PREVIOUSLY: Conchita became withdrawn after the death of her husband, shunning all contact with the outside world. The family was forced to convert their electrical shop into a grocery after a much bigger store selling the same items and more was put up by the town mayor’s family. Conchita’s involvement in the new venture had a positive effect on her and soon she returned to her normal ways. The grocery store did not make as much money, however, and Rico was forced to look for a job abroad.

We will forget about Conchita for now to continue our story in the city of Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where Rico ventured for a better paying job. Rico worked as an accounting clerk in a large company owned by a member of the Saudi royal family.

It was the seventies, when the kingdom was at the height of the oil boom, so Rico was paid handsomely and was able to send his sister Margarita to a very good school. He was also determined to his mother a new house to replace their old one, so the moment he received his first pay cheque he didn’t waste time to start its slow but steady construction which he estimated would take him at least ten years.

After two years, his two younger brothers simultaneously got married. Andy and Manuel junior struggled financially when the babies came so they asked their older brother to find jobs for them in Saudi Arabia. Using his connections, Rico was able to install them in stable clerical appointments in a construction company also in the city of Riyadh.

After ten years, with the final installment on the house at last paid up and their youngest sister, Margarita, now a full pledged nurse in Canada, the 36- year-old Rico decided to get married himself. He had no financial obligations to his family now but perhaps it was the endless stream of baby pictures from his two sisters-in- law that inspired him to make the decision.

Rico did not have a social life in Riyadh, where Islamic restrictions on courtship were strictly enforced. Practically all of his contemporaries were now married, so he resorted to asking around for names of prospective brides he could write to.

Ten eligible bachelorettes responded to Rico’s campaign. He short-listed two to correspond with.

In October 1993, less than a year after the first exchange of letters, he proposed to a 36 year-old Pampangeña based in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Her name was Ildefonsa Matabuncay (not her real name, the actual is even more archaic).

Not unlike Rico, Ildefonsa spent the most part of her prime working abroad to build her ageing parents a house and to see two siblings through college. While Ildefonsa was free to date anybody she wanted in Chicago, where she worked as a bookkeeper for the last fifteen years, she was rather on the plump side and old fashioned in her manner of dressing. Her associations at work were also limited to balding accountants and her weekends and off-hours were allocated to a variety of income-generating sidelines like house keeping and baking.

So what made our Rico choose Ildefonsa for his lifetime partner? Did “Ildy” deceive him into believing she was a 23 year-old neurologist and the Oriental version of Cindy Crawford?

The “other” woman in the short list was a twenty-eight year old private school teacher in a city in the Visayas. We shall call her Kri-Kri (her real name isn’t Karina either but equally as irritating). Kri-Kri’s wellwritten letters and smart pictures always impressed Rico. But he thought the younger “contender” was too cute to be true.

Kri-Kri’s manner of dressing also reminded Rico of a colleague’s errant wife who spent the hard-earned money of her long-distance husband on clothes and toy boys. Rico was rather aware that he did not exactly look like Richard Gere and his only asset was his ability to make more money than most eligible bachelors back in the Philippines.

Ildefonsa’s letters to Rico were all about things he could relate to. Like the joys of being finally able to install an electric water pump at home in their small barrio in Pampanga. The heartaches of having too many needy relatives back home and only so much to spare in form of discretionary assistance.

Kri-Kri, on the other hand, wrote only about fabulous things, like the fancy parties she attended and the big people she knew. Rico was more captivated by Ildefonsa’s weekend housekeeping and babysitting misadventures. Maybe it was Ildefonsa’s detailed account on how bibingka can be made as delicious in the absence of fresh coconuts that made Rico’s mind to propose. Ildefonsa’s strongest asset, of course, was her American citizenship.

Ildefonsa accepted Rico’s proposal and immediately applied for a fiancé visa for him. After a 3-month wait, Rico left his ten-year-old job in Riyadh to join Ildefonsa in America.

Rico and Ildefonsa have worked very hard all their adult lives but did not have the chance to save

money for themselves because of their voluntary commitments to their families. So they agreed to have a very simple wedding. They plan to save money during the next to years for a special trip to Ildefonsa’s hometown where their union shall be properly celebrated with their family and friends in the true Filipino fashion.

Ildefonsa’s engagement inevitably spread around the Filipino community. As a Filipino bride, she was suddenly deluged with unsolicited advice from all directions.

Ildefonsa was a mature, pen-pal bride who held an American passport and owned a concrete house in the Philippines, so her advisers were suspicious of the simplicity of her forthcoming wedding to someone she hasn’t even met in person.

The verdict of her council of “concerned” friends and knowledgeable kibitzers:

1. As soon as Rico arrives in America, Ildefonsa shall confiscate his passport for “safekeeping”. It

could be that their marriage was just a convenient means by which Rico could enter the land of milk and honey. The advisers opined that Rico could still desert her later on, but without a passport his movements would at least be restricted.

2. Have a proper church wedding with bridesmaids and all the trimmings deserving of a professional of her status. And not to especially forget a honeymoon in one of those resorts in Florida with the heart-shaped Jacuzzi.

The amigas were unanimous that the gravity of Rico’s intention could only be measured by the money he was willing to splurge on Ildefonsa on the most important day of her life. The amigas dragged Ildefonsa to a bridal shop in New York where she was squeezed into a frilly number called “Contessa”. She has  never worn anything as dreamy all her life. Through her misty eyes she was convinced that her own blurred reflection was Cinderella reincarnated.

As for the bridesmaids, the peach pink V-neck frock with the bubble sleeves and uneven hemline was the unanimous choice. The church aisle will be lined with Boston ferns dotted with carnations and satin bows to match. The three-tier cake will be provided free by Inter-Continental Hotel where the reception for 150 guests will be held.

Ildefonsa didn’t know fifty people in Chicago well enough to invite to her wedding. Assuming that her eight officemates and their spouses would all come, plus the three elderly couples whose houses she cleaned once a week, and the four sets of parents of the neighbourhood children she minded on a regular basis, that only added up to thirty. But no problem, because another amiga shall drag into the Inter-Continental ballroom the sixty-strong Filipino community choir of Chicago, who will serenade the newly weds with Filipino love songs at the sit-down, $28.85 per plate banquet.

And who shall pay for all these? There was no need to twist Rico’s arm because everything will be transacted on credit. Another bank-manager amiga has even procured a US$5,000 character loan for those expenses requiring cash. All that Rico needed to do was show up in a smart tuxedo. The couple shall later on take care of the “easy” monthly installments as soon as Rico is settled in America.  Another resourceful amiga has secured an office job for Rico even before he has actually landed in the United States of America.

And so the invitations were printed, the gowns, flowers, and ceramic favours were ordered, and the caterers, cathedral, and honeymoon resort were booked. The amigas were resolute that the preparations be kept a secret to Rico, because he might have some objections. A long-distance dispute could both be very costly and risky. Ildefonsa was convinced that it was going to be a most pleasant surprise for her Rico.

In the early afternoon of February the 13th 1994, the unsuspecting Rico arrived in Chicago. From the airport, a reception committee of two amigas and their spouses whisked Rico to a rental shop where a cream tuxedo with pink cummerbund was selected for the puzzled groom. It was exactly a week before the wedding and Rico’s attire was the last item on the list. The ante-dated legal documents have already been fixed by an amiga whose husband was an immigration lawyer.

But where was Ildefonsa? He was cheerfully told that, even as they speak, the bride was having the final fitting of her wedding gown in New York City and will fly in at seven, in time to join them for dinner.

What wedding gown? And why in New York? What dinner? Who are these people? Rico was totally confused.

To be continued

 

 

 

 

Munting Nayon News Magazine