Ochoa Farm

I couldn’t leave the office before noon so I was late for lunch at the Ochoa’s office in Mandaluyong.
They already had lunch when I arrived. I thought there was no occasion, that Yoly would just bring food.

It was Nene’s 26th wedding anniversary pala the day before. So I wasn’t sure if this lunch  was an extended celebration.
The Ochoas- Nene, Carol, Yoly, Girlie, Ricky, and Jojo are tubong Binangonan. Tila kulang ng isa. Pito yata sila. They’re parents were both from our town. The children, lived and grew up in Mandaluyong but spent many summer months, and holidays in their 8 hectare farm in one of the barrios in Binangonan.

The farm had been equally subdivided among the 7 siblings. The 4 sisters have nice homes in the compound  and they make it a point to visit almost every Sunday. They also spend several days in New Year.

There’s a chapel that houses the 100 year old image of Saint Salome that  their clan owns, which is included in the Holy Week and town fiesta processions.

Flashback:
Twenty years ago, Kuya Lito’s company rented one of their warehouses. It was Edmund who found their place.  That’s also where the Ford Rangers were painted yellow based on the order of PLDT. Matagal na matagal na yun.
But now, by fate or circumstance, we’ve met and I now consider them as new friends. Mga kababayan. The 4 girls are very nice to me and they’re giggly. They found me too refined.
Ako? Refined? I don’t think so.

They invited me to visit their farm last Sunday. Since I was scheduled to go to the Nuestra Senora De Los Angeles Parish in Pila-pila, it was perfect timing.

The skies were gray on that Saturday morning but that didn’t deter me from traveling to Rizal.
I wanted to take Ortigas Avenue na lang kasi ang gulo dumaan sa floodway but driver chose to pass thru this road instead.

Floodway was originally intended to be a diversion road. For a few years, it became a good alternate route to avoid the heavy traffic in Cainta but after sometime, squatters started invading the whole stretch, setting up stores, businesses, houses, etc.

A few years ago during a major election, there was a report that there were some shanties with 50 registered voters living in one small room. Vote rich pala itong floodway.

Shanties have already started sprouting-up right on the lake, in the portion  closer to Taytay Rizal. It’s just a matter of time before this whole stretch would be covered with illegal settlers.

I arrived at the Ochoa Farm at 12:40.

We had some difficulty entering the narrow road, not because it’s narrow, but because some people were playing basketball in the middle and there were tricycles parked in the middle and the drivers were sleeping. There was also a mini tupada in the middle of the road.  Pansin nyo ba puro in the middle, kasi ganun talaga.  Nasa gitna sila ng kalye.

When I entered their property,  I didn’t feel like I was in Binangonan.

The 4 Ochoa sisters were done eating when I arrived. Akin na daw lahat ito.

Parang may fiesta sa dami.

My attention got focused on the okoy. Nostalgic, parang okoy ni Ka Luring.

Para akong lalangoy sa laki nung bowl of Pesang Dalag.

Carol’s house is so pretty. They all take painting lessons so their houses are full of their art pieces.

She used to have a view of the highway but now her view is covered by the 5-10 years old mango trees.

After a heavy lunch, we walked across the street to youngest sibling’s sprawling vacation house. While Carol’s theme is Mediterranean, Girlie’s is Balinese inspired, due to her family’s many years of stay in Indonesia where her husband worked.

Their art teacher is a Japanese lady.

They have a trellis with full grown wrapped around plants. Malalaki ang dahon, maganda pala yun, hindi makalat tingnan.

My stomach hasn’t even started grinding the pritong dalag, okoy and lansones, kumain agad kami ng guinataan kila Girlie. Durog yung mga sangkap pero masarap.

OMB with the Ochoa sisters- Girlie, Yoly, Nene

Mga talunan sa Mrs. World contest.
(L-R) Yoly, Nene, Omb, Girlie, and Carol.

Thank you so much ladies for inviting me two times in a row. My turn in November.