Hello, Kapitan Panta Families - Wherever You Are

Lolo Aqui used to tell wild stories about flying saucers and aliens landing in the bamboo grooves - the strange physical characteristics and vehicles - used to scare me a lot but I also loved it - so I would beg for Lolo Aqui tell me about the agta, or the woman who walked around Poblacion and hang out by the imburnal - that was before Ingko David moved their house and store there - so it would go on and on. It was greeaat! After listening to the stories my imagination would just go wild all night.

Remember, this was before electricity, paved roads and the last "Autobus" trip came around 8:00 PM - the end of motor traffic!!! - unless Uncle Tino had a housecall to make or an emergency run by the "corporation" - which was really a truck driven by
Tio Pedro Monsanto before he was mayor.

Anyway, after viewing Mecmec's website with the family reunion posting - I was overwhelmed. I cried a little from my heart's longing to be with all of you. Then today, I thought about Lolo Aqui a lot. I wonder what he would think about some of advances in communication and technology. I missed him a lot - his stories and his smell - he always smelled like a freshly bathe baby.

I am going to be very busy - school starts next Tuesday, I teach on Tuesdays. I am doing RA training tomorrow - had 3 faculty meetings already - skipped 2 of those - had a community meeting in Westland. Had an advising session with one of the Filipino students from Bacolod today - it was fun - he is very homesick,too.

Thank you Many Aliado and Ingko Tony - of course,Mecmec. Please feel free to comment on my blogs.

Family There, Family Here, Family Everywhere

The new generation in Michigan - Manny (Leto's son) and Mina (Nicole's Daughter)



Here's Donna and I - daughters of Teresa (Nene) - daughter of Emilio and Beatriz Montecillo.



The family here is small - these are the girls in the family taken a long time ago. In the center is Lauren, Nicole, Edna, Rosanne, Donna, Julie and Karen. Where was Gina?



Manoy Aliado gave me this family reunion photo in 1997. Although, I don't know everybody - would love to know everyone - I keep the photo in my office. A new one would be great!!! Hint, Hint!

Family, Family, Family!!!

This is John, Lauren's partner and Dominic. All these photos were taken on my 60the birthday party.


This is Alexander - Nicki's youngest son - a character for sure.


Frank is Donna's hubby. Gabriel is Nicole's middle son. He has a very Montecillo face, I think.



Can you believe it - Donna is Leto's godmother. Look at him now!


With two of my grandsons - Dominic and Emmanuel. Taken on my 60th birthday party. Oh How time flies - I do miss Ro and her boys a lot - Gus and Zachary.

Summer With Dominic

My day started early and well - went to breakfast at Baker's Square in Livonia (they closed the one in Westland). Then went for a hike at the Livonia Rotary Park with Larry. I like the park because of the woods and the trails along a tributary to the Rouge River. Reminds me of walking along the Naghalin River close to the bridge towards Suba.

It is very hot and humid today. Took my grandson, Dominic to the Henry Ford Museum. It is one of the largest historical museums in the country. Among other things the chair they used to carry Lincoln after he was shot is there - the bloodstains can still be seen. So is the car the President Kennedy was riding in, when he was shot is also there and so is Edison's laboratory and all that - it would take a good three to four days to really take in everything and appreciate US history and all that.

Needless to say, it is one of the coolest places in metro-Detroit if not Michigan. We went to see the "Rock Stars Cars and Guitars" exhibit. So we saw the cars owned by Madonna, Elton John, Elvis Presley, etc and the guitars also!!!

Yes, John Lennon's custom psychedelic Rolls Royce is beautiful. The paint job is a magnificent work of art.

We went to Henry Ford Museum three weeks ago. I did not post this earlier because I was looking for a picture of Dominic to go along with it - he has grown a lot - just a bit taller than I am.

I am not sure how the summer disappeared - haven't been swimming at all this year - have only been sailing one time - now I have one more week before school starts. I am rearranging my office - already had one faculty meeting last week and I think two more next week. A lot of thunderstorms lately and I hate driving in the rain.

Thunder and lightning still frighten me but not as bad - I use to literally crawl in bed and cover up.

Connecting Relatives

I love doing this!!! During our conversation tonight I just happened to mention how much I enjoy reading the blogs of Phoebe Montecillo Salabsab Coloscos to my sister Donna Jean Montecillo Elliott Hayden. So she asked me to show it to her.

I got on the computer here in Garden City as she got on the computer at her house in Sterling Heights (47 miles away). Donna is not into computers. So I walked her to Phoebe's blog on the phone. We had fun, although I couldn't get her to leave a comment.

I am still trying to talk her into getting an e-mail account. Slowly but surely she is getting around this wonderful technology.

Then the conversation switched to our observation that Manoy Aliado Concha (Uncle Johnny to Donna)was in one of the pictures of Mecmec's Sinulog slide show. So we had to go to the website www.thecatmonanon.cjb.net to check.

This is getting to be fun, sharing with the family here. I hope that you will all continue to keep up the good work so we can stay connected.

The Picture Of Success

This is my picture of success. Every year at the Madonna University graduation ceremonies, I have the pleasure of watching my students receive their diplomas. This particular student is from Albania. He is now in graduate school working on his graduate degree in health services. It has been a pleasure working with students from all over the world.

Two of my students from the Philippines just stopped by to let me know that they are back to Michigan. They opted to stay in the US and do some traveling, rather than go back to the Philippines for the summer. One of them is graduating this year. They just returned from South Carolina and Florida. They will be going to New York City tommorrow.

Another student from India, just returned from visiting a Hindu temple in upstate New York. Upstate New York is one of my favorite places in the US - everyone else can have New York City.

Just thought I would share a tiny slice of my life.

Tagay Tuba

On one of the shows, they had an expert give some guidance and tips on "How to Cope at the Wine Shop". I started laughing because I grew up running to stores to buy "Usa Ka Tipo" for Lola. I hated it - especially if it was dark at night - this was before electricity came to Catmon. But Lola liked her tuba. Have to admit - real good tuba tastes like champagne. No lie!

From my current position, education and life experience, I feel sad and more sympathetic about Lola Bette's plight and the other victims of the disease, Alcoholism is a disease. This disease has a biological, psychological and social component.

Genetic components make some folks more prone to the disease. So the prevention strategy that works best is complete abstinence. The younger the exposure to alcohol the higher the risk for the disease.

Psychological stress and issues can heighten the risk of disease. Often times people use alcohol to relieve psychological pain and stress. Anger, emptiness,loneliness, abandonment issues, grief issues, etc. can lead people to self medicate with alcohol and other drugs to ease if not forget the pain.

Non-judgemental, open, supportive conversations and the acquisition of coping skills are some of the healing and prevention strategies that are proven to have worked. This is one of the reasons why Alcoholics Anonymous is the most effective and successful strategy in the world.

The social component is composed of the family and friends around the individual. "Birds of a Feather, Flock Together" is the operative saying. Peer pressure, the need to be accepted and looked upon as "Cool" play a huge part. The strategy to use in prevention is to vary the people around you.

Alcoholism is a family disease. It has a reach of at least 7 generations, even with interventions and complete abstinence. Nobody wakes and decide "I think I am going to be an alcoholic today." The craving and need to drink, when the disease is full blown is completely involuntary. To stop "cold tureky" can be very dangerous.

Incidentally, if you search for "Montecillo" in the web. The majority of the hits is for Montecillo wines from Bodegas Montecillo. The origins are from the Ebro River Valley, South of Barcelona, Spain. If part of our ancestry originated from there, this makes us a high risk family!

So go figure!

Tata Batyong

The first one of the brothers to travel to the US was Tata Batyong (Gervasio). Apparently, he signed up as a Philippine Scout during the first world war. The Philippines was a colony and possession of the US then. That was around 1914 - 1916?? - will have to check my history for exact dates.

I am not sure how many of the Catmonanons served in the military, but quiet a few settled in Detroit. I know Tata Batyong served for sure because he was able to collect a small pension for his service. He brought my grandfather, Emilio to the US and I believe Michigan. Later on, his twin brother (Protacio) Uncle Tasio and his nephew, Uncle Carling(Carlos Regalado) came also. I will write about what I know about them in another blog.

Their cousins,Uncle Bennie (Benito Rivera Jurado)and Uncle Paul (Pablo Rivera Jurado)also came and settled in Detroit. So did Uncle Elie (Elias Rivera Jurado Monsanto)- Lola Ninang's son who later married Auntie Nina Joromo.

I don't know how or why Tata Batyong ended back in Catmon or how and why Uncle Tasio ended up in Knightsen, California. It is one of the twist and turns of family history that we may never find out.

It has been fun for me to think and write about the family story. I hope you will share this with your family. Knowledge of family history is supposed to be good for the identity development of young people.

Family provides us roots to keep us grounded and help us grow.

Immigration or How We Ended Up In Michigan

I showed tourism pictures of Cebu to some of my co-workers. All glossy and beautiful. The first questions asked are: "Why did you leave? What are you doing in Michigan?"

The short answer is "My Mom is from here. She was born in Tennessee Street in Detroit, on December 14, 1926."

I have seen the house. It was in a neighborhood where I worked with Habitat for Humanity for a couple of years. The City of Detroit actually gave me a Certificate of Appreciation this year for "Dedication and Commitment to Revitalize the Community" - sad, to say the city is in disrepair and need a lot of help.

Lolo Emilio - I have never met him but, I understand he was quiet a guy although very sickly - more about this later - took Lola Bette and his kids to Catmon a couple of times. The depression came with the hard financial times on the second trip.

Lola Bette was pregnant with Auntie Geline. She stayed in Catmon, where Auntie was born. Then, the Tydings McDuffie Law was passed by the US congress. The migration status of Filipinos was changed from unlimited free entry for Filipinos to a quota of 50 Filipinos allowed per year.

There were three factors driving the law and change: 1 - Filipino leadership were pushing for independence. 2 - The US economy was not doing very well and did not want shoulder the financial burden of administering the Philippines. 3 - The Filipino labor force in the US was growing quickly - then all of a sudden jobs became scarce so to appease labor demands they had to get rid of Filipino workers.

For Lola Bette and Auntie Geline - it was a hopeless situation although Mom and Uncle Junior were both US citizens. The whole family was split and splintered. I listened and watched Lola cry many nights because of the separation. She never saw Lolo Emilio ever again. Auntie Geline never met her father. My mother never saw her father alive again. Our family suffered emotional, financial, psychological and spiritual consequencies because of this.

The importance of knowing the laws and being politically active was driven home to me once I learned this story. It deepened my political understanding that real flesh and blood people are affected by government laws and policies. I am currently very active in the Immigration Reform and Immigrant and Refugee Rights!

The "Lolas" and the "Apos"

I have two of my grandchildren today - Manny and Dominic. It brought up some memories about the Lolas and the cousins growing up in Catmon. We were the "pinikas" - how I am not sure how it translates in English - roughly "designated" grandchildren.

There was me, Ethna - Teresa's daughter living with Lola Beatriz (Emilio). My mother was living first in Michigan and then California. My mother was the eldest and I am the eldest also. Later on, I was replaced by Eva (I called her Bambi)- Tia Geline's eldest. Tia Geline and Tio Edgar were living in Kiburiao, Bukidnon.

Michael - the son of Tio Lorenzo and Tia Loreto lived with Lola Vidad (Mateo). His parents also lived in Bukidnon. We went through school together. Later on, Louella lived with Lola Vidad. Her parents Tio Vicente and Tia Quiling lived in Iligan.

Lola Milyang (married to Regalado and De Dios) had Manoling and later on Riza - both daughters of Tio Dodo and Tita Remy. The family lived in the city but the two girls, especially Riza stayed in Catmon.

Lola Sayong (Gervasio - Tata Batoy)had Roy and later Villeza. They are the son and daughter of Titi Bebeng and Tia Moning. The family lived in Medellin.