Lola Pacing

I don't know much about my ancestors, though I've met the mother of my grandfather and I was scared of her most of the time during our encounters. I thought that she was a ghost. I was 2 years old. That's my earliest memory of her. I think she died when I was 3 or 4 years old. She was ancient. That was my memory of her. How she looked like? Oh,never mind. Just think about a very healthy old person over 90 years old,that was my great-grandmother of my grandfather's side.

With my grandmother's side of the family, I only heard some stories and I would like to share this story.

Until recently,I never knew the real story of my great-grandparents,the parents of my grandmother. My grandmother has experienced a very traumatic incident during the early 1940's. It was the early stage of WWII.

From one of my uncle's account, my grandmother belonged to a prominent family. Her father,my great-grandfather was a government employee. He was then the City Assessor. Accordingly,they live in a simple modest lives and always ready to help others even think of other people first before themselves. My great-grandfather has helped a lot of people. Had he foreseen it that he would die early,he could have amass a lot wealth for himself and distribute it to his children,my grandmother and her sisters for that matter. He didn't enrich himself for he is known to be an honest man.

Then the war broke out. Soldiers of then Japanese Imperial Army invaded the Philippines. Soon,they reached Cebu. They were searching for high government officials,round them up and execute them. My great-grandfather was considered a high government official.

Japanese armies known as "Kempeitai",the military police,were the one in charge of capturing the likes of my great-grandfather. The infamous Kempeitai are known for their brutality so everyone run away and hide from them.

One story went,my great-grandparents were hiding in a cave. The Kempeitai was searching for them with a hooded traitor acting as a guide. They were well hidden in the cave but because of their dog,which was making a lot of noise,they were soon discovered by the search party. My great-grandparents were captured.

I wasn't given any details about their ordeal during the capture but they were executed immediately and was then hanged...that was the first story I heard...then another story surfaced. My grandmother together with her sisters were also captured by the Kempeitai. Their hands were tied behind their back then their parents were executed in front of them. The Kempeitai used a long bayonet to stab them and left them for dead. Later on they hanged their dead body on a tree. My grandmother and her sisters were left there to witness everything. When the dreaded Kempeitai left,my grandfather arrived. He was the one who brought my great-grandparents' body down. They could not ask for help from anybody because everyone have their own family members to bury. There were no coffins,so they ripped a closet apart and made a coffin out of it. Said a little prayer and then buried them.

I couldn't imagine how my grandmother felt that time. I don't want to dare to imagine it. Despite what happened,she moved on and raised her 9 kids. They had a hard life. My grandmother's parents did not leave them anything and whatever they had were confiscated or given to others already. My grandparents prevailed. What they lack in money they compensate with their wisdom and even more kindness. That single incident during the war was traumatic enough but my grandparents,especially my grandmother,did not teach me to hate. I know deep inside my grandmother has this hate to those who murdered her parents but she chose to live on. I am not in the position to say that she has forgiven those people. She just kept her feelings to herself. Was she thinking of revenge? I guess not or it could be that her revenge is different form. By living everyday,that's her revenge, by keeping her 9 children and brought them up,that's a revenge, by being kind and helpful,that is her revenge. She made her greatest revenge. My grandmother was able to haul her children to America. All but 2 of her 9 children are with her in America and most of the grandchildren too. She wanted me to be with them, but I have a different agenda.

Lola Pacing as she is known to all her grandchildren,a feisty woman,game show fan,a scrabble master,a mother of 9 children,wife of Lolo Inting, grandmother to countless of pups,me the number 1 knucklehead. She lived long enough and that is a revenge because she outlived,for sure, those people who,in one way or another,changed her fate.

Lola Pacing did not teach me how to hate. She taught me scrabble which I came to hate. I never won a game against her, but i was able to answer the crossword puzzle ahead of her. Only once,but that is an achievement, a big one for me. She will live longer for sure. She might still see me marry.