Dacalos remembered as mentor, friend

Retired guidance counselor Portia D. Dacalos was going to spend  Christmas  with family and friends in New York.

She took a side trip to Brazil to  celebrate the birthday of her close friend and high school classmate Rebecca Mann.

A motorcycle accident in Brazil dashed  plans for a reunion.

Dacalos, 67,  was killed when the motorbike she was riding collided with another in the city of Limeira.

DACALOS

Her mortal remains were brought back to Cebu on Saturday, Dec. 26, said Jan Rey Gil D. Mesina, a nephew. He and his parents  accompanied the casket.

The vigil  wake is being held at the St. Peter Memorial Chapel on New Imus Road, Cebu City.

The family has  set the burial for January 2 at the Cebu Memorial Park.

Dacalos had planned to go to Brazil before her birthday on Dec. 6, said  Mann, in a   chat with Cebu Daily News over Facebook last week

Dacalos arrived in Brazil on Dec. 10 and was going to stay for only a week, before flying to New York on Dec. 18.

The guidance counselor died on Dec. 16 (Dec. 17 in the Philippines), a couple of days before her scheduled flight to New York.

Dacalos was riding a  motorcycle driven by her godson, Mann’s eldest son Oliver, when the road accident occurred.

Her death certificate said she died of thoracic trauma.

Mann said she felt like she was having a nightmare, “wishing so much that it’s just all a dream and (I) will wake up to have her again with us.”

“My son is in the hospital and had his mangled arms restored in preparation for another surgery next (this) week. He is totally devastated physically and emotionally,” Mann told CDN.

Mann and Dacalos were batch mates at the Abellana National School as well as in Cebu Normal College, now University. They finished high school in 1964 and graduated from college in 1968.

“That same year, we substituted as teachers in Lapu-Lapu City. That was the time that we became very close to each other,” Mann said.

Dacalos was a principal sponsor at Mann’s wedding.  She had spent Christmas before with the Manns in Brazil 20 years ago, when she was taking graduate studies in the Netherlands.

“This year, when I was with my hubby in the Philippines for one month, she was always with us. That was the time when she planned to come and visit USA and had Brazil as a side trip for my birthday,” Mann said.

News of Dacalos’ death shocked her former students at the Cebu City National Science High School (CCNSHS) and University of the Philippines Cebu.

Dacalos capped a 30-year career as an educator and guidance counselor.

She was also a class adviser  at CCNSHS, which she left  in 1980 for UP Cebu. She remained in touch with most of her students over the years, since they considered her a  mentor and a friend.

Dacalos was also an advocate of women and children’s rights, and was named one of  the Ten Outstanding Women of Cebu City in 2002. She was part of UP Cebu’s Gender and Development Office, a past president of the Legal Alternatives for Women (LAW) Center Inc., a commissioner of the Cebu Provincial Women’s Commission and a commissioner of the Cebu City Family Affairs Commission.

She was also awarded Outstanding Professional of the Year in the field of guidance and counseling by the Professional Regulation Commission last year.