Today, the sixth of October, I remember Lolo Roman, my grandfather on my mother’s side. Lolo was very fair with smooth baby skin which is very soft to touch. (Note: Lolo is Tagalog for grandfather). Because of his old age (he was 88 when he died), the skin on his neck was very loose and he reminded me of a cow. But he didn’t mind at all when I and my five silly brothers and sisters would fight over touching that soft loose skin on his neck. When Lolo Roman comes home from work, we would also fight over touching his earlobes which were also very soft, but more importantly, very cold, because of sitting so long in his air-conditioned car. He was very nice about it and would allow six crazy children to fight over his earlobes as he walked from the car to the house with his kamagong baston (cane).

We might have fought over his neck and his earlobes, but this kindly old man was a very important person. He was Don Roman Mabanta. No, silly! He was not a leader of a mafia as the title Don might imply. I suppose that during the olden times, it was the title given to important people. He was one of the first CPAs in the country. In 1932, he was the General Manager of the Philippine National Bank (PNB). He also owned the Eastern Deep Sea Fishing Corporation which owned six fishing boats – Mabanta Uno, Mabanta Dos, Eastern Uno, Eastern Dos, Eastern Tres, and Eastern Kuwarto. During World War II, the boats were sunk by the Americans. However, Lolo Roman received war reparations.

Read more in Toe’s Kurokuroatbp.