The story that i could always remember when we were still young was all about how my father's dad came here in the Philippines and how simple life were. My father will always tell us the story how his Papa (pronounced like those of a Spanish) arrived here in the Philippines. I do not know what is the real name of that Chinese boat that was used when my grandfather went here in the Philippines. All i knew was that the tip of the boat had an engraved of the dragon face, which was in front of the ship ,and my grandpa would always go here in the Philippines for trading, until he decided to stay here in the Philippines together with his cousins. My grandpa had a wife and two sons left in Canton,China. My dad used to tell me that his older brother still have the picture of their brothers from China, but they were way older than them. Like what can be seen in most of the Chinese movies, my uncles in China, which i did not see at all, had these very clean frontal head and long hair which was tightly locked by a pin, i do not know if what they call it. To continue, my grandpa married my grandmother who had a mixed blood of an Italian and Filipino. I think they (my grandma and grandpa) used to live in Leyte and her (grandma) family name was Rosales, until she married my grandpa, who owned a small business in there place, which was a tailor shop. My grandma was only 16 when she was tied or got married to my grandpa and by the way his name was Jacinto Chan Seng (or Sing, i really forgot) and I believe his family name is not Seng, since in Chinese, the last name is not the family name but the first name is. So our family name was Chan, and i think Jacinto was the Filipino name of my grandpa. My dad also told me that my grandma with the real name Eustaquia Rosales had siblings left in Leyte, and she had a brother who was a priest. However, my grandpa together with his family decided to transfer to Cebu and had business in there and also here in Bacolod City where we live, during the height of world war 2. In addition, our family name should not be Ching, it should be Chan, since during the reign of other presidents before Marcos, those Filipino-Chinese that was not registered in the Philippines will be deported, so my grandpa decided to register his family name, however, our so called nice Civil registry, made some topographical error, and instead of Chang from Chan, it was made to Ching. Moreover, the other family name of my aunties and uncles were not Ching, it was Rosales which was taken from their mother's last name since Rosales was a Filipino last name and no once will question them if they will have a Filipino last name. That was how awful Philippine government before to those who had Chinese blood here. There was also a point that my grandpa asked his wife that he will bring half of his children back to China and manage some businesses in there and there land as well, but according to my dad, their mother told their father that, he can go to China whenever he wants, as long as he will not bring the children with him. Since then, my grandfather never left Philippines and decided to live here for good. My grandpa and his wife started a business here in Bacolod and Cebu.
My dad would always tell me that when they had Bakeshop before, there were plenty of eggs and flour in the shop and they (his brother) would even play inside and threw some eggs. Until there was this tragedy that happened in Bacolod City, where the fire took their business which was a bakeshop. From then, they had another business in Shopping area, shopping area is part of the capitol subdivision now, and that place was know to be the China town of Bacolod City, even until now. Most of the old Filipino-Chinese business men or women still have their own businesses in there.
My dad married my mom who was studying in University of Negros Occidental Recolletos at the age of 19, while my dad was 27 at that time. My mom would always tell us that even though my dad was a way to older than him, since he did not had any vices in life at all, he was attracted to him. But at first my mom told me that she thought everything was a joke. My dad used to run their own family business, which was a tailoring as well and i think it was Manila tailoring, since i still have the badges of their business. However, their business did not last, until we went to different regions in the Philippines just to find a right spot for a wonderful life. But they say, no matter what, you will always go back to the place where you belong. And here we are in Bacolod, living here and we do not have any businesses at all, since my dad already crossed over. I love having ideas of having a business but after a day, i do not like it anymore. I do not like risking myself in a business that i think will not last. Like what i said before, I love giving and making ideas on what do in a business, but i never made a business of my own. Soon, i will have a business of my own, i am just thinking what business it is. I want to start from my own money, even though it is so little, it will become big soon. Since everything starts from a dust until that dust become a brick.
I really want to see my long lost relatives from China and from leyte, however, it would be to difficult to do it, since most of the oldies were already dead and the younger generations has no totally idea of who were their relatives are. For now, i just want to share this, and somewhere, i think there will be a way that i can meet my relatives.
-The End-
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