I FIRST met Plaridel “Jun” or “JB” Bohol when we were starting to learn to love the game of golf. His fraternity brother, Al Perrerras, was my immediate boss in the intelligence service. Back then, JB and I played golf before the sun is up in Camp Aguinaldo, literally hitting our first tee shot in the dark and finishing before 8:30 a.m., in time for our respective work. During our initial golfing days, I would beat him more than he would beat me. But that is not the important part of the story.
Friends know JB as one tough lawyer advocate. His commanding voice and towering stature obviously create that “shock and awe” impression, both for the opposing counsel and the trial judge. Teaching law for quite some time now also complements his litigation skills. I personally know his litigation prowess inasmuch as he handled a personal case a few years back. Some people would know that, as a student, JB was the Grand Rhoan of the Lambda Rho Beta fraternity in San Beda College of Law. Some people would remember JB as the former husband of Sen. Leila M. de Lima. But what most people do not know is that JB is one heck of a singer. He sings with so much heart that everyone listening to his songs will be passionately moved by the lyrics through his own emotions.
Little did I know that JB was in a sorrowful state during our golfing days in the late 1990s. Perhaps, that was the reason I scored better than him during those days. Despite and because of his gloomy circumstances, JB sang. On the outside, his friends and I would hear him belt out the Original Pilipino Music ballads to his heart’s delight. But deep inside, I think I heard him sing a different tune.
In his book Today Counts, author Harold Sala said music is the “language of the soul that God invented and understands”. In Psalm 104:33, David said, “I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” Whenever our spirits are down, we usually engage in activities to manage our emotions. Some drink. Some do shopping. Others do a movie marathon. In the case of JB, he sang and tried to drink his sad emotions away. To a certain extent, I have been doing the same thing lately, but not the singing part, for my voice pales in comparison with JB.
Sala suggested that “music has a way of purging our emotions and expressing our hopes, fears and loves. Biblically, therefore, we should be singing to purge sadness and to express happiness within us. However, in the same vein, the Bible tells us that we should not indulge in too much drinking. In Ephesians 5:18-19, the apostle Paul said, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord”.
When I first met him, JB was a solo law practitioner with a small office space in his apartment in Quezon City. He was both mother and father to his sons, Israel and Vincent Joshua. JB would spend his lonely moments singing and drinking the night away with friends, myself included, in some occasions. However, for whatever reason, when he controlled his booze intake, things got exponentially better. He eventually learned how to sing in another way by praising God and praying hard consistently.
In the web site of Kabalarian, people named Plaridel supposedly have outstanding leadership abilities. Living up to his name, JB is a leader in many respects. Plaridel “Jun” or “JB” Bohol is the lead partner of a mid-size law firm in Quezon City, became president of the Rotary Club of Marikina West in 1998, became the president of the San Beda Law Golf Club Inc. in 2005, and is the “perpetual” president and chairman of the Board of the Samar National School (SNS) Class 1976 Association Inc., which regularly holds fund-raising projects for its beloved alma mater.
I read it somewhere that the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart or a crushed spirit. In the case of JB, things got way better after he learned how to sing amid all the trials in life.
In the Bible, when Paul and Barnabas were thrown in prison, they sang despite the grief. In the process, the “joy of heaven drove back the gloom” and made them better persons. JB survived the challenges in life by singing the way God wanted His children to sing. In due time, JB was blessed with a “mulligan” in love. He got reconnected to his high-school classmate, Joy Soriano, whom he courted instantly and relentlessly. Now happily married to his high- school crush Joy and blessed with a son, Michael Juris, JB eventually realized that he simply cannot sing and drink his blues away. Like Paul and Barnabas, like Moses and Joshua, JB just has to sing his way.
For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.