BY MANUEL L. MORATO
My sister and I learned about the passing away of the mother of our close friends Juancho and Mike Sabban. Their mother suffered from a heart attack at the age of 89. Her name is Mrs. Ceferina Manglapus Sabban, cousin of former Senator Raul Manglapus, also close to my family from way back.
My sister Elvira was very sad to hear about Ma Fering’s passing whom she called “Nanay” for they knew each other well. Ma Fering died October 11, 2019 in Tuguegarao, Cagayan.
According to Father Rannie Ranhillo Aquino, Ma Fering (Mrs. Sabban) was the classmate of his mother. Thank you, Father Rannie, if not for your message in facebook, we would have not known the loss of Juancho and Mike Sabban’s mother. I thank Wenchie Sabban, Mike’s wife for texting me thereafter.
Mrs. Ceferina Manglapus Sabban will be laid to rest on October 21. The family is waiting for the other siblings to arrive from abroad.
May Mrs. Ceferina Manglapus Sabban rest in peace. May Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother Mary take care of her for all eternity.
With our promise of prayers, for “Nanay Fering” that my sister Elvira called her; and “Elvs” as Juancho and wife Irene call my sister Elvira who knew each other very well, including the late father of Juancho and Mike who passed away many years ago.
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On another note, everybody knows that our area has been topsy turvy along Scout Gandia, once a peaceful residential area where our ancestral home was before but demolished by a group and “sold” without the knowledge of my three sisters and myself, including another brother. But we have lost our parents’ ancestral home that we never thought would ever happen. We lost everything, including the estate properties inside the over 70-year-old ancestral home constructed by our father, Tomas B. Morato, in the 1950s, a home we all grew up in; and where our parents lived and died in.
We have wished that it was going to be preserved forever in loving memory of my entire family. But it disappeared and ended all our happy memories in April of 2018.
Since then, we have not had peace in our family compound for two huge constructions are ongoing in this residential area, through “Special Permits” granted by the City Council of Quezon City in 2017/18, granting permission to whoever owns them now to construct a 21 storey condo/hotel; and another 22 storey building, the first of its kind since the Foundation Day of Quezon City in October of 1939, with my late father as its First Appointive Mayor by then President Manuel L. Quezon. In a sense, our ancestral home was an historical site.
We really do not know how it happened, but the case is in court. We are very sad about it because we were very confident that what happened could never happen because of Republic Act 10066 which prohibits the demolition of any structure 50 years and above without seeking the permission of the court who will notify all the heirs about the planned destruction unknown to the other 5 heirs. It took us by surprise, honestly, how the City Council of Quezon City was able to pass a “Special Permit” without giving the heirs and the neighborhood a hearing. The once peaceful residential area along Scout Gandia Street and Tomas Morato Avenue here in Quezon City is gone forever.
To this day, so many people have complained, including those in the area asking how this happened. All I could tell them is: that I had nothing to do with it; neither my three sisters who are heirs as well of our parents’ home. When lawyer-friends visit, all of them say that my late mother in whose name the three properties wherein the ancestral home once stood could not sell the property to anyone for only half belonged to her and the other half to all her children, her compulsory heirs. She might have been misled. We now know what happened, and we are so sad that could ever happen. My mother never sold the property. If ever, all her children would have been notified.
Because of the trucks and heavy equipments on the excavation site simultaneously ongoing on another site across which made a mess of our once peaceful and nice and livable neighborhood, disorderly traffic is now common in the area for the next few years ahead. Christmas in our compound will never be the same again.
Let us not wait for young students to be put in danger. What also worries the homeowners in the neighborhood is the very deep excavation on 99 Scout Gandia Street wherein a 21 storey building is going to rise in a residential area. The site has no gate and children in the neighborhood could be put in danger for the excavation is now about 30 meters deep. Near it is the PAREF Northfield School.
Ang mga bata might innocently enter the site that has no gate, a meter away from the sidewalk. I pray to God no child goes in this excavation site with no gate and with flimsy metal fencing with small openings on some parts that a curious child might go near; or a person who has had some drinks in a nearby restaurant might unknowingly walk through in the dark of the night. It is a big concern for the entire neighborhood.
We pray to God Almighty that no such accident ever happen. We beg the Lord to keep the workers, the children from the school nearby and innocent passers-by and by-standers, safe.
Please Lord, help our neighborhood. It’s bad enough what happened to us. Please keep the entire neighborhood safe from any untoward incident. Amen.
For comments and suggestions email at mlmorato@yahoo.com
