Dennis Hollingsworth

Garcia Family Chronicles

"I was born in Bacolod, on the island of Negros Occidental...."

For years I've been trying to talk my mother into writing about our family history with no luck. My grandfather Pacifico Garcia was quite a patriarch and his story leads back into the mists of Philippine history: of datus, Spanish priests, of arguments with overbearing Americans that led to fistfights that led to family ruin, of a struggle from poverty to professional status as a lawyer and to the edge of political life in Manila... She always talks about writing an Ang Lee type epic someday, and I am keen on the idea but for some reason, her fingers have yet to fly on the keyboard.

Last summer I was having coffee in Tossa with her at La Granja coffee shop and I flipped open my digital camera and shot a movie, asking her to recount our family history. This is four segments edited from the first two sessions.

I intend to groom this post from time to time and elaborate a rough oral history. this will be a blogpost that will always be one that is in progress.

Bacolod Days: from sugar cane plantations to money lending... (!)

WWII: the Japanese occupation of the Philippines

Occupation days, continued. Angel sings Japanese schoolyard songs.

To be continued, BLOGPOST IN PROGRESS...