How We Emigrated - Truth As I Know

We hear this widely known proverb, "Behind every great man is a great woman." This is the case to both my grandmothers. My grandmother, Eugenia Tagdulang Quijano (Eugenia Jimenez Tagdulang), on my mother's side was no question one of these ladies who knew her way and was confident to what she decides she may accomplish.

As I watched her in my teenage life during the time after my grandfather’s death, her husband, she still had authority and respect even after their political life had long passed. I remember the days when I stayed with her during this time. I had stayed back after the funeral when mother nature had decided that my flight would be delayed because of a tropical storm, it seems this was my fate. You only hear stories how someone’s life was affected by fate, and my belief certainly wasn’t as strong on faith. I’ve always wondered why my grandparents decided to immigrate to the U.S. when they had their lives there, a home and lands that they could strive on and my grandfather was a well-known physician of the small town, Oroquieta City and the Province of Misamis Occidental, and not to mention my grandmother came from a known family, Jimenez, from the town of Jimenez and Tadulang of the town of Tangub. Of course, I did ask her the question, and the main reason that she stated was they had been recommended by a government US official, by one of these government entities that you don’t normally mention or certainly add to the Wiki biography of my grandfather, Governor Gedeon G. Quijano, to move because their safety may be in danger. Back then, this did not make too much sense to me, and I did not question her further. Looking back at it, this was the period when Ferdinand Marcos had taken power. I’ve had great respect for my grandmother, and I can only believe what she said was true, and there was no reason to tell a fictionalized story. She has always said that my grandfather had been friends to Marcus back then and was even offered a position in the administration but had turned down because of political alliances. From what I know about the history I can see how this decision to immigrate was their ultimate sacrifice, leaving everything behind, to save themselves and to start a new life in America and ultimately bring their children abroad. My grandfather was able to get my mom, Sela Quijano Borromeo, and family approved for a visa (Declassified - National Archive) through his Senator of North Carolina, Senator Jesse Helms and The White House. My grandparents did not return to The Philippines for serveral years, until after 1986 when Marcos' presidency ended.

During my stay with her she still received many visitors and would be busy sending messages through her trusted person to other government officials. My grandmother was busy giving me a second chance being the bad apple in the family. She helped me get introduced to the town’s Miss Oroquieta 1987, Stella T. Borromeo (Ma. Stella Villas Tonggao) and eventually get married. My wife and I returned back to the Philippines in 1991 for both of us to complete our education. During this time my grandmother was not finished helping us to make sure we could find our way and be independent with her wide network of relatives and friends. It is no wonder why her nickname was Geni, short for Eugenia. You could listen to her in a conversion, by someone’s family name she could find a way to relate. With her good friend she allowed my wife and I to be admitted in one of the Universities in Cebu City. Watching this personally taking shape was quite an experience, because I grew-up in the US and did not live with a silver spoon and I did not know both my political family history until my late teens, my family and parents did not talk about it openly. I worked delivering newspapers in my younger years and rummaged through garbage behind restaurants to find aluminum cans with my friend during elementary school (for recycling fund raising), mowed the lawn to make money and biked around to get to places, and worked my first job at 16. My wife gave birth to our children in Cebu City, and ultimately we returned back to the US to continue with school, me working full-time and attending school, and greatful and thankful to my parents to have helped cared for our children Steony and MarjoeAnthony.