War

Dolores Paclijan Golez, my grandmother, shared with me her past. She told me that her husband, my grandfather, Concepcion Emata Padero, was a bedspacer at their house in Manila while studying at Mapua College. She said that her father encouraged that they get married even when they were still dating because "it did not look nice" that they were intimate and not yet married.

They got married while the war was going on in September 26, 1944.

She told me about the time her father had to sell one of her most beloved rings in exchange for a sack of rice. She said she really loved that ring. She also told me of a story about men being tricked into going to a church because they were giving away food at that church. Her brother was supposed to go there but her father said for him not to. They ultimately found out that all the men who went to that church died - the church was burned to the ground.


We went to Batangas in May 1998. My parents, grandparents and I visited the school were my grandparents hid during the war. It was an emotional visit, I remember.