About Ampy (part 1)

Last April 7 my relatives in Manila celebrated a very important occasion in our family. It was the 80th birthday of Ampy, an aunt of mine on the mother's side and our oldest living member. I thought I should write something about her in my blog because she is one of the major influences in my life.

When I was a child, I lived for six years in Ampy's house in Malate. My parents wanted to send me to St. Anthony School which was within walking distance from her place, so they transfered me there as soon as I finished prep. It was a huge house passed down by my grandparents to their children. For six years, I lived there with two other aunts, an uncle and her wife. My mom and I would stay in Malate from Monday to Friday and then go to Sta. Mesa to spend the weekend with my dad.

At that time (1985) I wished that Ampy were my real mother. I was very fond of her and I had reason to believe that I was her favorite. Still working then, she took me to children's parties and family activities at the office. I have plenty of memories of the Central Bank, where she used to work just like my dad and an uncle, including KFC in Harrison Plaza where she often treated me to a delicious meal. In the evening I would always wait impatiently for her to come home from work because she often brought home a surprise. No matter how unspecial it was, whatever she carried in her handbag was always a subject of competition between me and another aunt who was mentally challenged. Usually it was leftover sandwich, banana cake, chocolate cookies, empanada, fruits or whatever foodstuff the manang on her floor was selling.

Ampy had a masters in Public Administration and was the breadwinner of the family. She was administrative officer at the Central Bank and provided for two other aunts who were unmarried and unemployed, and for an uncle without a steady job for a long time. Since by then my lola had already died while my lolo lived with a second wife until his death in 1988, Ampy played the role of the family's matriarch.

In the house, she kept an extended collection of stamps. In her room, she had several rows of shelves which she dedicated to a huge collection of Filipiniana dolls. Back then I didn't appreciate the sheer size of her collection but the dolls numbered about three hundred, excluding some which were constantly kept in plastic bags. Curious, I often played with these, messing up the dolls' arrangement in the shelves on the condition that I put them back one by one in place.