The Photographers in Town

Before the war there were three photo studios in San Narciso. Lola Pinay patronized two of them, the Dimalanta Studio and the Minora Studio. Most, if not all, of these pictures are from them. Mr. Minora was Japanese and this was before the war. Since she was just a kid mom doesn’t know how he came to town, but he was well established and had been there as long as she could remember. He was an older gentleman, perhaps in his late forties at this time, single and with no kids, and spoke Ilocano with his Japanese accent. What she does remember is that Mr. Minora would bury one centavo coins around one of the coconut trees in his property. Whenever the kidz in the ‘hood would find Minora-san away from his house, they would dig up these coins. Mom doesn’t know why he did that.

When WWII broke out the occupying Japanese took Minora-san and he was never heard of again. I’d like to know whatever happened to him, if any of you out there know. A good guess is he was held as an interpreter and to gather information. I just finished the book Illustrado (winner of the Man Asia Prize) by Miguel Syjuco, a Filipino writer, and there’s a story about the protagonist’s family’s Japanese gardener, Yataro, who had been with them since before the war. When the war broke out, he turned out to be a spy and became a leader of the local occupying forces. He did, however, save the family from atrocities. Having just read the book maybe that’s why I’m curious about whatever happened to Minora-san.

Dolls arrived from Lolo Satur in America. Auntie Luz had Elizabeth, a rag doll, and mom had Shirley Temple, made of porcelain whose eyes could open and close. The tree next to Auntie Luz looks like a balimbing, although mom insists what they had in the backyard were chico and kamias. Maybe someone can identify the tree.

Where in the world is San Narciso?

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Where in the world is this town anyway?

About sixty miles northwest of Manila is the coastal town of San Narciso. The South China Sea borders it to the west. The Philippines is divided into three geographical regions – Luzon, Vizayas, and Mindanao, with Luzon being the northernmost island and where San Narciso is. Subic Bay and Olongapo are only twenty miles away, although as a kid that drive seemed to take ages. Before they left, the large presence of Americans in the Subic Naval Base and the Angeles Air Force Base led to a relatively large number of Filipinos from that area, including San Narciso, serving in the U.S. military or working as civilians in the bases. My dad was one of them. There’s a rich history of Americans in the area that dates back to before WWII.

To the south of San Narciso is San Antonio, where there used to be a small U.S. naval base. More on that in the book and perhaps in another blog entry. To the north is San Felipe. I think the Spaniards have plenty more saints than towns and that’s why they weren’t afraid to use them all.



The three mile trip to San Felipe used to mean the karitela. In the photo is a karitela (no, not the karitela referred to in the second blog entry that led to Nadadael ti dayaw ) that lola Pinay and mom used for going to San Felipe. Lolo Satur, after all, came from San Felipe. It was Lola Pinay who was from San Narciso. This karitela, horse and cart, was purchased by lolo Satur for his brothers to make a living. Mom here is three months old. To the right is one of her cousins from the Cava side, and to the left is lola Emilia Firme.

The Makolkol river had to be crossed to get to San Felipe. I have fond memories of swimming in the river with my siblings and cousins and of one particular event that lola Aurea (again, more on her later) sponsored – a kite derby at the Makolkol. I had never seen such fancy kites before then. I haven’t seen the Makolkol after Pinatubo erupted, but my understanding is that it became a path for the lahar, the muddy volcanic ash and debris, to flow out to sea. The eruption is what finally drove out the U.S. military from the area.

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!