A Different Kind of Love Story

(Boy meets girl. They fall in love. They encounter some obstacles along the way. But they stick it out. And they live happily ever after. You know the drill, right? But no, this story’s a whole lot different. And it’s certainly one for the movies.)

It was a few years after the big war of the 40s, in a far-off island of Bohol, in Central Philippines. There lived a middle-aged lady who had been widowed during the war. Fiercely determined to bring up her 3 young kids in the best way she could, Charing steeled her nerves and stood out among the predominantly-male business crowd in the then-sleepy town of Tagbilaran.

With her hard-earned savings and a little help from her relatives, Charing was able to build a 3-story building in a town eager to rebuild after the hard life brought by the war. She took pride in having built…