Our Mom passed away on February 12, 2010 at 10:45 am at St. Paul's Hospital in Tacloban City, Philippines. She was 85-years-old and had finally ended her struggle due to deteriorating health and a host of complications. I was grateful to be at her bedside when she passed away—along with Marjurie her personal nurse and Maribel, her personal helper. They spoke to Mom in the same way she talked: in Tagalog, her dialect, Waray, and in broken English. They were caring and loving toward her as if they, too, were her daughters and for that we are very grateful. We are also very thankful for the many years of care mom received through our Uncle Servando and Auntie Salvacion Arceño and their family.
For one who had a difficult life, Mom was a fighter. She coped with a debilitating mental illness, survived in the streets of Manila when she was lost for a year, lived far away from her children who resided in the USA and lost the ability to walk in her later years. The town of Guiuan where she and my father met and lived, is a small urban center of a primarily agrarian community. It continues to be a remote location in the Philippines (but that will likely change once plans for rebuilding the old military airstrip into a commercial airport are completed). This was Mom's home and this is where she will be buried.
Mom used to draw pictures of nipa huts and palm trees when we were little to show us where she came from. Guiuan and Eastern Samar is a place that needs to be experienced. It is indescribable in its beauty. My Mom and Dad were survivors of the Japanese occupation during World War II and my mother's parents and ancestors were in Balangiga, Philippines the scene of a widely unknown battle between Filipino and American troops. I believe that her ancestral past and Filipino agrarian roots gave her the strength to live through it all.
We dedicate Valentine's Day, February 14, 2010 to our beloved Mom, Conchita Macapanas Cabcabin.
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Written by Diana Cabcabin
Above photo: Mom (at the left) with her beloved elder sister, Salvacion, or Auntie Sacion (on her right). As sisters, they were very close. Some might say they were "joined at the hip." Lots of love to Auntie Sacion! ~E
