heritage
minda gabutina FUENTES
CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
Liborio E. Gabutina and Trinidad A. Entrada were originally from a small town in Capiz named Dau. Eva, Liborio Jr., Oscar, Filemon and Edwin were all born there. Before the war, Dad worked for the government as a “Clerk of Court” and was assigned to various places including Cotabato City (where I was born). Mom was an elementary school teacher. After the war, while in Manila and with a growing family, he was convinced by a relative, Judge Pastor Quimpo, to try his luck and settle in Mindanao.
- In 1946, Dad took the whole family to the newly opened resettlement area of Lagao, in Buayan at the Koronadal Valley. Ramon was the youngest then. We lived in a small house owned by a certain ‘Trazo’, next to the Hoyumpa family: Tatay Tacio and Auntie Laling (parents of Tacio Jr., Fr. San, Bing and Bonini). Bing Hoyumpa’s Mom, Auntie Laling, was my Mom’s BFF even then and long after our family had transferred to Manila in the 60’s.
- Clotilde, Lorenzo and Carmen were all born in Lagao. All of us went to the Lagao Elementary School (then Buayan Central Elementary School), where Mom also taught for about 3 years.
- In Lagao, Dad worked as Cashier of NLSA. He later resigned to become the manager of John Deere tractors and the Caltex depot in Dadiangas. Dad set up a Caltex gas station at a corner near the Notre Dame of Lagao campus (still in existence). Mom also put up and managed a store beside it.She named it “Koronadal Distributor.” It sold items a household would need: shoes, softdrinks, dried fish, rice, canned goods, native products, beer, and many more. It was the first convenience store in Lagao. The back portion of which served as our residence. Our next door neighbor then was the Regner family. As a young girl, I remember the hot pandesal of Gabutina.
- The older children – Eva (NDL 1951), Liborio Jr. (NDL 1952), Oscar (NDL 1954), Filemon (NDL 1955), Edwin (NDL 1955), and Minda (NDL 1957) – studied at and were all graduates of Notre Dame of Lagao. Ramon (2ndyear) and Clotilde (1st year) were undergraduates since the family decided to live in Manila early 60’s.
With roughly 15 years of stay in Lagao, my parents wanted the older siblings: Eva, Liborio Jr., Oscar, Filemon, Edwin, and Minda to pursue college at UST. Aside from the usual town involvement, my parents Liborio and Trinidad had their hands full caring for the children and the business. They had no time to get involved in any ‘extracurricular activity’ like politics. Until today, we, the Gabutina children look back at General Santos as our hometown.
