One day my brother and I, on our way to the PAGPARTIAN, or slaughterhouse, were talking about our ambition or what we wanted to be. We discussed about being a Priest, a Doctor, a Lawyer, a Mayor, a Governor, a Soldier, a Teacher, or an Engineer. We did not mention about being a slipper-maker like our father.
Finally we thought of our neighbor, retired as a Philippine Scout, Mr. Gerzon, who passed by our house every end of the month to go to the Post Office to receive his pension check.
We usually heard our father saying, “Nadia Ka Pay Giem For Agaoawatka To Kuanta NGA Saan NGA Agdardarbajo” (Good for you, you friend; you are receiving money without working.)
Father explained to us that he is a PENSIONADO (pensioner).
Both of us decided that we would become a PENSIONADO!
Our dreams or ambitions came true! But Elix’s pension as a deceased POW of World War II was being received by our stepmother because we were both minors when Father remarried in 1934 after our mother’s death in 1932.
In my case, I became a PENSIONADO in 1965 when I retired as a Major after 30 years of service and again became a PENSIONADO in 1981 when I retired as a Senior Paralegal from the Bay Area Legal Service, Inc. Praise the Lord!
WARNING: Be careful about what you wish for – you might get it! -JBS
Later on there was an Ordinance requiring all pigs to be tied or fenced in and toilets to be built called ANTIPOLO SYSTEM, a latrine or hole in the ground. But that was after so many died of PTB for eating pork of self-supporting pigs.
Pat’s cousin, Roque Aparri, who was a slaughterhouse butcher and, like Pat, fond of pork and dinaguan, died of PTB.
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