Posted in April, 2013
My father’s love for Palawan was deep and unquestionable. He didn’t flaunt his roots needlessly but showed it in many ways. Our Quezon City home was built with many Palaweno artisans – I remember their faces but not their names.
I saw the depth of his caring during the Palawan campaign of 1971. Many in the family argued against his running, my mother Sally had many reservations. But I remember her telling me that he really wanted to do it with a passion and so she withdrew her objections. He was excited about visiting familiar towns. Cuyo was where my Dad finished his grade school and there we met his best friend in grade school! Carlos Fernandez. El Nido was stunningly beautiful with its impressive black limestone cliffs. Culion was my grandfather, Basilo’s original home until the island became the country’s leper colony. Coron was our last stop, my father’s home base. Near Coron is Concepcion where my father was born. His family had a rice farm in Tepiquen, in Concepcion.
During the campaign, we met many relatives, from higher status professionals in Puerto Princesa and as we went farther from the capital, poorer relations. I remember visiting my father’s first cousin, Tia Belen, whom I knew from her Manila visits. Her home was quite spare with leaking thatched roofs. My dad reminded us how education provided him the opportunity to move out of poverty – a theme he kept repeating during his campaign. During an island visit, my Dad saw many kids with beri-beri, children with blond hair and bloated bellies. He turned to us and made us promise to return.
The campaign was most probably his last visit to Palawan. I like to think that his extended visit was a happy one and while he did not get to represent his province in the Convention, he was able to say good-bye to family, friends and the islands he loved.
My Father's Gifts 
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