Leah Salterio

Grandson Chris recalls the song Gloria loved most

January 30, 2025 Leah C. Salterio 599 views

Gutierrez

Gutierrez1
Gloria’s only grandson Christopher Gutierrez

“I just want to thank everybody for joining me and my mom here, sharing the pain, sharing love, sharing stories that I haven’t heard before,” Chris said.

“Maybe I should share something that you guys don’t know about my lola. I am the only apo, so people have been asking me what are my fondest memories about my lola.

“There was a point in my life when I was very young and my mom was working a lot and I would just be with my lola almost the whole day, stayed with her in her room.

“I would wake up. She would have her pandesal and coffee and I would have my Vienna sausage which my lola brought 300 cases of. She bought the entire supermarket. (Laughed)

“I would go to my school and after school, she would pick me up or I would pick her up from the salon. That was where I learned to play mahjong at eight years old. Ka-quorum nila ako.

“Then we would go home, just hang out, eat dinner together, she would study her script. Sometimes, kailangan niya ng kabatuhan, I would practice with her.

“She’s an amazing person talaga. I’m so proud of my lola and I’m so proud to be her apo. I hope everybody experienced the love that came from somebody like her.

“My lola gave her all to the industry. She did it to entertain everybody. Nakakapuno ng puso. I’m sure she’s happy to know that her fans out there still love her even though she has passed away.

“Every night, she would sing to me one of my favorite songs. When it was the last part of her life, I would visit her and sing that song to her because it always made me feel comfortable.

“I just want to give that to her also. She was very old already. When I would sing it, she would look at me in the eye and she would sing also. Parang nawala lahat ng problema ko. I was like a child again.

“Would you guys help me sing the song again for my lola one last time. It’s a simple song, ‘Blue Moon’.”

In Gloria’s 90th birthday in December 2023, Chris played the saxophone for her lola and the many guests. “Pareho kaming wala sa tono, that’s why I will just play. She always put me to sleep with this song.”

“Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own.”

Maritess, meanwhile, also thanked everyone for loving her mom and supported her throughout the seven decades that Gloria worked as an actress in the industry.

Gloria’s last big screen appearance was in Joel Lamangan’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) entry, “Rainbow’s Sunset” (2018), that also starred Eddie Garcia and Tony Mabesa.

Hospital not negligent, but doctor told to pay damages for patient’s death

IN 2010, the heirs of the late Angela Calderon filed a case against St. Luke’s Medical Center and one of its physicians, Dr. Fabio Enrique Posas and claimed that delays and mismanagement amounting to medical malpractice on the part of the respondents led to the untimely death of their 76 year-old mother.

In their defense, the hospital and Dr. Posas argued that angiograph repair was the preferred procedure, but it was not done as originally scheduled because the necessary stents had not arrived from Hong Kong.

The Court found that St. Luke’s could not be held vicariously liable as its employees “were not shown to have committed any negligence relative to the care given to (the late patient) during her confinement.”

However, presiding Judge Joel Socrates S. Lopena went on specifically that internal medicine specialist Dr. Posas was “negligent for not facilitating (the patient’s) transfer to another tertiary hospital that could proceed with the endograft repair with the necessary stents or recommending an alternative open-chest surgery.

“Dr. Fabio Enrique B. Posas demonstrated negligence by failing to meet the standard of care required of him as the primary attending physician,” ruled the Regional Trial Court, Branch 80 in Quezon City.

“This lack of action resulted in an unjustifiable delay in the required surgical intervention.”

“Moreover, it was highly imprudent for Dr. Posas to leave a patient with a life-threatening aneurysm of such significant size,” wrote the judge. “Verily, defendant Dr. Posas’ decision to leave for Davao City for four (4) days amounted to a gamble” with the patient’s life.

Significantly, no evidence was presented indicating that Dr. Posas was an employee of St. Luke’s. The Court concluded, therefore, that Dr. Posas operated as an independent contractor. Consequently, the case against St. Luke’s was dismissed.

Finding Dr. Posas guilty of medical negligence, however, the Court ordered him to pay the children of the deceased P2 million as moral damages, P500,000 as exemplary damages, P250,000 for attorney’s fees and P563,970 for the costs of the lawsuit, plus 6 percent interest per annum.

The parties to the case were unavailable for interview.

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