 All the way to the back of the church, and go up the stairs, narrow stairs, and the black nestling was kneeling down, and he kissed the feet, and what did he do? Yeah, but you know what, I don't understand about all that kneeling, and side-for-pies You have to button it, have to button it No, no, no, no, wait a minute, wait a minute Yeah, you came button it, and if I'm not finished talking, you button it, and it goes in Because we have a rule No, no, no, no We have a rule, we have a rule What's a rule? No politics, no religion No, no, this, this, no, no, this is between me and my sister No, no, go ahead No, no, no, no But me should I'm saying this, all that kneeling, you know It's not helping you, look at all the poor people in the Philippines, it's not helping them Doesn't Christ, didn't Christ live like a... No one's just trying to tell you what the cost is You're not going to leave this day No, I understand what you're saying, authority I have a question What do you remember back when you were younger? Like when you guys were living in the Philippines Like when you guys were little and you were living there What do I remember? Nothing, anything That's how they told you Well, Auntie Norma, you start out, let's see if you can jog down memory Right now, they're talking about religion right now We're going to change the subject We're going to forget it with religion We want to hear about you guys when you were little All I remember is I had good grandparents, very good grandparents Because both of them never screamed at me, never spanked me They always spoke softly to me And that I remember very, very well I remember, you said you remember that you did not get spanked I remember, we were just talking about going to a river to go So you remember that? And we didn't go, we came home And there was our uncle, Uncle Kiko He was in charge of giving us the whipping And he did, he spanked us and said We didn't go swimming We did not, we just talked about it No, okay, excuse me If you remember, I said, I was not spanked I'm going to hold my hand I agree with you on that one I mean, but that, he never screamed Both my grandparents never screamed We could not run in the house We could not slam the door We could not jump in the house That's the way we were What did your grandparents do? My grandparents? What were their occupations? My grandfather was the treasurer of the Masonic Lodge For years and years Okay? He was not changed till he was ready to come to the United States Because he really resided Everybody wanted him there Because he was such a good man Very reasonable Because in those days Most of the retired American army men were drunk And what money they got Because they were wubanizers too Most money they got Last because they drank And so they would go to Call my grandfather on the phone And tell him it could come from the house My grandfather's house And they would borrow money They had money for them So they could borrow That's the way the nations were They helped each other But this was money that the nations had My grandfather was the treasurer For the longest time Did they pay back the money? Did they pay back the money? Yes they did What year do you think that was? I was born in 1930 I was born in 1930 Let's say I was 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 I think my grandfather left I think in 1939 or 1940 He left He was a treasurer In the United States When my grandfather died He died here in the United States While they were eulogyzing him It was so sad because everybody Just loved him Like I said he was a gentle man Very seldom you see a gentle man Was this your mom? My father's father That's what I call a friend of his What? That's what I call them my friends That's what I call them my friends What about you? You're not a gentle man You're a gentle man I said you're a gentle man He was an officer And a gentleman Makes a big difference It makes a big difference When the people highly respect you I'm telling you You carry it all your life That's what he always told us You take good care of your name You don't do anything You'll be ashamed of And you can even talk to the president Or whoever it is and you will not be ashamed That's what I always heard when I was young What about your other grandpa? Same thing He was so nice Very nice That match I can tell about My two grandfathers Both maternal and paternal Grandparents I did not see my mother's mother Because she passed away Before After I was born My grandmother's Father passed away I was between two deaths What about what Your grandparents did In the Philippines What did they do in the Philippines? My grandfather My father Was not working Because He was a gambler He was not going to get runs in the family He was playing cards He was a womanizer And a gambler But he does not smoke nor drink And he does not lie He does not lie My father He's got two vices He's a womanizer His dad Takes after him Because I talked to your dad One time I said Why don't you leave the women alone Take care of your kids And he said He liked the ladies They liked him too Oh yes He's like grandpa What else do you remember When you were little Where did you live in the Philippines? We lived in Manila In Manila In Manila There was a one One way street One black street Reposo It's called Reposo What was I going to say about it? It's rocky It's in the wall Inside the tremors What did it look like? No That is on the way to San Juan Mandaluyan If you go to Manila You will see this railroad station In Old Santa Mesa Where there was an overhead bridge Okay That street would go straight ahead To go to Quezon City And then on the right It would turn right like this And it would go separate ways One is Balenciaga One is Old Santa Mesa And the first street that was Reposo That was just one thing like that One little Like a little block And then the next street Would be Mapa And after that it was all Fields like They even had like a little Swamp there, the river The water gets stagnant there But they plant like hay And then they have water lilies Over there, no, nothing to eat Nothing to eat Nothing to eat Water lily was there And then they had the Old San Juan river right there What do you remember? It's like the house looked like What did the house look like? I wish I had the picture Somebody throw it away The house is over there It's not too different from here All is made, constructed different We have It's in still A lot of them are raised And then you could go Walking around on the need And you could play around there and everything My grandfather's house Was a chalet with Chalet, I think they call it chalet It had four bedrooms Living room, there's his balcony His living room His library room There's what you call this hallway One bedroom here and three bedrooms here Right there was the dining room And then you go out Right here is the breakfast nook And over here was the iron clothes And then there's a big, big kitchen And right here is the bathroom And right here is the separate bathroom One is for the toilet and one is for the bathroom And also when you're living there We have a shopper Cook A yaya they call that takes care of the kids She even, my grandmother The boy that please Our house made this piece of house My grandmother also had a gardener I think a lot of people still have those They even have a mater D We're not poor Sounds like a nice lifestyle Was, was All we did was play when we were kids I had the desk Excuse me, I had the desk before I went When your parents whistle You turn it on and go inside Who has a white car parked behind my shop? No, it's B.S. I need to move it real quick We can move it Be careful with the high-performing machine Okay What about You said earlier That things were You were treated differently as a girl You were watched more Sure, that's the way That's the way we're just like Spanish style They watch the girls more than they watch the boys Because the boys get freedom You know, because You know, they can do what they want But the girls cannot We were always, wherever I went I was escorted I would just go anywhere Even if I don't have any What do you call this? Yaya, I don't have that One of my friends Or somebody Was always watching me If I went with my friends Anywhere, somebody would call The house and tell them We just saw your granddaughter here Was that because you were wild And crazy and they had to No Because they want to know where the Children are We cannot just go play anywhere Old-fashioned custom Yes, they were watching you all the time I remember also during the War When the Japanese were on there We were running Away from them and every time they come Around, you guys You and auntie of anyone Hiding in classes or something Oh, that was because during the war There were Bandits There was supposed to be guerrillas But they were bandits And they like To get women So Several times They tried to get me So Well, God Eleven Eleven War broke out in 1941 They just Tried to get women Period The Japanese tried to get women That's why I said I'm blessed Because I got At one time I had What do you call that, Bennett right here Because When the Japanese were coming inside The city, they called it open city Okay, whoever they meet They killed So because my auntie Marie because she was A good reader You know, she studied Her books very well Anyway She was reading about the war And she said whenever it's Open city people will have To hide because The soldiers would loot The homes and then they would Rubbish the women So then just before They declared open city Because they would say they Announced it on the radio It's going to be declared open city So we rushed right because we had Gone out of the city while The firing was going on So then we had to rush back to the city Okay And when we rushed back In the city we were there a little while All American property Was sealed by the enemies So When they came to the house It was very Honored to say That the Japanese general Was a graduate of How do you call this? Look at that No, no, no No, that army thing West point West point West point is a graduate He was very good looking Very good tall Tall and good looking And when he told the house He said, your house is immaculate I'll always remember that Because for an enemy To say that That's To me that's quite something Because he looked at all over the house Auntie Marie made us Clean that house Just before The war was going on Everybody was cleaning the house We had a A bed What do you call this? A bed To plan To plan A garden Everybody would have a bed And each one was going I don't know if you grew tomatoes Or what to do You had a bed to yourself A garden A flower bed So anyway Anyway That helped us too Those gardens Because we Instead of playing we would be there In the garden just doing Gardening and all that Kept the kids occupied Yes, yes But I'll never forget those Japanese They came in the house They looked all over and they said Your house is so immaculate Because When people are especially Especially They have to do the work all by themselves There's nobody else to help them The war is going on And you'd be thinking about cleaning the house You know Clean the house, clean the house That's all I could hear Clean the house You know So you said you left the city For a while then you had to rush back Where did you go when you left? To No, no, no, Tanawan was when the Japanese Was Going out We went to Pilapila That's in Rizal Pilapila It's where they have all the ducks And it was so bad Because They had the ducks underneath the house And I don't mean just ten They had a flock of ducks And my grandmother would throw up Every time She said it was ducks and not geese Trying to make balut Yes, that's what they were using it for And it was balut I think it was geese, not ducks No, that's ducks for the balut So did you have to bring Duck eggs from balut? They surely do But that was geese Where did you come from? Wow Anti-norma, did you have to Manila the city because They were firebombing? My grandmother's house My grandmother's house They had A place In my grandmother's room And the place where they Armed clothes They were so Strap on us Strap on us And so you went How long did you stay there? Just a couple of months, I guess Couple of months? When they declared open city You came back? Just before they declared open city We went back to the city Why did you go back? No, because Once they declared A place open city They made peace With With the The people Yeah They made peace with them They governed the place You know They're the ones that reigned there But like when they sealed my grandmother's house Okay They sealed my grandmother's house And then they made Just live in my mother's house We went back to my mother's house And then They took over the house They took over the house Excuse me please They Got somebody to rent the house And that Rent I just forgot how much it was Okay, but just supposing It's $500 Then my aunt has to Add some more I think it was about $100 more Just so We had to pay the Japanese army That brought it to the city hall And paid them there My aunt Marie Went to the Because my aunt Marie and us and my grandmother Lived in my grandmother's house After it was sealed So then And my aunt Marie Has to go to the The office, their office She got slapped At one time You're supposed to bow When you see them And when When You're supposed to bow a certain way You had to slide your hand this way And bow This has to be straight Your back has to be straight It can't be any other way And so she was in a hurry She just went like this So he said Hang, he slapped her And you know what she did? She slapped him back It was a blessing too Because there was a Japanese general Coming out And the guy, the soldier Got punished Because she was supposed to be Peaceful It's not wartime already That's what happened Then So a couple of years Everything was smooth It was nice during that time Because everybody was back to be All we did was go dancing Go partying Because the schools were closed The schools were closed So that's all they did Everything was back to normal again And then When the Japanese was losing And they were going to come in We had to go back to the province And stay there Because we might all go hungry here That's because when the Americans were coming The Japanese and the Americans were coming The Americans were going to Get back The Philippines Before MacArthur entered MacArthur was in another part Of the island So we went to Batangas And while we were there And the Japanese One day We just heard somebody say That they get out of here They're killing everybody in town It's an important town And they killed the people there But see we were able to go And in our haze too When we were During that time All of us had these hard boiled duck eggs And we had No, just plain old hard boiled Eggs We don't have any eggs in it I mean ducks are now over right Remember Mother And to keep Okay let's just say eggs If they didn't want to do it There was no ducks in Tanawa I think there was I think there was Because the ducks They make special lechipla So every time They just wanted to duck in Well anyway Okay Yeah but he came from the fields Okay Oh my mother Would get all the Vegetables to bring to the city By By those carts You remember those carts, Kariton My mother would bring that To the city but then Just before the Japanese Landed I mean came from the hills My mother saw one of our neighbors Who used to be the president of The Philippine development company And he was our neighbor The tailors Yeah Never spoke to us Although my mother And my mother would take me Because My mother did the Home service My mother was a beautician And she had a beauty shop But then My mother was looking out the window And she saw Mr. Taylor I was the one who saw them Okay you were the one who saw them My mother You know my mother is very friendly So she Who are those And she went down and says What are you doing here They were looking for a place to stay Because nobody would give them That's right Because everybody was scared They were hungry That's right I agree with you then Pusher Pusher Pusher So then You know What they looked like Okay Before that they were always dressed To kill you know Because they were rich But at that time They looked like hobos No The reason they were running And hiding is because Yeah one is blind And the other is blue eyes Everything that's why they They can't hide And they'll stand out You want to go No no No So the grandma and she Give them shelter and We gave them shelter for a few days Because nobody would take them in So then My mother was ready to take Those carts to the city She would bring them to Calamba And from there She would take the Batel Small boat And it would carry carts And this is when you guys were In the mountains? No no no We were not in the mountains yet We were in a town That's my mother's hometown The now one The now one And They were supposed to go by convoy I don't know how many Don't remember how many carts And the others that were going Couldn't go they were so scared So they gave my mother All these carts to bring to the city And my mother did You know in the city she just exchanged That for jewelry She could bring them back She brought that back too Bat on the way with Mr. Taylor His son And they had a chemical engineer With them When they got to Calamba They were stopped Because They look like Americans Okay So When they were These I call them ignorant Filipinos that Were with the Japanese They're I don't know what What was wrong with them And as soon as he said In Tagalog He fired a shot And my mother was Like this Pointing the rifle at That mister Not Mr. Taylor The chemist And My mother was here And that Then anyway the guy Did he die? Okay right now I don't remember Anyway my mother Mr. Taylor And the son Was taken to To the jail or whatever In Calamba And These guys had Filipino money He had it He didn't in his And And if that My mother was so naive If that money was found in him Even one All of them would have been shot Even my mother because my mother was with them And so this Mr. Taylor asked my mother I told my mother that he had the money And if my mother could get it So mother just turned around While he took it out of his pants Gave it to my mother Can you imagine that? Yeah that's scary That's scary but she never thought of it She was thinking that he was going to get killed So why he saved it But that's why He was very very Grateful to my mother And when he came here Gave my mother some money That's why we had dollars When he came here He died I forgot already Right now that's I don't remember Mr. Taylor and Mrs. Taylor Because we were able to see them after the war Oh yes Because their house Is right next to our house You know So how long were you guys Where Grandma Inos was from Before You guys had to go to the mountains Oh after that When we went back to Tanao and Batangas My mother was able to return To us You know But after that She was able to get back to Tanao After that she couldn't walk Her She had to drag her That's what I mean Was she shot? But it's the trauma The shock She could not walk She could not walk She was She was taken care of The Marine Hospital over here When you got here So anyway That was good What happened What happened When you guys What caused you guys to go to the mountains That's what I thought I was telling you a little while ago We heard this town Like a town prier In those days we had town priers Whenever there's something They would ride a horse And tell everybody get out of here They're killing in the city So when we heard that But of course Even before that All of us had this We had eggs We had some kind of Oranges When we Oh and a change of clothing In case we got separated We had something to eat So thank god we were not separated Anyway we got On the way to the mountains This truck stopped The truck stopped And this Japanese came down And they had their bananas And one of them Had it right here When I sucked in my breath I didn't exhale anymore I was just Like this I thought that thing was going to Go down inside of me So then anyway My mother got down From the cart and gave them some Boiled bananas And hard boiled eggs And they let us go That's why My children always say Well your life was only worth the bananas And hard boiled eggs Where did you guys go when you went To the mountains? Up in the mountains Was it a town? That's Buot How long were you there? A mountain It was It was solid We were hiding there all the time Past the food We were in a shrub You were in a gully? Yeah It's like a cliff, it's a shield drop You guys were there for about a month Just hiding? No, in the house But then when the shooting You see the owner of this house Lived on top of the hill And then going down the hill And going up He had a shanty there For a guard because he has Orange grove And the oranges were ripe We could not get hungry because We had oranges and Bananas all over the place There's all kinds of fruits And this guy This guy He belongs to a certain sect He will not handle money He will not handle money His hair is like Bendis But he just leaves it like this long And I'll tell you When I first saw him I was so scared of him Because he looks like Anyway, he was so ugly To me he was so ugly Thanks mom I didn't say you I mean that guy Because he was not young He lived in the bushes Although he had two boys He had two boys Like I said, he belongs to the sect He's supposed to be Related to my mother Because he was the one Who came to the place Where we were Seeking A night Where we could stay And Just as we were sitting down to dinner There was a knock at the door They say Back home, they don't have doorbells In those days They would say Taupu means Men here So Of course, they knew each other They let them in And then he introduced himself He says, you don't know me That's what they thought See, my mother's aunt was with us She was a maiden aunt No, never got married And She introduced himself And then he told He says, if you don't mind I'd like them to Live in my house Because we won't be there And so We had no choice, I mean here Whereas we would have to pay One that took us in So then So we went to their house They had a house Like I said, by the street And then Going down that little hill And going up again He had a hut All these fruits It's an orange grove And then there's Bananas all around And he had cacao But The The Oranges were really abandoned It had fruits You could not harvest it And when we ate the fruit You know how you can smell Oranges right away We had to bury the skin So in case somebody comes They cannot see it But then they didn't know we were there In that place Where the Japanese like patrolling that area We don't know We don't look at them I mean, you know, we hide You could The Japanese when they're walking You could Hear their footsteps They're so They always Tired their weapons You could hear them coming And that's when we hear that We just hide In the galley In the galley there was Wild chicken They had that Like iguana What do you call that? Bayawak Bayawak It was a big Bayawak But Could you have a fire? No, we could see them But we didn't eat Oranges You take the smell and you cook That's plenty of food Plenty of food that you can You can't cook Even when we were back in the city Your yard is full of fruits We have Wawas And we have Atis We have mango Tamarind Papayas When there's a big What do you call that? Tropical storm? Yeah Your typhoons there Typhoon, yeah Was it when the Americans landed In the Philippines? Yeah, we were up in the hills Okay It was dark It was daybreak And we could hear somebody calling My mother Atina But we thought they were Japanese Because the Japanese had people Do things for them So nobody would say a word Nobody until we recognized The boys He says, you can come down now The Americans are here Yeah And we went back to Manila Until They were all okay They just stayed right there Nothing happened to them But we went away to be safe We did all the work Yes, but remember We were eating good in Batangas When I visited When you were hiding, you were shaking You know Hopefully they don't find you I remember going to my grandmother's house Just before we went to Batangas And I was still coming up The house There was something really stinky Really stinky And I said, what is that? You know the Japanese Had boats Loaded with rice To take to Japan They were raiding our granaries in Manila And so Those boats sank And The Filipinos then Would do something To create Something so the Japanese would see them They would die to get Those rice and sell it Because they did not have any money And when you cook that rice Oh It's stunning It's stunning Of course, it's the water It's Pacific Ocean water You know, it's where the boats are It's You know where Luneta is You know Marina Port area Where all those boats were All those ships They were loaded with rice To bring to Japan They stole our food Those Japanese They did I remember when we used to go On vacation We always wanted to buy Carabao And on the way We had river Playing the river And everything like that Last time I was there We visited those places Polluted It's polluted because They're not the original natives there You would not want to go in that river But when we were young My My aunt would take us there On the way they had Sugarcane And they had the place To What do you call that Get the juice from the sugarcane It's the Carabao You know, it's old fashioned You get that juice And they would boil it in a Big, big, big I think the Pan was bigger than this It's big, you can get in there That was just Boiling away until it became Raw sugar And Then you would have somebody Cut the banana The trunk of the banana Then get that And they'd have two boys holding it And then get on the way Before we got to the sugar Thing My aunt would go by where They had the peanuts And then put it in there Boiling And then somebody would even make coffee On the way to the river So we'd be eating in the river And a lot of times When you have a party Have all fresh fruit It's nice to eat them We did that go hungry during the war We were eating All the time Eating all the time What about the people who stayed in Manila Were they Like aunt Marie But nothing happened to them They just stayed in their place Oh wait a minute, excuse me Auntie Marie's Husband Oh but he went someplace else No, no, no, no, listen to me first No, auntie Alice's husband Tute Roses They were Caught in ermita Ermita That's where their house was before And the Japanese was outside So they could not bathe you out They could not They did not have any water He drunk his own pee Yes, because You know, when you're thirsty He was the one who told us When you are thirsty, you have to drink And that's what he did But anyway That was that And when did you guys come to the United States 1945 June 1st June 1st June 1st Excuse me And the war wasn't over And the ship Instead of going straight To the United States Six seconds Oh wait Watching out for submarine and anything But it was a kitchen Yes What kind of ship was it All together The only thing is that The family All the boys and men Were put in with the troops While the women are in the cabin It used to be a luxury liner That they rented The U.S. Army They had to They had to carry troops Back to the states And normally up to How did you go How did you go How did you guys get on that U.S. Citizens anywhere they are Is protected by the army My grandfather Like I said First of all he was a Mason Next is U.S. Army First of all He's a U.S. citizen Forget the Mason U.S. Mason U.S. Citizens come first And their families No but what I mean is When you are a Mason You get helped You get helped Listen Have you ever heard of any foreigner That came in the United States Who's belongings Is not searched when they came in the United States Hours was not They did not open hours That's why I would say I got something to say Today if you're a Mason And you go back to the Philippines You are protected by the The Philippine government The Military is All Masonies Well not anymore This is not strong anymore Like before Before they were strong How long were you guys Very strong Very strong Very strong What was it like on the ship Very nice Just like now The kids could go play around And you could eat to the troops And then you eat with the passenger No That's wrong Oh yes No I'm going to tell you The women were doing all right They were taking care of The men and the boys Were slipping with the troops Oh yeah On the bottom And it's hot there I mean it is hot, that's for the troops Right? I'm talking with one It's hot So we The boys Get unblanketed Sleep on the deck My right and wrong Before we go any further I'm going to tell you one more thing I was barefooted Because he doesn't believe me Barefooted When the night came He kept saying no you had to shoot I said I'm the one I'm barefooted On the ship On the ship When we went to San Francisco I was barefooted And shorts And it was cold See