ONE can see how well-loved a person is judging from the way his loved ones and friends remember him.
A funny man and a born leader. That’s how former teammates and close pals Johnedel Cardel and Gee Abanilla describe the late De La Salle Green Archers team captain Rafa Dinglasan, who passed away early Monday morning after a battle with COVID-19.
Abanilla and Cardel, along with Dinglasan, were part of back-to-back La Salle champion teams in the UAAP from 1989 and 1990 under coach Derek Pumaren, a bond that made them friends for life.
Now the team manager of many-time PBA champion San Miguel Beer, Abanilla referred to the late player as a ‘basketball brother.'
“Alam mo naman pag nagsama kayo in the past, kahit in any other team, para kayong brothers na rin,” said Abanilla. “We went to so many wars, including the time when hindi pa magnified yung UAAP dati.”
“He’s the life of the party. Siya yung nagpapasaya sa lahat at tsaka siya yung parang lagi na gusto magkita kami palagi.”
Dinglasan would be at the forefront of organizing reunions among De La Salle teams, which would always end up as riots because of him.
“Funny guy yan. Masaya kapag kasama mo,” recalled Cardel, head coach of Terrafirma Dyip. “Minsan kahit talo kami, masaya pa rin siya, sasabihin niya lang sa amin ‘natsambahan tayo.’”

Cardel, 51, admitted owing a lot of his basketball career to Dinglasan and family.
“Going sa La Salle with Jun Limpot and (the late) Jonas Mariano, talagang inalagaan kami ng buong pamilya niyan, si Atty. (Rafael ‘Pompoy’) Dinglasan and ng mommy niya,” he disclosed.
“Yung (father) niya yung manager namin dati. So board and lodging, sa bahay nila doon kami natutulog, doon kami kumakain.”
Atty. Dinglasan was also an ex-Green Archer, having played for La Salle in the old NCAA from 1956 to 59 where he was a teammate of cage legend Kurt Bachmann.
Just like the rest of those close to the outspoken La Salle guard, both Cardel and Abanilla were shocked upon learning from their Viber group among mid-80s to early 90s batch of Green Archers the sad news of Dinglasan’s passing.
“Lahat nabigla kasi all along akala namin pagaling na siya. Nag-i-improve na kasi yung condition niya. And then all of a sudden, kaninang umaga nga nag-chat na sa Viber namin na Rafa just passed away. Shocked lahat,” said Cardel.
Good Samaritan
The Terrafirma coach said the last time they chatted with Dinglasan was during the time he was still in the emergency room of the St. Luke’s Medical Center.
“Pero when he was later transferred sa ICU, yung wife niya na lang ang nakaka-chat namin,” Cardel said.
Abanilla also remembered Dinglasan as someone who was always ready to lend a helping hand.
“Matulungin yan, maingay nga lang,” he said of his late friend. “Pero matulungin talaga siya.”
Perhaps it was that nature of him that eventually caused him to contract the COVID-19 virus.
In one of the Zoom chats among his friends, it was learned Dinglasan helped revive an unknown lady who fainted. Rafa and his wife had just received their second jab of the vaccine when the incident happened, friends said.
The Good Samaritan that he was, Rafa applied chest compression to the woman until the medics arrived.

Once he got home though, Dinglasan began feeling symptoms of COVID-19. As it turned out, the lady that he helped was positive of the virus, friends said.
“That was the suspicion of the family. Kasi wala silang ma-recall na any incident before niya magkasakit other than that,” said Abanilla.
Dinglasan got his second jab last Aug. 16.
“Nakakalungkot na hindi mo man lang siya nakita,” said Abanilla, who was always present along with his other teammates during the regular healing masses held for his former teammate.
“Mabait na kaibigan yan. From the UAAP to the PBA, talagang suporta sa akin yan. He’s definitely a big loss to our group and basketball in general,” added Cardel.
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