The Ver family are immigrants from Sarrat, Ilocos Norte to Tiniwisan, Butuan.
Our relocation came around 1922 when the application for Homestead started. I
guess all the lands in Ilocos were getting smaller as they got passed on from
generation to generation, so our grandpa Benito Edralin Ver (Lolo Itong) had to
look for the proverbial greener pasture and applied for homestead in Southern
Philippines along with other cousins of his.
From 1922 through 1928 they were going back and forth from Ilocos to Mindanao
when finally the entire family moved to Butuan. Other cousins of Lolo Itong
moved to other provinces like Cebu and Cotabato. He brought in his wife
Valeriana Ver Edralin de Ver (Lola Vale) and two of their children, Bienvenido
(Uncle Bening) and Pilar Urbano (Uncle Pilar). My dad, Felicisimo Ver, Sr.
stayed behind with relatives in Sarrat to finish high school in Laoag at the
Ilocos Norte High School.
The homestead began in a 16-hectare property allotted to Lolo Itong. He did
farming and raising of domestic animals and some carpentry. My grandma who
used to be an elementary school teacher in Ilocos became a housewife raising
her two younger sons, Uncle Pilar who was just a toddler and Uncle Bening who
was not even in his teens. There were six children in all but the infant
mortality rate at that time was high and only 3 survived to adulthood. I don't
recall all the names of my deceased uncles who died so young and left little
trace of their earthly sojourn.
In 1932, my dad moved to Ermita and stayed with his aunt, Francesca Edralin
Soriano-Sibayan (Lola Francing), and her children (Evaristo, Samuel and
Marilou), my dad's cousins, to go to UP which was in Padre Faura at that time.
In the meantime, the homesteads were being set up and the profit from
agriculture was not much except for the assurance that food was always
available on the table. So my Dad was supported by his Aunt (she was a nurse)
during his college days. For some reason, Lolo Itong managed to get a lot in
Butuan City and built a home there. My Uncle Bening went to Agusan High School
and was a pretty popular chap. Mrs. Juanita Alviola Honcoluda, my English
teacher in 3rd year at AHS, who must have known my uncle, sometimes mistakenly
called me Bienvenido. My godmother, Mrs. Anita Conching Llorente, used to
share some stories about my Uncle Bening.
My grandma started a boarding house and some migrant Ilocano teachers went to
stay with them while my Uncle Bening went to High School and my Uncle Pilar
went through elementary. During busy times at the farm, Lolo Itong was held up
in Tiniwisan coming to Butuan only on weekends to join the family. Sometimes,
the family went to Tiniwisan to help Lolo Itong out especially during planting
and harvesting time.
In 1936, my Dad graduated BSCE at UP and went to Baguio for two years doing
surveying work for the mining industry at that time. He met some guys from
Pangasinan who migrated to the Mountain Province and he learned the language
there. It was not till 1938 when he quit the mining surveying job and joined
the family in Butuan City. At that time, Priscila Soriano Malinit from Tayug,
Pangasinan joined the faculty at Agusan High School to teach English and
boarded with the Vers. She had a bachelors degree in Teaching from the
National Teacher's College major in English and minor in History.
Dad was always in the field and this handsome, eligible bachelor was out of
reach and remained single for a loooong time. My grandparents finally matched
him up with Priscila Malinit, who would eventually bring us up into this world.
The Pangasinan dialect connection led them to speak without anyone
understanding them. They finally got married on January 26, 1942 - they had to
hurry because Pearl Harbor was bombed on Dec. 8, 1941. World War II was about
to engulf us in the Philippines.
[IMAGE]
Miss Pangasinan of 1936, Priscila Soriano Malinit married U.P. Engr.
Felicisimo Edralin Ver right before World War II reached Philippine shores. (He
was the closest Butuan-based relative of Ferdinand Edralin Marcos - Ed.)
War had already started in Luzon where my Uncle Bening was studying at UP, BS
Architecture after graduating Salutatorian in AHS - I am not sure what year.
He was with the ROTC and he got drafted into the war in his senior year and was
in the Bataan death march. He was incarcerated by the Japanese in Capas,
Tarlac where he succumbed to an epidemic. Too bad, a good looking intelligent
young man could not survive WW II. But he brought some financial stability to
Lolo Itong and Lola Vale. Being the surviving parents, they were entitled to
pension accruing to Uncle Bening as a member of the WW II US armed forces. The
money was not very much but enough for a decent quality of life for surviving
parents in the Liberation period.
In the meantime, my sister - Adoracion Ver was born in Tiniwisan during WW II
when the Japanese had by then occupied Butuan. My Dad was in the guerilla
movement and he was always away from home. Only my Mom and grandparents were
in the farm and there were tons of stories about hiding a little girl and
keeping her silent. They were never under confrontation with the Japanese
because they always managed to evacuate when the Japanese came and the Japanese
looted all their belongings and harvests. They were in hiding - sometimes
underground while the Japanese did their thing. On the other hand, my Dad was
in Buenavista - the old airport doing all sorts of guerilla warfare - putting
bamboo cannon decoys and stuff. The war finally came to an end and the
Philippines became independent. The family got reunited - went to
Capas, Tarlac looking for the remains of my Uncle Bening. They gave up and let
him have his peace and quiet to where ever he ended up resting.
Meantime, Uncle Pilar finished High School and went to Mapua Institute of
Technology and earned a degree in electrical engineering. He was an assistant
instructor in MIT until the mid 50s when he decided to come back to Butuan.
During that time, my Dad's family got connected to my Mom's family and they
started to take annual vacations in Luzon. They even helped build up the
Malinit residence in Quezon City and the Malinits started a jeepney business in
what is now Metro Manila. I was my grandparents' apple of the eye and they
even sent a jeepney back to Butuan for me. But we were not into motor devices
and the jeepney just rotted in the lot.
My Dad went back working for the government as part of the Butuan City
Department of Public Works and Highways. That was when the family started to
grow. Enter Felicisimo M. Ver, Jr in 1947, Juliet Ver in 1951 and Leo Michael
in 1953. Notice the difference in names - the earlier born had Hispanic names
and the two younger ones have Americanized names. My Mom continued to teach in
AHS but started reconnecting with her family in Quezon City. They did not know
she had married until after the war. My Mom found out that one of her
siblings, Eduardo Malinit, also did not make it through the war. The rest of
the family survived and they settled in Quezon City.
I recall when relatives Luciana Edralin Sogue and Carolina Edralin Rodavia
stayed with us in the old-old house in Butuan. Their mother died in Cotabato
and their father remarried and began a new family so the orphaned cousins
joined us in Butuan. They eventually moved back to Cotabato in the mid-50^Òs
but they were like siblings to my dad and Uncle Pilar who never had sisters.
Some of their offsprings came to study college at Fr. Urios College, Carmelita
Sogue and Emerita Sogue and Helen Rodavia in the late fifties up to the
mid-sixties.
I recall Lolo Itong telling stories about when I was two years old and the old
two story house in Butuan was being built. He found me dangling on the joists
at the second floor because I almost fell into the concrete first floor. They
were able to save me and caused no trauma on me - I don't even recall the
incident. Since my parents were both working, I was under the care of
relatives - especially Lola Vale. They sent me to kindergarten at age 3 and
she would take me to school at Father Urios Kindergarten class on a pram -
leave me in school under Mother Esperanza for a while - go to church and come
back to pick me up after the morning school is over.
I remember a wilder Boy Ver using his tricycle to go to school alone - that was
on his second kindergarten year at age 4. He had Oscar Pizzaro - a distant
cousin and another cousin - Randy - Randolf Noriega as classmates in
kindergarten. The three were close at that time since they lived a couple of
blocks from each other. The Pizarro family operated a rice mill - "galingan"-
for peeling "humay" same as what Jody Navarra's family had in Ampayon. We
used to get our palay over at the Pizarro rice mill for processing and brought
home half the sack that was dropped after being processed. We had lots of
connection with Ilocano immigrants in Butuan and up to that time, my primary
language was still Ilocano.
I started getting along with neighbors who spoke Cebuano and went on trips with
them to the riverside and did some swimming around logs tied together as rafts
along the banks of the river. We used to play "patintero" on La Solidaridad
Street during full moon. I recall neighbors across the street, the Vasquez
family, the Bermoys, Nang Alejandra, the Tecsons and Manay Peryang and the
Ayalins. But yearly trips to Luzon also made me speak Tagalog without an
accent. Our family had become multi-lingual.
We started renting up the second floor of our house and some of our tenants
were Teofisto Guingona, Jr. (who would become Vice President of the Philippines
at the turn of the century), playmate Louie Boy, the Javelosa family -
playmates Pacita and Tata with their older siblings Terry and Boy and Bebot and
a younger brother whose name I don't recall (Danny - Ed.) -, the Zacarias
Aquino family when Eddie was in Manila having his injured hand cast, the
Tapales family who were co-victims in the fire of 1958 but joined us again
after we rebuilt the house
My sister Dory (some call her Adoring) was going around with Rizal and Teresita
Tupaz, Ernesto Salas and Araceli Montilla. She was close to Nena Balanon who
would enroll just as she did at UP. The Agusan High School was located across
the street from the provincial hospital (which I'm told has long been
demolished and replaced by other government offices) near the provincial
capitol. I recall they had long walks to the school and when the Mindanao
athletic meet was held in Butuan, the grandstand was sequestered by the high
school and moved AHS to the center of the city in the grandstands. I guess
Dory was among the first class to graduate from the grand stand high school.
I really enjoyed the neighborhood and I started learning Cebuano. But next
door to us were Manay Naning Rosales, the widow of the former Mayor of Butuan,
from whom I learned to speak Butuanon. And when I went to Grade One, Oscar
went to Fr. Urios while I switched to Butuan Central Elementary School. That
is where Manuel B. Curato became my best friend and I got to know his family
from Polly, Venus, Diana and younger brother William. Manoling was my seatmate
in Grade One under Mrs. Teresa Domingo (pregnant at the time) and Mrs. Marigold
Arizabal took over during her maternity leave. I learned more Butuanon with
Manoling and Thelma Villanueva, Miriam Buyan and Jane Alao. Reophi Medina was
one of my classmates from Grade One through fourth year high school but he
never conversed in Butuanon. He had Ilongo and Boholano heritage and I learned
both from him.
Eugenio "Boy" Osin was my other Butuanon influence. Boy became a well-known
cartoonist in Manila under the name EGO. This he achieved despite being
afflicted with hemophilia from which he eventually succumbed in his 40s.
EGO's mom was one of my mother's best friends. The barkada along with Mrs.
Cornelia Osin included Mrs. Clara Munar and Mrs. Rosario Urbi. But the Osins
had local heritage and really spoke Butuanon. We were like extended families
when we got together and Boy Osin was the other classmate from Grade 1 through
fourth year high. His brothers and sisters: Priscilla, Melba, Linda, Vicky,
Bella, Junior and Carlos were my virtual extended siblings. It's from them
that I picked up all my Butuanon: the Curato's and the Osin's.
In 1956, my dad had a heart condition that caused him to be placed in intensive
care at Dr. Estacio's hospital. He was there for 3 months before being shipped
to Manila when he felt better for more examination and treatment under more
modern facilities. He survived and stopped smoking at the time. He abandoned
the trademark pipe he used to be known for.
In 1958, there was a devastating fire that started at the electric plant and
burned lots of houses including ours. The Seneres family were victims of the
fire, too. We all had to start anew because we had no insurance to cover the
replacement. We lost all our memorabilia and barely survived with donations
from close aquaintances. The Osins really helped by sharing some garments. On
the same year, my Mom's father died in Quezon City and she was away for some
weeks for the funeral. That was a devastating year for us because we were
without a house and mother for a while. I had to take over as head of family
because my dad was in Quezon City ready to depart for a fellowship program in
the US. At nine, I had to take care of my little sister and little brother.
My older sister was in UP at that time. That is how I matured instantly and
became a responsible person.
So we went through elementary and high school and I remember lots of names
though I have as well forgotten many. It was a rule in our clan that a son
should join the clergy. I had always been the sort of "anointed one" but
when it came to high school graduation, instead of going to a seminary, I got a
scholarship to MSU and the family decided that I should go and use up the
scholarship I deserved. After all, I placed fifth in the Mindanao-wide
scholarship exam and all my elementary teachers came to see me - from Miss
Lourdes Calo in Grade 2 to Mrs. Fe Malicay in Grade 3 and Miss Elizabeth
Torralba in Grade 4 and Mrs. Aurora Garcia in Grade 5 to Mrs. Mercedes Manabat
in Grade 6. My high school class advisors, Miss Violeta Gumban for first year,
Miss Celestina Gallarde for second year, Mrs. Rosario Urbi for junior year and
Miss Isabel Rosales for senior year gave me well wishes. They were all proud
of my performance that I brought AHS into fame throughout Mindanao. They said
they were honored to be part of my upbringing and that I would do good the rest
of my life.
My Agusan High School batch of 1963 included Valedictorian Lita Domingo,
Salutatorian Concesa Valderrama, 1st Honorable Mention Manuel Curato, 2nd
Honorable Mention Boy Ver, 3rd Honorable Mention Abraham Alviola (+), 4th
Honorable Mention Angel Mascarinas, Madellon Lasam, Miriam Buyan, Jane Alao,
Susan Sodusta, our Class Artist Boy "EGO" Osin, Oscar Pizarro, Tony Cabrera,
Ben Cassion, Sammy Villanueva, Lolok Torralba, and Sol Martinez (+). Other
famous peers were William Faeldo, Rey "Boy" Espiritu, Douglas Fortun, Jimmy
Uraya, Nilo Hijada, Nemson Edillon, Roger Patanao, Roy Seneres, who was the PMT
Corps Commander and Lopez Mancognahan, a descendant of of the royal Manobo
dynasty in Upper Agusan.
Our Father Urios counterparts were Class 63 Valedictorian Irene Alcover,
Salutatorian Jovenal Lazaga, 1st to 3rd Honorable Mentions Resurreccion Gayon,
Eve Cembrano, Jorge Navarra. Then, there were Thelma Villanueva (still single),
Bibot "Desi" Villanueva, Wilhelmina Manabat (now Mrs. Menzie Schoen), Oscar
Cembrano, Serge Busante, Nenette Encarnacion (now Mrs. Debin Uraya) and many
more. The AHS and FUC girls and boys had been classmates either in Urios
kindergarten, grade school at Butuan Central or Father Urios and even in high
school when transfers to and from AHS or FUC were not uncommon. Common scouting
activities made many of us even closer to one another. There were no
distinctions between Agusan High and Father Urios as far as our expanded
barkada was concerned.
While I was in MSU, my grandfather died in 1964 due to complications from
surgery for hernia. That was devastating for the family. Then in 1965, my
Uncle Pilar who had been single for the longest time finally married Valentina
Carin who herself was a locally well-known eligible spinster in Ampayon. She
belonged to the Cebuano clan of the Carin's who had long ago settled in
Antongalon and Ampayon. The couple personally operated their variety store,
the barrio's biggest in those years. They were childless having married late
in life. Uncle Pilar stayed with Auntie Valen till a year after she died in
1988, then he moved to join the Vers in Pasig.
In the meantime, in 1965, my dad was removed from his position as District
Engineer of Agusan. He was at the central office in Manila for a couple of
years and the family joined him and moved to Quezon City. That was one of the
hardest financial decades our family encountered. We all started going to
college at UP and we barely had housing and fixtures. We were new in Quezon
City and we had to adjust to Metro life - all the jeepney chasing early in the
morning and the commute. My dad eventually got moved around as district
engineer of Zambales, Bulacan and Metro Manila. Then he was appointed Regional
Director of Public Works and Highways for Northern Mindanao - from Surigao to
Misamis Occidental. He was based in Cagayan de Oro, my mom retired from
teaching and joined my dad in CDO. That was in the seventies and we were all
about done with college so we got a chance to take trips back to Butuan. But
we were no longer residents although we were still renting out our home in the
city.
My sister Juliet was in a batch with Maria de la Cruz of the Alviola clan and
Alcestes Trillo. My brother Leo was in the batch after Juliet. I don't recall
the names of his peers. I was already out of town during Leo's high school
years because I left for MSU in Marawi in 1963. They were still young kids
when I moved on to college away from our Butuan home.
We never got reconnected back to Butuan after we migrated out in 1964. We only
had quick visits there and things were forever changing - the street names
changed, the perennial fires and floods caused some changes due to levees
installed and the high school moved from the grandstands and gymnasium to a new
building replacing the provincial jail. Early eighties, the homestead was
given to tenants, and we sold out the townhouse in Butuan. It took 20 years
after we moved out when we finally gave up all the Butuan assets. The Vers no
longer have any presence in Butuan. But Butuan is ever present in our memories
and so many Butuanons will remain loved in our hearts.
So that sums up in brief my boyhood memories and our family's Butuan
experience.
