Copyright Quisumbing Family 2007. All rights reserved.
[Incidentally, Filomena Quisumbing, a sister of Don Vicente, married a Zamora. This is why the Zamoras of General Luna and Padre Faura are related to us.]
Lolo Honorato
Lolo Honorato married Lola Akang (Ciriaca Arguelles) whose parents were Norberto Arguelles and Petronila Fernandez. This information was given to me by Architect Arguelles, son of Don Tomas Arguelles (also an architect) and older brother of Lola Akang. In Madrid and Mexico City there are streets named "Arguelles". Tio Dando (Eduardo) Quisumbing told me of the street in Madrid while Architect Arguelles told me of the street in Mexico City.
Lolo Honorato worked for the Spanish government in Sta. Cruz, Laguna, the capital of the province. Later, he and Lola Akang, together with their children, moved to Los Baños. The early days of the American occupation were fraught with danger. Lolo Honorato was on his way to Calamba when he, his cochero and policeman-bodyguard, disappeared without a trace. He had on his person land titles as he was in the real estate business. I remember my father, Emilio, telling me that Tio Totong (Norberto, Sr.) was a babe-in-arms when Lolo Honorato disappeared.
Lolo Honorato and Lola Akang had the following children: Emilio, Fernando, Manuel, Francisco, Eduardo, Carlos and Norberto. I deduce that Tio Totong came after Tio Carlos as Tio Totong was still an infant when Lolo Honorato disappeared. Every Todos Los Santos (All Saints Day), we (Father, Mother, my sister Pacita, and I) would go to the Cementerio del Norte to lay wreaths and light candles on the tombs of Tio Carlos and my sister, Consolacion, who died in infancy.
Lola Akang
Lola Akang was imprisoned by Paciano Rizal, brother of Jose Rizal. Why? Lola Akang never told me, though we used to pass in front of Paciano Rizal's house on the way to the market. His house was on the same street as Lola Akang's house.
Lola Akang had an indomitable spirit. She raised her six sons alone from boyhood to maturity. Father told me of their lives. He was studying at Colegio de San Juan de Letran taking a course in Liberal Arts. Tio Dando would gather slops to feed their pigs. In the house lot in Los Baños, there was a mango tree and a sampalok (tamarind) tree. Lola Akang would gather the immature fallen mangoes and preserve them in brine to make boro. She would make tamarindo jam, place one tablespoon of the jam in a glass of water and then offer it to me. She said it was a preventive against small pox.
Lola Akang was a good cook, not a fancy one. Her viands were always appetizing. She would cook batchoy with just enough luya (ginger) to give it a tangy taste, misua with whole eggs and sliced patola, tinolang dalag and inihaw na hito. If there was dulong, a fish so fine and tiny you could place a hundred or more in a tablespoon, she would make them into an omelet.
Lola Akang was an avid moviegoer. At that time movies were "silent". At Camp Eldridge, a U.S. Army camp, there were almost nightly shows, starring Pearl White, Ruth Roland, Elmo Lincoln and others in serials. At the most exciting parts, "To Be Continued" would appear on the screen so one had to come back the following night to find out what happened to the hero or damsel in peril.
When Lola Akang would go to the cinema or went to do her errands, she would be accompanied by a maid. One evening an American black soldier, apparently drunk, accosted her. What she did was to open her umbrella (she always carried one) and poked it at the soldier. He backed off.
She had a tin box wherein she had buyo, betel nuts, and lime. A bottle of coconut oil was one of the things she always carried. She would apply the oil on her shiny and black hair. Once she told me in jest she could still marry as her hair was still black. A bottle of makabuhay was constant companion. She applied it on aching joints to relieve her rheumatism. She was very neat and her camisa and panuelo always starched. Her posture was always erect, no slouching.
With the exception of Tio Danding (Fernando) and Tio Manolo (Manuel), her other sons, Emilio (Father), Tio Paquito (Francisco), Tio Dando and Tio Totong went to the United States for further studies. Father was one of 93 Filipino
