Places pt.1 ... I Remember East Rembo, Ft. Bonifacio !

I'm on my keyboard pondering with great uncertainty on the choice of which would be more noteworthy for my first feature of places that I've laid my footprints on. Should I start with the laid back and liberal city of California, the bustling and cosmopolitan city of New York, the great beaches and clear waters of Northern Marianas Islands, the majestic Falls of Canada, when ...



... oh, yeah, I almost forgot ... East Rembo, Fort Bonifacio ... the place where it all started.



East Rembo is one of the several "barangays" in Fort Bonifacio, a place located on the periphery of Makati, one of the municipalities of Metro Manila which is often referred to as the Financial Capital of the Philippines.



I remember walking the rough roads of this neighborhood which was once lined-up with a milieu of green and shady trees . Back then you would hear younger people call elders "Uncle" or "Auntie". I also recall walking up the 81 steps stone stairs at the Target Range, a route I would usually take to escape the swarm of early morning commuters that crowd the main street of Pateros-Guadalupe.




This is a neighborhood where almost everybody knows anybody. Here you will find people by name and not by their house numbers. I remember neighbors, like the Madriagas, good-naturedly handing over food ( at most times “pinakbet” ), the Ignacios and Neduazas who were like an extension of my own family ( having the same provincial roots ), the Ducays and Darjuans, whose sons Ison and Boie I used to spend early afternoon and late evenings with.




This is also the place where I first learned to play basketball ( very late for a 17 year old! ), learned to play the guitar and started hanging out with my own "barkadas" ( Jojo/Bobby Nala, Ric Mata, Lee Orate, The Salcedos, Jun Fernandez, Eric "Peanut" de los Reyes, Edgar "Egay" Garrote and Allan Sanchez ).



Not everything was just all fun and play for this would also be the place where I would experience my first love, heartbreaks, frustrations, challenges, struggles ... you name it, and most likely it happened to me here first.



And you guessed it right, this is also the place where I would meet this meek, young, 5'2" tall, white uniform wearing nursing student who, 7 years later, would become my wife.



Compared to the rich and prominent "villages" in the nearby upscale areas of Makati ( Forbes Park, Dasmarinas, San Lorenzo etc ), this is no gated-community and suburbanization has yet to see and reach it's peak. There's no mile square park here with luscious pond and water fountains , no 100 yard football field to play weekends on , and to some, a very unlikely place to start weaving your "white picket fences" dream.



But despite it's limitations, this place would mean a lot to me for it once served me well as my home. Moreover, this is where I would find my "crossroad". And although I veered away from it's path, the memories and the days I spent living in this neighborhood would prove to be, like what they say in the TV ad, "priceless".





East Rembo Ft. Bonifacio, albeit lacking in grandeur and posh, would turn to it's people for redemption. With no architecturally defined structures nor homes with aesthetically pleasing facade to earn any acclamation from first time visitors, this neighborhood would rely on it's people, the memories and moments you would share with them, and their hospitality to up heave it's image thus making it truly worthy of a revisit.



*

A Mother's Love : Happy Mother's Day !

There are times only when a Mother's love
Can understand our tears,





Can soothe our disappointments
And calm all our fears.




There are times when only a Mother's Love
Can share the joy we feel




When something we've dreamed about
Quite suddenly is real.




There are times when only a Mother's faith
Can help on life's way




And inspire in us the confidence
We need from day to day




For a Mother's heart and a Mother's faith
And a Mother's steadfast love



Were fashioned by the Angels
And sent from God above...



"Si Nanay ..."

Nanay ( May God rest her soul ) passed away one placid day in the Fall of 2001. Up till now I don't recall who amongst my sisters I was talking to on the other end, all I remember were the words "Kuya, wala na si Nanay ..." being spoken and then finding myself curled up afterwards on our patio chair, crying like I've never cried before in my life. I cried for hours, days and every time I hear an old song being played on the car stereo on my way to work, songs that I used to hear her sing before while she was cooking ( I remember listening but silently praying that she stops! )

I was advised by our legal counsel back then that although he can provide me with a pass to go back to the Phils., he cannot, in any way assure me that I would be granted re-entry due to the nature of our US immigration application. You see, we are just days away of being granted immigrant status and any new activity on our papers might put the whole process back to square one. So here I was deeply distraught and worse, without that much of a choice. The best I can do was to send what was supposed to be my airfare money, and then some, to help out with the expenses.

Nanay must have known how badly I was grieving at the time for in a last act of love that only a mother can do, a day after she was laid to her final rest, "she sent me a letter". As fate would have it, she was able to write and mail me a 3 page letter just days before she died. It was a letter professing her love for us her children and also thanking me for the money I just sent her weeks before. She said she appreciates how I would always respond to her every beck and call and wrote that she's ok ... not to worry for she already made her peace with her Maker.

She signed it "Maraming Salamat, Nanay".

During her living years, Nanay was the sole person that would hold our once financially burdened family together. Confronted with problems left and right, she would still make you feel that there's always hope for tomorrow. Now even in death, she found a way to reach out and comfort me at the time I need it most. I still keep the letter ... framed and tucked away safe , a clear proof and reminder of a Mother's love, that knows no boundaries, for her child.