My father

I thought of writing this while my father is still alive and to have something to share with my family and friends. He will be 94 years old this May 15, 2010. My own children and their cousins, mostly adults now know not much about him. He was born in barangay Kaytitinga, Alfonso, Cavite and lives in the same house where we were all born (5 boys) in the town proper of Alfonso. Our mother Leny Dominguez passed away couple of years ago followed by our eldest brother less than a year later. Both of them died from diabetes complications. I can feel that the loss of my mother and eldest brother really took a toll on his well being. He now walks with a cane but still very well for his age.

It is very amazing that his memory is better than mine because he can still recall the street names and the stores he frequented while visiting us in 1983 (USA) and that was 27 years ago. He was only there for 3 weeks and got bored after seeing "America the Beautiful" in Disneyland. He said, "I've seen America and I'm going home". Once in a while, I even hear him quote from Shakespeare. I don't even know one.

All his working life was being a civil servant although he and my mother I vividly remember owning a bakery before he worked for the Central Bank in Manila and only came home during weekends. He became the Municipal Treasurer of Alfonso for a long time until he rose to become the Provincial Treasurer of Cavite in the early 80s until his retirement in 1982. I migrated to the USA before then (1973).

My father is a very honest man and very well respected in our town. Almost all his working life was managing money and could have been very tempting especially being the Provincial Treasurer. He had the opportunity to amass a fortune and got away with it He loves to tell us those missed opportunities and the people who took advantage of them and I believe him knowing how corrupt our leaders are. The one thing he is very proud of is never having fed us with stolen money. I remember when I was growing up seeing a huge quote poster on his office wall about "If at the end of the day you do not feel guilty putting in your day's worth..then." I don't remember the exact words but it was inspirational.

He is a very quiet and mild mannered man. I can't recall a time he raised his voice in anger although he was a disciplinarian He had his share of midlife crisis when he started losing his hair. A few years after I migrated with my family to the States, I received a registered big brown envelope from him and inside was some flattened newspaper with masking tapes all over it. It had with it a note if I could get him a toupee. It turned out that the crumpled newspaper was what he molded over his head and taped over to keep the shape of his head. Me and my wife laughed all the way home imagining how and where we can find someone to make it and keep a straight face. I wrote back my father to send me his head...just kidding. Seriously, I told him that it will be difficult to do what he wanted.

My father was an impeccable dresser during his working years from head to toe. His work clothes were made to order barongs, gabardine pants, expensive shoes or always neatly pressed white long sleeved shirts always with cuff links. I saw his old shark skin suits and even owned tuxedos. My mother adored him and took care of him dearly.

If you look closely at his picture above, he had his facial age spots removed by that famous Vicky Belo.I was jealous , I had one too but a different doctor for half the price.

I got more to say but I'm getting sleepy...