Santiago

The American poet Carl Sandburg wrote that babies are God’s way of saying that all’s right with the world. How true his observation was; this Christmas is a confirmation of that truth, for this Yuletide season has been made wonderful with the presence of the newest member of the Torrevillas-Suarez and Caluag families – Santiago Caluag-Suarez, born June 23, 2003, at the Vermont Maternity Hospital in Paco, Manila, under the ministrations of my good friend, Dr. Nellie Acosta and her sister, also a doctor, Pinky.

Now I understand why people go gaga over their grandchildren. I thought I would not fall prey to the temptation of showing off my grandchild. But I have. Every time someone makes the mistake of mentioning babies, I pull out a picture from my wallet, a picture of my grandson and myself looking so happy together, and I say, "He’s the most handsome baby I have ever seen." My friends laugh, I guess noting that Santiago and I look life coffee and cream. Santiago’s great-great grandfather was a Spanish haciendero who descended upon these isles from Sevilla, Spain, and lived with a dark-skinned Filipina in Negros. On his grandmother’s side, there would be occasional fair-skinned lolos and lolas, and some dark-skinned ones too, descending from marriages between Maristelas and Danaos.

I can’t help thinking about how it was when Santiago’s father was born 29 years ago. It had taken three years before I gave birth to Andres (or Andoy) – the same long period of waiting before Andoy and his wife, Johanna (Joabi) Caluag had Santiago. The joy of having my own kid cannot be described; I would never tire of looking at him lying beside me in bed, and when I heard him cry from where I was, I would immediately rush to where the sound came from. I would not tolerate a mosquito or fly touching his skin. And how my heart broke when he fell to the floor, and I worried if his fall would cause him brain damage – and it would be my fault for not attending to him.

I saw my little boy grow up. I proudly held up his silver certificates from Xavier School, was amazed that his first concern was his hair as he explained why he had a can of hair spray inside his school bag. He was my bundle of joy, and when I trotted off to foreign countries to attend conferences, I would put his picture on the table beside my bed so it would be his face I’d see upon waking up and the last before going to sleep. We would climb the guava tree in the backyard, and paint flower pots together. He told me about his crushes, about a bully in school. I bought him all the toys my money could buy. He was everything in the world to me. He still is.

Now Andoy is a father himself, and his wife Joabi would tell me Andoy never tires of looking at his son Santiago. He would be late going to work because he would be playing with his son, and the first thing he’d do upon arriving home is hold him.

Santiago is six months old now, alert to every sound and movement around him, very tall and strong for his age, and forever smiling (the way his father Andoy was). Will he be a basketball player? A musician? A movie actor? A rock star? Whatever, I wish him to be God-loving, to be smart and happy.

I’m so glad this Christmas is full of hope and cheer, that Santiago is with us.

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Last Sunday, I was one of four sponsors at the golden wedding anniversary of my high school teacher at Gingoog Institute – Nellie Malimas – and Rodolfo "Loloy" Honrado, at the Good Samaritan United Church of Christ in Quezon City. The other sponsors were Nenita Rivera, former Court of Appeals Justice Eduardo Montenegro, and Jose "Popit" Puyat.

I remember Nellie as a petite, charming young lady who had returned to G.I. to teach Tagalog after graduation from Silliman University in Dumaguete. Her family lived in the barrio of Odiongan, in a house near a swiftly moving river. In her second year of teaching, she married a classmate from Camiguin Island, who had gone off to Manila after graduation to take up business administration at Far Eastern University in Manila. A tall, dark and handsome man, Loloy had become the manager of Surigao Development Corporation and Surigao Marine Products, Inc. – which he continues to work for even today, after 50 years. The two companies are owned by the Puyat family, which explains why one of the sponsors was Popit Puyat, and one of the guests was his brother Butch.

The couple moved to Quezon City, where Nellie worked as an executive in the Institute of National Language where her closest friend was Mrs. Rivera, one of the sponsors, and raising a brood of seven children, whose first names begin with the letter R: Ronelle, Rodolfo, Rodeon, Rolando, Robert, Rooney, and Rochelle. Ronelle is an architect, Rodolfo a CPA, and Rodeon, an engineer, has been working for many years in Vienna, Austria. Except for Rochelle, who died a few years ago, all the kids were at their parents‚ anniversary reception. The reception was made merrier with the song-and-dance performances of grandchildren Eillen, Kristine Mae, Jetjet, Annie and Ely, Fay Laraine, Florante, Angelo, Anya, J.P., Marion and Shawn.

To Loloy and Nellie, our congratulations for remaining married and happy for 50 years – and for another 50 years?

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