[Ate ELSA PABALE-VERGARA is shown in this photo beside the standee of POPE FRANCIS at the lobby of the CHRIST THE KING CHURCH in Greenmeadows, Quezon City. Ate ELSA is one of my first cousins on the maternal side. Ate ELSA is the 3rd child of TIA MISING (the sister of my late Mommy NORMA) and TIO SANTOS (i.e. CRISANTO PABALE). ]
Noong kami’y mga batang-paslit,
Puntahan naming sa PACO1 tuwing piyesta at syang kainan ng PANSIT2;
Bahay ng tiyahin kong ang ngalan po ay
Tia MISING3,
At nung minsa’y nakatikim ng BEER, naku ako’y konting LASING!
Sa mga pinsan ko noon DOON,
Si Ate ELSA4 ang tanging TUON,
Aba’y di sya mataray at halos nga ay MABAIT…
Kaya tungga ng konting BEER kahit ito ay MAPAIT!
Si Ate LODY5 po naman, ay tunay po na mahigpit—
Itong si Kuya BOY6 naman ay pulos lang pagpipilit…
Kaya mabuti pang kay Ate ELSA na lang sumanib,
Alam ni Tio Santos7, itong si Ate Elsa’y kaibig-ibig!
Kaya kami’y walang patid nga po,
Kapag piyesta doon sa PACO;
Maaga pa’y bilisang naghahanda’t nagbibihis,
Upang sa kalsada’y taksing sakay ay makapasok ng mabilis8!
Sa lahat ng aking pinsan,
Sa panig ng Pabale CLAN;
Si Ate Elsa ang siyang nagkaroon ng KAPALARANG…
Maging kawani ng CENTRAL BANK9!
Kaya ngayo’y paldo-paldo…
Ang pera nya’y saan-saan;
Nagkataong ako nama’y naglunsad
ng RAISING FUND10…
Kaya nagkataon si Elsa’y naglabas DAAN-DAAN!
Bilang patikim muna nga DAW,
Bigay muna ng THREE THOU11;
At tapos nama’y ilalabas ang pera pong DAAN-DAAN,
Naku, baka naman yan’ay umabot ng ONE HUNDRED GRAND12!
[ Ate ELSA is photographed here in a very sporty and casual look and get-up, while embracing the standee of matinee idol, PIOLO PASCUAL at the facade of, I think, a newly-opened TURKS Restaurant.]
SALAMAT NG MARAMI ATE ELSA!
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[Legend: 1 – The family then of Ate Elsa headed by Tia Mising (i.e. Maxima Tobias-Pabale) and Tio Santos (i.e. Crisanto Pabale) lives in F. Muñoz Street in Paco, Manila. And we will always be there during the district’s FIESTA. The late Tia Mising is my late Mommy Norma’s sister, actually the 3rd eldest child among the brood of EIGHT (8) chidren of my late maternal grandparents, Ciriaco Tobias and Petra Rivera-Tobias.
2 – PANCIT is a noodle dish. And the PANCIT that Tiya Mising cooks is for me the BEST!
3 – Tiya MISING, as earlier said is Maxima Tobias-Pabale, the 3rd eldest child of my late maternal grandparents, Ciriaco Tobias and Petra Rivera-Tobias.
4 – Ate ELSA is the third child of Tia MISING and Tio SANTOS.
5 – Ate LODY is Melody Pabale-Dacanay. Ate LODY is the eldest child of the Pabale household. During those times when we were young, Ate LODY was sort of strict.
6 – The late Kuya BOY is the second child in the Pabale household and Kuya BOY was sort of a defiant and intractable child, for which reason, for some time, Tio Santos brought Kuya Boy to our household to live with us and be acclimatized with the disciplinarian ways of Daddy Max. At times, Kuya BOY who is older than me (about 5 years my senior or so), would bully and brow-beat me.
7 – Tio SANTOS is the late Crisanto Pabale, husband of the late Tia MISING and father to Ate ELSA, Ate LODY, the late Kuya BOY and all their other siblings.
8 – Daddy Max would almost always insure then that we leave our Murphy, Cubao home very EARLY via a taxicab (around 9:00 AM); as if we’ll be late it would be hard then already to navigate the crowded streets of PACO, MANILA due to the convergence of visitors/guests-attendees to the FIESTA which FIESTA-STYLE dining and feasting would reach the peak around noon time and the streets will be filled with people already. And, the F. Muñoz Street is a little bit narrow and cramped.
9 – Employment at the CENTRAL BANK is a dream among college graduates then. The reason is because the compensation package at the CENTRAL BANK is very much attractive…so pricey, upscale and even extravagant. It would be pure luck plus connections that spell one’s chance to be taken in as employee at the CENTRAL BANK which is now known as BANGKO SENTRAL NG PILIPINAS.
10 – RAISING FUND is the FUNDRAISING DRIVE put up by my daughters’ through the initiative of my youngest daughter, Winnalee “ALEE” Young.
11 – Ate ELSA chipped in Php 3,000.00 to my daughters’ FUNDRAISER for their quest to WIN the GOLD in the 2017 WORLD HIPHOP INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION to be held in Phoenix, Arizona on August 7-12, 2017. For achieving a RHYME, please pronounce “THOU” as “TAW”.
12 – ONE HUNDRED GRAND means ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND. Perhaps, FIFTY THOUSAND would be OKEY and GOOD ENOUGH, Ate ELSA…he,he,he…]
