In 1966, my parents decided to uproot our family from Macabebe, Pampanga to Sta. Cruz, Zambales. It was their third move-- from Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija to Pampanga, and then to Zambales, since they got married after the war and begot four children. They left their home in Cuyapo to my Mom's unmarried older sister, Auntie Mandiang, and their rice lands in Barrio Malineng for Uncle Benito (Mom's older brother with no children) to till and take care of because our eldest brother Romulo almost died after contracting polio, and getting bitten by a vicious dog.
They thought of the place as bad luck, and moved to my Dad's historic hometown of Macabebe in the village of Sta. Rita, where they built a home, my brother Norberto and myself were born, and Dad worked as a travelling salesman all over the country before the rainy or rice-planting season, and collected the payments after harvest time or six months later, while my Mom who finished junior college in Manila and was our first teacher at home in English, Geography Home Economics and Music stayed with us as a homemaker, raising pigs & chickens, tending our small vegetable garden, and while Uncle Benito kept sending us rice harvested from our rice lands in Malineng, so that we don't starve. Life was not easy then; we didn't have much money but had a roof over our heads, clothes to wear that Mom made, and basic food on the table.
It was only after Guam was opened for skilled laborers that our family's luck changed for the better because my Dad's brother Uncle/Bapang Abing who married a Zambalena decided to apply his skills, go to and work in Guam to make more money, and sold his furniture store to my Dad and his brother-in-law, who both moved to Sta. Cruz, managed the furniture store, and opened a branch in another town of Masinloc as the business grew.
However, two years later, they divided the business separately, and our lives were changed completely when my parents decided to move the whole family in Sta. Cruz, Zambales and left our house to his younger sister Auntie Salud and her husband Bapang Bening & their growing family, while my only sister Ofelia joined our eldest brother Romulo in Manila, and together with a maid rented an apartment, and went to college there also in the capital city even though it was expensive because Papa's furniture business in Sta. Cruz was flourishing.
Looking back, I don't think that my parents could have afforded to send us all and graduate at top universities in Manila if they did not buy the business and moved our family to Sta. Cruz, Zambales.
It was the best thing that ever happened to us, and to me also because I became the new kid in the block, and excelled in school and extracurricular activities in Sta. Cruz South Central School which was just across from our home & furniture store, after a year of sexual abuse as a ten year old and in 5th Grade in our village of Sta. Rita, Macabebe, Pampanga.
I don't know why I was chosen and groomed to be the victim of this horrible crime against a child, but I survived. However, the damage had been done, even though I was too young to understand then, because deep inside, and even outwardly sometimes, I became bitter, resentful, unforgiving, full of hatred and anger when something was not right, as the years went by, at home, in my newly adopted hometown, in college, on the job and changing careers seven times, after coming to the US and getting married or having children, and online.
Finally, on October 5, the 1st Saturday of last month, after Gie's testimony about the Goodness of the Lord following Bro. Tet's Bible Teaching on BRUHA during a Catholic Charismatic Prayer Service, I wanted to go up there and grab the microphone from her, and share my lingering bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, hatred and anger sometimes, but I didn't because I couldn't think of any!
They thought of the place as bad luck, and moved to my Dad's historic hometown of Macabebe in the village of Sta. Rita, where they built a home, my brother Norberto and myself were born, and Dad worked as a travelling salesman all over the country before the rainy or rice-planting season, and collected the payments after harvest time or six months later, while my Mom who finished junior college in Manila and was our first teacher at home in English, Geography Home Economics and Music stayed with us as a homemaker, raising pigs & chickens, tending our small vegetable garden, and while Uncle Benito kept sending us rice harvested from our rice lands in Malineng, so that we don't starve. Life was not easy then; we didn't have much money but had a roof over our heads, clothes to wear that Mom made, and basic food on the table.
It was only after Guam was opened for skilled laborers that our family's luck changed for the better because my Dad's brother Uncle/Bapang Abing who married a Zambalena decided to apply his skills, go to and work in Guam to make more money, and sold his furniture store to my Dad and his brother-in-law, who both moved to Sta. Cruz, managed the furniture store, and opened a branch in another town of Masinloc as the business grew.
However, two years later, they divided the business separately, and our lives were changed completely when my parents decided to move the whole family in Sta. Cruz, Zambales and left our house to his younger sister Auntie Salud and her husband Bapang Bening & their growing family, while my only sister Ofelia joined our eldest brother Romulo in Manila, and together with a maid rented an apartment, and went to college there also in the capital city even though it was expensive because Papa's furniture business in Sta. Cruz was flourishing.
Looking back, I don't think that my parents could have afforded to send us all and graduate at top universities in Manila if they did not buy the business and moved our family to Sta. Cruz, Zambales.
It was the best thing that ever happened to us, and to me also because I became the new kid in the block, and excelled in school and extracurricular activities in Sta. Cruz South Central School which was just across from our home & furniture store, after a year of sexual abuse as a ten year old and in 5th Grade in our village of Sta. Rita, Macabebe, Pampanga.
I don't know why I was chosen and groomed to be the victim of this horrible crime against a child, but I survived. However, the damage had been done, even though I was too young to understand then, because deep inside, and even outwardly sometimes, I became bitter, resentful, unforgiving, full of hatred and anger when something was not right, as the years went by, at home, in my newly adopted hometown, in college, on the job and changing careers seven times, after coming to the US and getting married or having children, and online.
Finally, on October 5, the 1st Saturday of last month, after Gie's testimony about the Goodness of the Lord following Bro. Tet's Bible Teaching on BRUHA during a Catholic Charismatic Prayer Service, I wanted to go up there and grab the microphone from her, and share my lingering bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, hatred and anger sometimes, but I didn't because I couldn't think of any!
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