BITS AND BOBS

MY ROOTS

Ey up, mates! You’re alright? A very warm welcome to all! “Bits and bobs” is actually a British term which means “small items or facts”. This column then purports to provide you with some meaningful details of experiences I have had in that town called Gagalangin before I moved into hoity-toity UK. “Experience is the best teacher.” I am looking forward that the lessons of the past will make us go forward individually and collectively.

In this maiden issue, I thought of starting where I actually began, I mean how on earth I became part and parcel of Gagalangin.

Almost 65 years ago, a young couple from Intramuros moved to their newly-bought property in T Earnshaw Street, into what was then called Juan Luna Subdivision, Gagalangin. Gagalangin was then a less inhabited district of Tondo. Paulino “Paul” Albano was already a full-fledged physician while Pilar “Piling” Valdes-Albano has just recently finished her MD degree. In order to practice their profession they put up a maternity clinic in their home.

It was a blessing in disguise that they transferred to Gagalangin and established there a clinic. When the Japanese occupied the country in 1941, Gagalangin was one of the safest places to live in. In fact, I was told, that people elsewhere moved into this district to flee the oppressive “zona” of the invaders. And because Gagalangin was slowly being populated, the clinic had its heyday – even the physician couple’s former neighbors in the Walled City popped in to their surgery. However it’s not all glory for Gagalangin and its environs. People who are not that careful get shot by shrapnel fired from above. One of them was Cas Dioso, a former neighbour in T Earnshaw St. who would affectionately call me “Brod” (short for “Brother”). Paul treated him; he told me the first time we met. Piling confided to me that there was also an incident when a father rushed his afflicted son to the Albano couple begging them to re-construct the poor boy’s belly. Both father and son were sorted. Fiscal Angelo Albano, Paul’s nephew, recalls when his uncle had to use abaca thread for sutures when the supply ran out. Food was also rationed; Piling like the rest of Gagalangin housewives has to queue for supply.

When Bataan fell, the people’s hopes ran to a disappointing low. Paul and Piling did not let their guard down – apart from their tasks as doctors and parents, they would daily attend Mass at that small church dedicated to St Joseph, another person known for his steadfastness. There were times when the church was only filled with them and the priest.

Sonny, the eldest child, remembers one story when unexpected visitors paid them a visit – Japanese officers. They have heard news that Paul has offered his place as a temporary shelter for the Guerrillas. So they came to invite him for questioning. He relented and fixed himself. Sonny who was then a very young boy and his two brothers, Reny and Larry, started crying. The visitors politely withdrew the invitation and left.

With the return of Gen Douglas McArthur, the American and Filipino forces gained the upper hand in the war. The Japs, realizing their imminent defeat, went berserk and started killing innocent civilians in Intramuros and its neighboring districts. The Walled City was later bombed. The Albano couple and some of their colleagues in the profession banded together to assist the victims of the war. A friend who owns neighbouring Sta Clara Lumber (This site has already been occupied by an array of concrete storehouses and is adjacent to the Pres Sergio Osmena High School.) offered a portion of his lot as a temporary outreach center where victims are treated. Some have had wounds which were quite advance – they did not last and were buried on the lot. (This might be the reason why some allege that there have been ghosts appearing on that site.) One lucky person is Adoracion. Cioning, as she is fondly called, has been a little girl then who survived the ravages of war. She has since been adopted by the Albanos.

Manila has been liberated at long last and it was time for the nation to rebuild itself. The Albano family has started growing and so is their business. The clinic metamorphosed into a hospital – St Rita Hospital. Later a school of midwifery was instituted as a response to the government’s call to professionalize the practice done by “hilots”. A college of nursing, a high school, and a primary school came in succession. This conglomeration became known as the Scout Ramon V Albano Memorial College in honour of their fifth son who died along with other Filipino boy scouts in an airplane crash on their way to Greece in July 1963. (Decades later, the name was reverted back to St Rita Hospital & College.)

Paul and Piling, devout Catholics as they were, became active parishioners of Gagalangin. Both of them held positions of responsibility in various religious organizations: Knights of Columbus and Adoracion Nocturna Filipina (where Paul became its first Grand Knight and first Jefe respectively) and Catholic Women’s League (where Piling became President). Their remarkable stints in these groups catapulted them to the presidency of the parish council. Piling’s term lasted for 10 years and in her tenure of office a new and bigger parish church was built (the present one that we have) and a parochial school was established. The late Don Eduardo Santiago, who was commissioned to be the engineer, told us that one of the fund-raising projects they did for the church was to carol wealthy friends even before and after Christmas. Dr Alfonso Esquillo Sr, another nephew, claims that the couple put an enormous amount of effort in having the church built. He went further by saying that it was during their “era” when the gift-giving to indigent parishioners was launched.

Piling was later accorded with the “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” award from the Pope. Paul, on the other hand bagged “The Outstanding Citizen of Tondo” Award in the field of Medicine. Their kin was honoured as the Model Family of Tondo in the 1960s.

I was quite happy to see for myself two incidents in their lives. In 1978, they celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary at the very church they once led to build. The church was filled with well-wishers, décor, etc. Some members of the Knights of Columbus acted as honour guards –with their swords crossed, Paul and Piling walked past them. I vividly remember too how instrumental the family was with the first ever “Salubong” (a Filipino religious event commemorating the meeting of Jesus and His Mother after He rose from the dead) in the parish held at the Rotonda in 1980. This coincided with the appointment of a new pastor Msgr Feliciano Santos succeeding the Albano couple's long-time friend Msgr Pedro Pajarillo who succumbed to illness.
Apart from providing the images of the Risen Lord (now displayed in one of the funeral chapel of the church) and of the Our Lady of Sorrows (which has been desecrated by unscrupulous hands when it used to be located in one of the side altars), some of their children provided the music, and most grandchildren acted as angels.

The crucifix located at the main altar is a memento of their (and their family’s) dedication to the Catholic community of Gagalangin.

Having been fulfilled in their profession and life, they migrated to the US where both enjoyed the remaining chapters of their lives. Paul visited the Philippines in 1984. Rodolfo Segovia, president of the dysfunctional parish pastoral council of Gagalangin, brings back to mind the last words Paul told him: “Huwag mong pababayaan ang Adoracion Nocturna.” (Paul could have gone further by exhorting him never to forget any member of the family who would later serve in the parish.)

Paul died 20 years ago in the loving arms of his Piling. Almost 16 years later, Piling breathed her last in the early hours of May – the same day that I celebrate my birthday. A rosary was seen on the floor near her chair where she was found dead suggesting that she might have been praying before God took her soul. She was survived by her 10 children and their spouses, 46 grandchildren – 23 boys and 23 girls- and a handful of great grandchildren.

I am one of the 23 boys (and one of those angels in that first “Salubong). Paul and Piling were the very roots of my identity and dignity as a Gagalangineno which no Nestie, Rody, and Cely can ever lay their bloody hands and feet on.