Remembering my grandmother Encarnacion Cabunsol Araneta Palacios Bayot Vilanueva y Alvarado whom I fondly called Nanay. Nanay is an Ilonggo word meaning mother. According to my aunt Inday Dako Loreta the eldest sister of my mother Alfonsa Villanueva Alvarado y Gustilo I was born amidst the horror and terror of the Japanese occupation during World War II. My mother was 15 years old and my father Romeo Amihan Gustilo was only 19 years old. My birth was a great news among relatives of both the Amihan-Gustilo clan and the Villanueva-Alvarado clan. I was the first grandchild of both families. I was born in an air raid shelter at Ilong-Bukid San Rafael, Barotac Viejo, Iloilo. My mother at her tender age was not able to coup up with her fears and anxiety that she became so ill. She feared almost every day thinking that something bad would happen to my father who went away selling coconut oil which most of the people during those times were using for cooking and oil lamps. My father would gather matured coconuts fruits early in the morning and made oil out of them. He would go out and sell them in the town proper. He would go home late in the afternoon and even at night time. So Mamang got sick and was not abe to feed me. My Aunt Inday Dako would feed me rice soup or Suam and evaporated milk whom Papang would bring home. This had not satisfied me. I kept on crying almost the whole day and every day. Nanay was so worried so in order to calm me down she gave her breast to me. She was already a mother of a 13 year old son my mothers youngest brother Toto Garas (Graciano Villanueva Alvarado) the father of Jonivir Alvarado, Jenny Alvarado, and Luvisminda Alvarado. It was indeed a great miracle that when Nanay gave her breast to me I stopped crying. Inday Dako according to her was so curious to know the reason why I stopped crying and what she saw amazed her so much. I was sucking milk from Nanays breasts and it was in abundance. I felt asleep easily being full and contented. From then on Nanay feed me on her breast until I was waned. So I used to call my grandmother Nanay and all my siblings followed. I grew up with Nanay and Tatay and felt being loved and well cared for. I remembered how Nanay and Tatay lavished me with good things in life. Tatay would bring me to his farm whenever he would work there. It was an 8 hectares rice farm he inherited from his parents and I used to join his laborers planting and harvesting rice. Tatay would gave a banquet for his laborers during harvest time. I enjoyed eating newly harvested rice cooked with plenty of viands. It would always be a great feast for all of us. This was Tatays way of thanksgiving. Sad to say that Tatay became so ill when I was already graduating from elementary. Nanay had to sell his farm in order to coup up with his medicines. He was paralyzed for more than two years. Nanay brought him to Bacolod and they live with us. While he was bedridden I used to talk to him every morning before I went to school and every night before I went to bed. I loved to hear Tatays stories of giants, aswangs and his love life. He repeatedly told me of his girlfriend who was an aswang according to him. He broke their relationship after he found out about her and the woman almost killed him one day. According to him a big angry dog came across his path while he was walking home. It was about late in the afternoon and he was walking alone. Good Tatay was a strong man and he won over the dog. He told the whole thing to an arbularyo who advised him to go to a far away place and he did. When he came back to Barotac Viejo he married Nanay. Tatay died and I was really saddened. Nanay went to Manila leaving Inday Dako with us. Nanay would come home with us every now and then when she would feel missing me. Toto Susing (Jesus Villanueva Alvarado) and Toto Garas were already in Manila and Nanay would stay with them. I graduated from High School when Nanay bought a bahay kubo in Calumangan, Bago Neg. Occidental her hometown.That was the time Nanay would always remind me that I would always remember that I am an Araneta. She was too proud to tell me that the late General Juan Anacleto Araneta was her uncle whose statue riding on a horse is a landmark of Bago City. That was also the time she kept on inquiring about her inheritance which according to her father lolo Pino was around 300 hectares property at Bago. I used to accompany her visiting many of her relatives which according to them they had already sold out their properties. So Nanay just concentrated her life with her siblings especially on me. Papang told me that I would stop schooling since as a woman I will just be a mother to my children and a wife. There was no need for me to earn a degree. Nanay and I disagreed with him. We just wait for my sister neneng Ninfa (Ninfa Gustilo Jereos) to graduate from high school and we went to Cebu. Toto Susing was already the chief engineer of a passenger vessel plying Cebu-Manila and Manila- Cebu. Nanay bought a small house near to Toto Susings house at Pier 2. She gave me and my sister Neneng a small capital to start selling blue seal cigarettes in order for us to save money for college. But we had to hide every time there were raiding teams around. The untimely death of toto Garas prompted Papang to go to Manila and after the burial they went home via Cebu. They wanted us to go home with them. Papag promised to send me to college and with Nanays help I finished one year Secretarial course. But I was not contented I wanted to pursue a four year course and Nanay and Inday Dako were there supporting me. Nanay was with me even until I got married and had children of my own. It was Nanay who helped me decide to be with my husband in Zamboanga City. I did not want to leave my work with SPCMA. Nanay told me to value my family more than money. Marriage according to her is a sacred commitment. So I told Eddie that I decided to be with him for better or for worse. He immediately went home to Bacolod and we all came to Zamboanga City. The first time I set my foot on the soil of Pasonanca Park I felt something extraordinary. In my mind I told myself maybe there are spirits welcoming me but how come? The answer to my question was answered only two years ago. February 2012 I remembered Nanays words; Always remember you are an Araneta and you should be proud of it. Well I said to myself what is so special about the Araneta? I am so much proud to be a Gustilo. So I began to search in the Internet about the Araneta and what I found out really amazed me. Don Jose Araneta was a Nobleman from Spain who served in the Spanish Government of Zamboanga. He married a native of Zamboanga and one of his sons Jacinto Araneta was married to Josefa Cecilia Cabunsol a direct descendant of Shariff Kabungsuan. This made me excited so I continue searching more. I began searching about the Prophet Muhammad and Islam and this resulted to my understanding and love to my Muslims brothers and sisters. Google and Facebook helped me a lot in tracing out my roots and connect me to all my beloved family. And to God above all for giving me Nanay a mother and a grandmother to me. I love YOU LORD!
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 06:34:58 +0000
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