything, I still say with pride: I am from Daet.

Addendum:

• https://patamassacre.data.blog/2006/02/12/the-pata-island-massacre-who-cares/
• Other graduates from Daet (as provided by Admiral Adel Bordado ‘88), are: the three Lukbans (Tony ’56, Manny ’61 and Pochong ‘83),  Art Mancenido ‘77, Ping Layos ‘85, Arnulfo Pajarillo ’85, Cris Naing ‘00  Jowi Martinez 05 and Jed Martinez ‘10.. 
• There will be more alumni from Daet because Efren Yebra ‘80 (from Paracale) envisions that there must be a graduate from every barangay in our province. He coducts reviewers to PMA and PNPA aspirants every year.