Dear Joshua and Kina,
This
is my last will and testament which I have opted to put in letter form so I can
express myself more intimately to you, as I always did, whenever we had the
chance to engage in private conversation. I am addressing this to you because
your mother and your mother and you are my only principal heirs.
By
the time you read this, I would have gone to the Great Beyond, gone physically
but eternally with you in spirit. While I have told you countless times that I
love you and your mother and care for all of you very much, let me use this
final opportunity to say that from the time your mother and I got married and
the Good Lord gave the two of you to us, I tried hard and did my best to be a
good husband and a good father who was obsessed with a dream- to raise a family in the best Christian tradition and
provide for the material and spiritual needs of his wife and children. To be
sure, I had my weaknesses and failings and I did commit a lot of mistakes, all
of you which you know, but I’d like you to forget them and charge them to the
fact that I, after all, was still a human being.
With
the help and support of your mother, I was able to build up a modest estate,
which heretofore, is now yours and this is what this letter is all about- how I
want you and your mother to share and divide it.
If
it possible and you are inclined to agree with me, I would want each one of you
to execute a deed of Renunciation over your share of the inheritance from me in
favor of your mother. This would avoid the tedious process of dividing our
joint estate physically, give her the means to enjoy comfortably the remaining
years of her life, and decide on her own how our properties will be partitioned
between the two of you. After all, both of you are grownups, have good jobs,
and do not really need at present nor in the foreseeable future your
inheritance from me. Besides, the absence of something to depend on should spur
you even more to strive and succeed on your own merits. That was how I
motivated and encouraged you from day one of your graduation from college,
didn’t I?
Be
that as it may, if, for one reason or another, you don’t agree with the idea of
renouncing your inheritance from me, I will not mind (it won’t really matter anymore,
would it?) and neither will your mother, I’m sure. In that event, this is how I
want my properties and my share in our conjugal estate to be divided:
The
house in Pasig belongs to your mother’s share of our conjugal properties and,
therefore, cannot be the subject of this will. The same is true of the
furniture and other personal properties in said house, our Toyota Crown, and
the beach property in Calatagan, Batangas. The property in Baler, Quezon is her
paraphernal property, having inherited the same from her parents and cannot be
the subject of my disposition.
To
your mother, I am giving the Valle Verde condominium unit in Baguio City as
well as my shares of stock in Meralco and ABS-CBN.
To
you Joshua, I am giving the house in Loyola Heights Subdivision, together with
all the furniture and equipments therein. Also, you will have the Toyota
Corona, my computer and all its accessories, my fax machine, all the books I
accumulated through the years, my college ring, and because you and I wear the same
size, all my clothes, shoes, and other wearing apparel. I am also giving you my
shares of stock in Ayala Corporation.
To
you Kina, I am giving the renaissance condominium unit in Pasig with all the
improvements, furniture, and equipments therein. You will also have the
Mitsubishi Galant car, all the jewelries I inherited from my parents which are in the custody of
your mother, as well as the Zalameda oil painting in my study home which you
have always admired. I am also giving you my PLDT shares of stock.
The
proceeds of my life insurance policies ( which are in my safe at home ) where
you and your mother are designated as irrevocable beneficiaries must first be
applied to pay the taxes on my estate. From what remains, I want you to give
ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND PESOS to Aling Sepa, our faithful help, who was your yaya
from the time you were born, and another ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND PESOS to Aldrin, who was my driver, valet, and Man
Friday for more than twenty years, as my legacy to them. I have also insured
the life of Aldrin for TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND PESOS where the beneficiaries are
his wife and three children. I want the two of you, Joshua and Kina, to keep
this policy in force and jointly pay the premiums thereon. I did not insure
Aling Sepa since she has no more heirs save a sister who is now in the
province.
I
have asked your uncle Martin (because he is a lawyer) to be the executor of
this will to serve without bond. The day after my mortal remains shall have
been laid to rest, call him for the immediate disposition of my estate. In the
event he dies ahead of me or, for one reason or another, cannot perform the
functions of an executor, seek the help and assistance of Armand Palma, my dear friend and former classmate.
He also knows about this alternative designation and he is also to serve
without bond.
I
know how thankless and tedious the job of an executor is. Thus, I want you to give to whoever will
serve as one the amount of FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND PESOS, not as compensation but
as a gift, to be taken also from the proceeds of my life insurance policies. In
the event my named executor refuses to accept the amount, buy him something you
believe he will appreciate or donate the amount to a charitable institution in
his name.
I
lived a full life and l leave this world with no regrets. Your mother and you
are the greatest blessings the Lord has bestowed on me. All of us must go
sometime and my time has come. As Kahlil Gibran wrote:
“ for what is it to die
but to stand in the wind and to melt in the sun? and what is it to cease
breathing but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and
expand and seek God unencumbered?”
“Only when you drink from the river of
silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then
you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall
you truly dance.”
I
love all of you very much.
Your
daddy,
JUAN
DELA CRUZ
March
29, 1988
