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The Blissful Family of Luis and Paciencia Garcia of Tacurong City
Posted on Sunday, 22 January 2017
The Blissful Family of Luis and Paciencia
Garcia
of Tacurong City
By Apolinario Villalobos
The couple, Luis and Paciencia Garcia
(Tatay Luis and Nanay Pacing) opened the first bakery in our town during the
1950s. It had a big wood-fired oven fed by big chunks of wood, usually, “enyam”
or “bignay” and acacia which grew in abundance throughout the extent of the
town. I would play on stacked logs in front of the bakery in the afternoon
before finally making it home from the dried fish stall of my parents in the
market. Practically, every able-bodied member of the family took part in its
operation, especially, in manning the counter and the cash box. The Garcias
were close to our parents and sometimes our mother would linger awhile in front
of the bakery on her way to the market, to chat with both Nanay Pacing and
Tatay Luis. In my desire to earn at an early age, I peddled their pan de sal
around the town at dawn before I went to school, using a box of Darigold, a
popular brand of milk during the time. I was in Grade Three at the time.
During the regular Sunday singing contest
held at the town plaza, courtesy of the late mayor, Jose Escribano, paper bags
of bread from the bakery were among the prizes. The judges were so strict that
at the hint of an off-key, the contestant was disqualified at the sound of a
bell. A Levita girl with her golden voice was the consistent winner. The couple
also used to donate cookies for the yearly “Flores” celebration held every May.
The cookies were served as snacks to the kids who participated in catechetical
sessions during which Marian songs and prayers were taught. At the height of
evacuation to our town of families displaced from the surrounding areas during
the 70’s, they gave the local office of the Department of Social Welfare and
Development (DSWD) specially-discounted price for the bread that the agency
purchased.
Tatay Luis had the opportunity to delve
into the local politics with successful attempts, but he did not pursue this
particular calling, as it got stinky, the height of which was the assassination
of the town judge inside the church while he was attending the Sunday Mass.
Free from the political clutch, Tatay Luis and Nanay Pacing devoted their time
instead, to religious and civic activities of the town, especially, during
fiestas.
All members of the Garcia family are
achievers, successful in their chosen career and enjoying the fruit of their
labor, except for one whose advocacy brought her to her untimely demise. She
was Marlene (Esperat), the youngest in the brood, and who worked for the
government, particularly, as the Action Officer of the resident Ombudsman of
the Department of Agriculture, but left it posthaste, when she discovered
unbecoming activities. She later found a niche in the field of journalism, both
broadcast and print. In her paramount desire to help her country, she later
exposed the anomalies that she stumbled upon at the cost her life. She was
murdered, obviously, by a hired killer right inside her home. It took more than
5 years before the Ombudsman finally filed a solid case against the suspects,
the then, Agriculture Secretary Luis “Chito” Lorenzo, Undersecretary Joselyn
“Joc-Joc” Bolante and three others.
Practically, the Garcia siblings were
popular campus personalities at the Notre Dame Boys and Girls Departments, what
with their strong personality characterized by inherent leadership quality that
made them shine in scholastic and extra- curricular activities. The family was
known for their closeness that brought them together almost every year during a
reunion, in which cousins were also in attendance. Other special occasions were
also reasons for them to be together. That was how the good-natured though
strict patriarch and the jolly matriarch brought up the family. The eldest of
the brood, ultra-active, Valmie, with her crown of thick curly hair, was always
the life of any occasion as she let out her antics and biting, though, funny
remarks.
I was fortunate to meet Bong (Larry) and
Pangkek at Dagat-dagatan, Malabon many years back when I visited another town
mate, Judith Bides-Ramiscal who excitedly told me that they were neighbors.
After having told of their address I immediately surprised them with my visit.
My path crossed with that of Valmie’s during the 50th foundation
anniversary of our school, the Notre Dame of Tacurong. At the closing ceremony
of the reunion highlighted by a community dancing on the school grounds, she
was among the alumni who gleefully bumped shoulders to the beat of the festive
music, still the spritely gal that she was during her high school days. We were practically exchanging shouts of
greeting above the din of the ear-splitting non-stop disco sound. And, the next
time we again met after many years, was via the internet – the facebook. That
social medium also got me touched base
with her younger brother, Bong.
The Garcias have definitely impressed the
mark of their own legacy on the hefty foundation of the City of Tacurong while
she was going through the challenges from simple politics gone stinky and threats
of cultural unrest. And for that, Valmie and her siblings have their courageous
and generous father, Luis, as well as, jovial mother, Paciencia, to thank!
