The Cry of the Dying Medicine Man: The Biography of Major Pedro Nosa Halili

By O'NE

Pedro Nosa Halili was the one they called the medicine man. But he was more than that; he was a man with principles, pride, morals, and dignity. He was a giver; he gave to the needy who would knock on his door asking for a helping hand. In The Cry of the Dying Medicine Man, author Antonio Marquez Halili offers a biography of his father, a man who stood tall for his principles and for what he knew was right.

Halili recaps his fathers life from birth in 1904 in the Philippines, a life that was full of mysteries, including how he even survived after his birth. From his formative years through university, his work as a physician, his involvement with a guerilla group in World War II, his family, and his eventual death, The Cry of the Dying Medicine Man narrates a story of successes and contributions to humankind.

With photos included, this biography shares the details of the life of a medicine man who confronted every hindrance and faced it as a man of dignity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781491748558

O'NE

O’NE was born in the suburbs of Manila and migrated to the United States in late 1976. He has worked at Denny’s Restaurant, Strand Century Lighting Co., Todd Pacific Shipyards for ten years and American Airlines for twenty-three years and has been active in a number of community organizations and raised a Master Mason, F&AM also a Shriners international. He and his wife, Brenda, live in California. Halili has five children.

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Copyright © 2016 O’NE.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-4854-1 (sc)

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iUniverse rev. date: 01/22/2016

CONTENTS

Deep within me

Preface

Chapter 1.   Medical Men and Women

Chapter 2.   The Philippines during Early Spanish Period

Chapter 3.   The 1896 Revolt in the Philippines

Chapter 4.   The Birth of the Medicine Man

Chapter 5.   After the Separation

Chapter 6.   The Crime That Changed His Life

Chapter 7.   Struggles at University

Chapter 8.   His Associations with his Collegue

Chapter 9.   World War II

Chapter 10.   The War Is Over

Chapter 11.   His Organizational and Political Affiliation

Chapter 12.   The Twilight Time of His Life

Chapter 13.   The Cry of the Dying Medicine Man

Chapter 14.   The Closing of His Chapter

Illustration Credits

Bibliography

Endnotes

DEEP WITHIN ME

I was so naive growing up; I did not know who my family really was. I learned from teachers in grade school who my parents, sisters, and brothers were. I was a rascal, and most of the time I did not tell my parents where I had been. I was punished and reprimanded by my dear mother, but I still do the same thing. My mother passed away when I was in my teens. Soon afterward, my sister got married, while my brother, my father, and I were still trying to fit in our home without my mother. It was so very tough, and it got tougher every day.

Today, I come across people who knew my parents back then. They tell me how great my parents were. I’ve learned to ask questions, whose responses raise even more questions. The responses make me feel as though I am at the top of a mountain, looking out and searching for the past, especially my father’s past. He was a doctor, although we did not live near the other doctors. We were not well off, but we survived through all those years.

I reviewed our family archives after my father left us decades ago. It was a very big surprise to me after all those years; it was not just make-believe. It is all fact. It is true. My father was the one they called the medicine man. But he was more than that; he was a man with principles, pride, morals, and dignity, which made me very proud of him. He was a giver; he gave to the needy who would knock on our door, asking for a helping hand.

But his life was stormy: first, lightning flash strikes, followed by loud, rumbling thunder that feels like your whole body is shaking, all the way through to the bone. Then that crashing sound slowly fades away, and the rays of the rainbow emerge from the sky. You could see the lines of colors that divided the decades of his life and brightened the horizon. But the last drop of rainwater that fell from the sky was the cry that he longed to make until the sun set upon him.

PREFACE

The world we live in is filled with mystery, which prevents us from predicting the roles we will play. Every step we make is on a path to the future. We are all born as human beings; that is just a fact. But to be civilized is no easy task.

Perhaps the stormy days were always there. When it rained, it poured. The appearance of the rainbow after the rain signified how colorful, brilliant, and beautiful our lives were. Each color represented a stage along the journey on which we were traveling. We had to face all the obstacles that blocked our way to achieve our destiny and success. With every goal we reached, there were downfalls too. Still, we got up, even when we had only one good leg. We felt the pain; we shivered and crumbled to the ground. We crawled on our hands and knees. We gave our very best. But the sun didn’t always rise; it set on us slowly, and we would cry.

This book is about my father, Pedro Nosa y Halili, a doctor in the Philippines who was known as the medicine man. His success and contributions to mankind, his profession as a physician, are not what his family valued about him; rather we respected who he was as a person, his struggles to survive in life. At the end of his life, he fought with every single breath so no one would know he was in agony. He was the undefeated one. He was like a candlestick that lights the dark till the sun rises high from the horizon. He stood tall for his principles, for what he knew was right. Envious people wounded his heart, but those wounds were healed by the people who loved and cared for him. As he once said, Never brag about what you do and what you have done. Let others speak for you.

His life was full of mystery. No one knows how he survived the hours after he was born. He grew up without knowing the history of his whole family. He confronted every hindrance as a man of dignity. He fought and challenged every impediment that lay in his path, facing disgrace, intimidations, and humiliation with pride. He kept his chin way up high. With his last teardrops, he said, I did my best. I will be remembered for who I am, not for what I am.

While I was writing his life story, I often had to stop. And it would take me a while before I could continue, for the letters and words became too blurred for me to see. I could feel the sorrow and the bitterness deep within him. I felt that he was always on trial, suffering alone, a lonely time. Tears would build up in my eyes as I remembered growing up with him—learning the right and wrong; fighting for our moral conduct, pride, and dignity. His agonizing pain that he experienced gave him a strength that caused him to have a heart for the needy.

His profession as a physician to mankind was his big accomplishment in his life. His arms were wide open for the needy, no matter the time of day; he was their servant. I praise him not only because he was my beloved father but also because he was a man of principle.

Antonio Marquez Halili

June 2014

CHAPTER 1

MEDICAL MEN AND WOMEN

Today’s medical technology is so advanced it can cure diseases and extend life expectancies that never would have been imagined years ago. Technology is so sophisticated our lives often depend on it. Many thanks also are due to the contributions of medical men and women, who determined the wonders of our natural resources—herbs, roots, etc., powerful golden gifts to science. Ninety-five percent of medicine is extracted from natural resources.

However, such contributions are not just a modern occurrence. Medical men and women existed long before our time. Our ancestors relied on their faith when they were down or sick. They tried to find substances that would cure illnesses too. But sometimes what these early medical people found made people worse or die. So they learned to do more research as they looked for a cure. Nevertheless, people still believed they were their saviors. They opened their doors whenever the needy needed them.

Medical men and women continue to be recognized long after their deaths. We’re still in the process of learning how they turned natural resources into cures. Modern medicine is reliable, but there is still something out there that science cannot explain. Further exploration is needed. Researchers and physicians go into their fields of knowledge not only to learn more but also to save lives in the future. Our lives are so precious it is worth extending them, even for a day or two. We need more men and women in medical research. Even mistakes may lead to future successes.

Contributors to medicine include Hippocrates (460–355 BCE), the father of medicine; Galen (130–200 CE), Greek physician and the father of physiology; Ambrose Pare (1510–1590), the father of surgery; Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910), the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States (from Hobart College); William Osler (1849–1919), the great physician; Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), the father of psychoanalysis. Madame Marie Curie (1867–1934) won two Nobel prizes; the first was in 1903 for her research on radioactivity, and the second was in 1911 for the isolation of radium and polonium. The luminous radium was hailed as an almost magical substance, which destroyed cancers and deep-seated tumors. It also was added to cosmetics, toothpaste, tea, and tonics. Since it glows in the dark, it was used in paints, toys, watch dials, costumes, and toys. Radium was widely used until people begun to die from overexposure to it. As Madame Curie once said, Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Were now living in the modern times and to understand more, we need further research and study so that our fear will subside¹

Their findings have been studied by later generations of researchers, who continue to make sacrifices for the sakes of others. They’re searching to find a cure for every illness that afflicts the body. Those with the ability to administer herbal medicine play a role too.

As many of us know, university researchers are already working with stem cells. Scientists hope eventually to create new brain cells for patients with Parkinson’s disease or insulin-producing cells for diabetics, or solutions for numerous other diseases. The contributions of men and women to science and medicine are worth acknowledging, particularly their determination to find the cure for every disease, including small pox, polio, tuberculosis, venereal disease, and HIV/AIDS. They do this not just for those of us who are living now but also for future generations to come.

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CHAPTER 2

THE PHILIPPINES DURING EARLY SPANISH PERIOD

Much of the third world lies in Asia, (Editor’s Note. The informationin this chapter has been adapted from Philippine: A Country Study (Washington, DC: Federal ResearchDivision, Library of Congress) http://www.country-data.com/frd/cs/phtoc.html.) also known for its rich natural resources—gold and black minerals; exotic fruits, vegetables, flowers; and spring water with magical powers.

The Philippines lies north of the equator, stretching 1,854 kilometers from north to south, with an area of 300,000 square kilometers. The country is surrounded by the Luzon Strait in the north, Philippine Sea in the east, Celebes Sea in the south, and China Sea in the west. The first recorded sighting by Europeans was on March 16, 1521, during Ferdinand Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe. Magellan landed in Cebu and claimed the land for Charles I of Spain; he was killed one month later by a local chief named Lapu Lapu. The Spanish crown sent several expeditions to the archipelago in the following decades. A permanent Spanish settlement was finally established in 1565, when Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, the first royal governor, arrived from New Spain (Mexico). Six years later, he defeated a local Muslim ruler and established his capital at Manila, a location that offered a harbor, a large population, and the nearby rice lands of central Luzon. Manila became the center of Spanish civil, military, and commercial activity in the islands, which were named in honor of King Philip II of Spain (reigned 1556–98).

Spain had three objectives in its policy toward the Philippines—to acquire a share in the spice trade, further Christian missionary efforts in China and Japan, and convert Filipinos to Christianity. Only the third objective was eventually realized, and this not solely because of the active resistance of the Muslims in the south and the Igorot, the tribal people in the north. King Philip II explicitly ordered that pacification of the Philippines be bloodless to avoid a repetition of Spain’s brutal conquests in the Americas.

Colonial income derived mainly from the entrepôt trade: Ships sailing from the west coast of Mexico brought shipments of silver bullion and minted coins to Manila; that cargo was exchanged for Chinese goods, mainly silk textiles, which were then returned to Mexico. There was no direct trade with Spain. The colonial government did not exploit indigenous natural resources but also invested virtually all official, private, and church capital in the galleon trade.

During the first decades of Spanish rule, there were more Chinese in Manila than there were Spanish, who implemented residency restrictions, periodic deportations, and actual or threatened violence that sometimes degenerated into riots and massacres of Chinese between 1603 and 1762. The responsibility for converting Filipinos to Christianity was assigned to the Dominican, Franciscan, and Augustinian friars and to the Jesuits. At the lower levels of colonial administration, the Spanish ruled through local leaders.

The Decline of Spanish Rule, 1762–1898

In 1762, Spain entered the Seven Years War (1756–63), taking France’s side against Britain. In October 1762, forces of the British East India Company captured Manila and held it until May 1764, when the Treaty of Paris formally ended the war.

Spanish prestige suffered irreparable damage because of the British occupation. A number of rebellions broke out, notably that of Diego Silang in Northern Luzon. In December 1762, Silang expelled the Spanish from the coastal city of Vigan and set up an independent government. He established friendly relations with the British, but he was assassinated in May 1763. The Spanish, fighting the British and the rebels, could not deal with raids by the Moros in the south on the Christian communities of the Visayan Islands and Luzon. Thousands of Christian Filipinos were captured as slaves, and Moro raids were a serious problem throughout the eighteenth century. The Chinese community, resentful of Spanish discrimination, for the most part supported the British, providing them with laborers and armed men.

Foreign Trade

Foreign merchants in Manila turned the Philippines into an international commercial system that linking industrialized countries with sources of raw materials. In principle, non-Spanish Europeans were not allowed to reside in Manila or elsewhere on the island, but British, American, French, and other foreign merchants got around this by flying the flags of Asian states or conniving with local officials. Finally, in 1834, the Spanish crown opened the port of Manila to unrestricted foreign commerce. By the late nineteenth century, three crops—tobacco, abaca (a strong fiber obtained from banana leaves and used for shipping), and sugar—dominated exports.

The Friars

Under Spanish colonial rule, friars were responsible for education and health measures, kept the census and tax records, reported on the character and behavior of individual villagers, and selected police and town officers. They also maintained public morality and reported incidences of sedition to authorities. Contrary to the principles of the church, they allegedly used information gained in confession to point out troublemakers.

The friars argued that Filipino priests were too poorly qualified to take on parish duties, even though church policy dictated that parishes should be turned over to indigenous priests. In 1870, only 181 of 792 parishes had Filipino priests. This issue eventually became linked with broader demands for political reform. Another offense was the friars’ open attitude of contempt toward the people, which, by the late nineteenth century, had become blatant racism.

A Tagalog from Lucban, Tayabas, Apolinario de la Cruz, also known as Hermano Pule, led the 1839–41 Cofradia de San Jose (Confraternity of Saint Joseph) revolt, which embodied the religious aspirations of the Filipinos. The movement rapidly spread as cells were established throughout the southern Tagalog area. Originally, it was neither anti-Spanish nor nativist, but its emphasis on secrecy, the loyalty its members felt for Apolinario, and the fact that Spanish and mestizos were barred from membership worried the authorities, who banned the cofradia in 1840.

In the early autumn 1841, Brother Apolinario and thousands of his followers, armed with rifles and bolos (heavy, single-bladed knives), gathered at bases in villages around Mount Banahaw, a mountain filled with mysterious charms. As their spiritual leader, Apolinario preached that God would deliver the Tagalog people from slavery. The rebels were able to defeat a detachment led by the provincial governor in late October. But a much larger Spanish force overwhelmed the cofradia camp after a great slaughter on November 1, 1841. The insurrection ended with the capture of Apolinario, who was executed on November 5. Survivors of the movement became remontados (those who went back to the mountains), leaving their villages to live on the slopes of Mount San Cristobal and Mount Banahaw. These mountains, where no friar ventured, became religious communities known as colorums.

Nationalism and the Propaganda Movement

The cofradia and colorums represented their members’ desire to return to the world that existed before the arrival of the Spanish colonists. Nationalist ideas developed in Manila’s major towns and in Spain and other parts of Europe where Filipino students and exiles were exposed to modern intellectual currents. Folk religion, though powerful, did not form the basis of the national ideology. Eventually, however, the rural rebels would merge with the educated classes (illustrados) and form a truly national resistance, first against Spain in 1896 and then against the United States in 1899.

Between 1872 and 1892, a national consciousness grew among Filipino émigrés and students who had settled in Europe. They formed the Propaganda Movement, whose goals included representation of the Philippines in the Spanish Parliament; acceptance of Filipino priests; recognition that Spanish and Filipino people were equal under the law; creation of a secular public school system; abolition of the polo (labor services) and vandala (forced sale of local products to the government); guarantees of freedom of speech and association; and equal opportunities for Filipinos and Spanish to enter government services.

Jose Rizal was a Propagandist writer whose novels included Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not, 1886) and El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed, 1891). Rizal drew on his personal experiences to depict Spanish rule in the islands, particularly the abuses of the friars. Other important Propagandists included Graciano Lopez Jaena, a noted orator and pamphleteer, and Marcelo del Pilar, a reform-minded lawyer. The Propagandist Movement languished after Rizal returned to the Philippines in June 1892. In July he established the nonviolent Liga Filipina (Philippine League), but it dissolved after he was arrested and send into exile.

The Katipunan

Andrés Bonifacio (1863–1897) was a self-educated man of humble origins who founded a secret society to fight for independence. The Katipunan was modeled on Masonic lodges, which were regarded by Catholic Church as heretical. Both groups had secret passwords and ceremonies; special clothing; and their members were organized into ranks or degrees. By August 1896, the Katipunan had 30,000 members, most of them members of the lower and middle classes. The nationalist movement no longer was controlled by the illustrados but had become a popular base of support.

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CHAPTER 3

THE 1896 REVOLT IN THE PHILIPPINES

In the fall of 1896, Filipino nationalists revolted against the Spanish. The rebellion began in Manila and soon spread throughout the country. Between August and November 1896, the Katipuneros defeated Spanish forces in several battles.

Pedro Hernandez was a member of the Katipunan, the secret society established to fight for Independence from Spain. He was born in Tiaong, Tayabas (now Quezon) in 1872; his father was from neighboring region of Batangas. (Tayabas was later named Quezon in honor of President Manuel L. Quezon, 1878–1944.) At a young age, Pedro learned about Apolinario de la Cruz and the Cofradia de San Jose revolt. He had a great desire to save his motherland and fight against Spanish rule and the friars. He joined the rebels led by Andrés Bonifacio, and felt himself change drastically from a young lad to a real man of distinction. He was like a house with a strong foundation; nothing could destroy him.

After three years of insurgency, the rebels were ordered to head south to Tayabas, Tayabas. A few of the townspeople greeted them alongside the dirt road in Little Baguio, a small village, where people supported themselves by selling their homegrown fruits and vegetables in the main town, Malaking Bayan. Little Baguio also was known for its young beautiful women; most of the village lads were their protectors and guarded them like hawks. While he was on that dirt road, Pedro saw from the corner of his eyes a young woman standing at the outskirts, behind a couple of people who were waving good-bye. She not only stared at him, she gave him a sweet smile that made his heart pound so hard, that make hin unbalance himself

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and tripped and fall on the ground. He got up and looked back again, and she showed him her great smile, and he felt a trembling sensation from his head to his toes. He continued walking, desiring only to see that lovely face again. Then after walking some distance, he turned his head and looked back to where she’d been standing, and there she was. With a cute smile, she waved at him for the last time, and slowly disappeared from the horizon.

From then on, she was always on his mind. He spent sleepless nights thinking about her, even though he was tired when the day came. With every encounter he fought and through the crossfire, he whispered, I’m coming back for you, just for you, mystery woman. Despite his young age, he believed he was the strongest and the bravest one of them all. Days, weeks, and months passed by; to Pedro, it seemed like years. Then one day, his officers received a message from headquarters about heavy losses in a neighboring region. The Spanish army was winning some battles, but the rebels were not giving up. The officer called for a meeting and said, It is time to rest and see our families. Maybe it will be our last time to see them. We will meet again on the third Sunday of the coming month.

It was the early spring of 1898. His time of longing was almost over; he would soon see her again. He packed his belongings, saluted, and said good-bye, and started walking back to Tayabas with some friends. Word spread from town to town that they were coming back. The townspeople welcomed them, offering food and drinks and asked them to spend a little time in their little nipa huts, relax for an hour, and tell stories about what had happen to their group. The men always told the good side of the story. This time when Hernandez saw his mystery woman, he walked toward her and asked her name. Sure enough, she had been longing to see him too. His chest was pounding so hard as he asked if he could visit her later that day. She said yes, and he walked toward his hometown, Tiaong. That was on a Saturday afternoon. That young lady was Pilar Salazar Halili, the daughter of Marcelino Halili of Santa Maria, Bulacan, and Gregoria Salazar of Tayabas, Tayabas. She had one brother, Juan Salazar Halili.

According to Tayabas tradition, courting a woman was always scheduled for Saturday evening. The man would serenade the woman, strumming his guitar and singing a melody of love, sometimes inviting a guest to sing Kundiman (traditional Filipino love songs) on his behalf.

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Some middle-class families asked the man to perform chores—feed the livestock, chop wood for cooking, clean yards and living rooms, help in the kitchen. These chores sometimes lasted for six months to a year; the man was willing to make the sacrifices because he was in love and he wanted to persuade her whole family that he loved her. Sometimes the woman did not accept his love, even when he sacrificed for her. But if she did, his happiness would last for years and years and never end.

In the case of Pedro and Pilar, there was a month-long courtship and then their engagement was announced. In the late fall 1898, their wedding bells tolled. That year was a big year for insurrections; details about the resistance were transmitted via word of mouth from north to south and east to west. Pedro was asked to join again, and he did so without hesitation because of his love for his mother country and his desire for her freedom. He left his wife, even though it endangered the future of his new family. Later that summer Cesario Halili Hernandez was born. Without her husband, Pilar shouldered the responsibility of being a single mother. Cesario started his life without a father. It was very tough for Pilar without Pedro, before and after she gave birth to Cesario. Her loneliness lasted for months, then years. She heard that American soldiers had been sent by the US government to support the Filipino insurrectos.

The reality was more complicated. On April 25, 1898, the US Congress had approved President McKinley’s request for a declaration of war against Spain; the resulting Spanish-American War was the culmination of decades of American expansionism. Public opinion was in favor of annexing Spain’s holdings nearest the United States, in Cuba and the Philippines. Admiral Thomas Dewey slipped into Manila Bay on May 1 and destroyed the obsolete Spanish Fleet anchored there. While Dewey blockade the islands, a US army brigade led by Colonel Douglas MacArthur dislodged 35,000 Spanish soldiers trapped in Manila and captured the city.

Pilar never heard from Pedro’s unit. All that she learned through the grapevine was that they were fighting American soldiers and that the losses on the insurrecto side were heavy. They were defeated by the American firepower. Pilar kept hoping her husband would come back; she went from town to town listening to the grapevine. Asking questions put her in jeopardy; people thought she was collaborating with insurgents in hiding.

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One day, she was so intent on looking for Pedro, she didn’t notice Cesario walking toward her, whispering, Nanay, Nanay (Mother). With her tears running down her brown cheeks, she hugged him hard and said, Don’t worry, son. I’ll find your father one of these days. Days, months, and a year went by, and still there was no Pedro.

One day she went to the marketplace. She overheard one of the merchants say how sorry she was to see some of the gruesome pictures of the battleground. Many Filipino soldiers were wounded and were receiving medical attention from American doctors. But worse to see were the images of dead Filipino soldiers lying on the ground where they had fought and fallen, in the trenches with their dead commanders. There were pictures of good American soldiers burying their enemies, the Filipino soldiers, in the ground and paying their respects, and bad soldiers taking souvenirs from Filipino officers. An American soldier stripped Gen. Gregorio Del Pilar of his military uniform, down to his underwear, keeping it for a souvenir.

Pilar became numb when she heard this; her heart started pounding faster and faster till she realized that she was almost in tears. She hoped her beloved Pedro was not one of them. Grieving was not her plan; life had to go on. She had a son that needed her. She had to shoulder everything until Cesario grew up to be a man himself. She hoped one day that the war would end and no more lives would be wasted.

Then General Cailles, the leading Filipino insurgent officer, surrendered; he was followed by a large group of Filipino fighters from between the middle of 1900 and 1902. Her beloved husband could not be too far away. But days, weeks, months, and years went by, and Pedro was not seen in town. The war had been fought so defiantly on both sides. The casualties were tremendous; there were countless of dead Filipino fighters. No one knows exactly how many. Most important of all, the war was over.

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CHAPTER 4

THE BIRTH OF THE MEDICINE MAN

1904

A year went by; it was in a summer of 1903. Pilar had nearly lost all hope of seeing her husband again. The war was over. She asked friends, relatives, merchants she didn’t know whether he had been confined, detained as a prisoner of war, or listed among the dead Filipino soldiers and insurgents. She even watched an American military parade to see if he was with the soldiers participating. She attended several parades, even though she had to walk for a day with Cesario. She experienced a great deal of loneliness for Pedro. She had believe his promise that he would come back for them, no matter what condition he was in. She did not believe he was really gone.

Four more years went by. Pilar had not lost hope that Pedro was coming back, but the big question was when? A sudden incident changed her life forever. One afternoon Pilar was feeding Cesario an afternoon snack by the fence under the mango tree. She saw a gentlemen riding in a white horse in military uniform decorated with sable. He was about one hundred yards in the distance, his horse slowly walking in the middle of the road. He seemed to be wandering around, like he was looking for someone. She stared at the man, trying to see if it were Pedro. Her heart started pounding like a drum. She jumped with joy and screamed, expecting that her husband was coming home to them. She ran through the gate, all the way to the middle of the street and yelled Pedro’s name at the top of her lungs.

Pedro! Pedro! Pedro! You must be my Pedro! She did not have a single doubt in her voice.

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But there was no response from the man; he did not even kick the horse to go faster. Then she realized that he was not her Pedro. Her heart trembling, she walked behind the fence on the property. She noticed the man riding the horse coming toward her; she kept her head down and her feet frozen from embarrassment and just waited. When she look up the man was standing right in front of her.

Buenos dias, Señora, he said. I heard you call me Pedro. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Melecio Glosie Nosa of Atimonan. May I know your name, please?

Ah, ah! Pilar, Pilar Salazar Halili. She was shaking as she responded.

Is he your son, I mean, the young man under the tree? the man asked.

Yes, he is my only son. Now she responded with a smile.

Your husband and son are lucky to have a beautiful person like you. Melecio had an intriguing voice.

Thank you, but I don’t know where my husband is right now. She was hinting that she was single due to the war.

Pilar, give me his full name, he said. I’ll find out for you at headquarters. By the way, I am stationed at Lucena; I’m a sergeant in the Philippine constabulary.

His name is Pedro Hernandez. He was from Tiaong.

The man wrote it in a piece of paper that he took from his pocket. "Pilar, I’ll be back in a week, and I will give all