MacArthur, Leyte – The 1,600-kilometer land trip, with two channel crossings, from Manila to Mindanao may be tiresome but it has its benefits.
It gave me an opportunity to visit relatives on my mother’s Waray side, the Pantin family in MacArthur, Leyte.
That is my F middle initial because my uncle who was born in Iloilo to a Waray father changed Pantin to Fantin.
My grandfather, Venancio, stowed away and left Abuyog as a youngster.
Lolo Vena drifted to Iloilo and married an Ilongga from Janiuay, Gertrudes Colloquio, long before World War II.
The Pantins belong to a huge clan scattered in the towns of Abuyog, Javier and MacArthur.
A prominent member of the family is Monsignor Bernie Pantin, now Secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, my mother’s second cousin.
We belong to the branch of the Pantin family which strayed far from Leyte.
It took a letter from my grandfather’s cousin, Segundina Regis Pantin, begging us to visit her before she dies, for us to trace our Waray roots in Leyte.
Shortly after receiving the letter from Lola Gunding in 2002, my mother, Efigenia, sent her a letter with a P1,000 Christmas gift and saying sorry that she could not visit her.
Lola Gunding died before we could see her but her letter started the reconnection with our Waray side which was followed by yearly reunions.
After two mugs of hot coffee and a quick shower, we took off for a 2-hour trip to San Ricardo in Southern Leyte to catch the 5 a.m. Ro-Ro which would bring us to Lipata, Surigao del Norte.
From there, it would take us another 7 to 8 hours back to Kidapawan City.
(With relatives in MacArthur joined by former DA Regional Director and now Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) consultant Engr. Mila Casis.)
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