Sentimental Values in this Fast-Moving World

dodong flores

It was Friday morning, Sept. 7, 2001 in Dagupan City, Pangasinan. As usual, we were having our one-hour group morning prayer that started at six o’clock in the morning. After the group morning prayer, I headed straight to my mobile phone which was charged 90 minutes ago, only to find out it was gone.

e were out for a northbound outside-Metro-Manila-direct selling of Korean Ginseng products. When we reached Dagupan City, we stopped by at a house known very much known to us for a few nights of stay. On the third night of our our stay, another person came by purposely to spend the night with. His name is Bernard dela Cruz, in his early 20's or something. He's dropping by to spend the night with before proceding to San Fernando, La Union.

And that’s it! The following morning, Bernard dela Cruz (a plain namesake of a good elder and friend) flew away from the house with my Nokia 7110 on hand. Bernard dela Cruz confirmed it himself that he had my phone with him when Bro. Willy Bragil, the house in-charge called up my phone, and Bernard answered, "Baka galit sila." (They probably very much angry by now).

Right away, Willy and I started the chase. We spent a day and a full tank of diesel just to look for him, to every place we could possibly find him: to a town two-hour ride from Dagupan City where he previously worked; and into his parents' house in the midst of a fish farm - located in a very remote town. After a day of tedious job, all of our effort found futile. So, before coming back to the center, we had the theft blottered to the police.

The file photo shown below and the detail is the exact description of the thief. I ask anybody who can see this person roaming around to please report him to the police. My number +639174518787 is still reachable sometimes. I'm asking those person who have read this article to please call up this number and convince the thief to return back my phone.

[photo is removed upon reprint]

he loss of my mobile phone really turn my life upside down. For the people on the move like me, I was totally paralyzed when I lost my phonebook with hundreds of local and international contacts. Likewise, gone with my phone are my precious (preferred) email addresses i.e. dodongflores@globexplore.com.ph; dodongflores@my.smart.com.ph; 639185092615@MySMART.MyMOBILE.PH; 639185092615@smart.zed.com I really don't know exactly how does email addresses work with mobile phones' network servers but I was told by the network providers company, later, when I called up, that there's no way for me to recover these email addresses with new SIM chips. Please take note with the username "dodongflores," and you would understand how these email addresses meant to me. And the only chance for me to have these email addresses back is to recover my old SIM chips, not to say to look for the thief, meet him personally and convince him to return back my SIMs. The other thing I can't have again is the triple-SIM adapter not available in the local market. And also, one of my debit card, is connected to one of those SIM chips.

The loss of my phone caused me to lose my job from my company. I became unproductive, I supposed. But, that was not the most painful thing. While away for an island-hopping at El Nido, Palawan (I was exactly one month in El Nido the time I wrote this article), I received an SMS from Arlene telling me that one of the credit card company called up in the office and was looking for me. Later did I realized I already have past due dates on my account payables. Since I'm always on the go, I can only monitor my bills through my mobile phone. Actually, two weeks after my phone was stolen, I did acquired another unit of the same model. But since I left for El Nido, Palawan few days later, I was not able to configure it out for automatic balance inquiry. Besides, there is no Globe signal in El Nido, and there are no other electronic communication facilities aside from a franchise Globe calling station. But, that's another story to talk about. Well, then, the only chance for me to know my payable is to wait for my bills to arrive in the office - in which case, since I'm not around, there's no chance for me to open up those bills. My Nokia 7110 used to call my attention when something is due.

Sentimentally, I lost also my scheduler – to-do lists; records on birthdays; anniversaries; car maintenance; things I need to remember, and a lot more. More to that, I lost my archive of hundreds of inspiring messages from a "darling Angel."

My phone really played a big role in my day-to-day living. It was even a witness of my life's ups and downs. It's an indispensable gadget, and its sentimental value, which cannot be replaced with the new one I bought, the sentimental value - that's what makes my heart fragmented into pieces.

I will not give up until I can recover my phone, no matter what it takes. I should have my phone back! But if in the long run I should lose hope, the only thing I can do is to burst into tears…

Written by dodong flores on September of 2001 while on self-exile at El Nido.

::back::