So long dear Yocs... See you on the Otherside!

Yocs! I can count with my hands the number of people who doesn't know or have heard of this name in the whole of Davao City. And it doesn't even need to have a surname attached to it! A plain and simple "Yocs", and people knows who you are refering to. But then again that name means different things to different people too...

To the different mountaineering clubs of davao, Yocs means more than a friend... it also means "TATAY"- the Filipino word for father... and it is not even because of his age for Yocs is only 37... Tatay because he treats mountaineering like it is his very own creation... his love child... like he and the mountains are one!

To us irregular climbers, those that just goes to the mountains every now and then, the name is synonymous to being a "KUYA", an endearment we Filipinoes call our Big brother or better yet Eldest Brother. Because KuyaYocs is the best guide you can ever have to the mountains... the one who can lead you in its ins and outs, the one who can make yo feel the SAFEST!

To the active adventurous foreigners and religious people, Yocs means the very mountain itself... it is as if he is one with every creation... and they will surely feel its beuty through his eyes... for Yocs walks the mountain like he is walking on holy grounds.

Yocs Briones or simply Yocs... My kuya yocs! He died of Leukemia two days ago, afte being diagnosed with having it just last june 10. Fittingly, he chosed to die on the feast day of Mount Carmel. We cremated him yesterday and after the traditional 40 days prayer for Filipino catholics, his ashes will be spread and enshrine from the peaks of the highest mountian in the Philippines... Davao's very own Mount Apo, his "home" actually for the past 20 or so years.

His last climb to Mt Apo was with my friends and our volunteer teacher from Manila. I would have also been with them on that climb but wasn't able to go because of frozen shoulders. We have planned to go trekking in the mountain's lake and bat caves come august too, but I guess we have to do that without you now, huh, kuya?!?

But then again, going there would be like visiting you now on your very home... and that sure makes me feel welcome!

So long, Kuya Yocs! And see you whenever we go visiting your home!

"if the mountains are my church, then freedom is my bible."
- Yocs Briones, Friendster Shoutout