History of My Life - Part J: Life in Bayombong, N.V.

As a third year student in the New Nueva Vizcaya Vocational H.S., with a new name and new classmates, I felt embarrassed when, during the first day roll call, I failed to respond when my new name was called until our teacher included my second name, Sibayan.  I blushed as everyone turned towards me not realizing the fact that I was, for the first time in 14 years being called Jose instead of Patrocinio.

My beautiful and very cute cousin, Eufemia “Mamin” Bravo, who was my classmate, explained to her friends my new name and told them that my nickname is “Siniong.”  And so my new acquaintances called me Siniong instead of Jose or “Peping.” 

Aside from the regular H.S. general subjects, I was enrolled in Poultry and Swine, as a vocational courses.  In that class I fell in love with Miguela (Ilay) Faralan who responded to my special attentions by slipping to me the answers to our daily Biology exams as I slipped to her the answers to our Algebra daily exams as we met each other in the exchange of classrooms.  Nobody noticed this secret understandin of ours.  She was the daughter of an Asst. Protestant Pastor and the sister-in-law of our vocational school teacher, Mr. Rimozin.  Ilay and I continued our friendship up to Manila when we were enrolled in college there after our graduation from H.S.

Although my classmates and other H.S. students looked at me with envy for being a bicycle owner and a relative of my rich cousin, riding a P.C. calesa, driven by a soldier on rainy days, they didn’t know the dark side of my life.  They didn’t know why I was limping after I got wet during a rain, riding my bike from school.  Because I only had one pair of shoes, I tried to dry them inside an oven.  When I got them they had shrunk.  I could hardly get my feet inside them.  When my uncle asked me why I was limping, I explained to him my problem.  He told me to get a pair of rubber shoes from a friend’s store.  At that time, men did not wear socks.  And so I wore first one pair of rubber shoes from June to the end of the school year without much chance of washing them.  The stink of those shoes and my feet served as anti-colds medicine.  As I ran my finger between my toes and smelled it, the cold germs got killed instantly with the bad odor!

They didn’t know that I had to wake up at 5 AM daily to go to town, bike on the stony road for more than two miles, to buy fresh bread from the bakery and then polish the floor with coconut husk before I took a bath.  They didn’t know that I had to pump water by hand every morning for bathing purposes.

They didn’t know that I had to wash the dishes after our meals and ran errands for my auntie and cousins with my bike.  They didn’t know that during our Senior Junior’s Prom I had to wear my oversized uncle’s shoes and coat and tie because I didn’t have any at all.  They didn’t know how much I wanted to give a Christmas gift or card to Ilay, my girlfriend, but I did not even have a centavo in my pocket.

They didn’t know how my self-pity brought tears to my eyes when I saw my uncle and his family going to a dance in the barracks across the street and they left me to take care of their young children.  And I sang the orphan’s song to myself.

But I got very much higher grades than my cousins and my uncle asked why.  My cousin’s close friends became my friends too and so I had Ilay, Olive, Edity and Jonnie closer to me than other H.S. students.  I had a chance to ride Edith on the bar of my bike one moonlit night around the town, but I had no nerve to make love with her for fear of breaking our friendship.  I continued my friendship with these ladies when they were taking nursing courses in Manila.  I was then a law student and working at the same time.

In Bayombong my uncle brought home from his expeditions in the jungles of the Sierra Madre Mountains a wild Ilongot boy and a naked black girl called “negrita”, the supposed aborigines of the Philippines.  They were wild like animals in the forest, but were tamed very easily.  We called the negrita Pogot and the Ilongot Tiadang.  At night they slept without blankets or mosquito nets, although it was very cold with plenty of mosquitoes.  They slept too soundly that we had to douse them with cold water to wake them up!

Tiadang can fire an arrow from his bow into the thick tall weeds of a forest and still be able to retrieve it back.  Pogot can climb up a tree as nimble as a monkey.  They were both very healthy, full of muscles, without excess fat on their bodies.  Their strength was unbelievable.  No amount of convincing them can make them take a bath.  They prefer to rub ashes on their bodies.  No doubt flies or mosquitoes avoid them!  They preferred to eat fruit and raw vegetables.

The elder sister of Mg. Maming, Bicensoceso (Susing) Bravo was crowned as Mrs. Philippines Veterans in 1933, as a candidate of the Constabulary of Nueva Vizcaya.  I almost got killed at a wooden bridge in Soleno, N.V. when I was holding to the side of a truck converted into a float riding my bike as the truck speeded homeward bound.  It’s good I was able to let go of the truck to avoid being pinned to the railings of the bridge.  It is also a wonder how I managed to balance myself at a great speed on the stony road without falling from my bike.  I guess my guardian angel saved me.  I did not notice I wet my pants until I arrived home.

After our school closed for summer vacation my uncle and auntie decided to send me back home with my bike to Bangued.  They took my younger brother in my place so that he can continue his studies in H.S.

History of My Life - Part I: After Mother's Death

I saw how lonely father became after mother’s death but he took his loss bravely with that usual smile for anything that happens.  He fell in love with a beautiful young employee of the La Flor de Pita tobacco factory of Don Juan Valera and got married.  That was when I was 2^nd year in H.S. in 1933.

My uncle Lt. Bravo, visited us and suggested that I enroll in the H.S. in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, his new Constabulary station.  Father agreed.  There I changed my name from Patrocinio to Jose upon my enrollment in 3^rd yr H.S.  My wish to have a bicycle was fulfilled when my uncle gave me the new bicycle won by my auntie.  I used it to go to school.  During rainy days I rode in a horse-driven carriage (Calesa) driven by a Constabulary soldier to school with my cousin, Manang Maming, who was my classmate.

This is the turning point of my life, from “rags to riches”, from obscurity to popularity, from a low-down-trodden profile to a higher self esteem and to an awareness of my boyhood and manhood stage in life.  I felt differently, I felt like a real MAN!

But living with relatives is quite different from living with one’s own parents.  All my words and actions were guarded and not spontaneous.  I can’t be equal with my cousins in the eyes of their parents.  I and my older cousin, Manon Baddong, who like me is from another family, felt our treatment as those of servants by our uncle and aunt and their children.  We both come from poor families. 

Mg. Baddong’s father, Silvio, an older brother of Tata Anton, was the farmer in charge of Kinaber owned by our rich Uncle Anton.  Kinaber is a large tract of land bounded by mountains and rivers planted with rice, corn, coconut, cotton, sweet potatoes and vegetable plants.  Cows, pigs, chickens, ducks and horses are raised in this farm.

Online Obituary for Jose Bravo Sibayan

Here's a link to Jose Bravo Sibayan's online obituary.

http://www.veteransfuneralcare.com/veteransfuneralhome/obituaryDetail.cfm?idObituary=1290&sectionId=3

Memorial Mass for Jose Bravo Sibayan - 2/5/2011

The memorial service for my grandfather will be held at St Paul's Catholic Church in Tampa on February 5, 2011 at 11:00 am.  Reception to follow afterwards in the Parish Center.

St. Paul's Catholic Church
12708 N. Dale Mabry Hwy
Tampa, FL 33618

History of My Life - Part H: Mother's Death

Mother's death when I was 14 was the most traumatic experience I had.  I visited her grave almost every day after school hours because the cemetery was close to the Abra H.S. where I enrolled as 2nd year student.  There I cried, I prayed, I wished... she were still alive.  I learned how to sing the Ilocano song entitled "Kanta ti Ulila" (Song of an Orpan):

Idi payla ubingac - When I was still young
Ni inak inolilana - My mother orphaned me (literal)
Itan ta domakelac - Now that I am big
Sapolek deyoi inak - I looked for my mother
Awan ti makaammo - Nobody knows
Sadinno ti ayanna - Where she is
Timek ti meysa nga angel - The voice of an angel
Konana a natay. - Said: "She is dead."
No agarobos luluac - When my tears flow freely
O nasamit nga inac - O sweet mother of mine
Nalibnos a ladawam - Your clear image
Ti agparang caniac - Appears before me
Deyta ti naganac kenca - This is your mother
Yan tandan kararuac - My soul remembers
Diac kenca malipat - Never will I forget you
Ingat tong paltoy biag - Until my life ends.

I always cried when I sang this song.  I guess I was very much attached to my mother.  I was at her bedside until she died.  I saw her suddenly get up, kneel before a big cross with Jesus crucified, made the sign of the cross, then went back, lie down quietly, and died.  Her last thought at the point of death was Jesus!  Praise the Lord.  How I wish to be like her when my time comes to return this borrowed life from God back to Him through Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior!  JBS.  Amen.

History of My Life - Part G: 6 - Across the Mountains & 7. Caddy & Bike

6. As a child I was full of imagination and ambitions or "dreams."  For lack of anything to do or play with because then we had no TV or radio set or even papers to read, I used to lie down under a tree, our Asimas tree, and watch the clouds.  I imagined a lot of things formed by the clouds above.  I used to see now and then a pair of KALI, or native hawks, gliding up and down or sometimes having a "dog-fight."  As they floated in the air across the mountains, I followed them, wondering what could be beyond those tall mountains.  And so my wish was to go beyond those physical barriers and see other places.

These dreams were later on realized when my uncle, Lt. Antonio Bravo, was stationed in Laoag, Ilocos Norte.  My mother visited him with us during our Christmas vacation.  There, for the first time in my life, did I have the best Christmas experience.  Before we went to sleep we were given big new stockings and hung them on nails on the wall.  We were told that Santa Claus will give us gifts as we sleep.

My younger brother and our young cousins about our age were excited to find out the following morning our socks full of apples, oranges, raisins, cookies and candies!  I also got an airplane that flies round and round as it hangs with a long string to the ceiling.  My joy was beyond measure!  Across those high forbidding mountains west of Bangued was a "pot of gold."

It was also there in Laoag, Ilocos Norte that my brother and I learned how to use spoons and forks.  I was around seven and my brother five years old.  I can still remember our well-to-do cousins laughing at us awkwardly handling those glistening silvers, even quite scared to soil them.

From then on we always urged our mother to visit her rich brother in other provinces as Ilocos Sur and La Union.  We always experienced new things like eating in a LURIAT party of a rich Chinese merchant where around ten different courses were served in Vigan, Ilocos Sur; going swimming in the beach of San Fernando, La Union and riding a Constabulary Jeepney.  And we always got gifts like roller skates, wooden wagon and alphabet blocks too.  Mother brought home lots of old newspapers which were very useful in wrapping new slippers for customers.  I didn't know how to read the La Vanguardia Spanish newspaper, but I liked looking at the pictures printed in them.

7. In Vigan I learned how to hit the ball with golf clubs as I served as Caddy for my uncle.  My auntie won a bike in a raffle, but nobody used it, as my girl cousins about my age are not supposed to ride a bicycle, only boys do!  How I wished I had a bike of my own.  I learned how to bike in Vigan.

History of My Life - Part G: 4 - Teacher & 5 - America!

4. Our first theme writing in 1st year H.S. was entitled: "My Ambition."  Ho I admired and envied our H.S. teachers who were immaculately dressed with coat and tie and shoes, all white from head to foot.  And so my ambition was to become a teacher!

Mr. Silverio Gutierrez was my English Teacher.  he gave me a good grade.  I might have flattered his ego.  In 1952 I was assigned as Law Instructor in the Philippine Constabulatory School in Camp Crame by Gen. Florencio Solga.  Then in 1957 I was transferred to the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City to teach Law and other Social Science subjects.

At night time I also taught Biology, Economics, and Philippine History in the AFPSEM (Armed Forces School for Enlisted Men) in Fort Gregorio del Pilar.  It was there where I retired in 1965 with the rank of Major.

5. Our teacher in 2nd year H.S., Miss Lea Bringas, for Science subject, told us to submit a project of any kind that is useful. I saw a MISAL (bookstand) for placing a book like the one used for the Bible in church and I asked my mother who owned it as it was lying idle under our house in our store room. She said that it belonged to my cousin, Loreto Bravo, who left for America and she said that when he saw a shooting star at night he pointed at it and shouted AMERICA!

Since then I watched for a shooting star because I wanted very much to see America. At that time the influence of the movies and magazines to young people in Abra was very great. Miss Bringas gave me a good grade for my project of a hand-made MISAL or bookstand, saying that I did it myself unlike those of others which were made by carpenters.

I was about to be sent to the M.P. School in U.S.A. as a military “pensionado” or student-officer in 1951 buy my alternate, who was a finance officer, was sent instead of me. I was very much disappointed because I saw my dream burst like an air bubble! After my alternate returned to Manila from the M.P. School in U.S.A. he went on AWOL. It was found out that he had mismanaged so much money and he was suspected of malversation. Then I made my own conclusions why I, the Principal, did not get it.

After my retirement my only remaining unfulfilled ambition before I die was to see America. Then came my chance in 1971 when I came to America as a tourist to see my American-born grandson, Chris, the first child of Jojo.

When my visa expired I filed my application for American citizenship in 1972 after hiring a lawyer in New York who raised his fees to $3,000 from $400 after I showed him a newspaper clipping that a Filipino, an ex-USAFFE like me, was granted citizenship in California. Because I can’t afford his fees, I said: “Lord you are the best lawyer up there. Nothing is impossible with you. With your help I can be an American citizen.”

I got my papers from the New York lawyer and filed my application with the Immigration and Naturalization Office in Philadelphia where I lived with my daughters Betty and Jojo. To make the story short, my petition was granted and I became an American citizen in 1973. Aside from the $25 filing fee, I only spent a $1 fine for over-parking in front of the courthouse in Tampa where I took my oath before a judge. PTL! And so with the help of God I realized my ambition to see America and also became an American citizen. Had I seen America in 1951 I could have lost my desire to see it again, but God has a plan for everyone.

It is said that the long wait before a prayer is answered is to make us prepared to receive, with a bigger basket, the greater blessings he has prepared for us. I did not only see America, I became an American citizen, organized the Pilipino-American Association of Tampa, of which I became its founder and first President. The Lord also used me to help build a chapel of the Philippine Independent Church in Tampa as its first President for two terms. When my wife, Pat of Bangued, died in 1982, the Lord gave me a beautiful, loving and faithful second wife who is of Italian-Spanish ancestry from Chile, S.A. In 1983 we went to South America where we stayed for two months with the relatives there.

What more can I ask for from God?  

"This is my story, this is my song

Praising my savior all the day long, 

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my savior all the day long."

In this connection, I would like to add that it was when I was making my devotion to St. Joseph that he interceded for me to realize my ambition to see America, that I came to America.  When I visited New York City I asked my nephew-in-law to buy me a Bible.  He bought one from the St. Patrick's Cathedral, a Catholic Bible, St. Joseph Edition.

It was in that church where I concluded my devotion to St. Joseph.  Somebody in Manila told me that St. Joseph is a strong intercessor for the fulfillment of an ambition.  It was in Stella Maris in Cubao, Quezon City where I started my devotion to St. Joseph.  

Two unusual incidents happened there.  One early morning on my way to the six o'clock mass I saw a UFO hovering over the Ateneo de Manila like a brightly-lighted football, then it shot up perpendicularly with a great burst of speed and disappeared.  During the part of the mass wherein we extend our greeting of "Peace be with you" inside the church, I saw across the aisle my former girlfriend in H.S. whom I haven't seen since the Japanese occupation of Manila.  We had a short conversation before I left for U.S.A.