Once Upon a Life before the Internet

Early this month, an old video of a high school lad making a speech at the United Nations was injected into our world. The lad was later to become a man of stature. But other than the video, nothing could be found, googling could not produce a photo of the man the entire country got to know. You would expect a Wikipedia page devoted to him. But there are none. Maybe because all this happened before the digital revolution.

There was another mention of his name, as a credit, and with it a memory born in another time, Marcos days. The memory came wrapped in a song, with words that spoke of pain.

I knew the man in pain, and I refer to the lyricist. Roman Cruz, Jr. was an advertising client where I worked, Pacifica Publicity Bureau, and my boss and mentor, Antonio P. Zorrilla, was his buddy and confidante, and, if I remember correctly, he helped put the project together.

The song, of course, is about love. The Great Ryan Cayabyab provided the music that tugs, Gary Valenciano the knowing voice.

They say the story behind the song is larger than publicly known. They say the powers prevailing then ruled lives and, according to talk only the rich and unafraid could dare make, even loves. They say the song is residue of a love not allowed.

The man may have vanished from the communal memory that is the internet, the decades may have ravaged the facts, but we know one thing for certain: once upon a life, he loved immensely, enough to want to distinguish it with a song that will outlast him. /vrp

Once upon a life
We said we'd separate for a while
You would live a different life
And I a different style

We broke the bond that made us one
And when that foolish deed was done
I lost you, you lost me
And we asked what we had won

Once upon a life
There was no you, there was no me
For you and I were one
As we were really meant to be

Once upon a life
We sought tomorrow, that's today
And we are one again
And that's the way we'll always stay

We broke the bond that made us one
And when that foolish deed was done
I lost you, you lost me
And we asked what we had won

Once upon a life
There was no you, there was no me
For you and I were one
As we were really meant to be

Once upon a life
We sought tomorrow, that's today
And we are one again
And that's the way we'll always stay
And we are one again
And that's the way we'll always stay.