After my graduation from high school, my father had to continue paying for my graduation suit by installment. It cost only two pesos ($10.00), but the pay of a laborer then was fifty centavos (₱.50) a day. Hence, my suit was worth 20 days’ labor. It took Father around one month to pay the installments […]
1994 Memoir – 22. Fourth Year H.S.
When I returned to Bangued from Bayombong, Uncle gave me the bicycle. I was so happy and proud to own one and I used it to commute between Bangued and Palau, where I worked as Public Works laborer, using pick and shovel with a wheelbarrow to widen the road opposite the properties of Fina’s grandparents. […]
1994 Memoir – 21. Third Year H.S.
Tata Anton visited us during summer vacation and suggested to Father that I continue my studies in Bayombong Nueva Vizcaya, his new station as Commanding Officer, Philippine Constabulary. He even advanced my fare for Father to repay with sewed slippers I brought with me for his family. I rode a cargo truck from Bangued belonging […]
1994 Memoir – 9. Raft Riding Down Abra River
Before our trips to Vigan by raft, Mother would prepare food for the day-long trip, consisting of rice, tapa (dried meat), eggs, tomatoes and salt, wrapped in banana leaves. At sun break we rode a cart pulled by a cow from Bangued to Nagtalabongan, where we boarded a raft propelled by four oarsmen using bamboo […]
1994 Memoir – 3. Our Sleeping Time
We used petroleum lamps or candles at night to eat our supper, then went to sleep early under one large mosquito net or a wide buri (blanket-covered) mat. Father and my brother used one blanket while Mother and I used one blanket together. We slept on the bamboo floor. Before sleeping we prayed Our Father, […]
1994 Memoir – 8. My Mother: “Toyang” or “Idot
“Nanang” was called by relatives as TOYANG, for Victoriana, and by friends or neighbors as “IDOT” for “pinidot.” Pinidot because when she was young she was very sickly and no amount of medicine could cure her. A faith healer suggested that she be thrown elsewhere to be picked up by somebody and rename her IDOT. […]