Pat, Tony, and I lived with my cousin, Dolores Bravo, and her husband, Agapita Looges, in their cute house in Dubet, Sampaloc, Manila, during my employment as Civil Service Clerk. There Betty was conceived and was born on December 2, 1943.
After Betty was born, we relocated to Aning’s apartment on Avenida Rizel, Sta. Cruz, Manila, so that Pat’s mother could help her take care of Tony and Betty.
But her mother developed cancer of the cervix and was advised to go and live in the province where she could eat fresh foods. She decided to go and live with her sister, Nana Odis Bayabos, in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. This lady was my Godmother at baptism and one of our sponsors during our wedding.
Food was getting scarce in Manila and people were advised to evacuate the City. A sack of rice which cost ₱5.00 pre-war was costing ₱500.00 or more then, if there was any available to buy.
Civil Service employees were allowed to go to the province as agents for Food Production Campaign or for Peace Campaign and continue getting their salaries there.
I applied to go to Bayombong or Province of Nueva Vizcaya as agent for Food Production Campaign. My application was approved and so we left Manila with Tony, Betty, and Rudy riding on top of the driver’s cab on a cargo truck loaded with dried fish and crowded with passengers.
Pat’s mother had gone ahead of us in a Bureau of Public Works truck with Engr. Ruperto Bayabos, her nephew. She was the only passenger that could get in then. Hence, we were left behind.
Due to flat tires, engine defects, check points, etc., our trip, which normally lasted five hours, took us five days to reach Bayombong from Manila, on my birthday, May 8, 1944. Praise the Lord!
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