“I don’t have any explanation why the Filipinos are like this…???” and Bambi threw her arms in the air.
After Bambi had spoken, there was an open forum and Mary, a Canadian, asked: “Why don’t the Filipinos establish an organization that will maintain and conserve these historic structures … something like Britain’s ‘National Trust’?”
We all knew that we already had HCS Heritage Conservation Society, of which several in our group were members. But funding so that it could have “teeth and claws” was an entirely different story…
It isn’t just those pine trees in Baguio which everyone is babbling about; the overly emotional public outcry is probably the work of the dirty tricks department of a law or public relations firm in Manila. The beautiful Baguio of old [ Session road, Burnham park, Baguio cathedral, the convents of various religious congregations, elegant mountain villas and gardens in the Leonard Wood area, Wright park, "Mansion House" the presidential summer residence, the original Baguio country club, the American Camp John Hay, etc. ] has long been ruined anyway by political greed, disorganized development, and multitudes of squatters from all over the country. It isn’t like the SM group is committing the gravest sin removing those pine trees; far worse atrocities have already been committed and even more are in the offing. It’s sooooo much else all over the country and inside all of us… Sooooo much of our national heritage has been destroyed, is still being destroyed, and will still be destroyed — all in the name of “progress.” We Filipinos inherited the “disposable” mentality imposed subliminally by our American colonizers: We throw everything away, including ourselves. We have thrown our sense of national identity away in a frenzy of “globalization,” to the extent that our youth now want to emulate our black, Negro brothers — not even in their native Africa — but in hiphop Harlem in New York city, in the United States.
The problem with a lot of the Roman Catholic parish priests, specially those assigned to the heritage churches, is that they sincerely think that what they like for their parish churches is beautiful and suitable, when most of the time, it is exactly the opposite…
Very rare are the likes of Diocese of Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco D.D. who engaged the services of patrician artist Rafael del Casal “carte blanche” to redesign the Immaculate Conception parish church to the Cathedral of Cubao. Both Bishop Ongtioco and Mr. del Casal are gentlemen of uncompromisingly elegant tastes and their collaboration has been exceptional. Combined with the generous funding of Captain Oca and the other benefactors, the result is an absolute artistic marvel unique in these islands [ except for the very few areas where Mr. del Casal was not involved ].
It’s the “Uglification of the Philippines,” and the average Filipino is powerless against it. Poor guy. What he thinks is beautiful is actually ugly by world standards.
Unless the Filipinos of culture and resources act — the intelligentsia, the culturati, and the plutocracy — there will be nary a trace of “Filipino heritage” — whatever little of it remains — in the near future.
[ The Assumption-Mother Rosa Memorial Foundation charity tour of Laguna II: 13 August 2011, Saturday. 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m., for the benefit of the poor students of the Assumpta Technical School in San Simon, Pampanga. Organized by A-MRMF president Rosalie "Salie" Henson-Naguiat, former presidents Josefina "Nening" Pedrosa-Manahan and Jacqueline "Jackie" Cancio-Vega, and A-MRMF volunteer Augusto "Toto" M. R. Gonzalez III. ]
The tour group assembled at the parking lot of the Santuario de San Antonio church, Forbes Park starting at 7:30 a.m.. We left promptly at 8:00 a.m..
Because we were fetching Ayala Alabang residents, we dropped by the Shell gas station, southbound SLEX. Many of us, Chichi Litton Laperal, Salie Henson-Naguiat, and I among them, went to “Starbucks” to buy coffee, pastries, and sandwiches, and of course, to use the bathrooms. In a few minutes, AA residents Vina Alava-Pelaez and her son Zeke arrived and we proceeded to faraway Pila, Laguna.
During the drive, I [ in my capacity as A-MRMF volunteer co-organizer and guide ] gave the tour group a precis of our day, what we would see, what would be noteworthy / important, what we could forego. I explained that our biggest problem with the A-MRMF charity tours was that there was always so much to see, wherever we went, because that was just how beautiful our country, the Philippines, was. We had only listed Pila, Nagcarlan, Liliw, and Majayjay towns in Laguna as our destinations for the day but we actually wanted to bring them further to Magdalena, Pagsanjan, Lumban, Paete, and Pakil towns, which were equally interesting and wonderful destinations.
I explained to the tour group that Pila was already a flourishing and important Malay settlement by the time the Spaniards arrived in 1571. Pila, Laguna in its present form began in the early 1800s when the “fundador” / founder Felizardo de Rivera transferred the previous town in Pagalangan, nearer Laguna de Bay, to his Rivera family’s hacienda de Santa Clara, located on higher ground, organized a town plaza with a church, municipal hall, “principalia” houses [ all Rivera relations ], and donated the outlying properties to the poor townsfolk.
Because Laguna province was where national hero Jose P. Rizal was from, we asked his descendant Atty. Ramoncita “Minney” Ver Reyes [ great granddaughter of his eldest sister Saturnina Rizal de Hidalgo ] about him as well as other places in Laguna, aside from his hometowns of Calamba and Binan, that figured in his life. She acceded and regaled us with Rizal family stories. It was from those spontaneous discussions with Minney that A-MRMF hit upon the idea of organizing a “Rizal tour” featuring places associated with Rizal, both in Manila and in Laguna.
It was an entirely pleasant and chatty drive through Calamba, Los Banos, Bai’, Calauan, and Victoria towns to historic and elegant Pila, Laguna and we arrived promptly at 10:00 a.m. as scheduled.
Manuel Rivera house. We met up with our generous hostess in Pila, Filomena “Monina” Rivera.
Pila church. What money and taste, and taste and money, could do.
Pila museum closed on weekends!
We proceeded to the Teodoro Alava house along the town plaza.
After the Teodoro Alava, we proceeded to the Lorenzo Rivera house,to the immediate left of the municipal hall, also along the town plaza. We marveled at the several lovely, albeit sad, Holy Week processional images in the prayer room of the house.
We rode the coaster the short distance to the Paz Rivera-Madrigal house.
There was a beautiful, fruit-laden, “santol” tree which looked like a Christmas tree!!!
What was fun about these A-MRMF tours was that there were several instances of pleasant surprises, even for us volunteer organizers. There were, inevitably enough, beautiful things that we saw for the very first time!!!
Lunch at the Manuel Rivera house at 12:00 p.m. courtesy of Monina Rivera. Traditional Pila food: “Malaking isdang talakitok na may mayonesa,” “Ginataang maliit na hipon na may kamias,” “Lechong kawali na may sarsang atay,” “Ensaladang Pako na may kesong puti at lilang bulaklak na may sarsang suka, bawang, at paminta,” and steamed rice. “Minatamis na saba” stewed plantain bananas for dessert. “Dinuguang baboy at puto” for merienda.
On to Nagcarlan. 1:30 p.m.. It was a delightful drive through ricelands and forests and a thousand shades of green, flowing rivers, cascading streams, and gurgling brooks with mountain fresh water… beautiful Philippines!!!
Nagcarlan underground cemetery. There were novena prayers for the their “Santo Entierro’s” upcoming feast day. There was an amiable lady guide who accompanied us to the underground crypt and explained its history. It reminded us all of the catacombs in Rome.
Despite the rainy season, it was quite dry in the underground crypt.
Zeny, the A-MRMF secretary, took pixes in the underground crypt and there were “white shadows” in the pixes. Spooky!
As the tour group was leaving the Nagcarlan underground cemetery, we came across a vendor in his tricycle selling “santol” fruits of the big “Bangkok” variety for the unbelievable price of Php 10.00/xx per kilo, or just about Php 2.50/xx each! They were practically free!!! Nobody could resist and the “santol” vendor’s stock was bought out and everyone returned to the coaster, happy with their heavy haul!
On to Liliw for the famous footwear shopping.
The slight rains and drizzles did not deter the tour group at all — they simply unfurled their umbrellas and soldiered on! — from heading to the main shopping street and sampling Liliw’s justifiably famous footwear market…
“Badong.” Buy Filipino!!! Many of us treated themselves to a pair or 2, even 3 or 4, pairs of nice-looking, reasonably-priced, everyday, casual footwear.
“Arabela’s” cafe. All of us just had to visit this famous Liliw landmark of good food and cosmo bohemian chic. Some of us managed to have a drink and a bite. After all, one can never go to Liliw, Laguna and NOT visit “Arabela’s” cafe!
Liliw church.
Leaving the church, Ane Miren [ Ugarte-Aboitiz ] de Rotaeche-Dowdall, Nening Pedrosa-Manahan, Minney Reyes, and I were charmed by a small, 8 year old boy selling packets of edible young “pako” ferns for Php 10.00/xx each and, wanting to encourage his hard work and entrepreneurship, we bought all of his stock.
As we were getting ready to leave Liliw, an assiduous male vendor of “kesong puti” from Santa Cruz town kept on offering his goods: 2 luscious, tempting pieces traditionally wrapped in banana leaves and shards of tree bark for Php 100.00/xx. They compared favorably in size and density to those of UP Los Banos’ dairy products store at Php 55.00/xx per piece of similar size. His efforts were not in vain as the ladies Nening Manahan, Ane Miren Dowdall, Salie Naguiat, et. al., kept on buying 1 or 2 as they boarded the coaster. He was soon followed by an equally assiduous male vendor of fresh-looking, fragrant “longganizang Lucban”: 1 string of 12 pieces for Php 100.00/xx. His efforts were not in vain either as the ladies Nening Manahan, Chichi Laperal, et. al. kept on buying 1, 2, even 3 or 4 strings of “longganizas” as they boarded the coaster. The ladies kept on buying “kesong puti” and “longganizang Lucban” until the stocks were finally sold out. The 2 vendors must have been happy with their big sales for the day!
On to Majayjay. It was another delightful drive through forests with a thousand shades of green, cascading streams, and gurgling brooks with mountain fresh water… how beautiful the Philippines is!!!
Majayjay, up in the mountains of Laguna, was the Baguio, the de facto summer capital during the Spanish era. Spanish officialdom and clergy liked to spend some time in cool Majayjay every now and then, usually staying at the Majayjay convent and in the better houses.
Majayjay is the ancestral town, “seat” if you will, of the old Ordoveza family of Laguna. As early as the late 1500s, their progenitor Lorenzo Pangutangan, who waxed rich from shipping, trading, and financing, was already established in a big “bahay na bato” there. At some point in the 1600s, the surname Pangutangan was hispanized to Ordoveza.
Ordoveza descendants Vina Gala Alava-Pelaez and her son Zeke were delighted to visit their ancestral hometown for the first time.
We arrived at the ancient, historic, and incomparably beautiful Majayjay church. We arrived just a few minutes before the 5:00 p.m. anticipated Sunday mass. I pointed and emphasized to the group the important, 1600s-1700s bas-reliefs of the Immaculate Conception, with the attributes of Mary in her litany [ "Tower of Ivory," "House of Gold," "Ark of the Covenant," "Gate of Heaven," "Morning Star," etc. ], the Crucifixion of Jesus with Mary and John, and on the opposite wall, another of the Crucifixion with many figures. I also pointed to the magnificent baptismal font of carved stone [ of Philippine "adobe" or Chinese granite ], probably from the 1600s. Also splendid were the still-original main altar and the 2 side altars [ in marked contrast to the reconstructed ones of Liliw, Nagcarlan, Pila, Lumban, and Pagsanjan towns ], in hybrid Neoclassical style dating from 1800 at the earliest, albeit repainted and regilded with metal leaf.
Everyone admired the very old “kalachuchi” frangipane trees just outside the side portal of the church. The whorled and gnarled roots reminded Minney Reyes of a scene from Dante’s “Inferno.”
[ I quietly remembered with a smile the A-MRMF tour of Laguna I in 2009 when Regina "Giging" Jalandoni-Garcia easily took hundreds of pixes during that memorably happy trip. ]
On to Lumban. 4:45 p.m..
Shopping.
“Step-Rite,” Pagsanjan. Buy Filipino!!! Again, many of us treated themselves to a pair or 2, or even 3 or 4, pair of nice-looking, reasonably-priced, everyday, casual footwear.
“Aling Taleng’s” ‘halo-halo,’ Pagsanjan. “Tumbong” was the distinctive ingredient.
We finally left Pagsanjan town at 7:40 p.m.. We encountered heavy traffic along Santa Cruz, then Los Banos, and Calamba. Our return to Makati was delayed.
Because we were dropping off AA residents, we dropped by the Caltex gas station, northbound SLEX. AA residents Vina Pelaez and her son Zeke got off there and we proceeded to Forbes Park, Makati.
Back at Santuario de San Antonio, Forbes Park. 9:45 p.m.. Because of the heavy traffic we encountered along Santa Cruz, Los Banos, and Calamba, we were 45 minutes behind our scheduled arrival in Makati.
Every A-MRMF tour is able to send a poor, deserving child [ or even 2 ] to the Assumpta Technical School in San Simon, Pampanga for free for a year.
As we always say, to have been able to send a poor child to school for a year, to have been able to see wonderful places, to have shared a day of adventure, joy, and laughter with happy and generous spirits, to have had a whale of a time in the process, there is no better deal in life!!!
There are many rich, even superrich, Filipinos. But only a few of them have style, and even fewer still have the high style which compare to their peers in New York, Paris, and London.
Architect Leandro “Lindy” Locsin and his heiress wife Cecilia “Cecile” Araneta Yulo along with their friends personified Filipino high style.
Lindy and Cecile kept a close circle of friends — Jimmy and Maribel Ongpin, Ting and Baby Paterno, and Manolo and Rose Agustines.
He already had good taste even as a child, which wasn’t surprising considering that his family lived in the most beautiful residence along aristocratic Calle R. Hidalgo.
Tondo, Manila is the place furthest from Social Manila’s mindset [ with the possible exception of the hugely popular 168 mall where even Madame Imelda Romualdez-Marcos shops for amusing nonconsequentials ]. But the place has an ancient, eminent, even venerable history…
The ancient, great kingdom of Tondo spanned what is now present-day Tondo district all the way northwards to much of Central Luzon. Before the Spanish colonization of these islands in the late 1500s, the kingdom of Tondo, by its sheer size and economic importance, dominated the lesser ones of Maynilad, Namayan, Ternate, and Bai’. Rajah Lakandula, the great lord of the kingdom during the Spanish invasion of 1570, was a grandson of the Sultan of Brunei, his mother was a daughter of the sultan. To this day, Rajah Lakandula of Tondo is listed in the genealogy of the royal family of Brunei.
On 18 August 1900, the American Edith Moses, the wife of Commissioner Bernard Moses, wrote: “Tondo is a quarter as near like Chinatown as you can picture it. It is the dirtiest and most crowded part of Manila, but in spite of that fact some of the richest Filipino families reside there.”
ABREU. Flaviano Abreu married Saturnina Salazar, a very rich Chinese mestiza heiress, and they resided in a large “bahay-na-bato” on Calle Sagunto [ later Calle Santo Cristo; present-day Santo Cristo Street ].
CABANGIS. The Cabangis family owned the entire island of Balut in Tondo. Tomas Cabangis was an “ilustrado”; he was with Jose Rizal and the other “ilustrados” in Spain during the 1880s.
DE BELEN. Eugenio de Belen and his wife Maximina Meneses, “Capitan Genio” and “Capitana Simang,” lived in a three-storey “bahay na bato” which fronted three streets in front of the Tondo church.
DE SANTOS. Although the very rich de Santos family were famous for being landowners with vast rice “haciendas” in the tens of thousands of hectares in Nueva Ecija, their clan progenitor was the 1700s Spaniard Prudencio de Santos, a Spanish army officer who settled in Manila and acquired a wide swathe of what is now the present-day Divisoria entrepot in Tondo. [ There is an extant oil portrait, copied from a daguerreotype { which was in turn copied from an early portrait }, of the Spaniard Prudencio de Santos by the great artist Fabian de la Rosa, dated 1931, from the once highly-distinguished but sadly dispersed Dr. Arturo de Santos Collection; it is now in the Atty. Jose Maria Trenas Collection ].
[ The parents of Roman Santos y Rodriguez, founder of Prudential Bank, were Hilarion Santos of Manila and Marta Rodriguez y Tuason of Bacolor, Pampanga. According to archival records, the original surname of Hilarion Santos was actually "de Santos." There is a possibility that he could have been descended from the de Santos family of Tondo. ]
LOPEZ DEL CASTILLO.
The Lopez del Castillo are descended from the Cabangis family.
MANOTOK.
MENESES.
PANTANGCO.
The Spanish-Chinese mestiza Mercedes Pantangco y Simon married Macario Rufino y Santos — descendant of an Italian immigrant named Ruffino — and they had seven children: Manuel, Ernesto, Vicente, Ester, Rafael, and two more daughters. Macario passed away early, leaving Mercedes to raise her children singlehandedly. She sent her sons to study at the De La Salle College and her daughter to the nearby Saint Scholastica’s College.
The siblings Ernesto, Vicente, Ester, and Rafael Rufino — the acronym EVER — established a flourishing chain of cinemas which started a business empire that diversified to banking and real estate development.
SALAZAR. The Chinese mestiza Saturnina Salazar inherited a great fortune from moneylending by her industrious Chinese father Silvestre Salazar, known as “Nor Beteng” to all of Divisoria. She married Flaviano Abreu and they lived in a large “bahay-na-bato” on Calle Sagunto. Their elder daughter Guadalupe “Neneng” Abreu y Salazar became the second wife of Felipe “Ipe” Buencamino y Siojo [ Sr. ] of San Miguel de Mayumo, Bulacan. Ipe and Neneng had two sons: Philip and Victor. Philip married Mary Romero; Victor married Dolores Arguelles. Vic’s and Loleng’s elder son Philip Arguelles Buencamino Jr. married Zenaida “Nini” Aragon Quezon, daughter of President Manuel Luis Molina Quezon and First Lady Aurora Molina Aragon; their younger son Victor Arguelles Buencamino Jr. married Blesilda “Blessie” Ocampo of Old Quiapo.
PEDRO SY-QUIA Y ENCARNACION. The affluent migrant businessman Vicente Ruperto Romero Sy Quia [ + 09 January 1894 ] of Am Thau, Amoy, China married Petronila Encarnacion of Vigan, Ilocos Sur in 1853. Their second son Pedro Sy-Quia y Encarnacion married Asuncion Michels de Champourcin y Ventura of Bacolor, Pampanga in the 1870s and built a large, palatial “bahay na bato” in Tondo [ the Sy-Quia-Michels de Champourcin property was expropriated during the American regime and was converted to the Tutuban Railway Station; the original facade survives as the present-day Tutuban mall in Divisoria ]. Pedro and Asuncion had three sons: Pedro Jr., Gonzalo, and Leopoldo [ surnamed Sy-Quia y Michels de Champourcin ]. Pedro Jr. married Caridad Arguelles Cruz; Gonzalo married Ramona Vargas; Leopoldo married Maria Chanco.
TIOCO.
TRINIDAD.
The 19th century Filipino master painter Antonio Malantic, whose surviving works are very few, was famous in his time for his portraits of wealthy Tondo residents such as the families mentioned above.
Acknowledgments: Ramon N. Villegas, Victor Abreu Buencamino Sr., Victor Arguelles Buencamino Jr., Manuel Buencamino, Arch. Miguel Noche, Dr. Taddy Buyson Gonzales, Vicente Roman Santos Santos, Richard Tuason-Sanchez Bautista, Atty. Jose Maria P. Trenas, Mia Cruz Syquia-Faustmann, Arch. J. Antonio Gonzalez Mendoza, multi-awarded journalist and the former Press Secretary during the Ramos and the Estrada administrations Rodolfo “Rod” T. Reyes.
[ I wonder if I can get dear ol' Sonny Tinio --- Filipiniana scholar par excellence Manuel Imperial Tinio Jr. --- to help me with this... ]
IMPERIAL.
According to the patrician historian Martin Imperial Tinio, Jr.:
“The Imperial oral tradition says that the family is descended from 2 brothers shipwrecked in the San Bernardino Strait in the early 17th century and landed in Manito. The story is probably true a most of the land in that town belongs to the Imperials. They eventually moved down to Daraga, Albay and one is said to have migrated to Baao in Camarines Sur. Luis Dato, a UP historian said that he saw a baptismal record of an Imperial in Baao Church dated 1635. When I was going to work on the Imperial Family Tree in the 1990s, the church records were no longer available as the whole church had been burned. The present records we have of the Legazpi Imperials date from the 1790s, same as that of those in Naga. I’m still working on trying to connect all the Imperials in the country, including the ones in Ilocos and Aklan. I have already connected the ones in Batanes, who were originally from Naga. Incidentally, the Imperials in all the provinces were already cabezas in the late 1700s. My great-great-grandfather, Don Sinforozo Imperial became Gobernadorcillo of Daraga in 1850 and Gobernadorcillo of Legazpi in 1852. All his sons became officials of Legazpi and Albay towns in the late 19th century, while his daughter, Theodora, married Gen. Ludovico Arejola, the commander of the revolutionary forces in Camarines Sur.”
JAUCIAN. The Jaucian family were originally from Jaro, Iloilo. They transferred residence to Bicol because of their increasing involvement in the “abaca” hemp export business.
According to Martin I. Tinio, Jr.:
“The Jaucian Family is descended from Domingo Jaucian a sangley cristiano who was baptized in Molo in 1801, the same year that Domingo Consing, progenitor of the Consing Family of Molo was baptized. The parish priest at that time was an Araneta, said to be the progenitor of the Araneta clan.
Domingo’s presumed grandson, Mariano,(I still haven’t really determined the connection as I haven’t completed my research of the Molo baptismal records) migrated to Daraga, Albay and married a Bicolana. Accompanying him were his cousins and in-laws who founded the Anson, Locsin and Yulo families of Albay. These families intermarried among themselves for almost a century, just as they did in Iloilo. Mariano’s grandson, Cirilo, became the richest man in Bicol at the turn-of-the-century and was called ‘The Abaca King’ of Bicol. He was the first Capitan Municipal of Guinobatan in 1894, when the title of Gobernadorcillo was changed to that upon the promulgation of the Maura Decree of 1893. In the confidential report to the Alalde Mayor or Provincial Governor of the parish priest regarding the qualifications of the candidates for the election of gobernadorcillo in the late 1880s, the current parish priest stated that Balbino Jaucian, youngest brother of Cirilo, was the richest man in Daraga. He served as gobernadorcillo for 2 terms and refused to serve another. Andres, another brother who migrated to Libmanan, Camarines Sur, also became the biggest landowner and the richest man in that town, the largest in the proince after Naga. He also became Capitan of Libmanan. The Jaucian family was the biggest landowning family in Albay and was considered the richest in Bicol until the mid-20th century.”
GARCHITORENA.
Acknowledgments: Filipiniana scholar nonpareil Martin Imperial Tinio Jr.; former Press Secretary during the Ramos and the Estrada administrations Rodolfo “Rod” T. Reyes.
FLORENTINO. The Florentino family was renowned among the old Vigan families — even after the emergence of the Donato, the Sy-Quia, and the Quema families in the early 1800s — to have the grandest landholdings in the forms of rice lands, tobacco plantations, and virgin forest lands stretching tens of thousands of hectares from Ilocos Sur to Aparri.
The family also produced the lady writer Leona Florentino.
Another famous descendant of the Florentino family of Vigan was National Hero Jose Protacio Alonso Rizal, who descended directly from the Mercado-Rizal of Calamba [ and Binan ] and the Alberto-Alonso y Realonda of Binan, Laguna. His grandmother was a Florentino de Vigan.
ANGCO.
Justo Angco.
The Chinese mestiza heiress Estefania Angco y Resurreccion married Gregorio Sy Quia y Encarnacion in the 1870s.
The 1830s Angco residence survives to this day as the Syquia mansion museum.
ENCARNACION.
ROSARIO.
FAVIS.
Asterio Favis y Flandes of Vigan, Ilocos Sur married the heiress Ramona “Monay” Gonzalez y Morales of Bautista, Pangasinan. They had four children: Beatriz, Asterio, Cecilia, and Teresa. Beatriz married Beda Juan Medina Gonzalez; Asterio married Remedios Jalbuena Ledesma; Cecilia married Jose Gonzalez Gomez; Teresa married _____ Olbes.
VILLANUEVA. The poetess Ursula Villanueva.
SINGSON. Among the most prominent descendants of this family was Vicente Singson Encarnacion, who was a prominent, multimillionaire businessman in Manila PreWar.
Governor Luis “Chavit” Singson.
DE LEON.
CRISOLOGO. Governor Floro Crisologo.
ACOSTA.
FILART.
DONATO. The family fortune was founded by an industrious Chinese “panadero” baker, Don Ah Toh, from where the present family surname was derived.
SY-QUIA. The affluent migrant businessman Vicente Ruperto Romero Sy Quia [ + 09 January 1894 ] of Am Thau, Amoy, China married Petronila Encarnacion of Vigan in 1853. Their son Gregorio Syquia y Encarnacion married the Chinese mestiza heiress Estefania Angco y Resurreccion.
The heiress Alicia Syquia y Jimenez married Elpidio Quirino who became the President of the Philippines in 1950. The old family residence survives to this day as the Syquia mansion museum.
QUEMA. Enrique Quema was the patriarch of the family and he was originally from _____, Ilocos Sur. He married Teresa Crisologo of Vigan.
Last Sunday evening, 30 May 2010, we were at Albert Salgado Paloma’s Rory Cameron-Lady Kenmare-”La Fiorentina”-”Le Clos Fiorentina”-overlooking-the-French-Riviera like house [ think white, white, white halls of noble proportions with classical antique Filipino furniture and genuine French antiques effortlessly put together with Albert's tremendous, inimitable style and chic ] in San Fernando, Pampanga for his annual reception celebrating the town [ now city ] fiesta in honor of “San Fernando, El Rey.”
The big draw of an Albert Salgado Paloma invitation for me is to relive the lunches and dinners of the Old Pampanga I remember from my childhood and youth: the delicious and luxurious Spanish and French-inflected Capampangan food cooked at home, presented on large antique porcelain, ironstone, and silver platters and laid on beautiful antique hardwood tables; an assortment of fine wines; the many tables elegantly set with china, crystal, and silver on linen damask; and the genial company who knew one another, whose parents knew one another, and whose grandparents and great grandparents knew one another as well. I’m sure it was a similar draw for many of the other regular guests.
Dinner was a grand concourse comparable to the five star hotel buffets: Italian gnocchi, tagliatelle, and penne in various sauces, A large Lapu-lapu fish as “Pescado en Mayonesa,” Dory filets with capers and butter sauce, “Relleno de Pollo,” Roast Turkey with all the trimmings including glazed yams, “Caldereta de Cordero [ lamb ]” braised in French red wine, Angus Beef carvery, Albert’s famous long-simmered “Fabada Asturiana,” Smithfield Virginia ham, young “Lechon,” fresh asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, Mixed Greens salad with unusual dressings. Steamed Japanese rice for those who wanted some.
For desserts, there were fresh fruits and many cakes and pies from Manila’s most fashionable pastry shops. There was also a delicious “buco” sorbet, tinged with pandan and exquisitely laced with “dayap” lime rind.
Later in the evening, when most of the older guests had left, Albert and I finally got around to talking, and as always, he was a vivid window to a vanished world, to a Pampanga long gone, even if he was already of the PostWar generation…
“Albert, how did one spell Benito Ullmann? One l, two ls? One n, two ns?” I asked.
[ Benito Ullmann was the part-German first husband of Albert's grandaunt, the very rich businesswoman Teodora Salgado y Basilio. After his death, she married a full Spaniard, Dr. Saa, who was, of all things, a magician. She had no children though, thus she partitioned her many holdings between her several Salgado nephews and nieces. ]
“Ullmann… two ls and two ns.”
“Benito Ullmann was in the luxury imports business. Was he a part-owner of ‘La Estrella del Norte’ or did he have his own firm?”
“I don’t know about his involvement with ‘La Estrella del Norte’ but he had his own firm.”
“I remember your telling me years ago that the famous Arnedo Paris porcelain dinner service was ordered through Benito Ullmann’s firm… Therefore, the Grand Duke [ Alexis Alexandrovich of Russia ] must have ordered it immediately from Benito Ullmann after his visit to the Arnedos in Sulipan in 1891…”
“Yes it was. It was Tirso Ballesteros and his mother Joaquina Arnedo-Ballesteros who told us. They were there when we visited the Arnedo house in Sulipan… a long time ago?” he confirmed.
Albert continued: “Those plates were displayed in two “vajilleras” glass-fronted cabinets in the “comedor” dining room. Tirso and his mother Joaquina told us that the majority were actually in a storage room. They were beautiful! Where are they now?”
“With me. Most of them anyway. Some are displayed at the ‘Museo de La Salle’ in Dasmarinas, Cavite.”
“Good.”
“I didn’t know Tito Ocampo was from Mexico town. I thought the Ocampos were from San Fernando…”
“Tito’s father was an Ocampo from Santa Rita. His mother was a Paras from Mexico. That’s why he has that property there.”
“Interesting to note how old Dr. Sandico [ Mayorico Hizon Sandico ] and Imang Jane [ Jane Lazatin Garcia ] married off all their children to equally old Capampangan families. I remember Dr. Sandico very well, he was a perfect gentleman… to the hilt. He was also quite emphatic about people of good family: ‘galing sa mabuting pamilya,’ he used to say.”
“Yes, they’re of very good family. Their Hizon ancestors were painted by Simon Flores. You’ve seen them?”
“Yes, Saturnino Hizon y David and his third wife Cornelia Sison. It turned out that Saturnino Hizon was actually the direct, maternal grandfather of Dr. Sandico. His mother Pilar Sison Hizon-Sandico was a daughter of Saturnino and Cornelia. I remember the Saturnino portrait very well because he was buck-teethed. They were already given to the children. Then they were restored by Helmuth Zotter, the Austrian. Very expensive!”
“There used to be a big Simon Flores painting right across from this house when I was young. A family portrait with several people. Lindy Locsin [ Architect Leandro V. Locsin ] bought it.”
“Which family was it?”
“Quia-son.”
“Oh, if Lindy bought it then it’s the one with the mother-in-law. There were three Quiason family portraits — the three were brothers — that hung in San Fernando before the war. Another one, with just four figures [ Cirilo and Ceferina Quiason and their family ], is in the Central Bank Collection. Another one is really dark, in the Central Bank too if I’m not mistaken. I’m a Quiason by descent, through my mother, by the way. The baby in the Central Bank portrait, the one whose pee-pee was burned off by his own cigar, was my mother’s maternal grandfather { Jose “Yayang” Quiason y Henson }.” I related.
Albert countered: “Lindy also bought three portraits by Simon Flores from the Cunanan ancestral house in Mexico town. The very old, probably 1780s, thatch-roofed house that used to stand on the site of the Methodist church now, right beside the old town church. The parents of Mariano Cunanan and another one.”
“By the time I saw the house in the 1950s, the Cunanans had already become Methodists. I guess that’s why the Methodist church now stands on the site of their ancestral home.”
“The Quiason are descended from the Cunanan: Cirilo Quiason y Cunanan. His mother was Maria Cunanan and his father was Modesto Quiason.” [ FYI: Our Cunanan is NOT related to Andrew Philip Cunanan, the assassin of Gianni Versace in Miami. ]
He added: “Lindy had the big Quiason portrait and the three solo Cunanan portraits restored by no less than the principal restorers of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.”
“Do you think Lindy would have bothered to record the names of those three Cunanan portraits by Simon Flores?” I asked.
“Knowing Lindy, yes, he would have.”
Albert recalled further: “That Cunanan house had the most beautiful segmented “cabecera” dining table I ever saw: Neoclassical, with tapering Sheraton legs, and discreet bone and kamagong inlay. Their sideboards in the “comedor” dining room were a pair of longer and bigger than usual Sheraton-type altar tables, tapering legs, restrained bone and kamagong inlay, and all. Beautiful!!!”
“My only ‘recuerdo’ of that Cunanan house is the smallish grooved marble top table from the ‘sala.’ Without knowing its provenance, I bought it, along with many other first rate antiques, for a small fortune in 1997 from Rene Dizon who had acquired it, together with the late ‘agente’ Mamerto “Mamer” Ocampo, from the family in 1972 in exchange for a new color TV. Rene didn’t even know it was the Cunanan house, all he remembered was that it was the old, long, thatch-roofed house beside the Mexico church. Then I learned that the old, thatch-roofed house used for ‘Filosofo Tasio’ in director Gerry de Leon’s classic 1961 ‘Noli Me Tangere’ was the Cunanan house in Mexico, Pampanga. Years later, you told me that the Cunanan house had beautiful old things and it was right beside the Mexico church where the Methodist church stands now. So you see, after all those years, all the bits and pieces of information finally jived. I guess that buying that grooved marble top table from Rene was sheer serendipity, as always.”
“Good.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cunanan family had those silver “paliteras” toothpick trees…”
“Sonny Tinio remembers being told long ago by Hizon [ de Mexico ] descendants that the old house had twelve of them and that they were distributed to the children…”
“Very believable.”
“Te Hizon still had two of them before his beautiful San Fernando house was damaged by lahar.”
They make an interesting study, the families of Old Binan, Laguna. In most places, “old family” connotes an attenuated, if not completely dissipated, fortune. True, the Old Binan families have had their economic vicissitudes like all the other old Filipino families, but as a whole, they are amazing because their old agricultural fortunes luckily, gradually, and smoothly transformed to urban real estate fortunes and other consistently lucrative holdings. In other words, they are “still up there”… One actually wonders if the “feng shui” of Binan, for hundreds of years traditionally a Chinese enclave, has anything to do with it.
From the Spanish era all the way to the present, Binan, Laguna has always been the center of economic activity south of Manila. It has only been in recent years that neighboring Santa Rosa, with all its fortuitous new developments, has come to challenge Binan’s long-held economic preeminence.
Old Binan, Laguna [ pronounced "Been-yang" by its natives ] resonated with the surnames of rich hacendero and merchant families like the Gana, Carillo-Trinidad, Alberto, Ocampo, Mercado, Yatco, Yaptinchay, Guico, Yapchulay, Lim-Aco, Lopez de Leon, Yap, Lim, Lao, Potenciano, Casas, Almeda, Gonzales, Cruz, Garcia, and Baylon. And although the Binan dons and donas behaved oddly towards the “principalia” families of neighboring Santa Rosa — the Zavalla, Tiongco, and Perlas — the Binan and the Santa Rosa families eventually intermarried and became related.
As in other old Filipino towns, there were usually one or two core families from which the rest of the “principalia” families radiated. In Old Binan, these were the Gana and the Carillo-Trinidad families, both of Chinese ancestry.
GANA.
The clan progenitor Vicente Tang-Gana [ o ca. 1770 ] married Gertrudes de los Reyes and they had one son, Gaspar Gana y de los Reyes. Gaspar and _____ had six children: Rufino, Gregorio, Francisca, Donata [ married _____ Carillo ], Macaria [ Alberto Yaptinchay y Carillo-Trinidad ], and Ceferina [ married Mariano Potenciano ].
After his wife Gertrudes passed away, Vicente Tang-Gana married for the second time to Tomasa _____. They had four children: Eulalio [ married Florentina Potenciano ], Jose [ married Regina Marabillas Custodio ], Petrona, and Roman.
Eulalio Gana y _____ married Florentina Potenciano and they had five children: Eduardo [ married Filomena Ocampo ], Jesualdo [ married Crisanta Cruz then Petronila Carillo-Trinidad ], Flaviana [ married Mariano Lopez ], Ciriaco [ married Leonarda German, then Francisca German, and then Carmen Francisco ] and Teodora.
Eduardo Gana y Potenciano.
Filomena Ocampo de Gana.
Maria “Angge” Gana y Ocampo.
Vicente Gana y Ocampo.
Filomeno “Menong” Gana y Ocampo.
Jose Gana y ____ married Regina Marabillas Custodio and they had seven children: Isabela, Maria, Jose, Miguel, Agustin, Mariano, and Rosa.
CARILLO-TRINIDAD.
There is an extant oil portrait of “Romana A. Carillo” [ Romana Asuncion de Carillo-Trinidad ] of Binan, Laguna by the 19th century master painter Justiniano Asuncion of Santa Cruz, Manila in the Leandro V. Locsin collection. It shows a comely “morena” lady, dressed in a “traje de mestiza” [ the delicate fashion of the period: embroidered "pina" top and a voluminous silk/satin skirt ], with a “Paphiopedilum” / “lady slipper” orchid in a pot. It is mentioned in historical notes that the Asuncion of Santa Cruz, Manila were related to the Carillo-Trinidad of Binan, Laguna.
Romana was the ninth child of Antonio Asuncion y Molo and Remigia Santa Ana of Santa Cruz, Manila. She was a favorite subject/model of her uncle “Capitan Ting,” the master portraitist Justiniano Asuncion y Molo [ o 1816 - + 1901 ]. Romana Asuncion y Santa Ana married Andres Carillo-Trinidad of Binan, Laguna and they had six children: Petronila [ married Fermin Yatco y Yaptinchay ], Josefa [ married Engracio Quintos ], Joaquin, Angela [ married _____ Eugenio], Filomena [ married _____ Castrillo ], and Anicia [ married Hipolito Habacon ].
According to the Asuncion genealogy, Petronila Carillo-Trinidad y Asuncion and Fermin Yatco y Yaptinchay had nine children: Macario, Mariano, Catalina, Gertrudes, Feliza, Jose, Basilisa, Belen and Epifania.
ALBERTO.
From Sir John Bowring’s “A Visit to the Philippine Islands,” 1856 [ Sir John Bowring was the British governor of Hong Kong ]:
“”The roads are generally good on the borders of the Laguna, and we reached Binan before sunset,the Indians having in the main street formed themselves in procession as we passed along. Flags, branches of flowering forest trees, and other devices, were displayed.***First we passed between files of youths,then of maidens ; and through a triumphal arch we reached the handsome dwelling of a rich mestizo, whom we found decorated with a Spanish order, which had been granted to his father before him. He spoke English, having been educated at Calcutta, and his house — a very large one — gave abundant evidence that he had not studied in vain the arts of domestic civilization. The furniture, the beds, the tables, the cookery, were all in good taste, and the obvious sincerity of the kind reception added to its agreeableness. Great crowds were gathered together in the square which fronts the house of DON JOSE ALBERTO.***
“Indians brought their game-cocks to be admired, but we did not encourage the display of their warlike virtues. There was much firing of guns, and a pyrotechnic display when the sun had gone down, and a large fire balloon, bearing the inscription, “The people of Binan to their illustrious visitors,” was successfully inflated, and soaring aloft, was lost sight of in the distance, but was expected to tell the tale of our arrival to the Magidenne in Manila Bay. Binan is a place of some importance. In it many rich mestizos and Indians dwell. It has more than 10,000 inhabitants. Large estates there are possessed by the Dominican friars, and the principal of them was among our earliest visitors. There, as elsewhere, the principalia, having conducted us to our headquarters, came in a body to present their respects, the gobernadorcillo, who usually speaks Spanish, being the organ of the rest. Inquiries about the locality, thanks for the honours done us, were the commonplaces of our intercourse, but the natives were always pleased when ” the strangers from afar” seemed to take an interest in their concerns. Nowhere did we see any marks of poverty; nowhere was there any crowding, or rudeness, or annoyance, in any shape. Actors and spectators seemed equally pleased; in fact, our presence only gave them another holiday, making but a small addition to their regular and appointed festivals. Binan is divided by a river, and is about a mile from the Laguna. Its streets are of considerable width, and the neighbouring roads excellent. Generally the houses have gardens attached to them; some on a large scale. They are abundant in fruits of great variety. Rice is largely cultivated, as the river with its confluents affords ample means of irrigation. The lands are usually rented from the Dominicans, and the large extent of some of the properties assists economical cultivation. Until the lands are brought into productiveness, little rent is demanded, and when they become productive the friars have the reputation of being liberal landlords and allowing their tenants to reap large profits. It is said they are satisfied with one-tenth of the gross produce. A tenant is seldom disturbed in possession if his rent be regularly paid. Much land is held by associations or companies known by the title of ‘Casamahanes.’ There is an active trade between Binan and Manila.”
“Greatly gratified with all we had seen, we again embarked and crossed the Laguna to Pasig. Descending by that charming river, we reached Manila in the afternoon.”"
YATCO.
The Yatco are one of Binan’s oldest fortunes.
Three Yatco-Mercado sisters “Tres Marias de Yatco” — Salud Yatco de Perlas, Leonila Yatco de Yaptinchay, and Paz Yatco de Ocampo — became the forebears of three of Binan’s “principalia” families. They were the daughters of Ysidro Yatco and Bonifacia Mercado. Their mother was an elder sister of Francisco Mercado, the father of National Hero Jose P. Rizal; thus, they were Rizal’s paternal first cousins. Bonifacia Mercado de Yatco and Francisco Mercado [ Francisco Engracio Mercado-Rizal ] were two of the thirteen children of Juan Mercado and Cirila Alejandra; Francisco was the youngest of the thirteen children. However, through the Yatco line, “Tres Marias de Yatco” — Salud, Leonila, and Paz — were also nieces of Jose Rizal.
Ysidro Yatco was a rich and prominent businessman. He traveled to Europe in the 1880s. In Paris, he bought furniture, chandeliers, and glassware [ crystal ]; in particular, he acquired a pair of Cristal Baccarat chandeliers for his Binan “sala” drawing room. In London, he bought sterling silver and china services. Many of those treasures were conserved in his house — inherited by his daughter Leonila and later known as the Yaptinchay-Yatco residence — through the decades until its destruction in the early 1980s.
Another daughter of Antonio Asuncion y Molo and Remigia Santa Ana of Santa Cruz, Manila, and a sister of Romana Asuncion de Carillo-Trinidad, Valentina Asuncion y Santa Ana married _____ Yatco and they had four children: Eleuterio, Jose, Leoncio [ married Teodora Marcelino], and Filomena [ married Eugenio Alzona ].
The Alzona are also from Binan, Laguna. Eugenio Alzona and Filomena Yatco had three sons: Jose, Agripino and Cayo. Cayo Alzona married _____ Amoranto and they had five children: Encarnacion, Luz, Ceasar, Augusto and Octavio. Cayo relocated his family to Tayabas, Quezon. Dr. Encarnacion Amoranto Alzona Ph.D. became one of the most accomplished Filipinas of her generation.
[ There is currently a state congressman from Maryland named Augustus Alzona – judging from his name { please note the emperors' names in the first names }, he could be related to the Alzona family in the Philippines. - SR ]
YAPTINCHAY.
Concepcion “Nena” Yaptinchay-Zamora wrote:
“”According to Tia Epay ( JOSEFA CARRILLO TRINIDAD ), wife of Tio Kiko Yaptinchay, the first YAP TIN CHAY ( YAP is the family name and TIN CHAY is the first name ) who migrated to the Philippines was still a CHIQUITO* ( meaning a very young kid ). Because of his youthful appearance, he was registered as son to his OLDER brother, because that was the easiest way to bring him into the country. He learned his trade from his OLDER brother ( father ).”
“He met MARIA CARRILLO TRINIDAD, who belonged to a prominent family in Biñan, Laguna, whom he later married. The couple had a son, ALBERTO C.T. YAPTINCHAY ( please take notice that the family name YAPTINCHAY as currently used is the combined first and last name of the original ancestral root, and which all his descendants continue to use ) and two daughters, namely: SIMEONA and ISABEL. ALBERTO married MACARIA GANA and they had 8 children, namely: Julia, Andres, Guido, Maria, Raymunda, Bibiana, Josefa and Pablo. SIMEONA married ANICETO YATCO and their children were: Petrona, Fermin, Pascuala, Angela and Maria. ISABEL married PEDRO GUICO and had 2 children, namely: Anastacio and Faustino. We are all the descendants of the above.”"
*CHIQUITO: a five to seven year – old boy. [ AA ]
Alberto Yaptinchay y Carillo-Trinidad [ o 1822 ] married Macaria Gana y _____ and they had eight children: Julia [ Cirilo Carlos ], Andres [ married Teodora Zavalla ], Guido [ married Agustina Alberto y Sanchez de Carabaca ], Maria [ married Andres Almeda ], Josefa, Bibiana, Raymunda [ married Ramon Ocampo ], and Pablo [ married Leonila Yatco y Mercado ].
Guido Yaptinchay y Gana married Agustina Alberto y Sanchez de Carabaca, a beautiful mestiza of the rich Alberto family with Macanese [ Portuguese-Chinese ] ancestry.
Guido and Agustina Yaptinchay built and lived in an elegant, classical “bahay-na-bato” in the “poblacion” of Binan.
Guido and Agustina Yaptinchay had nine children: Felix, Francisco, Albina, Agapito, Isidro, Miguel, Alberto, Privado, and Agustin.
Agustina passed away during the birth of her youngest child, Agustin. Afterwards, the widower Guido Yaptinchay had a relationship with Catalina Medel, then Nicolasa Garcia, and then Isidra Bergonia.
Pablo Yaptinchay y Gana married Leonila Yatco y Mercado who was twice related to the National Hero Jose Protacio Alonso [ Mercado ] Rizal. She was a first cousin of Jose Rizal because her mother, Bonifacia Mercado, was an elder sister of Jose’s father Francisco Mercado [ who married Teodora Alberto Realonda-Alonso, an "hija natural" of the rich Alberto family also of Binan ]. Leonila Yatco y Mercado was also a niece of Jose Rizal through the Yatco line. The Mercado de Binan are among the descendants of the prominent Chinese merchant Domingo Lam-Co of historical renown.
The Yatco fortune was far older than the Yaptinchay fortune: the Yatcos were already aristocrats when the Yaptinchays were overseers and managers. At the time of their marriage, Leonila “Ilay” Yatco was richer than her husband, Pablo Yaptinchay. In that context, she was the heiress and he the manager.
Leonila “Ilay” ruled over her husband and children. It was the story in the family that while Pablo had his romantic assignations in the “entresuelo,” Ilay was upstairs fuming in the “sala,” planning her next moves. During one town fiesta when she was sure that her husband’s current mistress would participate in the procession, she ordered her househelp to transfer several “oyas” terra cotta water containers with spigots to the “sala” “pasamano” window pane. As the current mistress marched under the Yaptinchay-Yatco “sala” [ which overhung the street ], Ilay signaled the househelp to open the spigots, thus continuously drenching the offending lass. Revenge, late 1800s style.
Pablo and Leonila Yaptinchay had six children: Felix, Francisco, Macaria [ married Eliseo K. Abad ], Trinidad, Isidro [ married Josefina Yatco ], and Flora [ married Teodoro Evangelista ].
After Jose Rizal’s execution at the Bagumbayan field on 30 December 1896, Leonila “Ilay” Yatco de Yaptinchay was visited several times in secret by Jose’s sisters Saturnina, Olimpia, Narcisa, et. al. [ who were her maternal Mercado first cousins ] who were requesting financial assistance. Decades later, “Ilay” related the story to her daughters Macaria “Nena” [ Mrs. Eliseo K. Abad ], the spinster Trinidad “Tating,” and Flora “Flory” [ Mrs. Teodoro Evangelista ] that the Mercado Rizal-Alonso sisters used to pass, indeed scurry through, the “voladas” outer galleries of the house so as to avoid being seen by non-family members, lest their visits be the subject of seditious rumors which could harm her [ Ilay ].
Pablo and Leonila Yaptinchay lived in an interesting “bahay-na-bato” in the “poblacion” of Binan, near the rear of the parish church. The residence began with an ancestral Yatco “bahay-na-bato” [ Leonila's ], probably late 1700s, which was extended by a new structure sometime in the 1830s, like a train, all the way to the other street, which became its new frontage. Their descendants remember it as having been a rather long house.
The Yaptinchay-Yatco residence eventually devolved to the youngest daughter Flora “Flory” Yatco Yaptinchay-Evangelista [ Mrs. Teodoro Evangelista ]. She declared that she had bought out her siblings from the house. Teodoro and Flora Evangelista had two children: Teodoro Jr. “Teddy” and Tina.
In true Yaptinchay-Yatco fashion, Flora “Flory” Yatco Yaptinchay-Evangelista was a character… Irritated by the long drawn-out shooting in her ancestral home of director Bert Avellana’s “Portrait of the Artist as Filipino” in 1965, she periodically stormed into the house [ all the way from Manila to Binan, Laguna ], inquiring and ordering: “Shooting ng shooting!!! Aba, kailan ba matatapos ang shooting na ito??? Bert, tapusin mo na ang shooting shooting mo!!!”
The Yaptinchay-Yatco residence was the setting for director Lamberto V. Avellana’s 1965 masterpiece “Portrait of the Artist as Filipino,” a film adaptation of Nick Joaquin’s famous play, starring Daisy Hontiveros-Avellana and Naty Crame-Rogers as the spinster sisters Candida and Paula Marasigan, respectively. Thus, the family house and its contents were immortalized on film.
Apart from its history and pedigree, the Yaptinchay-Yatco residence was also haunted… by the ghosts of its former residents. When Jose Ma. Ricardo “Joey” Yaptinchay-Abad Panlilio met one of the principal actresses of Avellana’s 1965 “Portrait of the Artist as Filipino” for the first time during the filming of the CCP’s “Noli Me Tangere” in Vigan, Ilocos Sur in 1992, she related that during their first shooting day in the house, she was alone in the “sala” when a kind old lady and old gentleman approached and welcomed her warmly into their home. They inquired about her well-being and they actually had a pleasant chat. It was only when the old couple had left the “sala” that the actress remembered that they were dressed elegantly and beautifully, but oddly in the fashion of an era long gone. Looking around the spacious “sala,” she noticed the two antique, full-length portraits of an old lady and an old gentleman and realized, to her increasing disbelief, that they were the ones who had just spoken with her. When the current owner, Flora “Flory” Yatco Yaptinchay-Evangelista arrived some hours later and was told about the actress’ supernatural experience, she confirmed that the ghosts must have been her Yatco grandparents, if they looked like the antique portraits in the “sala”…
Architect Roberto “Bobby” Quisumbing, a descendant of Guido Yaptinchay y Gana, recalled: “The Pablo Yaptinchay house had a long room at the back which had two rows of altar tables with ivory ‘santos’ one after the other…” [ the long hallway outside those rooms is visible in the first YouTube video of "Portrait...": the scene where Tony Javier forcibly looks for the painting from Candida Marasigan. ]
OCAMPO.
According to Jose Reynaldo Ocampo Cobarrubias:
Lolo Gil Ocampo married Lolo Magdalena Leyva Arevalo, son was Lolo Edilberto Ocampo, Mayor of Binan 1906-1909.
2nd Generation
Lolo Edilberto married Lola Ma. Paz Yatco y Rizal.
3rd Generation
Sons were Mauro Y. Ocampo and Vicente Y. Ocampo.
Mauro Yatco Ocampo (Lolo Bolo) married Adoracion Amante Nolasco (Lola Adoracion).
4th Generation
Their children are Magdalena, Lourdes, Dolores, Norma & Mauro Jr.
Magdalena (Nitang) married Felicito Gonzales, Lourdes (Ditas) married Dionisio Capunitan, Dolores (Lolita) Married Ramon Raymundo, Norma (Normie) married Jose L. Cobarrubias Jr. & Mauro Jr. married Imelda Morales.
5th Generation
Magdalena-Felicito has 6 kids: Mariano,Felnito, Jacobo, Pedro +, Felicito Jr. & Fernando
Lourdes-Dionisio has 4 kid: Roberto; Josephine, Evelyn & Susan
Dolores-Ramon has 4 kids: George; Fe Caridad, Jesus +, & Jim Anthony
Norma-Jose has 6 kids: Jose Luis, Jose Fernando; Jose Reynaldo; Jose Marie +; Jose Victor & Ma. Kristina
Mauro Jr.-Imelda has 5 kids: Adoracion; Mauro III, Erickson, Normadia, & Nowelyn
Vicente Y. Ocampo (Lolo Enteng) married Maxima Mercado (Lola Chimang)
3 kid: Leonardo, Renato & Erlinda
Yatco-Rizal
Lolo Ysidro Yatco married Lola Bonifacia Rizal has 3 kids. Ma. Salud married Pablo Perlas, Ma. Paz married Edilberto Ocampo & Ma. Leonila married Pablo Yatpinchay.
Bustamante (Amante) Clan
Adoracion Amante Nolasco clan. – Married Mauro Yatco Ocampo
Padre Santiago Bustmante married Juana Villamor- only son Mariano
Mariano V. Bustamante married Ma. Sorbito Regular only daugther Catalina.
Nolasco clan.
Eifemio Lim Yuatco Nolasco married Ma. Blasica Fernandez, only son Bibiano.
Catalina Amante y Regular married Bibiano Fernandez Nolasco. only daugther Adoracion Nolasco y Amante (Lola Adoracion)
POTENCIANO. Mariano Potenciano married Ceferina Gana y ____ and had _ children: Pablo, Ubaldo, et. al..
According to Michael Potenciano Almendral:
A story an aunt remembers hearing from my grandfather was that the original family surname was ARAMBULO from the neighboring Dominican hacienda of San Pedro Tunasan. An unnamed ancestor had a quarrel with his father, moved to Binan and changed his surname to POTENCIANO. Unfortunately, I have no way of verifying if this story is true. What is certain is that by the 1800’s the Potencianos were already established enough in Binan that JOSE POTENCIANO, the earliest ancestor that can be found in the surviving parish records, became a Capitan in 1833, 1846, and 1847. His marriage to MICAELA AREVALO, daughter of JOSE AREVALO(Capitan 1833), produced the siblings MARIANO, DOMINGO, and ROMAN.
The AREVALO-POTENCIANO Line
============================
MARIANO(Capitan 1861) married CEFERINA REYES GANA, daughter of GASPAR GANA(Capitan 1830). Their children were PABLO, CANDIDO, FRANCISCO, ISIDRA, and SILVERIA. Mariano also had a common-law-wife, CIRILA CORVA, with whom he had ENGRACIO, CANDIDA, PASTOR, and MIGUEL all of whom were baptized with the POTENCIANO surname.
*CEFERINA’s sister, MACARIA, married ALBERTO YAPTINCHAY establishing the link to the Yaptinchays.
*CEFERINA’s paternal half-uncle EULALIO(Capitan 1850, 1867-68) , son of the GANA patriarch VICENTE TANG GANA by his second wife TOMASA, married FLORENTINA POTENCIANO and established the other POTENCIANO-GANA line from which descended EDUARDO(Capitan 1886-87), father of Don MENONG, Don ENCHONG, and Dona LOLAY GANA-VALENCIA; and JESUALDO(Capitan 1895-98). I still need to do further research to find out exactly how FLORENTINA is related to JOSE and MARIANO.
DOMINGO married BRIGIDA MERCADO.
ROMAN married VALERIANA CRISOLOGO and LORENZA ALMARINES.
The GANA-POTENCIANO Line
========================
PABLO(1858-1941, Capitan 1889) married FELIZA GARCIA(1859-1929), daughter of AGATON GARCIA(Capitan 1877-78) and MARIA SALOME ALMEDA CARLOS who also comes from a family with a long history of Capitanes. They had three sons, MARIANO, UBALDO, and CONRADO.
The “Tres Caidas” which still goes out every Holy Wednesday was inherited by FELIZA from her GARCIA(pronounced gar-sha’) ancestors. The POTENCIANO ancestral home which stands to this day was built in the older transitional bahay na bato style. It is a very long house with a steeply hipped roof and sawali ceilings. Delicately carved rococo floral swags decorate the frieze above the windows. The original capiz were later changed to green and clear French panes. It was used as the headquarters of the Japanese Imperial Army who occupied the town during WWII and fundoshi-clad Japanese soldiers loved to take their baths in the covered swimming pool on the grounds. It also served as the elementary school for a short period after the war. Pablo died in Malate in 1941. That house on 111 Calle Remedios burned in 1945 and along with it the original Senor of the Tres Caidas.
CANDIDO married RUFINA GANA. Their only child, Col. PELAGIO POTENCIANO, married MAXIMA BLOUSE daughter of MAX BLOUSE, founder of BTCo and LTBCo which eventually became BLTBCo.
FRANCISCO POTENCIANO married GERARDA MARFORI
ISIDRA POTENCIANO married MARIANO LOPEZ DE LEON. Their son, PASCUAL, remarried to TORIBIA EDRALIN(related to FM’s mother) of Sarrat, Ilocos Norte. The family owns the carroza of “La Muerte de San Jose”.
SILVERIA POTENCIANO(1873-1940) married MARIANO BAYLON in 1914. The BAYLON ancestral home is one of the last few remaining bahay na bato’s in town. A cavernous bat infested camalig occupies almost half of the three-level house.The Baylons owned the original processional carroza of the Agony in the Garden.
The GARCIA-POTENCIANO Line
=========================
MARIANO RICARDO(1882-1955), being the eldest son, was groomed to follow in Kapitan Ambo’s footsteps but the Americans came and changed the old political system. He and his family moved back to Binan around 1943 to escape the hardships of war in Manila. They were forced to live with the Japanese officers who took over the old Potenciano house. He and his family moved to the house beside the Yaptinchays on Capinpin Street, a few steps from the plaza, in the early 50’s.
The second child, UBALDO(1885-1941), was a doctor who also headed the town’s “sanidad”. He and his son were killed by the Japanese in Tayabas. Only his daughter survived the war.
The youngest, CONRADO(1888-1951), was a surgeon. He and his family settled in Santa Mesa on V.Mapa. He was elected into Congress in 1941. He owned FARMACIA POTENCIANO on Calle Solana in pre-war Intramuros. His son founded Polymedic General Hospital now VRPMC.
CASAS. The well-preserved Casas ancestral house was built by the spinster Josefa Yaptinchay y Gana [ ca. 1870 ] who bequeathed it to her niece, Encarnacion Almeda y Yaptinchay, who married Francisco Casas y Concepcion of Ermita, Manila. Encarnacion was a daughter of Josefa Yaptinchay’s sister Capitana Maria Yaptinchay who married Andres Almeda.
Encarnacion Yaptinchay Almeda and Francisco Concepcion Casas had three daughters: Maria Paz [ married Ramon Gana Mercado ]; Trinidad [ married Dr. Alfonso Mangahas Cuyegkeng of Ermita, Manila ]; Carmen [ married Francisco Manabat ]. All of the Casas-Almeda grandchildren spent their growing years in the house.
The house is particularly noted for a splendid, silverplated altar similar to those found in old churches.
Another splendid, silverplated altar — similar to the one currently installed in the Casas ancestral house — was inherited from another set of Yaptinchay forebears by Trinidad Almeda Casas-Cuyegkeng. She donated it to the SVD Society of the Divine Word seminary near Tagaytay city.
The house was featured as one of the settings in the classic, 1976 Eddie Romero masterpiece film “Ganito kami noon, Paano kayo ngayon?”. It served as the residence of the lead character Nicolas “Kulas” Ocampo, played by Christopher de Leon.
According to Antonio Casas Cuyegkeng:
Encarnacion (Oneng) Yaptinchay Almeda was born on March 25, 1885, the second child of Andres Almeda and Maria Gana Yaptinchay (Kapitang Maria). On March 15, 1917, she got married to Francisco (Kiko) Concepcion Casas of Manila. There are no known stories how the two, one from Biñan and one from Manila met.
Francisco Concepcion Casas is said to come from Casas lineage of Bulacan, rather than from the Casas family of Batangas that Archbishop Artemio Casas belonged to.
The marriage was blessed with 4 children: Maria Paz (Pacita or Pacing) married to Ramon (Monching) Gana Mercado; Trinidad (Trining) married to Alfonso (Al) Maria Mangahas Cuyegkeng of Manila and Bulacan; then 2 boys, Andresing, who died less than 3 months after birth and the other born dead; and the youngest, Carmen (Mameng) married to Francisco (Kikoy) Cariso Manabat. Both Monching Mercado and Kikoy Manabat are from Biñan.
Kiko and Oneng Casas lived at the corner of A. Mabini and Isaac Peral (U.N. Avenue) Streets in Ermita, Manila till around 1943. Kiko, a pharmacist, also had his drugstore, Farmacia Nuestra Señora de Guia, in the said corner.
During their stay in Ermita, Pacita graduated as the valedictorian of her high school class at the St. Theresa’s College, in San Marcelino Street, Ermita, Manila, and a college degree, with honors, in Accounting and Education from the same school.
While Pacita was convalescing at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Intramuros, Alfonso (Al) Ma. Cuyegkeng saw Trining Casas during one of the weekday masses at the nearby Santuario de of San Antonio. Al Cuyegkeng and Trining Casas got married before the Casas family moved back to Biñan.
The Ermita house of the Casas family was completely destroyed during the liberation of Manila.
When the Casas family moved back to Biñan, it was not to the maternal house given by the spinster Josefa Yaptinchay y Gana, the sister of Kapitang Maria. The said house was then being used by the Japanese Imperial Army as headquarters. Most probably, the family stayed at the bahay na bato owned by Oneng’s brother, Antonio Yaptinchay Almeda married to Ricarda Sta. Ana Medel on A. Mabini Street going towards de La Paz, as Trining gave birth to her second child in the intersuelo of the said house on February 5, 1945. Trining Cuyegkeng could not be brought to the hospital as the guerrillas were entering Biñan to liberate the town from the Japanese forces.
Pacita Casas got married to Monching Mercado in 1946 and settled in the Casas Maternal house till the growing commercialization and pollution in the area forced Monching and Pacing to relocate to Alabang. Monching Mercado, a Biñan guerrilla leader, was the son of Mariano Mercado and Romana Gana. The Mercado maternal house was also in A. Mabini, now Jacobo Gonzales, Street towards San Antonio, almost opposite the eskenita, now known as Noli Gana Road, connecting A. Mabini, now Jacobo Gonzales, street to the street now called General Capinpin.
Monching returned to farming, went into rural banking with 4 friends from Cabuyao, as well as help the Canlubang Sugar Central, as treasurer of the CABALAG (Cavite/Batangas/Laguna Sugar Farmers Federation). Pacing was, for a while, principal in Sta. Catalina School in Biñan, a housewife and caretaker of Lolo Kiko and Lola Oneng.
In the late 1950’s Monching and Pacing established RAM (Ramon, Amparo, Ma. Paz) Food Products, first in Biñan, at the backyard of the Mercado maternal house, and, then, in Barrio Pulo, Cabuyao. Amparo Gana Mercado, sister of Monching, was a Home Economics graduate of Philippine Women’s University functioned as the food technologist.
After the war, Al was commuting between St. Anthony’s Hospital in the Oroquieta area of Manila, near the Espiritu Santo Church, and Biñan. St. Anthony’s Hospital was owned by his close friends Dr. Antonio and Fidela Lazatin of Pampanga.
When the residence Al and Trining were building got finished, they moved the family back to the corner of A. Mabini and Isaac Peral (U.N. Avenue) Streets in Ermita, Manila. The ground floor of the structure was occupied by Valleson’s Department Store, in the corner, Farmacia Nuestra Senora de Guia owned by Al and Trining, in the middle, and a baby’s store, Angel’s Wear, a joint venture between Pacing and Trining. Al had his medical clinic at the back of the pharmacy. Al and Trining’s growing brood occupied the second floor till the mid 1962.
Trining finished her pharmacy degree, which was disrupted by the war, from the Philippine Women’s University soon after moving back to Ermita. When the members of her brood had had started settling down with their own families, Trining went back to PWU and obtained a master’s degree, and, then, a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Social Work.
Mameng Casas, who is 6 years younger than Trining, finished high school in Sta. Catalina School in Biñan. After which, Mameng enrolled in St. Theresa’s College in San Marcelino Street. She stayed at the penthouse of Al and Trining’s residence during her schooling days. Trining was her guardian. While Mameng was in St. Theresa’s College, Kikoy was finishing his Law at the Ateneo Law School in Padre Faura, Ermita.
After Mameng graduated, Dr. Leoncio (Leony) Yatco occupied the penthouse upon his return from overseas studies till he got married to Letty Yaptinchay.
Kikoy and Mameng settled in Biñan, where Kikoy practiced law. Kikoy joined government service and started as a clerk of Court of Biñan, till he got promoted to Judge of the Court of First Instance in Sta. Cruz, Laguna.
ALMEDA.
BAYLON. The conserved Baylon-Gana ancestral house devolved to a grandson, Eduardo Baylon Zavalla Gan, who married Carmelita Palanca Gonzalez. The house devolved to his heirs.
MERCADO.
GONZALES.
LOPEZ DE LEON. The Lopez de Leon family was originally from “Palanyag,” now Paranaque. It was by marriage that the Binan branch of the family was established. The youngest of the third generation, Pedro Lopez de Leon y Ferrer, “teniente mayor” of Binan from 1894-1895, married Maxima Carillo-Trinidad y Gana.
Their eldest son Mariano married Isidra Potenciano, also of Binan. The Lopez de Leon house still stands on Calle Capinpin, Binan’s main street. Across the house was the residence of General Mateo Capinpin with its spacious grounds.
THE COLLECTIVE MATERIAL CULTURE.
Architect Roberto Quisumbing, a descendant of Guido Yaptinchay y Gana, recalled: “The Pablo Yaptinchay house had a long room at the back which had two rows of altar tables with ivory ‘santos’ one after the other…” [ the long hallway outside those rooms is visible in the first YouTube video of "Portrait...": the scene where Tony Javier forcibly looks for the painting from Candida Marasigan. ]
*unfinished*
Acknowledgments: Jose Ma. Ricardo Yaptinchay-Abad Panlilio, Lourdes Yaptinchay Abad-Panlilio, Cita Yaptinchay Abad-Dinglasan, Maria Juanita Yaptinchay Eligir-Cueto, + Leticia Luna Yaptinchay-Yatco, + Oscar Luna Yaptinchay, Arch. Roberto Quisumbing, Antonio Agulto, Rafael Gana Hocson, Jose Reynaldo Ocampo Cobarrubias, Michael Potenciano Almendral, Antonio Casas Cuyegkeng, Dr. Victor Casas Manabat, Lucy Francisco Borromeo, Augusto Gonzalez Gan, Sonny Rayos, Ma. Laura Lopez de Leon, Cesar Carino, et. al..
]
