SO much had happened in the less than two months since early October 1983 when I had arrived in Zaragoza, and when I left towards the end of November.
Cecilia came to Madrid to see me off for Zurich where I’d connect the Swissair flight to Manila.
I stayed at the Lhuillier house in Magallanes Village, Makati.
The first thing I did was call Cebu so that I would be picked up at the airport upon arrival the next morning. My father was on the phone, excitedly telling me that some days earlier my mother had suffered a stroke.
She had been hospitalized but was home now. He inferred that I should be in Cebu as soon as possible, so I asked the Lhuillier driver to take me to the domestic airport where I booked the next flight to Cebu that very evening.
When I got home I found my mother resting in bed. She had lost weight in just two weeks but she was strong enough to congratulate me on my engagement.
She wanted to know all the details. She said that she was doing fine, following a special diet, very low in fat, and taking it easy.
Everyone congratulated me on my engagement, and like my mother, wanted to know more details.
One of them was Doña Lolita de Aboitiz at the inaugural of the Casa Gorordo Musuem on December 15.
A week before that Spanish Ambassador Pedro Ortiz de Armengol and his wife Maria Eugenia were in Cebu on an official visit.
There was a state dinner for them at the Magellan Hotel hosted by then City Mayor Ronald “Ronnie” Duterte and his beautiful wife, Gloria.
The next morning Ronnie and Gloria brought the ambassador and his wife to the Argao Beach Club for lunch. On the way back we stopped in Carcar to visit the studio of Martino Abellana, one of Cebu’s foremost artists.
They had met in Cuba years ago when the ambassador was posted there, and Martino took part in an exhibit where he was given honors.
In the evening there was a grand reception and dinner hosted by Casino Español de Cebu at its grand ballroom.
Presiding were president Donald Moraza and his wife Victoria Cincunegui de Moraza.
The ambassador said that he had been previously assigned to the Philippines and was very familiar with its culture and history.
Mayor Ronnie Duterte had made a pitch for me to be named honorary consul of Spain in Cebu but I said I could not commit myself.
It all depended on Cecilia if she wanted to live in Cebu after our marriage, or if we had to live in Zaragoza. She had to see the Philippines first.
Cecilia chose to come to Cebu by the middle of March. She took a Philippine Airlines flight from Frankfurt to Manila where I went to meet her.
We stayed a day at the Lhuillier house in Magallanes Village and came to Cebu as soon as possible.
Everybody wanted to meet her. Henry and Angeling Lhuillier gave a barrio fiesta in her honor at their home in Maria Luisa Estate Park.
Pacing Cabahug also organized a Filipiniana party at her home in Beverly Hills. We had to dance “la Jota Zapatilla” choreographed by her cousin Tentay Cuico.
Mrs. Remedios Avila Cañizares gathered her family for a dinner in honor of Cecilia at Baseline, where Filipino cuisine was served.
One afternoon we spent time with Esper and Caring Leyson at their ancestral home in Ramos Street of which I had many childhood memories.
Another afternoon we spent with our aunt Carmen Rodriguez de Martinez at her home on Ranudo Street.
She invited us to spend a few days at her home in Bogo to coincide with the feast of San Vicente, the town’s patron saint.
It was a sentimental journey as our grandfather Col. Jacinto Rodriguez had been born in Bogo.
We took an Escaño ship to Southern Leyte to spend a few days in Malitbog at the Villa Margarita.
We were warmly welcomed by my sister Maria Pilar, her husband Ramon Escaño and their children—Ana, Mon-Mon and Choco.
Soon it was time for us to return to Cebu, again on an Escaño ship, and go to Manila for Cecilia’s return flight to Spain.
She said she had liked the Philippines and that she would like to live here.
“This is where you belong. This is where you have your life, in Cebu,” she told me.
When she left she brought along her wedding dress, confected by Viring Romoff, after a design by Mario Abellana. It was finished in record time.
Cecilia hand carried it. The PAL stewardess said she’d hang it in the first class section. “And I was in economy,” laughed Cecilia.
As soon as she was in Zaragoza she finalized our wedding plans.
The marriage would take place on Sept. 28, 1984 at the main altar of the Basilica de la Virgen del Pilar.
The wedding invitations were printed in Cebu at Star Press.
After seeing her off in Manila I came back to Cebu where I had many things to plan and do.
In May I took a long vacation in Malitbog and spent long hours in the library of the Villa Margarita writing long letters to Cecilia by the light of an alabaster lamp we called “La Samaritana” because the figure held a large water jug.
I planned my departure for Spain during the first half of August, reserving my Swissair ticket with plenty of time.
I wanted to spend my birthday on August 20 in Zaragoza.
