I find myself in a big house in Dinalupihan. There is a wake for somebody. I was only about five years old then. I do remember that the coffin was on the second floor of the house occupied by my grandmother Lola Nena. The room was the outer room facing the main street. The house typical of a Spanish house has big windows all around the side of the house to let the breeze in. There is no air conditioning in houses then.
People were milling around. I only recognized my uncle Tiyong Ser. I was so short that I could not see above the coffin but I wanted to take a look. I ask Tiyong Ser to pull me up. He did. The man on the coffin has a white bandage tied from the top of his head down to his chin wrapping his head. I don’t know what is the purpose of this. There is a hole in his face and traces of blood, still red. It was quite traumatic to see a dead person. I do not recognize the man who was in his sixties. Later on, I learned that he was the husband of Lola Tansing who is the older sister of my real grandmother Lola Menay. His name is Lacquian. Him and Tansing are well to do couple and owned lands around Bataan. The lands are used for planting rice. Called a haciendero, Lacquian was gunned down by two brothers over some altercation. My father who was the provincial engineer happened to be driving by and somebody told him that his uncle-in-law is laying on the road writhing from gun shots. Lacquian was shot dead on the road. Lacquian’s brother made sure that the two farmer brothers were apprehended, taken to court, and jailed for the murder they did. Be’s comment: As far as I know the killing was by his tenants. If there was any connection with the "huks" it's not known. Manuel Lacquian was a strict landowner. His brother, Fausto Lacquian was a lawyer and took the case. Manuel also had an illegitimate son, "Manuel, Jr." with their maid. When Tansing (Constancia) died, there was a big squabble regarding the couple's properties since no direct heir(s). Until now some of the properties are still not settled on who gets what. Pol, tanks for this initiative. I'll contribute whenever I can gather together my thoughts. Not too long after that, Lola Tansing died of stroke. We were still living in Washington and Tiyong Nico came from Dinalupihan with the news that Lola Tansing died. We did not attend but probably my mother and Lola Menay did.
Got Lost In The Boonies
In one of the summer vacations there, there was a town parade related to the town’s fiesta. We were lined up with my mother, Lola Menay and others to watch the caratela go by. By the end of the parade I saw my mother on one of the caratela. So I leap down from the fence and ran to her. I must be distracted by the crowd because the next thing I knew the caratela where my mother was is gone. And the end of the parade just passed by. And the people watching including my group is gone! I was in unfamiliar territory because this street is behind Lola Abe’s house. And I was only seven years old. I found myself alone in the middle of the street. In panic I started running in one direction, then turning around the ran in the opposite direction. All the time I was crying. I reached the end of the long road and beyond that was nothing but ricefields. I was now in full panic mode and crying hard. A man found me and after asking my name and the name of my relatives, he took me to the Three Sister’s Restaurant (owned by three of my grandmothers). There were several people there all looking for me. Comments:
Carmelita: It's really a scary experience to get lost but I think one time in our life all of us had to go thru that ordeal.
Omar: Nice story, Dad. Here are some questions: what town is this? what is a caratela? Besides that, I never knew that there was a restaurant in the family. What was that about?
Pol: The Three Sisters Restaurant was owned by lola Gaya, lola Bina and lola Lumen. There were sisters of lolo Gerardo. All of them are children of Inkong Talyo who is the brother of Inkong Nonoy. Nonoy is the father of lola Menay. A caretela is a horse drawn buggy sometimes called a calesa also.
The Three Sister Restaurant is owned by 3 grandmothers. But they are maybe second grandmas? Lola Menay used to have a karenderia during WWII. Karenderia is like a restaurant but smaller and more informal. It is usually turo-turo or you just point to the food and sit down.
Thelma: I remember this 3 sisters restaurant at the middle of the town of Dinalupihan. Lola Gaya (Ligaya) was my godmother so I stayed there lots of time where I was served goodies (which I liked!). This happened during circa '50's and 60's. Lola Menay’s karenderia was actually owned by Lola Tansing and Lola Menay was the sort of “manager”. Ma Nelly would go there and helped out after her school work as a teacher. Pa used to hang out there and had a beer. This place was actually a bar. Ma and Pa met there. Now we know why he was in the bar when he was not a drinker. When the first Japanese invasion/bombings of Bataan happened, Pa was called to duty for re-construction of bridges. He wanted Ma and he to get married underneath some house stairs in the presence of the Justice of the Peace. That must be July 18th 1942 (not sure). It was chaos because Lola Menay never like Pa because he was so quiet and reserved. Ma told me lots of war stories and I’ll write/tell them whenever I get the urge to jiggle my memory.
A rare picture taken in Dinalupihan, Bataan. Sitting on the left is Fred, Thelma on the cart and Pol standing on the right. Behind Fred is Jaime Hipolito is a boyhood friend and distant relative. Notice that Fred and I are wearing suspenders. This picture must be taken in Lola Abe’s large backyard in the early ‘50s. Notice Fred has a smirk and Pol looks like he is about to cry. I think Fred said something scary. He used to do that to me and to Thelma. Jaime joined the US Navy. I saw him in Hawaii and he later retired in Cavite.
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