Si Gloria Labandera (A Tribute to a Mother)

by Fely Unciano-Udarbe
(as published 4 years ago in MVP)

With Nanang and Daniel at a beach in New Zealand

That's what they call my Nanang.  Sometimes they also call her Gloria nga agmikmiki, Gloria nga agsudsudsod ti kuko, Gloria nga aglaklako, etc.  Dagita ti pakakitaan ti kinagaget ni Nanang ko (uray nalaing nga sumao!)...

Looking back, I can still remember those days when my mother could barely make both ends meet thru "paglalabandera".  I was so young and skinny, yet I could help my mother thru "panagbomba" from the jetmatic pump or "agsakdo" from the "bubon" some water for her 3 rinsings.  I think I was just in Grade Three those times.  My mother and I also worked as helpers in a local carinderia, for just 10 pesos a day (that's our combined wage plus we stayed for free in the house and lot of the owner of the carinderia) for more than a year. This was my most horrible nightmare since I need to be a stay-in in the said carinderia (I just don't want to narrate it here because honestly, I might burst in tears!)

When I was in Third Year high school in UNP my two older sisters, Rosemarie and Cynthia opted to go to United Arab Emirates (instead of finishing their studies) to help my mother financially while my younger sister, Junalyn (teacher in Magsingal South Central School now) was "adopted" by the nuns of St. William's Institute while enrolled as a first year student in a subsidized tuition fee scheme in the same school. This gave an opportunity for my mother to sell "miki" in SWI and helped her to send me and my brother Rey (first year college student then) to pursue our studies in UNP Vigan.  Meanwhile, my father worked as a private driver of Vice-Mayor Favis before.  (He is not so much supportive with our studies especially for us, girls in the family because of some crazy principles in life).  

During weekends, my sister Junalyn would pay a visit to us in San Vicente and we will sometimes go biking around the barangay to sell "turon" and lumpia that mother had cooked.  Honestly, we were quite ashamed to do it but we had to, or else I won't be able to go to school, I need my fare and my "baon".  Thanks to my sister Junalyn because she will be the one on the bike and I will just ride holding the basket of turon and lumpia.  But we will shout in chorus "Lumpia, Turon".  Likewise on schooldays before we make our homework, we had to help mother knead the dough and cut it into strips for the "miki".  We will also chop the Baguio vegetables for the lumpia and helped mother to wrap them.

Her manicure and pedicure set still a hit even here in NZ

My mother's dilemma came when I was graduating in high school.  My two sisters had finished their contracts in UAE.  Can she still send me and my brother to the university?  Definitely YES, because God (who's name is Jehovah in my belief) will always provide!  I was able to pass the UP College admission test and I was awarded a full scholarship with monthly stipend of Php 2,000 plus a book and traveling allowance per semester.  That was for sure a great relief for my mother that time.  After a year, Junalyn graduated from High School and that ends the selling of miki in SWI and also, new set of administrators came in.  My mother got no other option but to become a peddler of "miki" everyday to support the studies of my younger siblings, Junalyn, Leilani and Cedric.  Instead of me who would partner with Junalyn to sell lumpia and turon, she and Leilani (who is now in Canada) were going house to house to sell the stuff. 

One of my siblings narrated to me that one time, mother was carrying her "labba" with the "kaldero" full of "miki" in it.  She was walking at the "tambak" outside our house in San Clemente (Nagsikkaan).  Naipakaglis kano ket uray la nabuybuyatan ti napudot nga miki diay tengged na.  Anian nga nagrigat nga kasasad...That time however, my older brother Rey had finished his BS Accountancy in UNP and landed a job as a teller at PNB Calamba and my sister Cynthia went to abroad again.  This was a real blessing to my mother because she was able to buy a "chop-chop" motorbike from Puro.  She will no longer walk when selling the "miki".  There was another incident when my mother was bitten by a dog of Auntie Flora "Orang" Ponce.  She went there to sell some of the vegetable produce of my father.  Good thing, she was urgently given some first-aid by Manang Eta, the daughter of Auntie Orang who happens to be a nurse (and is now in the USA).

My Nanang Gloria

My mother has also learned how to do manicuring and pedicuring, as well as some reflexology.  She is using these skills not only to earn money but also to win friends even here in New Zealand.

“Masyado namang ma-drama yan, perhaps trying to capture people's attention”, some might say.  But I am not ashamed to unlock our past life in the worldwide web.  Instead, I want to yell to the whole universe that we are very proud that our mother, despite being a Labandera, Tindera, etc. in the past, was able to cope with her struggles in this world.

I hope that this story will somehow inspire us, especially the parents to be stalwart supporters of their children in facing life's ups and downs.  No matter how difficult the situation is, nothing would mar our determination to strive hard and make something out of our lives.  Indeed as the old adage goes, "Poverty is not a hindrance to Success!"