The oldest living World War II veteran in Catanduanes, Tomas Chavez Gil of Virac, will turn a hundred years old this Friday, July 4, 2025.
He will be celebrating this grandest day in the company of his loving family composed of nine living children (one of the original 10 died young), their spouses and countless grandchildren.
Ten decades ago, he was born to Carmen Gil, who after childbirth left the child to her sister, Brigida, and her husband Felipe Gianan, a childless couple in barangay San Pedro.
Felipe, himself an adopted son of his father Gregorio, and his wife raised Tomas, who later entered elementary school at Colawan, probably at the old Virac Elementary School beside the municipal building.
He was 17 when war broke out and the Japanese occupied Virac and nearby towns.
Tomas said he and his parents fled to the safety of sitio Pinamaluhan, up the mountain from barangay San Vicente.
When the local guerilla forces led by Col. Salvador Rodolfo began the attack on the Japanese soldiers garrisoned at the municipal compound on Feb. 3, 1945, Tomas said he went down to San Vicente where he saw residents preparing food to be taken to the guerillas besieging the Japanese.
The 20-year-old did not hesitate when he was asked to accompany the men carrying the food to the vicinity of the church and patio in San Roque where Rodolfo and his men were exchanging fire with the enemy.
After they turned over the food, he joined his companion in peering at the battle but Rodolfo spotted them, threw sand at them and then ordered the two boys to cut the barbed wire ringing the plaza.
They complied and then retreated to safety.
At the time, Tomas recalled, a lone enemy soldier hiding at the other side of the plaza was keeping the guerillas at bay.
Rodolfo ordered him to throw a grenade at the Japanese so Tomas got one from the other group of freedom fighters in San Pablo, crept through the tall grass and threw the explosive.
As he went back to the church compound, several Japanese soldiers fired at him and he got hit in the shoulder, with the bullet exiting at his back.
The wounded Tomas was sent to the makeshift emergency hospital in Calatagan at the two-storey house of Baldo Camacho.
He spent a month there, together with other wounded guerillas on the ground floor and their female counterparts whom Tomas said were wounded by shrapnel from a grenade that accidentally fell to the ground.
When a civilian came and announced that war was over, he began walking to the población and hitched a ride on a “pababa” drawn by a carabao until he reached the church.
After the war, Tomas said, he studied at the Catanduanes Standard High School where among his closest classmates were Zune Arcilla and Antonia Benavidez, both of Gogon.
He likewise finished two years of normal school and was advised by a relative, Lourdes Gil, to become a teacher.
Tomas refused, saying that teaching was not to his liking and that he wanted to become either an engineer or a soldier.
Later, while working as a casual employee at the provincial treasurer’s office, he took the Civil Service examination and passed.
He was at Capilihan when a janitor from the municipal government, Tolin Joson, arrived and told him to report for work to the assistant municipal treasurer Fermin Bagadiong, with Primo Panti the mayor at the time.
It was there that he began working on a permanent basis as market revenue collector, staying on the job for 31 straight years although he was never promoted.
“Nag-retire ako dai lamang ning asenso,” the war veteran remarked although he said he was satisfied as the job brought him regular income.
Tomas said he receives only P5,000 as pension from the government, in addition to the P20,000 he gets every month as a veteran.
He remembers that when he married Isabel Tabios of San Vicente, his friends chided him for not choosing any of the beautiful ladies of good families in the población but he silenced them by saying: “the best orchid is found in the forest.”
The couple bore 10 children: Emerlinda, Bertoldino, Gloria (who died young), Fernando, Flosefida, Romeo, Ligaya, Marilou, Tomas Jr. and Arvin.
All of the surviving children finished college education but only four worked in government, with only one going abroad.
The nine children and their sons and daughters, including one whose family lives in Bataan, are all attending the 100th birthday celebration this Friday at Victor Hall at the Virac Town Center.
They have much to thank for, from the love and support that they got to the blessing from the Almighty that until now, Tomas remains in the pink of health.
He said he takes no maintenance medicines, with only Ensure Gold vanilla-flavored powdered milk with a spoon of Milo chocolate added as his daily drink.
“All of my former officemates are dead,” Tomas revealed. “I don’t smoke or drink liquor, only beer.”
Asked as to his secret to keeping healthy, he replied: “Daing sikreto. Ingatan mo ang buhay mo. Life is what you make it.”
Aside from him, only two other World War II veterans are still alive: Florencio Tapales, 97, and Nelly Todoc-Rodulfo, 96. Another former guerilla, Sixto Tenoria, reached 100 years before he died.