Last March, my in-laws Dr. Antonio C. Tan and his wife Bibi Tan came home to Cotabato from Canada. Whenever they are here in Cotabato, they stay with me at my home. Bibi Tan is also from Cotabato. For a little bit of Cotabato history and background, her family, the Lim-Go used to open a fabric store in Sinsuat Avenue. Her family had since closed that store, instead they went into the more lucrative business of trading agricultural products. Their family establishment is called Comart. And boy, did they really make good and prosper. These days however Cotabato's business environment had drastically changed. Agricultural trading has lost its luster because of the costly and difficult process of sending out the produce via water transport. Rio Grande River is now hardly pliable due to the silting of the delta. The port and pier have shifted to Polloc, Parang; but even there, the boats are not docking because of the unreasonable fees and labors and costs imposed on the ships and the businessmen. Many a trading establishment has since folded up. Despite that, their family business continues to be operative in the City, although not as progressively as before. Anyway, my sister-in-law Bibi comes home to Cotabato, I think to primarily visit her maiden family, most specially her sister Agiok who mans their business establishment called Comart. During the daytime, she would go visit her maiden family, eat lunch with them, come home in the afternoon, have supper at my place and sleep at LCT Hardware Residence.That is because her husband Tony, who is the second eldest child in the Tan family prefered to spend time with his Tan siblings and sleep at my abode. While spending time in Cotabato though, Bibi had much decisions regarding the couple’s daily activities which were mostly meetings old family friends. Lucas and I were not very good hosts, we just let them be. We let them do or go to whatever and where ever they want to do or go. They come to visit every year, and after many years, I guess I know what they really want already, and that is to just let them be. Infact they would not hesitate to tell us what they like and prefer. The important thing is for me to buy more local fruits because you know Canadians are so much into healthy eating. I have come to be quite adjusted to their yearly visit. This year they stayed for ten days before leaving for Manila.
During their 10 day stay this March, I went for a one day lenten retreat at the Trapessitne Monastery in Polomolok, South Cotabato with the lector community of our parish, the Queen of Peace Church. It was a refreshingly and learning retreat. I roommate with Mildred Lim. I got to met Julie Pesongco, my former student in CCI who has become a cloistered nun. The vespers and the mass were very solemn. The monastery was a peaceful place and I liked the serenity of the surroundings. Not to mention that I simply enjoyed land trips and chatting with the ladies and buying pasalubong to bring home too. Hahaha. At the monastery gift shop, I bought lots of cookies for myself, my husband, the maids and the secretaries. Surely my husband’s and mine sugar will go rocket high because of our many sugar intake from the cookies and biscotti. (The Canadians were not eating any of those sweets by the way.) Hahaha. I also bought a Madonna and Child picture from the gift shop. We had all the religious items we bought blessed by our parish priest, Rev. Father Simeon Samson. On our way home, we passed by the roadside fruit strands and I bought lots of fruits for my visitors too such as pineapples, papayas, avocados, guyabano, corns, and also fish. Coming home, we had lunch at the Blooming Garden in Tupi and bought more pasalubong. Hahaha. Truly, this was such an enjoyable retreat trip for me.
