Castor Dizon Agapito, Jr. "DU4DX"
November 16, 1954 – June 02, 1999
Papa was known as the big guy in shorts, a plain white shirt, and his Beachwalk slippers.
As the family’s designated driver, he would wake up early to take Mama to our store at the Naga City Market
(now known as the Naga City People’s Mall).
He also drove me and my sister to school.
Despite the seven-year age gap between us, there was a time when he would drop us both off at the same school.
However, when Ate went to college and I was still in elementary, he had to manage two different school runs—
and he did so effectively.
Even when Ate had evening classes or events, he was always there to pick her up.
He enjoyed watching movies, particularly Pinoy films. He loved renting Betamax tapes and was my cinema buddy.
Back when the only way to watch a movie was in an actual cinema, it was often the two of us who went together.
One of my fondest memories of him is that he watched Titanic with me 13 or 30 times!
I keep forgetting the exact number because we watched it so many times.
Yes, in the cinema, where we had to line up for tickets since, at that time,
when a blockbuster was shown, the lines were always massive.
I think I take after his love for watching (Pinoy) movies.
He wasn’t into drinking alcohol, but he loved his cigarettes.
He loved playing billiards and chess.
He’d often leave our store in the afternoon to play billiards at a nearby billiards bar,
and when it was time to go home, Mama would often send Ate, me, or one of our salesladies to go and find him.
He was into “radios,” you know, those things popular in the 80s or 90s? They looked like walkie-talkies but
some were as big as shoeboxes or laptop computers. I never really knew what they were called exactly;
I grew up calling them “radyo.” However, as I research now, it seems the technical term is amateur radio, or ham radio,
which allows communication over short distances using radio frequencies.
They used “call signs” or “handles” as nicknames or identifiers during conversations.
Papa’s call sign was DU4DX. When we needed to find him using one of his radios, we would often say,
“DU4DX, DU4DX-base.” I never fully understood that, but I knew it was the way to reach him.
According to my research, adding “base” to a callsign likely refers to his home base station.
This makes sense, as we often used the radios stationed at home to find him whenever he was out and about.
It was heartbreaking that he had to go so soon.
At 13, I was too young to understand the importance of cherishing moments.
I guess I didn’t fully understand death, and it wasn’t even on my radar that it could happen to someone I love.
I miss him deeply and often wonder how different my life might be if he were still here…
I don’t really like wearing white, Pa, but Beachwalk is my go-to for house slippers.
And I still love and enjoy watching Pinoy movies.
