The last time I was in San Nicolas was when Nielo insisted that I join him for lunch at his place a day after the Talong Festival. So I went there, tagging along a common journalist-friend I met earlier in a coverage. I thought that having lunch with him was a good opportunity for both of us to update each other, especially now that he is running for reelection. Besides, it’s been quite a while that I have not visited him.
I found Nielo at the front yard of Manong Lito’s mansion, which was actually built at the back of Nielo’s own house. It must have been 1 p.m. when I got there. But there were still groups of people having lunch in separate tables neatly set in the yard. I would later learn that his visitors were officials from the different barangays of Villasis. Nielo would tell me that every year, after the grand fiesta parade, these officials would flock to his house and he has to serve them lunch and engage them in conversation.
Times haven’t changed, I thought. At least for Nielo. As I watched him move from one table to another, shaking hands and sometimes patting the shoulders of the people he talked to, I was immediately reminded of our adolescent years and the escapades we shared together as close friends.
