Tony "Boy" de Leon's House

It's hard to believe that this is the same house where we used to sit on the fence and watch "Sea Hunt". The de Leons were one of the first to have a TV. Egong and Tige had one later which they covered with colored cellophane to make it look colored.

We also used to watch at Pat's cousin's house Olly. We were like monkeys outside the cage looking in. People were so nice. They went about their business eating their dinners while allowing us to watch with our hungry eyes and bellys

Origin of the kanto boys: I am sure some of you cant recall or dont know some people mentioned, kasi medyo may konti gap sa timing. I would say na two groups ang mga events, that is, iyong mga original metrica boys (BC) wet migrated when the oteyzas' and de gomas' have not yet migrated to metrica. The first batch in the fiftyies and mid-sixties were composed of : tonyde leon, chibu(my sister), BOy Malaki(cousin of Tonyboy)now Father JOey, then the de leons(baby, azon, pip & effie),dejesus(eric, maryvi,pamela)Lina Pulot,olmedos(Pats,papoose,mike,jack, cousins ollie,christiine and carol)),pobladors(joe,bing & albert), Pedro & Boy Austria(his real family name is alcazar),Clemens&Marissa, the kanto boys : Don Loy, Tikboy & pante, Landong Patakla& sister we call Baho,Rudy barako, engak,rene,nesto bato. dalusongs,tige,egong,rene,mami,dedo, Bido. Then came the Oteyzas' and the degomas' ,pepito & arthur macasinag, lino edralin, balok,danny aso & ambok (who moved in the house vacated by the family of landong patakla besides loy's house).Serranillas,manolo bulaong, domeng palong,zabalas,ed and monching pamular.just to name a few.
and many mmore characters (some became police characters), at marami pang iba.
Nakakapagod pala magrecall.

pats

Dagdag ni Mike: Mas malakas ang memory ni Omar at Pats.
Matagal kong inisip ang last name ni Eric. De Jesus pala. Katulong nila si Lina Pulot.
I thought you've forgotten Berting Rabbit, Balok and Eli Kalawang and Nes. Hindi pala. Espiritu pala si Nes akala ko Austria. Sa inyo ko natutunan ang salitang "boso". I remember asking anong namboboso? May binobosohan kasi sila Clemens at Loy. Coincidence lang. Si Berting, you called him rabbit kasi matulis at malaki ngipin. Berting is Robert in America and pronounced Rabbit by kids. Nakalimutan nyo na ba si Landong Patakla, pinsan ni Loy. Kapatid niya si Pante.
Si Helen Sangalang. Kapatid nya si Gil na nabaril daw. Gil was my classmates in 2nd yr. high school in Baste but we didn't know we're neighbors until after we've graduated.
Si Lillian de la Merced. Nakatira sa taas nila Ching. Barkada ni Chibu at Baby Loy.
Si Macho. (Seraon). Siya ang original Macho. Ano pangalan ni Lasing. Si Kulot naman pre-Julian days pa. Hindi nila kilala. Si Congressman at si Rene Tumbong. Dalusong brothers.
Si Mang Pilo. Lumalaban sa Fiesta na kakain ng isang kalderong kanin na walang ulam. Siya ang champion.

Crazy memories from Omski: here are some more... the enriquez brothers... emy (eming palakol because of his 2 big front teeth), crisologo aka junior was papoose's (oteyza) classmate at UP High, luis (we also called him "taruc" after the communist founder), filino(the guy who would go on a rampage when he didn't get his way on anything, we also called him "pikon") and the only one who amounted to anything was their brother danny who i believe became a doctor. their father was called "kilya" because his head was always tilted to one side. last time i heared the whole family converted to "iglesia ni cristo". oh now i remember the guy with the "palong ng manok" haircut...domeng !!!!!! then there is also "aling chayong" later on also called "commander chayong" then there was erning "kuarta" because he said his mother was offered money and he said "kuarta din iyan" which became his namesake. there also was this guy we used to call "multo", can't remember his real name but he lived in craig behind nesto bato's house. and then there was estrella, the sister of ben serranilla's wife. she was very pretty but her teeth were starting to rot. they lived between craig and the next street over towards p. leoncio. and the mighty dukes and grand duchesses of p. leoncio... you cannot believe how many laughs i get about mentioning this 2 groups to my filipino friends here. and theirs totoy kalbo, the sastre who is better known for never deilivering on time...laging bitin. more to come...
Omar

Dagdag pa rin ni Vino: Mga Villarica pa. Si Umbert. Siguro Humberto ang pangalan noon. Si Vic at si Carmen.Their cousin who used to play with us is Stephen. Si Marilou at Donna, mga Ronas. Eric de Jesus's sister is Carmela, not Pamela. Ang kapatid naman ni Danny Aso ay si Onyong (nickname ng Junior). Si Boy Tenga at Jimmy Komang naman ay latter years na. Third generation na ng Metrica Boys which include Chitong Daga, anak ni Deng. Si Peter iyung isang anak ni Deng. Magaling magbasketball. Sino iyung magkapatid. One was player of Letran and the other player of UAAP team. He made it to MICAA or PBA. Si Carding Prado pa.
Who's the lady at Bernabe's who had a sari-sari store? She's the original 24-hour convenience store proprietor. Sion ba o Suling. Si Felino (Enriquez) ay naging Jehovah's witness, not Iglesia ni Kristo. Hindi na pikon si Felino. Kinoconvert pa ako maging Jehovah. I remember him asking me the name of God. When I said Jesus, he said no. Yahweh daw ang pangalan ng Diyos.
Si Cancion pa, aka Goldfish. MahJongera. Si Popoy David. Is he in Australia? Si Anching, Anching My Heart. Si Victas. Si Bolinao, taga metrica malapit kila Seranilla. Iyung kaklase ni Omar sa FEU. Kilala ng lahat. Masayang kasama. Walang iba kundi si Bernie Syoki Montero.

Si Fabian natatandaan nyo pa. Pagnakalaban mo sa basketball, nakakainis. Laging hubad ang pangtaas nya at matitilansikan ka ng pawis. Hindi mo aagawin ang bola sa kaniya, kasi puro pawis siya at larong-buko siya. One day he was stabbed and luckily he survived. Naging janitor siya sa simbahan ni Fr. Bernal.

When the Castrences moved out of their house in Washington ave. Aling Atang moved in. Her children were Agilang Itim and Manuel Kuba and Nardo. Nardo had a rug wrapped around his hand for so many years. Naputukan kasi siya ng labintador on New Year's day.

Si Good Point. He lived in the same apartment occupied by Joe Paa after Joe moved out. It was in 1969 or 1970 when we met him. His mom was single mom siguro. Maganda, tisay, malinis magbihis at pinagkakainteresan pa ng mga istambay doon. His real name is Bob Lagrosa but we called him Good Point because that was his favorite expression. Do you remember him? Tisoy na Mama's boy, laging naka glenmore boots at mahilig maginggles pero puro "good point" naman ang mga sentences niya.

Pats: was so very young then, but this is what I remember, but I dont which is which, was it chibu or tony, isa sa kanila ang sumakay sa kahon ng gatas at iyong isa naman nagtali ng kahon sa isang aso, iyong aso biglang tumakbong matulin kaladkad iyon kahon at nahulog sa kanal sa metrica,( nuong time na iyon lahat ng kalye ay open kanal ang drainage wala pa gutters), buti na lang walang serious injkury na nangyari, this thing was witnessed by myself, baby and boy-malaki.....Isang araw naman si boy-malaki ay nagbagging ala tarsan sa puno ng mangga ni de jesus, biglang naputol ang sanga causing boy-M to fall down on the ground wounding his chin that needed stitches

POO- Virginia Papoose Oteyza Owens) said: (POO-Philippines, Papoose Olmedo Olizon) have you heard of any of this characters?? They are too funny! Sayang, hindi tayo maka-stambay noon, so we didn't meet many of these people! I know -- did we really want to?POO-Virginia

POO Philippines recalls: ganda ng kwento mo, Omar! this is papoose...do you remember when we were still kids and we would play bingo in the afternoons? one time duon tayo'ng lahat sa labas ng bahay ni Tita Cely (mommy ni Ollie and Christine and Carole). Kasali sila ollie sa bingo..then tita cely came out at sinunog ang ating bingo. I still remember the red plastic thing na lalagyan ng mga bingo numbers. made in US pa..not the ordinary bingo here na binobola nakalagay sa basket...none of us nakakibo..as tita cely burned the cards in front of all of us!

I remember nuon bagong lipat kayo sa Metrica, my mom received a phone call from Mrs. Oteyza because Pats was playing with the goldfish in your fistpond..and Mrs. Oteyza said, "that's vandalism". Ang lalim ng ingles nuong panahon nuon...bata pa kasi tayo..and from then on, it was a private joke in our family, we call your family "vandalism".

And remember Oteyza uncle, Mr. Karamba. we would shoo-away children playing in front of your gate and angrily, he would say "caramba, caramba!" everyone then named him Mr. Caramba. Kumusta na nga pala siya?

I remeber your car, smaller than a volkswagen that Omar would drive...then nag-summer job kami ni omar sa office ni Papoose sa Economic Devt. Foundation, taga sort ng cards...duon tayo'ng nakasakay nila Papoose up to Makati.

By the way, how is Mrs. Oteyza? Send my love to her...

think siya iyo'ng tinatawag niyong "waway"...kaya nagalit. si ruel macam iba kay good point...si ruel macam, maputi rin kaibigan nila Pats...si good point ka-batch nila mike...matigas ang buhok sa pomada, lagi'ng naka-boots at sabi nga ninyo, ang favorite expression "Good Point!"
grabe si Mike, sobra ang tanda ng mga natatandaang tao..ang iba wala pa yata ang mga Oteyza's sa Metrica... what year did you move to the Metrica neighborhood? lahat ang sabi, may bagong lipat, Papoose din ang pangalan...

siempre, maria clara girls kami..i dont know who is emy bungo...ang uso pa sa amin ni baby loy and azon ay phone pals..magka-party line kami ni baby loy, tapos mag-dial siya hanap ng phone pals...ganuon lang..hindi naman namin meet ang tao...bolahan lang.