In March 1987, the practice run for the PMA Graduation was bombed when a bomb located on the ceiling of the grandstand exploded prematurely. Fortunately, Baby was not able to make it to the practice graduation. We stayed at the condominium in the “Tower” on Gibraltar Road, owned by my friend, Aquino relative and ATOM stalwart, Wilfrido “Wilo” Layug. In March 1989, we stayed at the condominium of a Chinese couple, William and Jingle Uy. They had a VHS rental and repair business in Virra Mall, GCC, San Juan. In 1992, after the May Presidential Elections, we again stayed at the “Tower”.
During my stint as National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) Commissioner, I brought my family to Baguio twice. Once was for the annual International Short Wave Frequencies Conference. We stayed in a cottage in Camp John Hay. On the second occasion, I was invited to deliver a speech to a local group. We stayed at a downtown hotel. I remember it was in November and quite cold.
In the rest of the 1990’s, we stayed at both Wilo’s and the Calma (Beth) condos in the “Tower”. In the summer of 1993, and several other occasions, we stayed at Alex Lina’s various condos in the Villa Alpino Condominiums near Mines View Park. In the late 1990’s, my eldest son had been working at Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) since 1993. Twice, we stayed at an HSBC house. That was before he was assigned in October 2000 to HSBC in Hong Kong.
In January 2001, my cousin, Ana Marie Araneta Santos Ocampo invited Baby, Cuchie and me to Baguio Country Club. She also gave us a tour of her family’s subdivision northeast of downtown towards Naguilian Road and the retreat of Baguio artist Kidlat. She also told us about the epic adventure of three Araneta siblings’ (Salvador, Antonio and Luis) families who walked down along the Naguilian Road to La Union, in order to escape the fighting, during the Liberation of Baguio, in the summer of 1945. My aunty in law, Margarita "Nena" Rebullida gave birth to Carlos "Linggoy" on March 24, 1945.
In 1995, when we sold our farm in Carmel Farms, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, I invested in a Consunji-developed and marketed Universal Leisure Club (ULC) share. It was supposed to be a five in one club with five facilities – a golf club, a sports club, etc... ULC failed to deliver on any of its original promises. In order to assuage their investors, they offered several substitutes: a City Club at the Equitable Bank Building along Paseo de Roxas, 3 townhouses near Puerta Galera, Mindoro Oriental and the A, G & P house along Baguio’s South Drive.
The former, I used extensively during our anti – GMA rallies in Makati. The latter, we used on several occasions when I was a member of the Board of Directors of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) from March 2001 to January 2004. In late 2004, while on a break between his assignment in Hong Kong and Florida, Pip brought us again to a different HSBC house.
In 2006, Baby and I stayed at the Escaler house near the Pink Sisters convent on Brent Rd. near Leonard Wood. This was when we attended the wedding of the son of Atty. Rico Agcaoili and Telly Estrella, Angelo to Lia Sandoval on March 25, 2006. Angelo became a Councilor and is now San Juan City Vice Mayor. Baby has a very close group of Maryknoll College 1970 batchmates now called “Amigas Guapas” – Telly Estrella Agcaoili, Cindy Corpus Albert, Manette Yuson Cortes, Lina Barreto David, Cecy Torres Esguerra, Chit Eleazar Gohu, Grace Legarda and Oying Escaler Saenz. They all came to the wedding with their husbands.
(To be continued)
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