The Young Grown Ups – Part II; Marcos slept at the house

Marcos statue around 1987 before it was blown up. This was in the highway between Baguio and La Union.

When I was a kid I was watching this commercial on TV where a former beauty queen was pitching a product, and the last scene was that of her kid showing how healthy he was. Could’ve been margarine or Milo or vitamins, I don’t remember, but what I do remember was my cousin, watching with me saying, look at him – looks like Marcos. He sure did. That was the first time I learned that Marcos was popular with the ladies.

Before the war Marcos knew this lady in San Narciso, Ching Versosa. Beautiful and rich. During the war years he went into hiding from the Japanese and somehow found himself in San Narciso, perhaps because he knew Ching was there. She arranged to have him go into hiding at the home of Julita Firme, #9 in the photo of the previous blog entry, because their home was in the farm far away from town. A small modest farmer’s home away from the eyes of the Japanese forces, it was a perfect hiding place. People knew each other in town, so it wasn’t difficult for Ching to ask this of Julita and her family. Sometimes he would also hide in the neighboring town of San Antonio.





Lola Carmeling, my grandmother Lola Pinay’s sister, was an avid mahjong player. She lived in the same house as mom who remembers Lola Carmeling hosting mahjong playing. During the weekends Marcos would sometimes come over to play! When the players would hear airplanes overhead, they would quickly disperse and run. When the playing extended late into the night he would sleep in the house. So there it is – Marcos played mahjong and then slept in the house.

Years later the president would not forget Julita Firme, Lola Carmeling, and even mom when she went to go see him. One time Lola Carmeling, upon seeing him after several decades, was so happy that she just naturally blurted Hoy, Andy! He was president at the time. If I ever get to it, I’ll post that picture of Marcos and Julita Firme at a table in Malacanang Palace having dinner. Of course that picture is also in the book.