Thursday, June 16, 2011 4:00 AM
something about my father, the late Salvador B. Acejas, Sr., Father's day, 2011
by Lolo Bomboy on 11 June 2011 Saturday at 11:08
some thoughts on father's day this year:
1.from my diary:
"in the case of your lolo badong and lola tina, i can hardly recall
much i could write about them as regards their school background or
their struggles to make a living before they got to romblon where they
finally settled and where they were able to establish a sari-sari store
which enabled them to send us, including some of the
grandsons/daughters, to college and to acquire some properties there and
the property in caloocan. i understand that they went from place to
place before that because your lolo was working for an engineer who was
doing construction work in various places in the philippines. this is
why i think kuyang ted and kuyang pepito were born in samar or leyte and
quezon province respectively, but i'm not sure. i don't even know now
how they got to romblon in the first place and how your lolo got
employed with the cepoc marble project there where he ultimately became
the cashier and paymaster and even acting caretaker of the project when
it suspended operations. this was shortly before he retired from the
service. i was already in college at that time. i recall though that it
was through the de la salle correspondence school that he acquired his
knowledge of bookkeeping. i remember i even saw in his office there the
framed certicate of completion of the required course given to him by
the correspondence school. i also understand he graduated salutatorian
from the central luzon agricultural school in munoz although we might
have to check the records of the shool if they are still available to
see if my recollection is correct."
2.to this entry from my diary, i wish to add:
i am sure that when my father and mother came to romblon, romblon, all my
elder siblings were already born because i was the only one who was born
there...
i understand that my father gave up all his rights to the inheritance he would have gotten
from his parents in pan-ay, capiz, and waived them in favor of his siblings just so
his parents would send him to munoz, nueva ecija, to attend high school at the
central luzon agricultural school, which is now a state agriculutural university.
he even took me there when i was still a boy of about seven years old...
i remember sleeping in one of the cottages inside the campus of this university when he took there
to visit one of his former classmates..
i understand he graduated salututorian in this high school...
while studying there, myfather met my mother in munoz...and i understand that upon the advice of an
older brother-in-law from penaranda, nueva ecija (who twice became mayor of that town), from where my mother originally came, my father convinced my mother to elope with him...because my grandmother did
not like my father to marry my mother for the simple reason that he was from a far away place in
capiz...
my grandmother, i am told, did not like the thought that my father would
be taking my mother away to that far away place...
which is why, when my oldest sister was born, and my parents were about to leave
munoz so they could go wherever my father was going to work for a living, my grandmother
insisted that my older sister be left with her...saying, that should may parents take her
with them, she was afraid that would be the last time she would see her daughter,
or my mother...so, my grandmother told my parents to leave my oldest sister with
her so my parents would be surely coming back to munoz every now and then to see their first
daughter...so, my oldest sister stayed with my grandmother until she went to the university
of the philippines where she finished her education degree...
when i reviewed for the 1969 bar exams, i specifically asked my mother to let my father
stay with us in caloocan to be the peace keeper there... at that time, there were many
of us living there...and i was afraid things could get very noisy...
i told my parents i did not want to be the one to maintain peace and quiet there during the
review so i could attend to my review full time...i promised them that i would l top the bar exams
should my father be there to maintain peace and quiet...i said that i graduated number 5 in
our UP law class of 1969...so if there were 10 good law schools in the philippines, then
there would be only 50 of us who graduated number 5 in our respective classes...so, i would be
competing with only 49 other graduates for one of the top 10 places in the bar exams... i told
them, it was possible i could beat all of them for one of the top ten spots... i said
could even get the number 1 spot...
my parents agreed to my proposal and my father kept the peace and quiet in the place for the duration of the review...and with the grace of God, which i of course prayed for everyday, my dream came true when i landed 10th place in the 1969 bar exams...my only claim to fame up to now...
i even won a bet with a friend who
i told before the release of the results," if you don't see my name in the top 10, don"t bother to
look for it anymore...." and he responded by saying, "if i see your name in the top ten, i'll give
you a blow-out..." and of course, he happily did...
it's nice to have this dream-come-true in mind everyday of my life, but more so on FATHER'S DAY...
it makes my father' s day a special day to remember my mother too....for she also had a great part in making
this particular dream of mine come true..
of course, i owe them both so much more than this...and that's goes without saying...
3. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL....
