Baby was Maria Fe “Baby” Ahorro y Ramos married to Jose Luis “Linggoy” Alcuaz y Araneta since December 19, 1970. She was born on August 22, 1948, to the then, Philippine Army 2nd Lt. Hermilo “Milo” Ahorro y Noriega and Conchita “Chit” Ramos y Lim, both from Meycauayan, Bulacan. Baby was delivered by a “comadrona” in her paternal grandparents’ house.
Eventually, they would be nine siblings, six girls and three boys – Ma. Fe “Baby”, Hermilo Jr. “Boy” (died November 2019). “Charito”, Isidro “Jojo”, Ma. Cecilia “Cecille”, Ma. Rosario “Chona”, Ma. Consuelo “Connie”, Ma. Regina “Jeannie” and Jose “Jingle”. All of them except Chona would get married to respective spouses – Linggoy, Rochelle, Graham, Ging, Dick, Jing, Jeff and Lisa. The eight married siblings would have a total of twenty - three children, twenty - three grandchildren and one great grandson.
As a junior infantry officer, their father would serve in the anti - dissident campaign against the PKP/HMB on Luzon and as a weapons platoon leader in the 19th BCT of PEFTOK in the Korean War. They initially lived at the Philippine Army HQ in the then Ft. William McKinley in Makati/Taguig, Rizal. Their Junior Officer’s Quarters were a mere stone’s throw from the Manila American Cemetery. Baby started schooling at the Ft. McKinley Grade School.
By 1957, Baby’s father was a Captain, had been reassigned to Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) General Headquarters (GHQ ) at Camp Frank Murphy in Q. C. and had been assigned a JOQ in the camp. Baby transferred to St. Paul College Q. C. from grade 3 – 7, graduating in 1962. In 1966, she graduated from SPC QC High School. Then, she transferred to Maryknoll College and majored in Sociology, graduating in 1970.
Meanwhile, her father had been promoted to Major and transferred from the Philippine Army (PA) to the Philippine Constabulary (PC).
On August 22, 1966, she turned 18 and was introduced to society by means of a “debut” at the Camp Emilio Aguinaldo Golf Club. The following month, September, our Ateneo de Manila College of Arts and Sciences freshman class held a class party at the residence of Roberto “Bobby” Jayme along then Minnesota, now Ermin Garcia St., in Cubao, Q. C.
I was the first male host to arrive, and Baby was the first female guest to arrive. That is how I first met Baby. That is how I got ahead of the competition in getting to know Baby. I was then on the stout side at 185 pounds. For my first visit to Baby’s home in Camp Murphy, by now renamed Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, I brought along two friends, both even stouter than me – Bobby Jayme and Alfredo “Freddie” Navarro Salanga, the poet.
A year later, as sophomore students, in September 1967, we exchanged high school class rings in my garden at my circa 1927 ancestral home in New Manila, Q. C. I was then a commissioned cadet officer of the Ateneo de Manila University Air Force ROTC Wing, I hosted our AFROTC non - commissioned cadet officers’ induction ball at my home.
During our three years that we were in a steady relationship before we got married, I became aware that Baby had some health concerns. These were related to the heart, like hypertension, and the gastro - intestinal tract, like ulcers. However, we had no hint or signs that she had any problem with her kidneys. For fifty – eight years, Baby centered her life around me. She always gave way to me and followed what I wanted to do.
However, my life, since I became an activist in 1966, has been one of ups and downs and zigs and zags. Many of my jobs and roles have been risky and unstable. Financial stability often escaped us. She endured and suffered through all these problems while trying to shield our children from the distraction, insecurity and stress that such problems caused. Baby was our shock absorber. This took a heavy toll on her health.
Since our summer term before freshman year, I had become a moderate student activist. Baby also became a farmer oriented moderate student activist in her first semester of freshman year. A full year before we got married on December 19, 1970, at the Santuario de San Jose in Greenhills, Mandaluyong (with the reception at our New Manila home), I dropped out of my second semester, senior year in college in December 1969.
(To be continued)
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