Abstract Bailen, in the upland district of the Province of Cavite, is its smallest town - a rural, farming, mountainous town hidden within lush forests in the western slopes of Tagaytay. It is always cool in Bailen. In this lovable mountain town, I was born, October 6, 1939: the 4th of five boys. Our mother, Emilia Redruco Ikan, then 32 years old, died from the birth of Zenaida, the 6th child, who died two weeks later. My brothers were: Rossini, Ernani, Teodoro Jr., and Angel Rodante. Only myself and Teodoro Jr. have survived. I married Dolorfina Castillo Bautista, a medical doctor, also from...