Brother Andrew F.S.C. of De La Salle « remembrance of things awry

Reunion Runs

January 20, 2009 at 3:43 pm (Angst, Arnedo de Sulipan, Brother Andrew F.S.C. of De La Salle, Escaler de Sulipan, Family Traditions, Gonzalez de Sulipan, Humor, Pampanga Cuisine, Pampanga Traditions, Personal, Quiason de San Fernando, Random memories, Reyes de Arayat, Rodriguez de Bacolor, The Cebuanos, The Davaoenos, The Global Crowd, The Ilocanos, The Ilonggos, The Laguna Tagalogs, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos, The Tarlaquenos, The Tayabenses / Quezonians, Tristesse)

We are having clan reunions left and right and it is becoming quite maddening… specially if one [ like I ] belongs to several!!!

According to the Western astrologers, in recent years there has been a “planetary alignment” of some sort in the universe which is causing people to gather in family / clan reunions. I don’t take planetary alignments seriously but it must serve as an explanation to all these ever-increasing family and clan reunions… !!!

Last November 2008, the Hizon-Singian Clan of San Fernando, Pampanga had its once every two years Reunion at the residence of Pilar “Piluchi” Luciano Ocampo-Fernandez at the old Fernandez [ Fernandez de "Compania Maritima" ] Compound in San Juan.

Last 13 December 2008, a Saturday, the Cacnio Family of Apalit, Pampanga celebrated the 80th birthday of their doyenne, Esther Mercado Cacnio-Atienza, with a joyous Clan Reunion. They were so generous to invite their Gonzalez, Arnedo, Espiritu, and Mercado relations as well. It was amazing to see a senior relative, former Quezon City Mayor Adelina Santos-Rodriguez “Imang Daling” still so attractive and fit even in her 80s!!!

On 14 December 2008, a Sunday, the descendants of Augusto Diosdado Sioco Gonzalez [ 1887 - 1939 ] of Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga gathered to celebrate the 90th birthday of his only surviving daughter, Natividad “Naty” Gonzalez-Palanca [ born 14 December 1918 ]. The Holy Mass was celebrated by [ Cubao ] Bishop Honesto Ongtioco, D.D. and her second cousin, Bishop Federico “Freddie” Escaler. Tita Naty was a senior Gonzalez family member beloved for her kindness, uprightness, and generosity and was revered, but most importantly loved, by the whole family. It was a wonderful occasion with an almost complete attendance by that particular branch of the “Gonzalez de Sulipan” Clan.

The Ongsiako and the de Santos Clans had a Reunion in Makati.

On 11 January 2009, the Coronel Clan of Santa Rita, Pampanga [ cousins of the Valdes de Pampanga Clan; the clan owns the classic PreWar house where the tearjerker classic "Tanging Yaman" was filmed ] had their Reunion 2009.

Last Sunday, 18 January 2009, we had the annual “Valdes de Pampanga” Clan Reunion [ as differentiated from the ValdeS [ with an "s" ] de Manila of the Tuason- Legarda-Prieto-Valdes Clan and the ValdeZ with a “z” Clan from Ilocos Norte ]. We did have some pretty Spanish mestiza members of the Valdes de Manila Clan because it’s slowly turning out that there are actually blood relations between the two Valdes with an “s” Clans. The Valdes de Pampanga Clan has _____ branches: the Ignacio Valdes [ Yellow group ] — the Camilo Quiasons, the Edgardo Yaps, and the Sergio Naguiats; [ Blue group ] the Armand Fabellas, the Bates, the Africa Reynosos, and the Ely Narcisos; [ Red group ] the Guanzons, the Florencia Coronels, and the Lita Lilleses; and the Roman Valdes [ Green group; Valdes de Bacolor, Pampanga ] the Carlos J. Valdeses, the Erlinda Gonzalez-Rodriguezes, and the Raquel Gonzalez-de Leons. It was held at the new gym of the Fabellas’ Jose Rizal University “JRU” along Shaw Boulevard. We honored our Valdes relatives who had passed away in the past year 2008: Remedios “Remy” Valdes-Panlilio, Carlos “Charlie” J. Valdes, Armand V. Fabella, Milagros ___, and Mandy ____. There was a nice lunch followed by a great set of games conducted by Justa Yap Bautista and Martin Reynoso which got Everybody going!!! It was completely easygoing and needless to say was a lot of fun!!!

On Sunday, 25 January 2009, there will be the annual “Rodriguez de Bacolor” Reunion. It will be held in a Sibal Building in Quezon City. I received the Reunion Menu of homestyle Kapampangan dishes by text from Cousins Evelyn Dayrit Rodriguez and Vita Rodriguez-Laki and it sounds really good!!!

On 28 February 2009, Saturday, there will be a “Gonzalez de Sulipan” / “Gonzalez de Baliuag” [ Descendants of Fray Fausto Lopez, O.S.A. and Maria Amparo "Mariquita" Gonzalez y de los Angeles ] Reunion on the occasion of the 69th birth anniversary of Brother Andrew Gonzalez, F.S.C. at Gene Gonzalez’s “Cafe Ysabel,” # 455 P. Guevarra Street, San Juan. It is being organized by the Dr. Virgilio Sioco Gonzalez branch of the clan [ the Cebu branch ], and that means Arch. Jackie Gonzalez Cancio – Vega, Charo Gonzalez Cancio – Yujuico, Dr. Vicki Gonzalez Belo, David Gonzalez de Padua, Dr. Donna Gonzalez de Padua, et. al.. Entrance fee is Php 1,500.00/xx per person so that the food will be “suitably Gonzalez” and also to raise some funds for the “Gonzalez Doble Zeta” organization. Gene Gonzalez will recreate “Cocina Sulipena” [ Old Sulipan Cooking ] for his Gonzalez Cousins. Since “Cafe Ysabel” only has a seating capacity of 120 persons, attendance will be limited to 20 persons for the “Gonzalez de Baliuag” [ the Soledad Gonzalez -Mariano Gonzales, Jose Gonzalez - Francisca Carrillo, and Francisco Gonzalez - Maria Lloret branches of the Clan ], and 90 persons for the “Gonzalez de Sulipan” [ the Joaquin Gonzalez - Florencia Sioco branch ], only ten descendants each for the ten Gonzalez – Sioco brothers Dr. Fernando, Dr. Jesus, Dr. Emilio, Atty. Augusto, Octavio [ died young; no issue ], Dr. Virgilio, Atty. Francisco Javier, Dr. Bienvenido, Dr. Joaquin, and Congressman Fausto. So let this be an announcement to our cousins!!!

This is the Philippines after all, where Everyone is related!!!

12 Comments

“Noche Buena” 2008

December 25, 2008 at 1:00 pm (Angst, Brother Andrew F.S.C. of De La Salle, Family Traditions, Gonzalez de Sulipan, Humor, Pampanga Cuisine, Pampanga Traditions, Personal, Random memories, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, Tristesse)

UNHAPPY CHRISTMAS PAST

Up until Christmas 2002, before my “brilliant” uncle Brother Andrew [ Brother Andrew Benjamin Gonzalez, F.S.C. of De La Salle University / Macario Diosdado Arnedo Gonzalez, 29 February 1940 - 29 January 2006, youngest brother of my father Augusto Beda Arnedo Gonzalez ] sold off Lola Charing’s elegant old house and donated the entire proceeds to Charity, we gathered there for the family’s main Christmas dinner on the evening of the 25th. Since Brother Andrew had to be with the Christian Brothers’ Community at the De La Salle College along Taft Avenue during Christmas Eve, Lola Charing moved the family gathering from the evening of the 24th to the 25th. And it became a family tradition after he was finally assigned back to the De La Salle College Manila in 1969 after years teaching in De La Salle-run universities and colleges in the USA and then De La Salle Bacolod, Negros Occidental. Thus, we grandchildren grew up observing the family’s main Christmas dinner on 25 December instead of the 24 December “Noche Buena” observed by everybody else. Until now in 2008, we are still disoriented when we celebrate our main Christmas dinner on the evening of 24 December like all normal Christians and Catholics.

Fearful of his [ imagined ] impending demise after my mother’s unexpected passing from cerebral aneurysm on 05 September 2002, Brother Andrew’s impulsive decision to sell off Lola Charing’s house was the worst thing that happened to the family, probably as tragic as when Lolo Augusto [ his father ] was assassinated at the Pampanga Sugar Development Company PASUDECO offices on 12 July 1939 [ along with Don Jose Leoncio de Leon, the richest man in Pampanga at that time, and Captain Julian Olivas ]. It was exactly like the Nuclear Bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki: like Nuclear Fission, it just led from bad to worse to worst to nil. Cataclysmic. It was like an Egyptian Curse: Everything Bad just engulfed every facet of our family life. There were emotional, physical, financial disasters all over the place. The wide swathe of destruction it caused in our family relations was akin to a world war and nothing was ever the same again. And it was never about the money, it was all about principle and sentiment. In the first place, Lola Charing’s house was not supposed to be sold; she had wanted it to go down the generations as the family’s gathering place; she had left it to Brother Andrew for his stewardship to eventually pass on to the grandchildren. So let it be a cautionary tale…

Expectedly, all the anger, resentment, angst, and divisiveness in the family took its toll on Brother Andrew, the “genius” perpetrator of it all. Several members of the family — some of his favorites in fact — refused to see him permanently. De facto, He became “persona non grata” and nonexistent and it depressed him to no end. Very few members of the family came to his Sunday lunches at his new townhouse, if at all. He belatedly realized that he would not be forgiven in any way. In the form of severe diabetic complications, it all finally killed him on 29 January 2006. Not one member of the family was by his side at the ICU as he breathed his last that 5:00 p.m.. To the Filipino academe and to Manila Society, his passing was a great loss. But to his immediate family, he was a failure, the “weakest link” who, with his impulsive and misinformed, badly-advised decisions concerning Gonzalez matters, caused the losses of so much of the family’s ancestral legacies.

The Christmases of 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 passed and the divided family members spent the holidays in their own quiet ways. Lola Charing’s house was gone, the Christmas Dinner of 25 December was gone, even the family was gone. Everything happy, joyous, and wonderful in the family became a distant, irrelevant, and useless memory.

_________________________________________________________

HAPPY CHRISTMAS REPAST

The Gonzalez-Arnedo Christmas Table was a collection of family favorites from the Spanish Era, American Period, Commonwealth, PostWar, and even modern times:

According to my brother Adolfo, the Egg Nog was from the Gonzalez table of the American Period: my father Augusto Beda had recalled that my Lolo Bosto was the one who used to make it in his lifetime [ 1887 - 1939 ]. I mistakenly thought that the Egg Nog was only brought in by Brother Andrew after his studies at UC Berkeley in the early 1960s.

Brother Andrew introduced the big Broiled Lobsters with lemon butter sauce in 1970. There would also be broiled king prawns to supplement the big lobsters.

The classical “Pastel de Pichon” was from the Arnedo and the Gonzalez tables of the Spanish Era. The Baked Turkey with traditional stuffing and giblet gravy was from the Gonzalez table of the American Period; the Arnedo and the Gonzalez of the Spanish Era instead had “capon” — big chickens of an imported variety — fried in large cauldrons “cauas.” There was also the “Pato al Caparas” from the Arnedo and the Gonzalez tables of the Spanish Era. Sometimes, there was panfried French “foie gras,” courtesy of my eldest brother. The “Galantina de Pollo” was a feature of many Pampanga and Manila families’ Christmas tables but it was deemed everyday by the Arnedo and the Gonzalez; their versions were distinguished by blood cubes, lots of olives, and Spanish “chorizo.”

Sometimes, Tita Raquel Valdes Gonzalez-de Leon, one of Brother Andrew’s favorite first cousins, sent her fastidiously prepared “Caldereta de Cabrito” from the Gonzalez-Valdes table of the Spanish Era.

Broiled tenderloin medallions with a demiglace sauce traced themselves to the “Solomillo” of the Gonzalez table of the American Period. Sometimes, there was the melt-in-the-mouth “Lengua en salsa blanca” from the Arnedo and the Gonzalez tables of the Spanish Era but Brother Andrew considered it ordinary for Christmas and only added it on demand of the raving guests.

While Brother Andrew deemed it hopelessly pedestrian, young ”Lechon” with grilled liver sauce and a “milagrosa” rice and pandan stuffing was always a feature of the Arnedo and the Gonzalez holiday tables in Old Sulipan. Brother Andrew brought in the legs of Spanish “Jamon Jabugo” and American Virginia “Smithfield” ham in the 1970s. The legs of Chinese “Hoc Shiu” ham and the “jamon de funda” slathered, indeed swimming, in distinctly spiced syrups were from the Arnedo and the Gonzalez tables of the Spanish Era.

Occasionally, Tita Erlinda “Erly” Valdes Gonzalez-Rodriguez [ elder sister of Tita Raquel ], also one of Brother Andrew’s favorite first cousins, sent her exquisite ”Canelones” [ "Cannelloni" ] from the Gonzalez-Valdes table of the American Period.

For the granddaughters, there was no Christmas without the traditional Fruit Salad from the Arnedo and the Gonzalez tables of the American Period. It was never sweet. For the last 30 years, the homemade mayonnaise that served as its base was made with slowly-beaten egg yolks and Greek virgin olive oil, but a recent look at the old recipe of Lola Charing from the 1920s revealed that it was actually made with American “Wesson” oil.

For the grandsons, there could be no Christmas without the cloyingly rich “Tocino del Cielo,” a traditional egg yolk and sugar only custard [ no milk! ] peculiar to the Arnedo family of Old Sulipan, the original recipe of which came from the Spanish Era [ 1870s ]. As they were not yet aware of the dangers of cholesterol, the boys consumed 6, 8, 10, even 12 of the confections at a time!

After 1989, my mother brought in several traditional Spanish desserts: “Tarta Madrid,” “Milhojas,” “Crocombuche [ French "Croquembouche" / Cream Puff Tree ],” ”Yemas,” “Naranjas,” etc..

The dessert table also featured many confections from Spain and France, most notably from “Fauchon.”

Unlike many Filipino families, there were no “ensaimadas,” however expensive the interpretation, on the Gonzalez-Arnedo “Noche Buena” table even if the fastidiously made Gonzalez and Arnedo versions of the traditional bread were among the best in the country. It was so everyday for Brother Andrew, regarded as breakfast and “merienda” fare, and consequently unsuitable for the Christmas Dinner.

___________________________________________________________

CHRISTMAS 2008

During the last Christmas of 2007, I decided that I had had enough of sad Christmases… I informed the family — those who were still talking — that there would be a Christmas gathering at my parents’ house on Christmas Eve and that they were invited but I made it clear that I didn’t give a f*cking damn if they would attend or not. I reconstructed the family’s Christmas menu from memory, had the place cleaned up and down and left and right, the silver polished, the china and crystal washed, the linens pressed, blooming orchid plants, cut flowers, and fresh fruits purchased, and did everything else that I used to do at Lola Charing’s house back in those happy days. Surprisingly, all of the family — those who were still talking — did come eagerly, enjoyed themselves immensely, and it was all a great success. Of course, the unwanted members who had caused the terrible divisions could not come out of stubborn pride and it was just as well, for it was fully-deserved. We had all finally moved on…

This Christmas Season of 2008, it would have been easy enough to have called any of the top caterers or to have reserved tables for Christmas Eve dinner at the Manila Peninsula or at the Makati Shangri-La hotels, but it wouldn’t have meant anything at all to us siblings. So we decided [ we siblings who are still talking ], putting all inconveniences aside [ and there were many! ],that we would still gather in our parents’ house, serve the Christmas food we always knew, serve it on the same silver, china, crystal, and linens, and invite our closest surviving aunts and uncles, and cousins to our little gathering.

My younger lawyer brother, a connoisseur with the most discriminating palate, took charge of the Egg Nog because he was the one who often saw its preparation by the majordomo Benito as he grew up in Lola Charing’s house under Brother Andrew’s watchful eyes. My brother never liked the taste of rhum, finding it “rough,” and instead poured bottles of Remy Martin cognac into the milk and egg mixture. The resulting exquisite Egg Nog was the best we ever had.

Expertise, fastidiousness, and a penchant for the freshest seafood, meats, vegetables, fruits, and other ingredients was brought by my lawyer brother’s Korean wife to the family table. It was from her that I learned that freshness and superior varieties were paramount concerns in food purchases and preparation. She was a stickler for High Quality with a capital HQ.

My eldest brother, a famous authority on cuisine, presided over the preparation of every dish: tasting, adjusting, and correcting at every turn. It was because of his direction that the food took on the traditional, exquisite flavors of family memory.

Despite all the inconveniences, as well as the Global Financial Crisis which was gradually affecting Everything in our lives, it was nonetheless a wonderful “Noche Buena” Christmas celebration this 2008. Our family was TOGETHER AND HAPPY, and that was what mattered the most!!!

__________________________________________________________

I WISH YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

12 Comments

Finally Understanding…

November 2, 2008 at 10:00 pm (Angst, Arnedo de Sulipan, Brother Andrew F.S.C. of De La Salle, Family Traditions, Gonzalez de Sulipan, Pampanga Traditions, Personal, Quiason de San Fernando, Random memories, Religious Traditions, Reyes de Arayat, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, Tristesse, Uncategorized)

It’s “All Souls’ Day”…

3 Comments

“La Morenita”

July 12, 2007 at 3:22 pm (Angst, Arnedo de Sulipan, Brother Andrew F.S.C. of De La Salle, Family Traditions, Gonzalez de Sulipan, Pampanga Traditions, Random memories, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, Tristesse)

Some people are just destined to have it Tough… My Lola Charing [ Rosario Lucia Arnedo y Espiritu, de Gonzalez, o 13 December 1903 - + 18 May 1977 ] was one of them.

She was born on 13 December 1903 in Manila [ not at the "La Sulipena" mansion in Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga as expected of the Arnedos ] as her parents were attending the “Fiesta de Santa Lucia” and its famous country fair at the Agustinos Recoletos Church in Intramuros, hence her second name of Lucia. She was unfortunately the darkest of the seven children — Joaquin [ born 1900 ], Maria “Mary” [ o 1901 ], Ysabel “Tabing” [ o 1902 ], Rosario “Charing” [ o 1903 ], Pedro “Perico” [ o 1904 ], Joaquina “Quina” [ o 1905 ], and Elisa “Ising” [ o 1910 ] — of Don Macario “Ariong” Arnedo y Sioco and Dona Maria “Maruja” Espiritu y Dungo of Barrio Sulipan and Barrio San Vicente, Apalit, Pampanga. Dona Maruja was also “morena” dark [ as with all the Espiritu y Dungo ], but that did not stop her from cruelly discriminating against Little Charing. In fact, Dona Maruja, who had inherited a strong streak of eccentricity — some Espiritu and Arnedo family members claimed downright madness — from her Espiritu forebears, after the untimely 1911 passing from congenital heart failure of her seven year old son “Perico” Pedro, once tried to stuff Little Charing into the “pugon” stone oven of the Capalangan house which had already been heated with firewood for roasting!

When Don Macario Arnedo became the first elected Governor of Pampanga during the American regime in 1904, he temporarily transferred his family from Sulipan, Apalit to San Fernando, to a residence of the wealthy Singian Family which they generously lent to him from 1904 – 11. The Story was told that during one important evening reception with the American colonial government officials, Little Charing innocently stepped out of the bedroom door, curious about the festive gathering. Dona Maruja saw her, was unduly embarrassed about her “morena” dark-skinned daughter, and proceeded to shoo Little Charing back into the bedroom with slaps, pulling her hair, and even kicking her. A friend, a grand lady of the wealthy Hizon-Singian Clan, a known clairvoyant in those days, admonished Dona Maruja with the prophetic words: “Maruja, do not treat your daughter so badly like that, for someday, she will be the most fortunate among your children.” It took twenty four years for the prophecy to come true in 1930, but it really did. Through marriage to her rich uncle, She became the richest of the Arnedo-Espiritu children, in fact, the richest of her entire generation in both the Arnedo and the Espiritu clans.

Such was Dona Maruja’s unnatural loathing of her “morena” dark-skinned daughter that the young Charing was not allowed back into the Capalangan house after school in the mornings. While her fair and pretty sisters Mary, Tabing, and Quina were quickly ushered upstairs with parasols and towels by the servants to shield them from the sun, the young Charing had to stay in the garden until sundown, when she was finally allowed to go up to the house for dinner and then to sleep. Later in life, without ever recalling her mother’s maltreatment, she related that she developed a great liking for plants and gardening during those childhood days. When she was lonely and sad, she would cross the road to the Arnedo-Dionisio residence, to her jolly uncle Tio Kiko, aunt Tia Bating, and second cousins Trining, Miling, and Milagring. When things became unbearable with her mother and even sisters, she would run off to “La Sulipena,” the Arnedo paternal home in nearby Barrio Sulipan, to her kind [ Arnedo ] aunts Tia Titay and Tia Ines, and to their “alaga” ward, her kind youngest sister Elisa “Ising” who always treated her lovingly, like real family, in a way she was not by her mother and other sisters.

The eccentric Dona Maruja could not understand why young Charing’s “ugly,” decidedly “morena” looks captivated affluent eligible bachelors — who didn’t seem interested in her prettier, fairer, more “mestiza” sisters. The young Fernando Lopez y Hofilena of the wealthy Lopez de Iloilo clan stayed the weekends over several months — with his elder brother Eugenio “Ening” Lopez y Hofilena in tow — in Sulipan while he was courting Charing, whom he was not able to win. The handsome and capable Spanish mestizo Amando Ballesteros y Jimenez of Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija courted Charing first, before he courted her younger sister Joaquina whom he eventually married. Finally, the millionaire widower Don Augusto Diosdado Gonzalez y Sioco, Don Macario’s [ half ] first cousin, also courted Charing.

No, She was not allowed to marry her true love. Her parents, in particular Don Macario, owed Php 50,000.00/xx to her Tio Bosto [ a really big amount in 1929 ]. It was the least she could do for them, Dona Maruja claimed. Amidst tears and recriminations, Charing finally consented to marry her Tio Bosto on 22 January 1930. She was only one day ahead of Dona Aurea “Auring” Ocampo [ y Hizon ] viuda de Escaler, who also sent her assent to marry Don Augusto Diosdado Gonzalez y Sioco, the newly wealthy first cousin of her even wealthier late husband, Don Jose “Pepe” Escaler y Sioco.

So at 4:30 a.m. of 22 February 1930 at the Apalit Church, Rosario Lucia Espiritu Arnedo finally became her uncle’s second wife: Mrs. Augusto Diosdado Sioco Gonzalez. She was a lightweight beauty of only 88 lbs. with an 18″ inch waistline at the time of her marriage.

Marriage brought her hitherto unimagined wealth and prestige. She enjoyed the kind of life that she would have had if the large fortunes of her paternal and maternal grandfathers — Don Joaquin Arnedo-Cruz y Tanjutco and Don Pedro Espiritu y Macam — had been maintained and reinvested wisely. As the wife of Pampanga’s second richest man [ the first being Don Jose Leoncio "Pitong" de Leon y Hizon ] in those PreWar days, she could devote her energies only to her husband and children; she had no pressing financial worries. But it was not a freespending life, as Lolo Bosto tirelessly worked on the purchases of ++ 1,000 hectare “haciendas” [ San Simon, San Fernando, Lubao, and Magalang in Pampanga and Talavera, Guimba, and Cuyapo in Nueva Ecija, etc. ] and valuable commercial properties in Manila [ Quiapo, Santa Cruz, Binondo, Tondo / Divisoria, etc. ], one after the other: “We must live simply, Charing, because we are saving money to buy properties and other assets for our children.” But after Lolo Bosto’s near demise from severe diabetes in 1937, he began to live like a Rich Man. He bought a brand new black Cadillac limousine. He bought Lola Charing a large and complete American sterling silver flatware service for 36 people. He bought her several large, high-quality 10 carat diamonds from his jeweler sister-in-law Dona Julia Salgado [ y Mendoza ] de Gonzalez [ Mrs. Joaquin Jorge Sioco Gonzalez ], of the Dona Filomena Salgado Jewelry Dynasty of San Fernando [ whose descendants included the wealthy businesswoman Dona Teodora Salgado de Ullmann and contemporary top jeweler Erlinda Salgado Miranda-Oledan ]. And in early 1939, as a final mark of his immense financial success [ with holdings in the Php millions; definitely a taipan's holdings in those days ], Lolo Bosto was seriously considering the purchase of Don Alfonso Zobel’s Andres Luna San Pedro-designed, Mediterranean Beaux-Arts style mansion along Dewey Boulevard. Aside from being a very elegant Manila residence, in a prestigious address to boot, Lolo Bosto liked its proximity to Taft Avenue, to fashionable De La Salle College where he wanted his younger sons Beda, Melo, and Hector [ from his second marriage to Charing ] to be educated, so impressed was he by the stellar academic performance of his achiever nephew and “ahijado” godson Joaquin Tomas de Aquino “Jake” Valdes Gonzalez. He had already sat down to preliminary talks with the wealthy Don Alfonso Zobel de Ayala y Roxas.

On the fateful morning of 12 July 1939, Lolo Bosto, as always, bade her goodbye with a kiss on the cheek after breakfast to go to his office at the PASUDECO Pampanga Sugar Development Company in San Fernando town. He had already gone halfway down the stairs when he returned and uncharacteristically kissed her again, held her arms with both hands, and looked into her eyes with a loving smile, as if he were looking at her for the last time. And indeed it was the last. Just before 12 noon, the telephone rang with a frantic call from the PASUDECO office: Lolo Bosto had been shot along with Don Pitong de Leon and Captain Julian Olivas by some lawless elements. “Tulisanes” [ bandits ] they said. “Hacenderos” said the others. It did not matter to Lola Charing: all that mattered was that Lolo Bosto had been shot and had to be saved; he was diabetic and any wound, any injury, could easily become fatal! The caller said that Lolo Bosto was still alive but bleeding profusely. If the family could come at once… Lola Charing was shocked and slowly fell to her knees on the floor, although she was able to relay the news to the worried household staff… All of a sudden, she bled profusely, but she did not notice it because she was so worried about Lolo Bosto.

My father Beda recalled: “I was seven years old then. All I remember was that I became very nervous because there was suddenly a lot of wailing and crying in the house among the women and even the men. Papa had been shot! But he was still alive, although he was already dying in San Fernando. Mama bled; she did not know at the time that she was actually pregnant [ with Brother Andrew ]. The maids helped Mama to the car, even if she was bleeding, and Mang Pili [ Simplicio Aguas ] raced it to San Fernando… in the hope that they would reach Papa alive.”

No, they did not reach Lolo Bosto alive. He was already lifeless when Lola Charing, Pili the chauffeur, and the maids arrived.

*unfinished*

As I have said previously: Wealth, which should afford one Everything, protects one from Nothing.

“Sic transit gloria mundi.”

Leave a Comment

The Unraveling

July 6, 2007 at 2:33 pm (Angst, Arnedo de Sulipan, Brother Andrew F.S.C. of De La Salle, Escaler de Sulipan, Family Traditions, Gonzalez de Sulipan, Pampanga Traditions, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, Tristesse)

1 Comment

Powerful Uncle

July 6, 2007 at 2:17 pm (Angst, Arnedo de Sulipan, Brother Andrew F.S.C. of De La Salle, Family Traditions, Gonzalez de Sulipan, Manila Houses, Pampanga Cuisine, Pampanga Traditions, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, Tristesse)

Leave a Comment

Bacolor Ancestry: Tuason, Pamintuan, Rodriguez, Sioco, Escaler, and Gonzalez

April 13, 2007 at 6:30 am (Arnedo de Sulipan, Brother Andrew F.S.C. of De La Salle, Escaler de Sulipan, Family Traditions, Gonzalez de Sulipan, Pampanga Traditions, Random memories, Rodriguez de Bacolor, The Pampanguenos)

During the British Invasion of Spanish Manila in 1762, Governor General Simon de Anda moved the colonial capital to the town of Bacolor in Pampanga.

Antonio Ma. Tuason was a Sangley ( Chinese ) merchant loyal to the Spanish colonial authorities. He generously placed his resources in the service of the Spanish defenders. After the British Invasion ended in 1764, he was rewarded by the Spanish Crown with a land grant and a noble title ( “mayorazgo” ), thus elevating him and his family to the ranks of the Spanish peerage.

Antonio Ma. Tuason had a younger brother named Gregorio. After the Invasion, Antonio Ma. returned to Manila to resume his commercial activities but his brother elected to remain in Bacolor to engage in agriculture.

Gregorio Tuason married Maria Pamintuan and had two daughters: Escolastica and Maria Juana.

When Escolastica Tuason was six years old, she was kidnaped by Moro pirates who successfully entered the towns of Guagua and Bacolor ( these were periodic occurrences in Pampanga from the late sixteenth to the early nineteenth century; in fact , several old Pampango families, like the Alimurung ( “Ali” “murung” ), trace their lineage to Moslem forebears ). She was held hostage and taken to Mindanao. She was returned, already a young lady ( fourteen years old ), when her father was able to send her captors the considerable ransom money.

She inherited a hacienda in Bacolor, Pampanga from her father which yielded 2,000 piculs of sugar and 1,000 cavans of rice yearly.

Dona Escolastica Tuason married Don Olegario Rodriguez, also from Bacolor. Her sister Dona Maria Juana Tuason married Don Anastacio Hilario, also of the same town.

The Rodriguez family had migrated to Bacolor from Bataan around 1800 [ they are related to the Banzon, another Bataan family; Don Fausto F. Gonzalez y Sioco, a Rodriguez descendant, used to look up a Rodriguez y Nacpil family in Barrio San Antonio, Bacolor while constructing a Rodriguez - Sioco- Gonzalez genealogy, now lost ] Three generations of the Rodriguez have contributed a ” Capitan Natural ” to Bacolor town: Don Francisco Rodriguez ( father of Don Olegario ) in 1830, Don Olegario Rodriguez in 1842 and again in 1853, and Don Felix Rodriguez y Bautista ( son of Don Olegario ) in 1891 to 1892.

Don Olegario Rodriguez was a wealthy man who had inherited properties from his father. He married Dona Escolastica Tuason y Pamintuan when he was overseeing her father’s lands.They had five daughters: Prisca Ines ( born in 1834 ), Matea ( born on February 24, 1835 ), Juana, Marta, and Maria.

After Impung Culasa ( Dona Escolastica Tuason de Rodriguez ) died in 1850, Incung Luga ( Don Olegario Rodriguez ) married Dona Jacoba Bautista. They had ten children: the eldest is not known, then came Macario, Felix, Jose, Maxima, Maria, Francisco, Librada, et. al. The Rodriguez y Bautista children loved fine horses and beautiful dogs, and the men liked good and beautiful women. Some of them married at a mature age, some died as spinsters, and they all preferred to live peacefully at home; not one was a politician, and only Felix came to be Capitan Mayor of the town.

Impung Cobang ( Dona Jacoba Bautista de Rodriguez ) died on January 31, 1874.
The beleaguered Incung Luga ( Don Olegario Rodriguez ) died on June 3 of the same year.

Dona Prisca Ines Rodriguez y Tuason married Don Justo Escaler of Balanga, Bataan. They had three children: Manuel, Eulogia, and Domingo. Their son Manuel Escaler y Rodriguez married his first cousin Sabina Sioco y Rodriguez of Barrio Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga in 1882. Sabina Sioco y Rodriguez was the second daughter of Impung Ines’ ( Dona Prisca Ines Rodriguez de Escaler ) younger sister Impung Matea ( Dona Matea Rodriguez, viuda de Sioco,viuda de Arnedo-Cruz ) by her first husband Don Josef Sioco who settled in Barrio Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga in 1840 from Bocaue, Bulacan. ( the Sioco family had settled in the towns of Bocaue and Santa Maria in Bulacan from Bataan. They were originally from Lingayen, Pangasinan: family legend has it that the Siocos are descended from Sho Ko, a Japanese pirate who was the right hand man of Limahong ( Lim Ong Hong ), the dreaded Chinese pirate who attempted to lay siege on Manila in the 1570s. He was repelled, and he retreated to Lingayen, Pangasinan from where he left Filipinas. Some of his men with their families stayed behind in Lingayen, so the story is possible. )

Eulogia Escaler y Rodriguez married Esteban Clemente. Domingo Escaler y Rodriguez died young.

Dona Prisca Ines Rodriguez de Escaler died on May 3, 1894 at the age of 60. Her remains are in one wall of the Gospel transept of the Apalit Church.

Dona Matea Rodriguez y Tuason married Don Josef Sioco ( born on January 24, 1786 ) who had settled in Barrio Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga in 1840 from Bocaue, Bulacan. She was his second wife. ( His first wife was the daughter of a neighbor in Barrio Sulipan, Dona _____ Carlos, with whom he had a daughter: Dona Maria Sioco y Carlos. Dona Maria married Don _____ Tanjutco by whom she had a daughter: Dona Crispina Tanjutco y Sioco. Dona Maria was widowed. She then married her husband’s first cousin the widower Don Joaquin Arnedo-Cruz y Tanjutco, of the Arnedo family long settled in Barrio Sulipan but originally from Hagonoy, Bulacan. ). They had three daughters: Francisca, Sabina, and Florencia. Francisca died young. Their second daughter Sabina Sioco y Rodriguez ( o 1860 – + November 25, 1950 ) married her first cousin Manuel Escaler y Rodriguez who had come from Balanga, Bataan to Barrio Sulipan to manage his uncle’s ( Don Josef Sioco’s ) many parcels of land. Their third daughter Florencia ( o November 7, 1860 – + November 6, 1925 ) married Dr. Joaquin Gonzalez y Lopez of Baliuag, Bulacan, the son of Fray Fausto Lopez, O.S.A. of Valladolid, Espana, and Dona Maria Amparo Gonzalez y de los Angeles of Baliuag.

The story of Dona Matea Rodriguez’ marriage to Don Josef Sioco is very interesting. He was a Chinese mestizo landowner and trader who was very industrious and very frugal. The old people in Apalit called him “Joseng Daga” because he stashed everything away, like a rat. In his house, there was a small corner room stacked with jars filled with gold coins from floor to ceiling. Even in old age, with his eyes failing, he insisted on tilling the land at the back of his house barefoot and with the carabao on a long leash, just so he could find his way to and from it ( Corazon Cacnio, interview, 1990 )! He was in his early 70s when he paid court to Dona Marta Rodriguez y Tuason ( younger sister of Dona Matea ) of Bacolor who was in her early 20s. She was not receptive of his courtship. Matea, an elder sister, less attractive but more intelligent, presented herself to be his bride. And since beauty was hardly an issue for the old man who was almost blind, he readily accepted her. The marriage took place in 1859. He was 73, she was 24. Dona Matea not only upheld the honor of her father Don Olegario Rodriguez, she married a rich hacendero as well.

Incung Jose ( Don Josef Sioco ) died on December 26, 1864 aged 78 years, 11 months, and 2 days. His remains are in one wall of the Gospel transept of Bacolor Church, now under meters of lahar. His gravestone was last seen by a great great grandson in November of 1990.

After the death of Incung Jose ( Don Josef Sioco ), his widow Dona Matea ( Dona Matea Rodriguez, viuda de Sioco ) relinquished some properties to her stepdaughter Dona Maria Sioco y Carlos, de Arnedo ( daughter of Don Josef Sioco by his first wife, surnamed Carlos; a woman Dona Matea’s age ) but withheld a large hacienda in the town of Santa Maria, Bulacan, an old Sioco property which was assigned to Dona Maria even during Don Josef’s lifetime. The withheld Santa Maria hacienda remained in the memory of the Arnedo y Sioco family, who never forgave Dona Matea.

The Santa Maria hacienda was eventually given by Dona Matea to her second daughter Dona Sabina Sioco de Escaler. [ But by then, it was insignificant compared to the other vast landholdings of Dona Sabina, whose properties increased every year because of her astute business sense, assisted by the family's two financial geniuses: her son Jose and her nephew Augusto, the fourth son of her younger sister Dona Florencia Sioco de Gonzalez.]

Dona Matea Rodriguez viuda de Sioco, with three infant daughters but only 29 years old, went on to marry Don Juan Arnedo-Cruz y Tanjutco. He was the equally rich younger brother of Don Capitan Joaquin Arnedo-Cruz y Tanjutco, who had married Dona Maria Sioco y Carlos, viuda de Tanjutco, the daughter of Don Josef Sioco by his first wife, surnamed Carlos. The marriage of Dona Matea and Don Juan had no offspring. After his death in 18__, she inherited all his properties which, many years later, she left to her two surviving daughters from Don Josef Sioco: Dona Sabina Sioco de Escaler and Dona Florencia Sioco de Gonzalez.

One of the larger properties left by Don Juan Arnedo-Cruz y Tanjutco to Dona Matea Rodriguez, viuda de Sioco, viuda de Arnedo-Cruz was an old Arnedo-Cruz property: the fertile Hacienda de Caldera, an entire sitio in Barrio Sulipan in Apalit town comprising __ hundred hectares. It also remained in the memory of the Arnedo-Cruz family, who narrowly thought that it should have reverted back to Arnedo-Cruz ownership because Don Juan had no issue. It was eventually inherited by Dona Matea’s youngest daughter, Dona Florencia Sioco de Gonzalez.

Dona Matea Rodriguez, viuda de Sioco, viuda de Arnedo-Cruz died on January 22, 1918 at the age of 83 years. Her remains are in the Escaler mausoleum at the Cementerio del Norte.

Dona Juana Rodriguez y Tuason married Don Agapito Guanzon of Santa Rita, Pampanga. They had a daughter: Juana Guanzon y Rodriguez, who married Sixto David y
______) .

Dona Marta Rodriguez y Tuason married Don Hilarion Santos. They had two children: Rafaela Santos y Rodriguez who married Vicente Fernandez and Roman Santos y Rodriguez who married Juliana Andres. After the death of Don Hilarion Santos, Dona Marta Rodriguez, viuda de Santos married Don Domingo Carlos.

Roman Santos y Rodriguez was raised as a ward by his first cousin Dona Florencia Sioco de Gonzalez in Barrio Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga. Her elder sister, Dona Sabina Sioco de Escaler, lent him the initial capital to purchase his first bamboo “casco” ( raft )with which he ferried the dry goods he was buying and selling in various towns.

Don Roman Santos y Rodriguez founded Prudential Bank and a very successful family of businessmen active to this day.

Dona Maria Rodriguez y Tuason was a spinster.

Augusto Marcelino Gonzalez y Reyes and Macario Diosdado Gonzalez y Arnedo [ Brother Andrew Benjamin Gonzalez, F.S.C. ]
26 June 2000 1800 hrs

SOURCES :

The main framework for this text was derived from the notes of Don Augusto Diosdado Gonzalez y Sioco and his younger brother Don Dr. Bienvenido Ma. Gonzalez y Sioco.

1 ] Don Augusto Diosdado Gonzalez y Sioco ( o November 8, 1887 – + July 12, 1939 ): a notebook titled:: ” Genealogia de la Familia Gonzalez y Sioco ” [ handwritten ]
” Bisabuelos por Mama Florencia: Olegario Rodriguez y Escolastica Tuason “..Impung Culasa is identified as Escolastica Tuason; in 1990 this was further confirmed by a great great great grandson who saw a gravestone marked ” Dona Escolastica Tuason y Pamintuan ” on one wall of the Epistle transept of Bacolor Church [ In the same row on its right was the gravestone of Don Jose Leon Santos, and on the adjacent wall, two rows higher, the gravestone of Dona Ramona Joven y Suarez, the 19th century ancestors of the present-day Santos-Joven-Panlilio clan of Bacolor who were painted by the renowned painter Simon Flores y de la Rosa. ] Unfortunately, these gravestones are now under meters of lahar.

2 ] Don Dr. Bienvenido Ma. Gonzalez y Sioco ( o March 22, 1893 – + December 30, 1953 ): notes on the Rodriguez family of Bacolor, Pampanga, courtesy of his daughters Eva B. Gonzalez y Rafols and Lilia C. Gonzalez y Rafols [ It was fitting that Don Bienvenido wrote about his family's Rodriguez ancestry: as a child, together with his younger brothers Joaquin Jorge and Fausto Felix, he spent much time at the Rodriguez ancestral mansion in Bacolor town called " Bale Sim " ( Capampangan: " Bale " means house, " Sim " means iron roof, " Bale Sim " is " the house with an iron roof ". Such a description was a distinction in late 19th century Bacolor. The Rodriguez mansion was the first structure in town to install an expensive roof of corrugated iron sheets, replacing its old roof of heavy tiles. ), which his mother Dona Florencia Sioco de Gonzalez visited every week , and he was the ward of his young and indulgent Rodriguez aunts: Dona Jacoba ( born 1883 ), Dona Josefa ( born 1885 ), and Dona Gorgonia ( born 1886 ). ]

Impung Culasa is erroneously identified as Nicolasa Tuason. Incung Luga, or Olegario Rodriguez is erroneously identified as Leodegario Rodriguez. This is understandable because their diminutives, which the old people used, could have been derived from those formal names. Despite these lapses, Don Bienvenido laid the groundwork for the Rodriguez genealogy.

3 ] ” Teresa de la Paz and her Two Husbands “, a book about the Tuason, Legarda, Prieto, and Valdes clans.

The book provided the information about Don Antonio Ma. Tuason, founder of the Tuason ” mayorazgo ” ( noble estate ).

4 ] Mrs. Rafaelita Hilario Soriano: interviews in her New Manila residence, 1987, 1988.

Escolastica Tuason was the daughter of Gregorio Tuason and Maria Pamintuan. She had a younger sister named Maria Juana, who married Anastacio Hilario [ Mrs. Soriano's forebear ].

Gregorio Tuason was the younger brother of the founder of the Tuason ” mayorazgo “.

5 ] Dona Beatriz Rodriguez y Tiamson ( born o May 6, 1910; on May 6, 2000 celebrated her 90th birth anniversary ): interviews at ” Bale Sim ” ( the ancestral Rodriguez mansion ), Barrio Santa Ines, Bacolor, Pampanga, 1987 – 1995; interviews at her new residence on B. Mendoza St., San Fernando, Pampanga, 1996 – 2000.

Imang Bets ( Dona Beatriz Rodriguez y Tiamson ) has provided much information about the 19th century life at “Bale Sim,” most likely related to her by her cousin Impung Oniang ( Dona Gorgonia Rodriguez y Yabut, o September 19, 1886 – + November 14, 1960 ), with whom she spent the first half of her life.

6 ] Souvenir Program: 1964 Bacolor Town Fiesta – in honor of Nuestra Senora del Rosario, La Naval de Bacolor

7 ] The gravestone of Dona Prisca Ines Rodriguez y Tuason on one wall of the Gospel transept of the Apalit Church.

” Sra. Dna. Prisca Ines Rodriguez y Tuason, + 3 de Mayo 1894, 60 anos “

Her name was listed only as Ines in previous genealogies.

8 ] Rafaelita Hilario Soriano

Dona Matea Rodriguez y Tuason was born on February 24, 1835.

9 ] Arsenio Manuel, ” Dictionary of Philippine Biography,” 1955. Article on Jose Escaler. Article on Joaquin Gonzalez.

The Escaler article mentions Manuel Escaler as coming from Balanga, Bataan. The Gonzalez article mentions Jose Sioco as coming from Bocaue.

10 ] Old Sioco sisters, household staff of the various branches of the Escaler y Sioco family, perhaps distantly related to the Sioco progenitor ( Don Josef Sioco ) of the Arnedo y Sioco, Escaler y Sioco, and Gonzalez y Sioco families: interviews at the ancestral Sioco property in Sitio Pulung Cauayan, Barrio Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga ( later the Escaler y Sioco, then the Fernandez y Escaler, then the Padilla-Fernandez, then the Fernandez-Nadal, and finally the Gonzalez-Reyes, also Sioco descendants ), 1998 – 2000.

The sisters mentioned that there were still Sioco relatives in Santa Maria, Bulacan. It lent credence to the ” Philippine Biography ” article on Joaquin Gonzalez that Jose Sioco was from Bocaue. The two towns are next to the other.

11 ] Corazon Cacnio y Mercado and Milagros Cacnio y Mercado: interviews in their residence in Barrio San Juan, Apalit, Pampanga, 1987 – 2000.

The old Cacnio sisters have provided much information. According to them, the Apalit elders remember the Siocos to have come from Bataan.

12 ] Don Fausto Felix Gonzalez y Sioco ( o May 30, 1897 – + October 15, 1951 ): the Gonzalez elders attribute the legend of Sioco the Japanese pirate to him.

Sioco the Japanese pirate also appears in an article on Limahong in the Filipino Heritage book series.

13 ] Dona Elisa Arnedo y Espiritu: interviews at the Arnedo y Espiritu residence ( St. Peter’s Mission House ), Barrio Capalangan, Apalit, Pampanga, 1978 – 1987.

Lola Ising ( Dona Elisa Arnedo y Espiritu ) provided much information.

Don Joaquin Arnedo married Dona Maria Sioco. It was a widow-widower nuptial. Don Joaquin had a daughter from his first marriage: Juana, who married Felipe Buencamino Sr. Dona Maria also had a daughter from her first marriage to a Tanjutco: Crispina, who remained a spinster.

The Arnedos came to Barrio Sulipan from Hagonoy, Bulacan.

Don Manuel Escaler was working as a ” personero ” ( overseer ) for his uncle, later father-in-law, Don Josef Sioco. ( An overseer was a high-ranking employee. Lola Ising was only repeating the descriptions of the old Arnedos, who had an age-old rift with Impung Matea ( Dona Matea Rodriguez, viuda de Sioco, viuda de Arnedo-Cruz ), who luckily inherited properties the Arnedos claimed were their own.

14 ] Dona Beatriz Rodriguez y Tiamson ( born o May 6, 1910; on May 6, 2000 celebrated her 90th birth anniversary ) : interviews at ” Bale Sim ” ( the ancestral Rodriguez mansion ), Barrio Santa Ines, Bacolor, Pampanga, 1987 – 1995; interviews at her new residence on B. Mendoza St., San Fernando, Pampanga, 1996 – 2000.

Imang Bets ( Dona Beatriz Rodriguez y Tiamson ) has provided much information about the 19th century life at ” Bale Sim,” most likely related to her by her cousin Impung Oniang ( Dona Gorgonia Rodriguez y Yabut: o September 19, 1886 – + November 14, 1960 ), with whom she spent the first half of her life.

Matuang ( Old ) Jose_ Sioco, a very old man from Barrio Sulipan in Apalit, courted Impung Marta ( Marta Rodriguez y Tuason ) first, but she refused.

Impung Matea ( Matea Rodriguez y Tuason ) decided to marry Jose_ Sioco , the very old man.

The very old, very rich Don Jose_ Sioco died conveniently after five years of marriage.

15 ] The gravestone of Don Josef Sioco on one wall of the Gospel transept of Bacolor Church.

” Sr. Dn. Josef Sioco, + 26 de Diciembre 1864, 78 anos, 11 meses, 2 dias “

The information enabled the researcher to establish his birthdate ( by backtracking ) as o January 24, 1786.

Don Josef Sioco built his house ( a bahay-na-bato/ a mansion by the standards of the day ) in Sitio Pulung Cauayan, Barrio Sulipan, Apalit town, Pampanga. The house, already derelict ( since 1964, when it was cannibalized by Escaler grandson Isidro Fernandez y Escaler to build a house for his friend, the actress Shirley Moreno in BF Homes, Paranaque. ) was a favorite haunt of Filipiniana scholars researching the bahay-na-bato, when it was torn down in the first quarter of 1988. According to the scholars, it was in the Geometric Style of the 1850s.

In front of the Apalit Church is an old gravestone in Chinese granite or ” piedra china ” ( a survivor of the previous church which collapsed in 1863 ) of Dona Vicenta Florenti—. It specifically says that she died in the house of Don Josef Sioco in 1842. So the house already existed then.

The old Sioco sisters ( household staff of the various branches of the Escaler y Sioco family ) mentioned that there were words, with the date 1840, carved on the overdoor above the ” escalera principal ” of the mansion.

The researcher is very much interested in Filipiniana and in the architecture of the bahay-na-bato. He was able to see the derelict house a few times and was fortunate enough to have visited it with several authorities on the bahay-na-bato once in early 1987 ( Mr. Martin I. Tinio, Arch. Luis J. Mata, and Miss Sandra Castro of the Intramuros Administration, along with Mr. Jose M. R. Panlilio and Mr. Frederick Agbayani, young Filipiniana researchers ). The group admired the architecture, the scale and proportion, the broken black and white marble squares and ornate azulejo tiles in the landing ( ” descanso ” ), the vestibule ( ” caida ” ) with its few remaining carved molave panels ( ” Definitely around 1850.” proclaimed Mr. Tinio. ), the salon ( ” sala ” ), the chapel ( ” capilla ” ) without its altar and floor planks, the dining room ( ” comedor ” ) without its floor and ceiling, and the bedrooms ( ” cuartos ” ) also without their doors, floors, and ceilings. It was very difficult to know what they were admiring, with “oohs” and “aahs”, and they must have had very good imaginations, because the place was a complete wreck. The azotea still had its monumental gateway, its collapsing stairs, its terra cotta balusters, its molave planking, clay tiles, and bricks.
There was a large, two-storey storehouse ( ” camarin ” ) to the left of the house, entirely of ” adobe ” ( a volcanic tuff stone quarried in Bulacan; on the other hand, Mexican adobe, real adobe, are blocks of mud and straw baked under the sun ). Beside the azotea was a great tamarind ( ” sampaloc ” ) tree, a fixture of every provincial bahay-na-bato, and this one was certainly over a hundred years old. At the back of the property were ruins of other storehouses, and in the rear’s center, a row of ten stoves, all in ” adobe,” used for fiesta cooking, as Mr. Tinio pointed out, although this researcher disagreed, because given their frugal natures the Siocos and the Escalers would not have been predisposed to fiesta cooking, unlike their relatives, the gallant and extravagant Arnedos who lived nearby. Mr. Tinio clarified that, while they were used for fiesta cooking, these outdoor stoves were used to cook the simple but hearty food served to the many tenant families who would converge at the master’s house ( Don Josef Sioco’s ) to assist in the cooking and the housecleaning, and certainly to partake of the plentiful food, during the fiesta. The exquisite ” Spanish criollo ” food was cooked in the main kitchen upstairs and served only to the affluent guests. Such were the feudalistic practices of yore which, in adjusted form, survive to this day.

The old Sioco sisters ( household staff of the various branches of the Escaler y Sioco family ) maintain that the original roof of the house was a gentle slope of heavy tiles, and that the kitchen was roofed with thatch. All of that was replaced by a steep roof of GI sheets before the Second World War.

There is enough evidence that the mansion was already constructed by 1840, so we can say that Don Josef Sioco had transferred from Bocaue, Bulacan to Barrio Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga by that time.

There is an oil portrait of Don Josef Sioco, circa 1830s, that has survived to this day ( 2000 ). It shows him, a handsome Chinese mestizo, in the formal dress of the ” principalia ” ( wealthy class ): a European-style black jacket with tails over a pineapple fiber shirt ( a pina barong tagalog ) with ” suksok ” ( _______ ) embroidery. [ It was inherited by his youngest daughter Dona Florencia Sioco de Gonzalez. On her death in 1925, it was inherited by her youngest son Don Fausto F. Gonzalez y Sioco. When he died in 1951, it was passed on to his second wife Dona Pastora Cordero de Gonzalez. On her passing in 1998, it was inherited by her daughter Ernestina Gonzalez y Cordero, Mrs. Bibiano Lesaca y Padilla. ]

16 ] Dona Elisa Arnedo y Espiritu: interviews at the Arnedo y Espiritu residence ( St. Peter’s Mission House ), Barrio Capalangan, Apalit, Pampanga, 1978 – 1987.
and
Corazon Cacnio y Mercado and Milagros Cacnio y Mercado: interviews in their residence in Barrio San Juan, Apalit, Pampanga, 1987 – 2000.

They related the story of the Sioco hacienda in Santa Maria, Bulacan. It must have caused an uproar in 1864 ( the year of Don Josef Sioco’s death ), for people to still talk about it more than 120 years later.

17 ] Dona Elisa Arnedo y Espiritu: interviews at the Arnedo y Espiritu residence ( St. Peter’s Mission House ), Barrio Capalangan, Apalit, Pampanga, 1978 – 1987.
and
Bro. Andrew Gonzalez, F.S.C. ( Macario Diosdado Gonzalez y Arnedo ): conversations ( relaying information acquired from Arnedo elders, notably his mother Dona Rosario Arnedo y Espiritu, de Gonzalez ) at the Gonzalez y Arnedo residence in Quezon City.

The Hacienda de Caldera in Apalit is fertile, and thus productive, land. It was thus called because it is shaped like a ” caldo ” ( pot ). It is an entire sitio in Barrio Sulipan. In this day ( the year 2000 ), one can view it from the MacArthur Highway on the way to the main town of Apalit. On the road coming from Calumpit, Bulacan, after one has crossed the Apalit Bridge ( locally called the ” Control ” ), the wide, descending land on the left is the ” Caldera “.

The generation of Dona Rosario and Dona Elisa were told by their elders ( parents, uncles, aunts, and cousins ) that it was old Arnedo property unfortunately transferred to Gonzalez ownership by the marriage of Don Juan Arnedo-Cruz y Tanjutco to Dona Matea Rodriguez, viuda de Sioco after 1864. They had no children together but she inherited all his property. Upon her death in 19__, these were given to her two surviving daughters from her first marriage to Don Josef Sioco: Dona Sabina Sioco de Escaler and Dona Florencia Sioco de Gonzalez.

The Hacienda de Caldera was divided but a large portion was inherited by Dona Florencia’s fourth son Don Augusto Gonzalez y Sioco, the family’s financial genius. After his tragic death in 1939, it passed to the children of his first marriage to his first cousin Dona Marina Escaler y Sioco ( the eldest daughter of Dona Sabina Sioco y Rodriguez and Don Manuel Escaler y Rodriguez ). It remained in the family until 1972, when Ferdinand Marcos implemented Agrarian Reform with ” Operation Land Transfer ” ( OLT ). It was passed on forcibly to the tenants: the family of the ” personero ” ( overseer ) Julian Gonzales ( the tenants were wont to take the surname of the landowners ). But it did not take long before they sold their assigned parcels to a prosperous Chinese trader in 1973.

18 ] Rafaelita Hilario Soriano

Dona Matea Rodriguez y Tuason, viuda de Sioco, viuda de Arnedo-Cruz died on January 22, 1918 at the age of 83 years.

19 ] Dona Beatriz Rodriguez y Tiamson ( born o May 6, 1910; on May 6, 2000 celebrated her 90th birth anniversary ): interviews at ” Bale Sim ” ( the Rodriguez ancestral mansion ), Barrio Santa Ines, Bacolor, Pampanga, 1987 – 1995; interviews at her new residence on B. Mendoza St., San Fernando, Pampanga, 1996 – 2000.
and
Eglantine Gonzalez y Elizalde ( Mrs. Luis B. Franco ): interviews in her residence at 65 Scout Fuentebella St., Quezon City, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1990; conversations during Doble Zeta Reunion meetings at the Gonzalez y Arnedo residence in Quezon City, 1988 – 2000.
and
Blanquita Santos y Luna ( Mrs. Renato P. Gonzalez ): conversations during Gonzalez y Palanca ( the children of Rogerio Gonzalez y Escaler and Lourdes Palanca y David ) family gatherings: a pre-Christmas party at the Gonzalez-Santos residence at 55 Cambridge Circle, Forbes Park North in 1989; parties at the Dizon-Gonzalez ( Manuel Martinez Dizon and Regina Palanca Gonzalez ) residence at 5 Molave Road, Forbes Park South in 1990, 1997, and 1998.

Imang Bets ( Dona Beatriz Rodriguez y Tiamson ) has provided much information about the Rodriguez family of Bacolor, Pampanga.
Incung Duman ( Don Roman Santos ), the founder of Prudential Bank, was a Rodriguez. He was the son of Impung Marta ( Dona Marta Rodriguez y Tuason ) who married Don Hilarion Santos. When Don Hilarion died, Dona Marta married Don Domingo Carlos.
Dona Marta died young. Her orphaned son, the young Roman was taken in as a ward by his older first cousin Dona Florencia Sioco de Gonzalez ( daughter of Impung Matea, elder sister of Impung Marta ) and he went to live at the Gonzalez y Sioco mansion in Barrio Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga.
The young Roman spent some years in Barrio Sulipan and was like an elder brother to his ten Gonzalez y Sioco nephews: Fernando, Jesus, Emilio, Augusto, Octavio, Virgilio, Javier, Bienvenido, Joaquin, and Fausto.
There was a big ” studio ” picture of him with them ( taken around 1896 ) hung at ” Bale Sim ” in one small room filled with aparadores, before the Great Flood of October 1, 1995, which inundated the mansion with lahar from Mount Pinatubo ( which erupted four years before in 1991 ).

Tita Nena ( Eglantine Gonzalez y Elizalde ) has provided much information about the Gonzalez y Sioco family of Barrio Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga. She is a daughter of Don Fernando Gonzalez y Sioco and Dona Clementina Elizalde y Cacnio and is the third oldest of the +- 115 grandchildren of Don Dr. Joaquin Gonzalez y Lopez and Dona Florencia Sioco y Rodriguez.
Incung Duman ( Don Roman Santos y Rodriguez ) was a first cousin of Impung Florencia ( Dona Florencia Sioco y Rodriguez, de Gonzalez ) and Impung Sabina ( Dona Sabina Sioco y Rodriguez, de Escaler ). He grew up as a ward in the Gonzalez mansion in Barrio Sulipan.
Impung Sabina lent Incung Duman the capital to purchase a ” casco ” ( bamboo raft ) for his first business venture: the trading of dry goods in the towns along the Rio Grande de Pampanga ( the Pampanga River ).
Incung Duman used to visit the Gonzalezes in Sulipan until before the War ( in 194_, the house was bombed from the air by the Americans who saw Japanese trucks parked beside it ). The Gonzalez brothers deferred to him as ” Tio Duman “.

Ate Ate’ ( Blanquita Santos y Luna – Mrs. Renato P. Gonzalez ), granddaughter of Don Roman Santos and Dona Juliana Andres, spoke about her grandfather.
Lolo Roman ( Don Roman Santos y Rodriguez ) spoke about his Rodriguez relatives in Bacolor, Pampanga.
Lolo Roman grew up with his Gonzalez cousins. He was then a poor relation.
Lolo Roman was a modest man. He was frugal and cautious in his business transactions. He became a successful businessman.

Gilda Cordero Fernando ( Gilda Cordero y Luna ), writer, arts patron and connoisseur – a relative of the Santos family on the Luna side, told the funny story of how, during the War, they were all hiding in the Santos house in Malabon when the ceiling collapsed with the weight of the rice, beans, and other supplies Lolo Roman had stored! He had hidden enough food to last for years!

According to the notes of Don Dr. Bienvenido Ma. Gonzalez y Sioco, Dona Marta Rodriguez and Don Hilarion Santos had two children: Rafaela and Roman. Rafaela married Vicente Fernandez.
This researcher saw the gravestone of Dona Rafaela Santos y Rodriguez on one wall of the Epistle transept of the Apalit Church: ” Dona Rafaela Santos y Rodriguez, + 25 de Junio, 1900 “.
It was only in the conversations with old relatives that the researcher uncovered that Dona Rafaela Santos de Fernandez was the mother of the controversial Rafael Fernandez. He married Josefa Escaler y Sioco ( who turned out to be his second-degree cousin: Dona Sabina Sioco y Rodriguez, de Escaler and Dona Rafaela Santos y Rodriguez, de Fernandez were first cousins ).
Tita Nena ( Eglantine Gonzalez y Elizalde ) mentioned that Tio Jose Escaler, despite his impeccable social connections, wanted his sisters married to relatives to preserve the family wealth. His sister Tia Marina was married to their first cousin Tio Augusto Gonzalez and another sister Josefa married to Rafael Fernandez, [ who, therefore, was probably a distant relative; it is difficult to admit a relation to the controversial Rafael Fernandez ].
It was Ate Ate’ ( Blanquita Santos y Luna – Mrs. Renato P. Gonzalez ) who confirmed the relation between the completely opposite personalities Don Roman Santos y Rodriguez and Rafael Fernandez y Santos: they were uncle and nephew.

FAMILIA RODRIGUEZ
DE
BARRIO SANTA INES, BACOLOR, PAMPANGA

1 ] Sr. Dn. Olegario Rodriguez + 3 de Junio 1874

2 ] Sra. Dna. Jacoba Bautista de Rodriguez + 31 de Enero 1874

3 ] Sr. Dn. Felix Rodriguez y Bautista o 8 de Enero 1853
+ 8 de Enero 1914

4 ] Sr. Dn. Jose Rodriguez y Bautista + 6 de Julio 1887 ( o 1853 )
33 anos, 7 meses

5 ] Sr. Dn. Francisco Rodriguez y Bautista + 12 de Noviembre 1887 ( o 1863 )
24 anos, 8 meses

6 ] Sra. Dna. Maxima Rodriguez y Bautista, + 30 de Octubre 1888 ( o 1857 )
de De los Reyes 31 anos

7 ] Sra. Dna. Librada Rodriguez y Bautista o 20 de Julio 1865
+ 14 de Febrero 1923

8 ] Sra. Dna. Maria Rodriguez y Bautista + 23 de Julio 1915

9 ] Sra. Dna. Jacoba Rodriguez y Yabut o 14 de Julio 1883
+ 10 de Enero 1922

10 ] Sra. Dna. Josefa Rodriguez y Yabut o 18 de Marso 1885
+ 29 de Junio 1936

11 ] Sra. Dna. Gorgonia Rodriguez y Yabut o 19 de Septiembre 1886
+ 14 de Noviembre 1960

These names and dates were taken by the researcher from the gravestones in the Rodriguez burial ground at the Bacolor Catholic Cemetery, November __, 1988, Sunday, 1600 hrs, Fiesta de Nuestra Senora del Santisimo Rosario, La Naval de Bacolor.

9 Comments