Kids in the San Narciso 'hood

Here’s a picture of the tough neighborhood kids, known to wreak havoc all over town creating despair among parents and local officials. Don’t be fooled by the innocent looking faces and gorgeous smiles.

This was taken around 1937 in San Narciso.

For suspense I won’t point out all the names until the end of this post. Some clues, however. Not a very flattering picture of my mom on this one. #11 and #9 are siblings and currently live in the San Francisco area. #4 and #6 are also siblings – look at the smile of the pretty kid in #6. Contagious. I’m smiling as I write this. #2 and #10 are siblings, the only ones dressed up in more than their Sunday best. There are Firmes, Labradors, Adamoses, Farraleses and others.

Mom doesn’t remember the actual event but believes this was a birthday party, either her’s or Auntie Luz’s. The reason why mom has many pictures is that Lolo Satur was away in the navy. Lola Pinay had pictures of the kids taken and sent to him. In addition to that, Lola Pinay just loved pictures in general. In her older years she would make scrapbooks out of pictures of actors and actresses she would cut out of the newspaper society pages.

Lolo Roding Labrador (although I used to call him uncle because he seemed too young for a lolo) is in this photo. He turned out to be a cook for the rich and famous. Dad watched his first Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game with Lolo Roding because then-manager Tommy Lasorda gave Lolo Roding tickets after being impressed with his cooking while a guest at his employer. When I last saw him in the Seattle area in the 1980’s, he was the cook for some magnate and was living in a house with his family in the magnate’s huge, sprawling, gated compound. He hated the nuisance from the Canada geese in the compound, one time taking out his shotgun to drive them away, but of course he was told by the magnate to stop it.

Lola Moding Labrador and mom grew up together and remain close confidantes up to this day. She and Lolo Roding were orphaned early in life and so they lived with mom’s family. Smart and very pretty, she had many admirers in her time. Including Americans during the war. I have to ask mom or her about that sometime. There’s more about her in the book.

1. Lydia Firme Fontalera
2. Minda Farrales Bello
3. Marshall Eugenio
4. Rudy Labrador (Lolo Roding)
5. Alberto Labrador Platero (Abet)
6. Modesta P. Labrador Espiritu (Lola Moding)
7. Catalina Aquino
8. Esperanza Eugenio Milan (Auntie Panching)
9. Florencio Fernandez Adamos (Uncle Waying)
10. Luz Farrales Villanueva
11. Cleo Adamos Carbonel (Auntie Cleo)
12. (Uncle Amang) Eugenio

Lolo Satur and Lola Pinay

Here’s a picture of my mom’s parents, Saturnino Fontecha Farrales and Josefina Labrador Firme. Gorgeous picture right after their wedding, isn’t it? This was taken in 1929 in Manila at Sun Studios. Note the 1920s style flapper dress – straight, loose, bare arms, and indicative of the new woman of that age. The white stockings and bright necklace are classic for the roaring twenties. Lola Pinay was a modern woman, having graduated nursing from the University of the Philippines during the early years soon after the program started. Lolo Satur, then in the U.S. Navy, was home on shore leave. I find it unsettling to see him so young and with a perfect set of two eyes – I’ve always remembered him having one glass eye that he would remove to wash in the sink every morning. Here she was twenty-five years old and he maybe three years older.

Navy men weren’t exactly in the highest echelons of society even in small town San Narciso because they didn’t go to college. This despite the steady income.

The story is that lolo was home for shore leave and staying in Manila with some Farrales relatives. Inang (although that’s mother for Ilocano, that’s what we grandkids called her) was staying in the same compound because she was related to the in-laws (Madarang). She already finished nursing and was working. It was raining that day when lolo offered to pick up inang from work using a karitela (single horse-drawn carriage with two wheels). She was surprised. Because of the rain the driver put up a partition between him and the passengers to cover them, and lolo promptly… kissed her. Nadadael ti dayaw (ruined virtue), so they had to get married.

Fast forward one year and mom appears, then five years later Auntie Luz appears, the time difference between them a function of the shore leave interval. Uncle Jovelo appeared twelve years later because of the war.

So there you have it, brothers, sisters, cousins, kids, nieces and nephews – you’re all here because of someone’s ruined virtue!

From Sea to Shining Sea

Hello everybody. This blog is about the book that my mother just published where she tells of her experiences growing up in the Zambales, Philippines starting before WWII up to the present time in California where she is now. Growing up I was always fascinated by her and my dad’s stories when they were kids in San Narciso, especially the ones during the war and Japanese occupation. With the help of many she finally has these stories in a self-published book. Here’s the blurb from the back cover.

MINDA FARRALES BELLO was born in San Narciso, Zambales, a rural coastal town in the Philippines. Her book recounts stories of growing up as a child in an idyllic setting, going through her early teenage years during the war, recalling the ultimate sacrifice of a guerrilla town mate, and meeting a then unknown Filipino war hero who went on to occupy center stage in Philippine government in later years. While living in fear she found humor during the Japanese occupation and thrilled at welcoming the Americans who arrived by ship along Zambales shores during the U.S. liberation. A small town girl, she moved to the big city of Manila for her college education where she met new friends and developed relationships. She married a long time friend with whom she has five children. Her family moved to the U.S. following the declaration of martial law in the Philippines and wrote of life as an immigrant and how she survived difficulties and challenges that came her way.

This collection of stories explores the rich and colorful life experiences from one shining shore in the Philippines to another in America.

This blog is a supplemental to the book where I will post other pictures not included in the book and perhaps provide more details. Gov, the editor, didn’t want the book to have the feel of a photo album, but mom wanted to have more pictures. More pictures! More pictures! Why can’t it be like Clinton’s autobiography where he put pictures from every stage of his life? And so the book is the negotiated result. The good thing is that I will now be able to post the pictures.

This blog will also be a forum for you to comment. Of course your comments would be more relevant if you’ve actually read the book – order your copy now! Here’s your chance to argue or disagree or add details to the stories. I urge you to share pictures (if you can; I'm still learning the details of blogging).

First things first – the book would never have been done without the labor of love, as he described it himself, of Gov Labrador. Mom recorded the stories and Gov painstakingly edited and put them to paper. He and spouse Jackie and son Carlo all took part in the task. Gov is the family historian especially on matters Labrador, so if you’re dying to get verification on facts, rumors, tsismis, ask him. You might be surprised to find that delectable, juicy stories that make good for telling around with that San Miguel in hand aren’t true at all. But back to the book. Thanks and appreciation are due to him and his team.

The front cover is a picture when she was 15 or 16, post WWII when Americans were still hanging around the country. They had jeeps and trucks, perfect for decorating for use in the town fiesta as a float. Must’ve been a generous officer to let the locals have use of military vehicles. The unidentified soldier was the driver of the truck. Mom was one of the princesses of the royal court in the town fiesta and the driver got to meet all of the young ladies. He also drove them around town taking pictures and this one he gave to mom. Looking back she thinks he was just interested in the young locals. I wasn’t there so I don’t know.

More later. To order the book, send me an email.