All persons have two beings, the mortal and the spiritual: The mortal is the physical existence like flesh and blood that we see. When he dies, his mortal remains are left for us to bury. It has been said from dust he comes and to dust he shall return.  For the spiritual, it is not that it is said, if you have done something good on earth, the spirit ascends to heaven and its door will be opened for your spirit to enter where you will be embracing the grace of God and exist forever in peace, happiness and glory.

In the case of the deceased Democrito or Dem, as we called him, because of the good things he has done on earth for the advancement of mankind especially in the field of labor, I am very sure that his spirit will definitely enter heaven.

During his lifetime, he exhibited during the war his love for the country. He joined the guerrilla movement to fight as he fought for liberty and freedom with unparalleled gallantry and valor without thinking of the peril and danger coming from the enemy. What was paramount to him was to liberate the country.

To borrow the words of President Kennedy, “He did not ask what the country could give him but he always thinks about what he can give to the country.”

And now, many who have benefited by his being a benevolent labor leader are grieving his demise because they lost a dedicated and sincere champion of their labor rights.

So for all the things that Dem had done for his love to his country as a freedom fighter and by enhancing the benefit of the “working class,” he will remain forever be remembered. His physical remains will not be in existence but his spiritual being will forever be embodied and enshrined by laborer and friends in their minds and hearts as one who had unselfishly advanced the frontier of labor benefits of the working class.

So it can be said that Dem did not die, he just faded away for his footprints will always be traced in the path for the laborers’ journey to better life.

Lastly, I may say, when Dem was alive, he was with God, but because of his good life, God is with him when he died.