A Tribute to Sir Anlex

At 61 years old, Sir Anlex Basilio of the Marketing Management Department passed away at 10:25 pm last October 30. The three-time cancer survivor had helped hone and inspire the creative minds of hundreds of students throughout his stay in the University, and was a beloved father, mentor, and friend. Rest in peace, Sir Anlex.

Last October 30 at 11:24pm, the world lost a great man. I know, for most of us, there would always be this one teacher who has left a mark on us–this was Sir Anlex to me.

As soon as I heard the news, I knew I wanted to go and visit him, even just to see him and thank him. I’ve never met someone who is as gentle and kind as Sir A. He was more than a professor to us. He was our dad in school and he cared for us more than a regular professor would. He was proud of our achievements, as little as it may be.

Here’s my one and only photo with Sir A on my graduation day in La Salle. You can just see his happiness to see his students finally succeeding in college.

Last night, I went to his wake to see him one last time. I was so touched by the way Sir A collected all the thank you notes of his students through these years. I wasn’t part of the books. I guess I wasn’t that expressive. But sir A has always been one of my favorite professors in school. And although I told myself not to cry, talking to his son Dustin and remembering how much he loved us as his students inevitably made my tears roll.

After graduation, I remember visiting the Marketing department one time with my sister, who was already studying in DLSU taking Adver as well,  and introduced her to my professors. I remember Sir Anlex commenting “Magaling din ba yan?” as he told my sister how I was as his student a couple of years back.

He was truly generous with his praises.

Sir Anlex was my prof in photography class in La Salle. I remember being the president of the class Adraphy K32 and having to organize our own photo exhibit at Il Ponticello. Here are some of my works in his class circa 2006:

And nothing made me more proud of submitting my work than these two for my Final exam:

The photo above was my favorite among all the photos I have ever submitted. And I remember being so excited to show this to Sir A for my finals submission.

I am writing this post to remember you, Sir A, the way you tried to remember all of your students. I could not finish collating all these photos without crying and missing you. I wanted the world to know how you inspired hundreds of young people to become who they are now.

This bunch, along with hundreds of your students in this lifetime, misses you already. Stay forever young in heaven, Sir A. We love you.

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