Farewell Francis Magalona

Who doesn’t know Francis Magalona? Although I know that he was suffering from Leukemia, I still can’t believed the txt message informing us that Francis Kiko Magalona passed away this afternoon. It maybe another bad joke in SMS so I confirmed it first.

Francis “Kiko” Magalona (October 4, 1964 – March 6, 2009), son of late Philippine movie screen legends Pancho Magalona and Tita Duran. The late Senator Enrique Magalona was his grandfather. In August 8, 2008, he was diagnosed with Leukemia (acute myelogenous leukemia with Mixed Lineage) or MLL. He passed away in March 6, 2009, 12:20 pm at 44 yeras old, succumbed to multiple organ failure after having been rushed to the hospital the night before. He had undergone several chemotherapy sessions since he was diagnosed with leukemia and had been expected to undergo a bone marrow transplant. The announcement was first made on the television variety show Eat Bulaga!, which he had co-hosted.

Did you know that I used to have a cassette tape with his hit single “Mga Kababayan”. I save money from my daily allowance to bought one, I was in college back then. I don’t usually patronize OPM and not into love song either. That time, that was the start of rap music introduced by Francis Magalona. He earned the tag “Master Rapper” for introducing rap music in the Philippines. But this song, especially the lyrics made me love my country more. Its not just being a nationalist but the lyrics encouraged Filipinos to believe in ourselves. For the record, Cold Summer Nights was my favorite on that tape.

My son told me that Kiko could be the surprise guest for tomorrow’s Eraserheads concert. We will miss you, Kiko! God bless.