Copyright Quisumbing Family 2008. All rights reserved.
During her seventh month pregnancy, Mom was informed by her physician, Dr. Macrina Leyson, that she would give birth to twins. Pop heard the two separate heartbeats himself. It was therefore necessary to prepare for two sets of clothes, two cribs, and one additional room. The twins, born fifteen minutes apart from each other, were named Gabriel (Ely) and Ricardo (Dickie). They weighed six and one half pounds and seven pounds respectively. The twins were double trouble and double joy! Pop and Mom took turns in caring for them, especially when they got sick. The twins (often referred to as kaluha) were inseparable as they grew up—as they learned to crawl, took their first steps, played, etc. Both studied in the same school and were in the same classes from kindergarten to college, pursuing and finishing the same degree, Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.
Maria Socorro (Cora) born on October 10, 1949 was the answer to Pop and Mom’s Wednesday novenas to the Mother of Perpetual Succor at Redemptorist Church. She was jokingly called her, the “typhoon baby,” when the two typhoons of November 1 and 11 struck Cebu with strong winds and heavy rains. Just a few weeks old, Cora had to be wrapped in blankets during the typhoon night to take refuge in a huge steel container beside the house bought from the surplus and used as storage during the corn harvest. Noli Hernaez offered to house the whole family while the old house was being repaired. Later on, a new house was built with stronger and better materials. Pop planted many different kinds of trees here: mabolo, santol, lomboy, lubi, bayabas, tampoy, tambis, balimbing, chico. He loved plants and trees so much he was able to persuade Mom to have mango trees planted in her inherited property in Subang Daku--what is now known as the Quisumbing Reynes Compound in Kasambagan, Mabolo.
Pop’s profession as civil engineer prospered through several construction projects 1949 and 1954. Among his projects were the pier in San Carlos City, Negros Oriental and public markets in Bantayan Island, Cebu, Gandara and Guiuan, Samar and Palompon, Leyte. In addition, he built a two-story apartment (formerly the City Hospital) in Mabini Street; what was previously the Lane Theater and its adjoining building at the corner of Colon and Leon Kilat Streets; a row of painted white houses behind the present McDonald’s in Arlington Pond Road--all in Cebu City; and factories (Pan Oriental Match Company in Mandaue City and Pacific Match Company in Magallanes, Butuan City (Magallanes, Agusan del Norte). Pop also repaired building structures of Hospicio de San Jose in Barili and two Catholic churches in Alcoy and Argao, in Cebu.
I was invited by Pop to join his trips to some of his projects--Gandara and Palompon Public Markets, the Mabini apartment, and the two factories. In the succeeding years, I saw almost all of the projects except the Bantayan and Guiuan public markets.
In May 1951, an unfortunate and terrifying robbery took place inside the Mango Avenue house. Only Lolo and Lola and the children (there were seven of us), together with our helpers, were in the house when it happened. Luckily, no one was physically hurt. Pop was at the construction site in Samar while Mom was at the Leyson Clinic for the birth of Roberto who was born in May 17. He died after seven days due to the loss of blood caused by Vitamin K deficiency. Two years later, Maria Lourdes (Marilou), named after Mom and Our Lady of Lourdes was born on May 21, 1953. Her birth was a consolation to Mom who grieved for the death of Roberto, her sixth son and eighth offspring.
Meanwhile, in 1951, Lolo and Lola had moved to their new home whose plans were drawn by Lolo and constructed by Pop, a civil engineer like Lolo. We often visited
them as did our first cousins, the children of Tita Pat, their only daughter, who also lived in Cebu at this time. Tito Manoling and his family were residing in Cagayan de Oro.
In June 1955, Pop and Mom bade farewell to me, their eldest teenager, when I left Cebu City for Christ the King Mission Seminary in Quezon City. I was an SVD (Societas Verbi Divini in Latin or Society of the Divine Word) seminarian for three years and had to return home because of weak lungs. I underwent medical treatment under Dr. Jose Cecilio Borromeo whose clinic was at the Borromeo Hospital in Sikatuna Street fronting a public elementary school. My mother served as my nurse to perform the daily injections under doctor’s instructions for one year.
Pop divided his time between Cebu City where he had an office at Escaño Shipping Lines building in front of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company in D. Jakosalem Street and Magallanes, Butuan City where he supervised the construction of a
match factory in 1954 and the installation of its machineries in the following year. Pop later spent most of his time in the factory when it was fully operational. We would spend our summer vacations there (and in Camiguin).
When he was in Cebu City, Pop found time to accompany Mom on short trips as she took observation notes on Cebuano marriage customs in the rural areas between 1954 and 1955. Quoting in part Mom’s words in her autobiography, An Instant is This Life, he was described as “a one woman-man” meaning that he was never romantically linked to any other woman in his lifetime while referring to her as “ O3 “ (One and Only One). Mom later called him the “wind beneath our wings” in his concern and patience in typing the drafts and final copies of her thesis, my master’s thesis, and the college theses of Cora and Marilou, with only two fingers.
The Pacific Match Company with Pop as president later expanded its business operations not only in Mindanao and Cebu but also in Iloilo and the Bicol region. In the summer of 1960, Pop asked me to join him on a business trip to Naga City via Masbate by boat where we visited relatives for the first and only occasion. We flew to Legaspi City for a day where we rested in a hotel to see the Mayon Volcano. We traveled by bus to Bulusan, Sorsogon where we hopelessly tried to locate Bertito’s grave in the mountains.
We took the same mode of transportation to Naga City. Here Pop contacted his agent-distributor so Pop could help sell the “Mayon” match with sticks of red heads for two or three days. I remained in the lodging house located along the Naga River. From there we boarded a night train bound for Manila and then took a ship for Cebu City. I was then a college student, helping Pop in the business as a sales collector and agent on commission basis.
When Mom was in Manila taking doctoral courses at the University of Santo Tomas during several summers, Pop was in the city to take charge of the other children, except Vising, Cora, and Marilou who joined Mom. While in the process of writing her dissertation on Rizal’s philosophy of womanhood based on his writings, Mom gave birth to Agnes, the tenth and youngest child, on June 26, 1961 as if in response to daughter Marilou’s prayers for a baby, particularly a sister. Despite her hectic schedule of caring for the baby and teaching college and graduate courses at St. Theresa’s College and University of San Carlos, Mom still completed her dissertation. Pop on his part did the task of typing her dissertation for oral defense and the final copies to be submitted to the University.
The Beverly Hills Residence
In the early 1950s, the unused portion of land in Mango Avenue, including an old
building (intended for a bodega--a warehouse of oil products--serving as a temporary residence and repair shop of the Diola family) and a vacant space (formerly rented by a furniture factory and later used for the Pacaldos’ house), was sold to the Jesuits who built the Sacred Heart School offering secondary education for boys. By 1963, the rest of the property, including the Mango Avenue home, was sold to the same religious priests for school expansion.
Its proceeds were utilized as full payment for a portion of land measuring more or
less 1,000 square meters in the newly opened Beverly Hills Subdivision in Sudlon, Lahug and as capital for the building of a new home for us. Pop supervised the construction of a three-story house – the first to be built in the subdivision at the top of the hills. After a few months, the entire family moved to this new home, overlooking three cities – Cebu City from the front and Mandaue and Lapulapu Cities from the back, at a distance. This home became a center of many activities – parties, meetings and family gatherings.
Pop’s last construction project was in Calinan, Davao City when Santa Clara Construction Company requested his services in the late1960s. He completed his project after several months. Pop also used to grow seedlings (for reforestation) for Santa Clara in Davao.
I was away from home during school years, i.e., 1964-1965, 1966-1967, 1967-1968 and 1968-1969 when I was teaching in different places (Cateel, Davao Oriental; Tudela, Camotes, Cebu; Makilala, North Cotabato and Cagayan de Oro City). When I returned home after these teaching assignments, I decided to continue my studies for a master’s degree in history on a full-time basis and with Pop and Mom’s financial assistance. After my marriage in 1970, I joined my wife Goding in her home. Pop typed my thesis drafts for my adviser’s corrections and later retyped the corrected drafts until he completed the final copies for my oral defense in October 1977.
