Eulogy for Mil Villareal

By Artie Atienza

September 16, 2011

 There’s so much you can say about a great person like Mil Villareal, but at the same time there’s so little I know about him because he never bragged about anything.  He never told me about his accomplishments.  I would hear from other people what he had done in the past, but it was what I saw in the twenty years that I knew him that told me just how great he was.

 It was almost twenty years ago, maybe even exactly to the day the way things have been shaping up today with the coincidences I won’t be surprised if today is the day twenty years ago, that a lady talked to me and said, “Artie, there’s a guy here who is probably the most famous arranger and composer in Cebu in the Philippines.  His name is Mil Villareal.  Maybe you want to talk to him because you’ve always wanted to form a group that would sing other than in the church.”  So I said, “Ok, introduce him to me”.  And it was at the backyard of Gilda Yee where I approached DaddyLo or Daddy.  I called him Mang Mil actually.  I said, “Mang Mil, I heard you’ve done great things in the Philippines.  I want to be able to form a group of Karaoke aficionados and they all want to be heard outside of the basement of Gilda’s house.  Do you think you can teach us a few things about music?”  And he said, “Bring them on.  I will teach them.  I will play the music.  I will perform.  I will arrange.  I will compose.”  And I said, “Who’s this guy?  Who does that on a spur of the moment?”  He didn’t ask me, “How much are you going to pay me?  What are the terms of the contract?”  It was just, “Yes, let’s do it”.  And I think when Babette told me, “Artie, my family wants you to speak about Daddy”, immediately that was the first thing that came to my mind, that first day I met him.  And I realized I didn’t need to know much more about Daddy because his greatness was in his constant effort to be as small, insignificant and regular as he could, but he was probably the biggest person that I have ever met, biggest in terms of heart.

 He took my hand under his wing and he said, “Artie, do you know music?”  I said, “Daddy, I don’t.  I have never taken lessons before.”  And he showed me a few scribbled notes on a piece of paper and I still got it in my wallet.  It was music theory in about five pages.  When he retired from actively playing for the Philippine Choral, he said, “Artie, do you still have that piece of paper I gave you?”  I said, “Yes, Daddy.”  He said, “Can you continue the choir?”  I said, “Yes, Daddy, I think it will be easy because I know you’re there.” 

 His greatness, as far as I’m concerned, was not in what he accomplished himself but in what he was able to make other people accomplish.  He inspired people.  He encouraged people.  He gave them all the support that they would need to do great things.  I’m not saying that the Philippine Choral was great but he always gave us the impression that we were good.  There’s another choir here, the Vismin Choir.  I don’t know if he played the same game with you every time there was a rehearsal and he would teach you a new song – after the rehearsal, he would give you a grade.  He would say, “uh ... 85 per cent”.  I don’t know, “How high did you ever get in your rating?”  We picked up 90 at one point!

You see, if he were to put us on the same standard as his professional buddies in the Philippines, we probably wouldn’t even rate a “5”, but he made us feel 85 and 90, and that to me was the greatest gift he gave us.  He made us do great things.  It wasn’t his great accomplishments that counted.  It was him. 

 When I thought of what word I would remember him by, I struggled.  I said, “He was great, yes, but he was also very simple, very dedicated, very loving, very humble”.  And then the word “humility” just stuck up in front of me because that was the core of his existence.  And if you look at the word “humility”, at the very core are three letters:  M - I - L. 

He was the simplest, most humble person I have ever seen, but at the same time the greatest.

Daddy, we will miss you but you will be always be with us.