November 4, 2009 at 9:00 pm (1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Angst, Humor, Personal, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, The Past, Tristesse)
Karma.
Believe me, in the 42 summers I have lived, I have seen enough of it to want to avoid it. Despite that, I know it’s coming… And it’s going to hit its exact targets, nothing more and nothing less. The comforting thing is that I know, with absolute certainty, that it’s going to hit everyone else as well. How much fun can that be???
*unfinished*
October 21, 2009 at 9:41 am (1900s Philippines, Angst, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, The Past, Tristesse)
All these recent disasters in our beleaguered country bring to mind one of the most difficult periods in Philippine History, the Japanese Occupation from 08 December 1941 - 03 March 1945. According to the surviving seniors, compared to those years, what we are undergoing now as a nation is “chickenfeed.”
I was born in 1967, 22 years after The War ended in 1945. That’s just the time period between 2009 and 1987, and it’s not very long, nor essentially very different. And in the minds of those who had experienced it — from my grandmother, my parents, aunts and uncles, and household staff — it was as fresh and as frightening a memory as anything.
We have all read about Wartime in the Philippines and have even seen movies about it like “The Great Raid” by John Dahl in 2005 and “Oro, Plata, Mata” by Peque Gallaga in 1981. One book, “By Sword and Fire: The Destruction of Manila in World War II: 3 February – 3 March 1945″ by Alfonso J. Aluit in 1994 fully describes the Sheer Horror of the Carnage and Destruction of Manila in late February 1945.
The following are stories of our various Gonzalez-Escaler-Arnedo and Reyes-Quiason family members during The War. They are not spectacular in the sense that no one was a bemedalled War Hero, nor an active leader of the guerrilla movement, nor an entire household murdered. But they are Stories of War and Suffering just the same, and well worth recording for posterity.
GONZALEZ
My paternal grandfather, Lolo Augusto “Bosto” Sioco Gonzalez, already knew as early as 1937 that a Great World War was looming in the horizon. He was 50 years old and was at the prime of his fortunes but sadly at the ebb of his health because of severe diabetes. That, however, did not stop him from forging ahead with his ambitious professional aims and flourishing family life. Although he had set his sights on purchasing an elegant and expensive residence along prestigious Dewey Boulevard to serve as his Manila base [ impressed by his brilliant and accomplished nephew Joaquin Tomas de Aquino "Jake" Valdes Gonzalez, he determined that his own young sons would be attending De La Salle College along Taft Avenue ], he purchased two small, 441 sq. m. properties in the first government employee housing project of President Manuel Quezon in faraway Quezon City [ which later became the "Scout area" ], on a street called “South 9.” He urged his very rich aunt Dona Sabina Sioco de Escaler to buy one across and the widow of his eldest brother Fernando, Clementina Elizalde-Gonzalez, to buy beside him. “What on earth are we going to do in that ’squatter resettlement’ area, Papa?” asked his eldest son Rogie [ used as Rogie was to the commodious and elegant residences of the Gonzalezes, the Escalers, and his wife Luding's Salgado and de Leon relations, in Pampanga and in the posh enclaves of Manila ]. That done, he had extensive aerage / bomb shelters constructed underground connecting all four houses. He told his wife, my Lola Charing: “When The War comes, We will be safer here. Of course, the Japanese will go to the best areas first, to Ermita and Malate and Taft, before they will even think of coming to this nondescript place.” Of course, Lolo Bosto was assassinated at the PASUDECO offices on 12 July 1939 and never saw The War. Might as well, for knowing what a firebrand he was, he would have surely funded the guerrillas, helped the Americans, and been forthwith executed by the Japanese. But he was very right when he predicted that the Japanese would come to Ermita, Malate, and Taft Avenue first. They did. But they eventually reached Quezon City too. When the Japanese soldiers found out in late 1944 that the Gonzalez and Escaler houses along South 9 had aerage / bomb shelters, they evicted the families, giving them 24 hours to leave. They also confiscated Lolo Bosto’s elegant, 1937 black Cadillac stretch limousine, the last car that he had purchased. They broke open Lola Charing’s camphor chests and chanced upon her 1930 “traje de boda” wedding dress, which they promptly used as a rag to polish their guns. The four families were “scattered to the winds.” Lola Charing and her family were graciously taken in by Imang Belen Zapanta-Reyes and family in their Kamuning house, and that is where they stayed for a time.
My aunt, dearest Tita Naty, Natividad Gonzalez-Palanca, remembers: “Every time there was an evacuation, I remember Mama Charing running, with Macarito the toddler [ the future Brother Andrew Benjamin Gonzalez, F.S.C. of De La Salle University ] on one arm and the silver [ the heavy, wrapped-up American sterling silver flatware service for 36 pax monogrammed "RAG" { Rosario Arnedo-Gonzalez }, which was one of Papa's last gifts to her ], on the other.”
It was a good thing that all of the Gonzalezes had vacated the 1883 ancestral Gonzalez-Sioco mansion in Barrio Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga by the time War broke out on 08 December 1941. It was the one fortuitous result of Lolo Bosto’s 12 July 1939 assassination at the PASUDECO: there were persistent death threats from the assassins’ families which necessitated the final and irrevocable transfer of the Gonzalez-Escaler and the Gonzalez-Arnedo families to Manila. It was sheer serendipity for early in 1942, American reconnaissance planes sighted several Japanese Army trucks parked beside the Gonzalez-Sioco mansion and dropped a bomb on it. They also dropped bombs on the nearby Apalit bridge to block Japanese movement in the area.
Tito Rogie and Tita Luding and their young children had been the last residents [ my father's eldest half brother Rogerio Escaler Gonzalez, his wife Lourdes David Salgado-Palanca, and their elder children Carmelita "Mely," Renato "Ato," Leonides "Leony," and Rogerio Jr. "Jerry." ] Tito Rogie had supervised the hiding of Lola Florencia’s 1880s “FS” monogrammed Paris porcelain service by Mansard and of Lola Matea’s 1890s ”MR” “Sulipan” Paris porcelain service by Ch. Pillivuyt & Cie. in several Martabana jars, some buried under the house, and the others buried in the garden. [ After The War, Tito Rogie was able to retrieve much of Lola Florencia's "FS" porcelain service as it was buried under the house, but much of Lola Matea's "MR" "Sulipan" porcelain service, buried in the garden, was destroyed. ]
Also destroyed was the beautiful, nearly-lifesize ivory image of “Santa Maria Magdalena” and its giltwood “carroza,” the most beautiful “paso” during the Holy Week processions in Apalit from the 1880s to the PreWar.
Gone in one swoop were the beautiful collections of the distinguished patriarch, Don Dr. Joaquin Gonzalez de los Angeles y Lopez, who at one time, from the 1870s – 80s, was the country’s preeminent medical doctor [ specialized in ophthalmology in Paris under Dr. Louis de Wecker, who years later mentored Dr. Jose Rizal ] and was one of only two representatives of Pampanga province to the 1898 Malolos Congress [ the other was Don Francisco Rodriguez Ynfante ]. He had an extensive library of leatherbound books from Europe. The “Sala” living room featured carved and upholstered furniture which he had brought from Europe, as well as religious and secular oil paintings, pairs of large Satsuma porcelain vases from Japan, and chandeliers and lamps of Bohemian crystal. His “cabecera” dining table for 36 persons featured silver serving pieces and centerpieces from Europe as well as an ornate dinner service of Paris porcelain by the firm of Mansard. The “capilla” of the mansion [ beside the "escalera principal" staircase ], which doubled as the guest room, was filled with precious ivory “santos”: several nearly lifesize and many smaller ones in “virinas” glass domes. His ten sons played and learned useful crafts with European toys and machines.
My father recalled: “The elders observed that the brusque, rude, and brutal ‘Japanese soldiers’ were often actually Koreans pressed into service in the Japanese Imperial Army. Many of the genuine Japanese, specially the officers, were actually educated, honorable, and decent individuals.”
ESCALER
During The War, Tito Willy [ Wilfrido Escaler Gonzalez ] was madly in love with the beauteous society belle Emma Benitez of Pagsanjan, Laguna [ she later married the patrician architect Luis Maria Zaragoza Araneta of Calle R. Hidalgo, Manila ]. Believing that the family would be safer in faraway and inaccessible Pagsanjan, he brought most of the Gonzalez-Escaler family there. He even managed to convince his aged maternal grandmother, Dona Sabina Sioco de Escaler [ o 1858 - + 1950 ], already in her mid-80s, to brave the transfer. Imagine the sight of the petite octogenarian Dona Sabina Sioco de Escaler — at that time Pampanga’s single richest hacendera — wearing her characteristically patched up skirt and kimona helplessly and pitifully perched on top of various sacks and baskets on a rickety “do – car” [ a horse - drawn car, whatever that was 
] making her way under the searing summer sun to distant Pagsanjan, Laguna…
During Liberation [ end of February 1945 ], like so many others, Dona Sabina Escaler’s house on Calle Herran corner M.H. del Pilar in Ermita was torched and burned to the ground. My first cousin Renato “Ato” Palanca Gonzalez vividly remembers that not only was Lola Sabina’s Ermita altar full of antique ivory “santos” in virinas, it also had several nearly lifesize ivory images, since Lola Sabina seemed partial to such devotional articles. Dona Sabina Sioco de Escaler was a generous benefactress of the Catholic Church. She was a principal benefactress of the Franciscans in Intramuros; she was a devotee of San Francisco de Asis and San Antonio de Padua and always contributed generously during their fiestas. During PostWar, she even sent a large amount in USD $ to Rome for the restoration of a major basilica there.
ARNEDO
My father’s maternal first cousin, Juanito “Ito” Arnedo Ballesteros, recalled: “I was about eight years old then. We were at Lola Titay’s house in Sulipan [ the 1848 Arnedo-Sioco ancestral house ] when the Japanese soldiers came. They gathered most of the barrio people and made everyone kneel down in the big “sala” [ "Salon de Baile" ] as they lectured. The group was instructed to bow every so often. I stayed in the small “sala” [ the real "Sala" ] between the bedrooms playing with old wine glasses, pretending they were cars. After the lecture, everyone was allowed to leave.”
After that, leaving only a couple to keep watch over the house, Lola Titay and Lola Ines and everybody else left the house to seek refuge in relatively inaccessible Barrio Tabuyuc, which was cut off and isolated from the rest of Apalit town by the wide Pampanga River and the absence of bridges. They were joined there by many Arnedo and Espiritu relatives as the days passed.
The Japanese soldiers took over Lolo Ariong’s house in nearby Barangay Capalangan and made it their garrison [ former Pampanga Governor Macario Arnedo y Sioco ]. The barbaric soldiers ruined much of the furniture and decorative arts collection so zealously gathered by Lola Maruja [ Don Macario's wife Dona Maria Espiritu y Dungo, o 1876 - + 1934 ]. They chopped much of the antique furniture into firewood for their baths; slashed the ancestral portraits and the paintings; smashed the chandeliers, mirrors, marble top tables, large vases, and ceramic pedestals; broke all of Lola Maruja’s treasured bibelots in their vitrines. The Barrio Capalangan folk liked to laugh among themselves about the “sakang” [ bowlegged ] Japanese soldiers taking their hot baths in “cauas” iron vats and steel drums over bonfires in the big garden of former Governor Arnedo’s residence.
REYES
When the Japanese troops were approaching, the Reyes-Pangan family in Barrio Paralaya [ poblacion ], Arayat, Pampanga, hurriedly evacuated to a relative’s secluded “casa hacienda” plantation house in a barrio of adjacent Candaba town. My maternal great grandmother, Maria “Bang” Dizon Pangan-Reyes, tasked her eldest grandson [ 15 years old ], my uncle Emilio “Jun” Quiason Reyes Jr., to carry a rolled-up package of “kacha” muslin containing her silver [ solid silver flatware service engraved with "Maria Pangan" for 18 pax ], and instructed him that he was to carry it everywhere they evacuated, that under no circumstances was he to leave it behind. However much she prized it for sentimental reasons, she knew that it could serve as hard currency for the family should the absolute need arise.
Back in Barrio Paralaya, Arayat, my maternal grandfather Emilio “Miling” Pangan Reyes and his younger brother Benito “Bito” were taken by Japanese soldiers to the garrison along with other male neighbors on suspicion of being guerrillas. They weren’t, but they were supplying foodstuffs to the Resistance and helping with logistics. They feared that they would be executed immediately. During the evenings, several prisoners would be called, provided with spades, marched some distance away, and an hour later gunshots would be heard. The prisoners were being made to dig their own graves. Miling’s wife Pacing and her children would often visit a friend’s house overlooking the garrison, tearfully hoping to catch a glimpse of Miling and Bito. But after a few days, the two brothers were inexplicably released. Bito wanted to go back and thank the commander for their release, but Miling refused and insisted on going straight home. Half an hour later, their remaining male neighbors were executed, shot to their deaths.
Miling’s saintly wife, Paz “Pacing” Aguilar Quiason, occupied herself with the secondhand goods trade in Arayat town. Along with her young children, she unraveled new “de hilo” cotton material, as well as old clothes and old textiles for their threads, spooled them together, and sold them at the market. She also rolled cigarettes. Dealing in used merchandise, Pacing made a decent living throughout The War, although she suffered greatly healthwise from its privations. She died of cancer of the sinus in 1949.
Miling had promised his pretty eldest daughter Felicisima “Sis” that if she learned the piano accompaniment to her eldest brother Emilio Jr.’s “Jun’s” violin piece, he would reward her with a trip to Manila to visit his only sister Piciang Reyes-Berenguer and her daughters Paquing, Chang, Blanding, and Ched. Sis did learn the piano accompaniment quickly. As promised, they set out for Manila… They rode in the front of a truck filled with cavans of rice for delivery covered by a tarpaulin. Hours later at nightfall, at a checkpoint in Caloocan, they were stopped by the Japanese soldiers and ordered to disembark. The soldiers did the same with all the other arriving vehicles. The Japanese soldiers ordered the men and the boys separated from the women and the girls. Feisty Miling, a truly fearless man, absolutely refused to be separated from his distraught daughter and threatened to engage the soldiers in a fistfight to the finish. The soldiers relented and allowed Miling and his daughter to walk away. Miling later told his daughter Sis that he had been ready to die at that moment rather than give her up without a good, honorable fight. Afterwards, with no transportation to Manila, Miling and Sis spent the night under a “santol” tree some distance away from the road. He could only imagine what had happened to the hapless women and the girls separated from the men and the boys by the Japanese soldiers that evening.
Miling and Bito had a widowed sister, Simplicia “Piciang” [ Mrs. Adolfo Linares Berenguer ], who was between them in age. She had stayed in Manila with her four daughters Francisca “Paquing,” Josefina “Chang,” Blandina “Blanding,” and Mercedes “Ched.” Despite Miling’s repeated requests that his two younger siblings and their families come home to Arayat, Piciang and Bito chose to remain in Manila, insisting that it was safe because it was an “Open City.” During Liberation in late February of 1945, as the Americans bombed all the bridges spanning the Pasig River, Piciang was separated from her daughters Paquing and Ched as she was in Sampaloc while the two were across the Pasig River at their house along Taft Avenue fronting the PGH Philippine General Hospital. During the shelling, Paquing was hit by shrapnel at the side of her head and Ched was hit by shrapnel on one leg. Both almost bled to death but survived. The courageous Piciang, desperately wanting to be reunited with her daughters [ and wearing a memorable flaming orange pantsuit made of US Army material ], crossed the Pasig River on pontoon bridges with the American soldiers and rode in a tank towards PGH, where she found her daughters severely injured and in extreme pain but thankfully alive.
In their own words:
“We transferred to the PGH, even if we just lived right across Taft Avenue, because one day that early February, one of the six Japanese officers occupying the upper floor of our house told Tata Bito: “Bito! Bito! I take all of you to hospital… now!!!” Those Japanese officers had been kind to us because they said they too had children back in Japan. So all of us hurriedly gathered some belongings — rice, canned goods, clothes, shoes, books — and waited for his signal. Waving a white flag, I cannot remember if it was a Japanese flag, shouting Japanese and constantly making signals in all directions, he led us across Taft Avenue which simply couldn’t be crossed because of the Japanese snipers. We made our way, jumping over the many dead and decaying bodies which littered both lanes of Taft Avenue. That was unforgettable!!! He led us inside the hospital and endorsed us to some people there. We knew that we would be safe at the PGH because hospitals were no-fire zones. He did not say goodbye and we never, ever saw him again. That Japanese officer saved our lives.”
“We actually enjoyed our first days at the PGH. There were so many people we knew and there was a sense of community. It was fun!!! But then the burning began… when the nearby Ateneo was burning it was so bright at night that we could actually read our books, something which we had not been able to do for a long time because there was no more electricity. PGH was finally closed off: no one could enter but then no one could also leave. We had no idea then that the plan was really to kill everyone inside the compound. Then the situation really deteriorated: there was the artesian well at the back of the PGH compound where everyone drew their water… it came to the point that the people going there were being killed too, shot to death. It all became absolutely dreadful… the ones looking out the windows reported that the people in the streets were already being killed. Frightening!!!”
“That horrible day was 11 February 1945, the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes… We had already been in a ward at the ground floor of the PGH for a week. We had attended the Holy Mass at 7:00 a.m. at another ward. We had returned to our ward by 8:00 a.m.. Dionisio the cook and the houseboys were preparing breakfast at an improvised kitchen in the garden. Suddenly, there were loud explosions and it all became as dark as night!!! We couldn’t see anything so we were screaming, shouting, and running in circles inside the ward. The glass windows were all breaking. Then something exploded inside the room!!! But we were all in shock that we didn’t know what had happened, we just kept running about. It turned out it was an incendiary bomb fired by the Americans, and everyone in the room was hit by shrapnel!!!”
Paquing recalled: “I was already burning, but I didn’t know… The moment Tata Bito and the men saw me, they pushed me to the floor and rolled me around and around to put out the fire and then wrapped me in blankets and mattresses, mattresses and blankets and everything else.”
Ched remembered: “I was hit by shrapnel — bigger than a dinner plate — and it lodged between my stomach and my right leg. But I also didn’t know… I was still running. An old American man, a patient, saw me and just stared at the metal jutting out from my body. I just sat down on a chair because I was so tired.”
“Dionisio the cook was killed by the shelling. He was found dismembered later that day. The other houseboys must have been killed too, because they never turned up again.”
QUIASON
*unfinished*
I encourage you to share yours.
*unfinished*
October 4, 2009 at 6:31 pm (1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Personal, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Davaoenos, The Global Crowd, The Ilocanos, The Ilonggos, The Laguna Tagalogs, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos, The Past, The Tarlaquenos, The Tayabenses / Quezonians, Tristesse)
When I was very young and blissfully ignorant, and that was many, many, many years ago, the arrival of a typhoon was a happy development, specially if it reached Signal Number Two, because that meant that classes were suspended. We children could look forward to playing most of the day inside Lola Charing’s big house, which was impervious to floodwaters and strong winds. We liked to “play house,” “cooking-cooking,” Barbie dolls, G.I Joe figures, “Sungka,” “Piko,” “Patintero,” Hide and Seek, Exchange Places [ in the elegant living room, of all places ], ”Old Maid,” “Monopoly,” “Scrabble,” etc.. We could watch our favorite cartoons on TV in the afternoon [ "Superman," "Aquaman," "Mightor," et. al. ], and eat all the sugary delights — today’s “tooth decay specials” — we wanted from Lola Charing’s fully-stocked kitchen, and I mean fully-stocked [ "Selecta" and "Magnolia" ice cream; "Pare" Bito Nuqui's homemade "Mantecado" ice cream of carabao's milk and slivers of "dayap" lime rind { IF there was any left after Brother Andrew and us hungry grandchildren! }; Ate Talia Padilla's homemade cakes, "ensaimadas," "sans rival," traditional pastries like "panaritas," "caramelitos," etc.; "barquillos" and "broas" cookies from Lola Nena Gala, "Panaderia de Molo" cookies from Lola Gely Lopez, "See's" chocolates, etc. ], and from Aling Maring’s and Aling Esa’s nearby sari-sari stores [ "Sarsi" soda, "Mirinda" soda, "Tarzan" and "Texas" bubble gum, "Choc-Nut" peanut chocolates, "Butterball" butterscotch candy, "White Rabbit" candy, etc. ] for “merienda.” Those simple pleasures were what typhoons meant to us grandchildren.
Typhoons then didn’t seem so bad. Yes, we would see helicopter footages of the Central Luzon provinces — Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac — inundated in floodwaters, but everyone was smiling and giggling as they waved to the cameras of RPN Channel 9 [ or did President Marcos or Madame Marcos also order them to do that??? ]. And because we were stuck in the house with Lola Charing and Ate Talia during such days, we grandchildren also saw, to our collective chagrin, more episodes of “Aawitan Kita” starring the irrepressible Armida Siguion-Reyna and other howling singers. I remember “Didang,” a particularly strong typhoon in the early 1970s. Now that one caused a lot of damage! We also had no school for a week! Yippee!
Thirty years later and Everything is so different now…
The coming of a typhoon nowadays in the 2000s means Difficulty, Desperation, Destruction, and yes, even Death.
I had not realized until now that one could actually get killed in a flood. I stupidly thought that it was only a matter of swimming well with all kinds of strokes — doggie-style, backstroke, freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke, etc.. Yes, one could get electrocuted by an open electric wire in the water, or, fall into an open manhole [ what with all the steel manhole covers being stolen for sale to steel recyclers! ]. Or contract the dreaded “Leptospirosis” [ infection from rodents' feces ] by open cuts and wounds. But what I didn’t know was that one could just be swept away by the rampaging waters, and be hit, all too helplessly, by all kinds of flotsam and jetsam — floating vehicles, uprooted trees, loosened concrete, wooden beams, G.I sheets, stones, and all — until one is simply… DEAD. Just like the villains in those “Indiana Jones” adventure movies!!!
Last night, I was at Santo Domingo Church for the third day Novena and Mass in honor of the “Santo Rosario,” Our Lady of the Rosary [ an Old World tradition I took from my Lola Charing ] . We lifted our hands and the “Our Father” was sung beautifully by the grand choir and, and oddly enough, rather soulfully by the congregation. I thought of all our fellow, suffering Filipinos and the terrible videos seen on TV and YouTube… and my mind’s eye replayed the horrors over and over, and over again. And I wept… Of course, Social Me kept my composure [ ramrod straight posture! Queen Mary-esque pulchritude ] but the tears just flowed. I was lucky, only a few, unused things got wet… but many other people lost their livelihood, hard-earned possessions, homes… and lives!!! The Sheer Devastation wrought by typhoon “Ondoy’s” floods on Filipino Life was just so awful, wasn’t it?
And now, there’s supertyphoon [ first time I've heard the term!!! ] “Pepeng” whirling towards the Philippines… Ohmygod. What worse devastation can that one bring???
It’s Time… It’s Time to Pray, and Pray Hard, like we never did before.
It turns out that our Old People, who prayed hard and prayed often, really knew what they were doing. 
*unfinished*
October 1, 2009 at 7:21 am (1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Personal, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Past, Tristesse)
From now on, I will no longer accept any comments from amorphous entities in cyberspace. There are far too many stupid and irritating comments coming from nobodies who don’t have the guts to back their comments up with their actual identities. I don’t see why anyone has to hide behind a pseudonym when I myself am laid out all over the place for everyone to see. I don’t have anything to hide and neither should any of my readers.
From now on, comments with no real names, no email addresses that can be confirmed, and no reliable identity checks will no longer be allowed.
I don’t care if it means a lessening of the hits this blog receives per day. Because I never did care about those things in the first place.
September 22, 2009 at 1:54 pm (1800s Filipinas, 1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Design and Decoration, Domestic Travels, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Global Crowd, The Ilonggos, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Past)
Of course, Negros Oriental Governor Emilio “Dodo” Macias M.D. reacted suitably when I casually mentioned over the Bais fiesta lunch at Angelo and Ruby Teves’ house [ 10 September 2009, Thursday ] that “Dumaguete = Teves,” at least in Manila circles. The good Governor — despite being at the top of Negros Oriental politics — was magnanimous and politely agreed that it was the popular perception, at least in Manila circles.
The Teves are generally regarded as a Spanish mestizo family, like so many of the Old Negros Oriental aristocracy. But according to them, the original family name was actually Tan of Chinese origin.
The most prominent Teves these days is the current Secretary of Finance Margarito “Gary” B. Teves. He is acknowledged by the clan as a financial genius as well as an upright man of unquestionable integrity. He is a son of the formidable Herminio “Miniong” Teves by his first wife.
September 22, 2009 at 9:30 am (1800s Filipinas, 1900s Philippines, Domestic Travels, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Global Crowd, The Ilonggos, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Past)
“May Don Diego visit you both. Tonight.”
Text message from Jules Ledesma, 06 September 2009, Sunday, 06:39:36 p.m.
It was Congressman Jules Ledesma’s comic way of saying “Good Evening” to me and to his ”Manang” Tess Lopez but the name of Don Diego de la Vina casts a long shadow in the history of Negros Oriental…
Decades after his death, Don Diego de la Vina, a Chinese mestizo originally of Binondo, Manila, remains Negros Oriental’s most mythical, yet historical figure.
August 22, 2009 at 3:28 pm (1800s Filipinas, 1900s Philippines, 19th century Filipino Art, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Davaoenos, The Global Crowd, The Ilocanos, The Ilonggos, The Laguna Tagalogs, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos, The Past, The Tarlaquenos, The Tayabenses / Quezonians)
“You should see the gold cuffs I inherited from Mama, Toto.” a dear lady friend of Old Leyte lineage told me.
I have been fascinated with Filipino Colonial Jewelry for many years now…
August 22, 2009 at 3:24 pm (1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Architecture, Design and Decoration, Domestic Travels, Gonzalez de Sulipan, Manila Houses, Pampanga Art, Pampanga Cuisine, Pampanga Traditions, Personal, Random memories, Religious Traditions, Rodriguez de Bacolor, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, The Past)
August 20, 2009 at 5:14 pm (1800s Filipinas, 1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Davaoenos, The Global Crowd, The Ilocanos, The Ilonggos, The Laguna Tagalogs, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos, The Past, The Tarlaquenos, The Tayabenses / Quezonians)
Many comparisons have been drawn between the “de buena familia” good families and the “nouveau riche” of Manila, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Davao, and the rest of the Philippines. But there is one thing I have not seen discussed, and it is the clan profile of a “de buena familia” vis-a-vis that of a nouveau riche/newly prosperous one.
Very noticeable in “de buena familia” good Filipino clans is that many members [ apart from the omnipresent miscreants and bad eggs ] are interesting, productive, sometimes outstanding individuals. The streak is noticeable in nuclear families, then the clan in general, and extends even to their allied families. In keeping with the culture of wealth and financial savvy, the young are provided with “good education” that hopefully ensures their future, ”good” [ read: stringent ] not only in terms of academic excellence but also “good” [ read: well-off, if not outright rich ] in terms of classmates/peers having a similar, well-provided quality of life. Postgraduate degrees in prestigious universities abroad, the more and the more expensive the better, are essential for the competitive edge in later professional life. Because of generations of financial stability, even affluence, “good marriages” not unlike corporate mergers further and assure enjoyable social, and later profitable business, connections. That is why Lolo A is Chairman of the Board of Company A, Lolo B the majority stockholder of Conglomerate B; Lola C is President of Company C, Lola D is Chair of of the Board of Company D. It is why Daddy is Chairman of the Board of of Company E and Mommy is the President of Company F. And why Tito G heads Corporation G and Tita H owns Company H. It’s All in the Family, Filipino-style.
What is interesting in nouveaux riches/newly prosperous Filipino clans is that it is usually just one family member, or if they’re lucky then one nuclear family, who has “made it big.” Then the relatives, by degrees of closeness, gravitate and revolve around him/her/them like moons around a planet or planets around the sun. Thus, in such a family, it is not surprising that the housekeeper is actually a maternal aunt, the “yayas” female cousins, the drivers uncles and male cousins, the secretaries sisters, and so forth and so on. One can certainly take the view that the successful family member has taken on the duty of uplifting everybody else in the family or clan. Very Filipino.
What are your observations?
August 10, 2009 at 5:10 pm (1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Angst, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, Tristesse)
The seniors of any society possess real treasures in terms of memories and experiences. And it was my privilege and honor to have sat down a few days ago with some senior Kapampangan “kabalen” — powerful, influential, and prominent politicians in their time — who regaled me with so many of their memories, among them comic but genuine recollections of the first Kapampangan president, “Cong Dadong,” and his [ second ] wife, “Ache Eva”…
“First of all, Cong Dadong was not exactly the “Poor Boy from Lubao.” True, he was not rich in the way the old line Spanish mestizo hacenderos of Lubao, Floridablanca, and Guagua were [ like the Arrastia, the Toledo, the Toda, the Ynfante, the Velez, and the Gonzalez { originally Bravo } were ]. But destitute, he was definitely not. His father, Urbano Macapagal, a poet, was actually already a political leader in the town. The distinguished philanthropist Don Honorio Ventura of Bacolor, then the Secretary of the Interior during the Quezon presidency, saw the potential of Cong Dadong and financed his law studies at the University of Santo Tomas. That was the start of something big.”
“When Cong Dadong first ran for Representative of the First District of Pampanga in 1949 upon the urging of several local leaders to President Quirino, he earnestly requested the heiress Carmen ‘Mameng’ Angeles Buyson of Bacolor to desist from running for the office. Mameng Buyson was a virtual shoo-in for Congresswoman because of her expensive, high education and her ‘hacendero’ family’s great wealth. Cong Dadong reasoned to Mameng that a ‘Poor Macapagal’ from Lubao could not win against a ‘Rich Buyson’ from Bacolor. In true ‘de buena familia’ form, Mameng graciously acceded to his request. Cong Dadong won the seat by a landslide.”
“Well, Ache Purita, his first wife, died of sickness in 1943. She was a sister of the handsome actor Rogelio de la Rosa. Three years later in 1946, he married the Pangasinense, Ache Eva. Ah, She was one difficult woman. Basically a good woman, but a difficult one.”
“It was a ‘Chicken and Egg’ situation. Ache Eva did not like us Capampangans because she felt that we discriminated her because she was Pangasinense, aside from the fact that she was the second wife when the first one, Ache Purita, was Capampangan and one really beautiful woman, outside and inside.”
Oh, that marriage had its share of quarrels like everyone else’s. There was the time when his first grandchild with Ache Purita was baptized. Cong Dadong arrived late dressed only in his “camisa chino” [ the buttoned undershirt of the "barong tagalog" ] and he seemed to be in sixes and sevens. With obvious irritation, He explained that Ache Eva did not want him to attend, and in the ensuing argument she had torn his “barong tagalog” to shreds! He requested liquor because he just wanted to drink. He drank himself to stupor that night. We all remember that well.”
“We joked him that he and Ache Eva were following in the footsteps of President Manuel Roxas and his First Lady Trinidad de Leon. Cong Dadong just shook his head. President Roxas and his First Lady Dona Trining were memorable for their marital squabbles, mainly because of his lady friend, Juanita MacIlvain — sometimes in plain view during functions, sometimes only the angry exchanges were heard behind the rooms. Many of our older colleagues attested to that.”
“One time, [ Congressman ] Francisco “Paquito” / “Quitong” Nepomuceno brought some Angeles town officials to the Malacanang Palace to meet with Cong Dadong. The waiting room had photographs of the Presidents and their First Ladies. When one town official peered closely at the photo of Ache Eva, Paquito warned: “E ca lalapit caya, abe! Quietan na ca niyan!” [ "Don't go near her, friend! She will bite you!" ]. They all laughed. Well, to their amusement, the joke reached Ache Eva and she was livid!”
“Imelda Romualdez-Marcos was NOT the first Philippine First Lady to have a collection of fine jewelry. Evangelina Macaraeg-Macapagal preceded her to it. And before Ache Eva, it was Leonila Dimataga-Garcia. Ache Eva collected fine jewelry and she definitely preceded Imelda Marcos as a VIP client of Liding Miranda-Oledan. Ache Eva had a very considerable collection! Look at President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo closely during official functions, she wears beautiful jewelry which are NOT new but actually vintage. Those are from Ache Eva and most likely purchased from Liding Oledan. Ache Eva also bought from the other major Capampangan jewelers of the time like Tinay Gonzalez and Ache Ines Lugue-Sarmiento, the mother of Fe Sarmiento-Panlilio, who rose to the international big leagues during the Marcos years and became ‘The International Jeweller.’”
