Mother

Mother was always “Angela” , Cang Angela, Nana Angela, Apong Angela – not Elang, Aning or Geling; however on the back of old postcards, Father dedicated them to “Dear Angeling” during courtship days.

Mother was the eldest of the three sisters born to Alejandro Umipig and Catalina Niedo. The younger daughters were Victoria (Torang) and Rufina (Pinang).

Apong Candro was widowed and then married to Juana Racosas. The second nuptial had Taurina and Lauro. Apong Candro was said to be big and strong. His family name was derived from the reputation that he would “ipig” or hold the neck of his opponent between his arm and forearm. He must have been one of the earliest inhabitants of Santa Fe for he owned several parcels of wide ricelands around the barrio of Santa Fe.

At an early age, Mother and her sisters chose to live by themselves, separately from their Father and were able to acquire lands on their own. We never thought of asking or trying to learn how they did it under the existing conditions.

Mother must have been the manager or planner of their “family”, Nana Torang, or Victoria was physically strong and was the “breadwinner”. She was the farm manager, went out to fish and had a sari-sari store.During the early 20th century, college education was found only in Manila. We often wondered how Mother and Nana Pinang went through college for four years. Mother was the one of the 1st graduates of the Philippine Normal School from Zambales and became the Domestic Science teacher in San Antonio then known as the Yangco Elementary School. Nana Pinang, or Rufina, the youngest, was frail. So although she was a nurse, she was not able to continue her career due to a debilitating illness.