From Ciudad Real to the Ciudad Reina del Sur: The Family of Don Pablo Garcia

Running together with this article is a tribute to outgoing House Speaker and former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. A descendant of the subject of this piece, Governor Gwendolyn Fiel Garcia, is returning as the governor of one of the most progressive provinces in the country. 

While a certain percentage of the Filipino population have Spanish blood, not all can trace their Spanish line up to the first Hispanic ancestor to set foot in the Philippines. And, even fewer can trace their Spanish ancestry beyond the Philippines and up to the Spanish peninsula.

One of the few families who can prove a Spanish heritage, pinpoint exactly their first Spanish ancestor in the country, and go up the family tree a few generations further in Spain is the Garcia family of Cebu. Or rather, the Garcia family who first settled in Sibonga and then Dumanjug, both in Cebu province. This Garcia family is different from the other Garcias in Cebu or even in the Philippines. Thanks to Claveria's 1849 surname decree, thousands of people all over the Philippines carry similar family names without the slightest bit of blood relation. As of 2015, the surname Garcia was ranked as the second most common last name in the Philippines, just a few hundred thousand carriers below the number 1 surname - DE LA CRUZ. 

The Garcia family in this article descends from one immigrant from Ciudad Real, Spain. He was Pablo Garcia Fernandez and his story has been pretty well researched by American historian Michael Cullinane. Cullinane's research has shown that Pablo Garcia was born in 1839 in Spain to Ramon Garcia, said to have been from Ciudad Real, and Isabel Fernandez. The parents most likely never set foot in the Philippines and it was the son, Pablo, who first came to the country most likely towards the end of the 1860s. He was listed as a resident of Cebu between 1869 to 1870 but by the 1870s he was already living in Sibonga, Cebu and was recorded to have made a living out of metal collection, marble cutting, drilling, and carpentry. By 1885 he was a Juez de Paz of Sibonga and by the late 1800s he was already known as an agricultor and by 1910 was honored as the "oldest Spaniard in Cebu". He married an insulares, Nieves Fortich y Gonzales, who was of the Cebu Fortiches.

Church records in Sibonga, Cebu show that by the time Pablo Garcia settled there, he was already considered a respectable Spanish migrant as proven by the constant use of the ennobling title of "Don" to his name. His eldest son and second child, Antonio Garcia, was born on March 21, 1876 and his baptismal record indicates that Pablo and his wife, Nieves Fortich, were classified as comerciantes, which meant they were involved in business. 

Antonio Garcia's Baptismal Record (Sibonga Parish archives)

Pablo Garcia in his son Antonio's baptismal record is listed as Español Europeo which meant that he was a pure Spaniard born in Spain and not in the Philippines. His hometown is given as Ciudad Real, literally meaning Royal City. One member of the Garcia family asked this author what I thought was the reason why Pablo Garcia left his hometown. By studying the milieu of Don Pablo Garcia, especially at the time of his birth, one can then answer that question.

The Garcias of Ciudad Real

Ciudad Real is actually the name of both a city and the province the city is located in. This city is a part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. From its founding in 1255 up until the 15th century, Ciudad Real experienced a period of growth. The increase in its population and production activities, such as wool, leather and wine, led the Catholic Monarchs to look favourably on the city, choosing it as the home for extremely important government institutions. In 1833, the province of Ciudad Real was finally created, with the city of Ciudad Real as its capital. The Spanish War of Independence reached Ciudad Real with the defeat of Spanish troops by Napoleon’s forces at the Guadiana Bridges, with these forces occupying the city up until 1813. 

Three parishes were established in Ciudad Real: Santiago, San Pedro, and Nuestra Señora del Prado. The oldest of the three, was established in the thirteenth century and located in the northeast portion of the city. San Pedro and the next parish, Santiago, which was located in the southeast of the city, shared parts of the aljama or the old Jewish quarter. The third and last parish, the Nuestra Señora del Prado, was established in 1531 and was located in the western and northwestern part. The church patron was also the city's main patroness and its church was more elegant than San Pedro's. Initially, the leading citizens of the city lived closer to San Pedro but later they moved to the parish of del Prado.

During the first half of the 19th century, Ciudad Real went through a period of stagnation marked by a decrease in population, poor interconnection, low levels of investment, and an excessive dependency on agriculture. This was the condition of the city when Pablo Antonio Garcia was born on January 16, 1839 at around 8 in the morning. He was baptized immediately a day after. His parents were Ramon Garcia Melgar and Ysabel Fernandez. His paternal grandparents were Manuel Garcia and Antonia Donayre (Donaire) while his maternal grandparents were Francisco Fernandez and Juana Arias. His entire family lived in the parish of Nuestra Señora del Prado.

It is unclear what standing Pablo Garcia's family was, socially, in their hometown. There were several Garcia families in Ciudad Real at the time of Pablo's birth and there were certain branches of the Garcia family that were listed with the title of "Don" in official records, clearly an indication of some important social stature in the community. As stated above, most of the city's prominent families lived in the parish of Nuestra Señora del Prado and thus there is a chance that Pablo's family once enjoyed some sort of eminence in their community.

The Nuestra Senora del Prado de Ciudad Real as depicted in one of the parish's books

As already stated earlier, by the time Pablo Garcia was born, Ciudad Real was going through a decline. Almost everyone was engaged in farming and few were in business or working as professionals. 

Pablo's grandfather, Manuel Garcia Melgar, was married twice: first to Maria Corrales, who predeceased Manuel leading him to remarry to Antonia Donayre. This second marriage resulted to Josefa Antonia Jacinta Garcia, born in 1786, Manuel Jacinta Garcia (Antonia's twin), Manuel Benito Josef Antonio Garcia, born in 1788, and Ramon Garcia Melgar, born around 1790.

Meanwhile, Manuel Garcia Melgar was born around the mid-1700s to Sebastian Garcia and Antonia Dominguez while his wife, Antonia Donayre, was the daughter of Antonio Donaire and Antonia Herrera.

There was probably very little opportunity in Ciudad Real for Pablo Garcia as he was growing up. We know for a fact that when his eldest son, Antonio Garcia, was born in 1876 in Sibonga, Cebu, that Pablo's parents were already deceased. If he had arrived sometime in the late 1860s or early 1870s, it is very likely that Ramon Garcia and Ysabel Fernandez were already both dead and their deaths provided Pablo Garcia the impetus to leave for the Philippines.

Pablo Garcia was 71 years of age in 1910 when the city government recognized him as the "oldest Spaniard in Cebu". By then, he was a gentleman of means who owned tracts of land that he cultivated for agricultural purposes. By the time he died on January 15, 1925 - just a day shy of his 86th birthday - he was already residing in Cebu City. His death certificate listed his profession as a merchant, his address as El Filibusterismo Street which is somewhere in downtown Cebu, his cause of death as "senility" which most likely just meant he died of old age, and he was buried at the San Nicolas Catholic cemetery.

Fleeing his homeland to seek for a better life, Pablo Garcia indeed found a much better life in Cebu. He rose in prominence quickly, and within just 3 generations one of his great-grandchildren and a namesake, Pablo Paras Garcia, became a Governor of the province he chose to be his new home. Pablo Garcia would later become Deputy Speaker of the House before retiring from public service. Pablo's daughter, Gwen F. Garcia, served 3 consecutive terms as Cebu governor then went on to serve 2 terms as a member of the house of representatives. In 2019, she ran and won another fresh term as Cebu Governor. Her brother, Pablo John F. Garcia, replaces her as 3rd district representative while another brother, Marlon F. Garcia, serves as mayor of Barili, Cebu. Her own daughter, Christina Codilla -Frasco, serves as mayor of Liloan, Cebu while Christina's husband, Vincent Franco Frasco, is the 5th district representative.

Other descendants, like the first Garcia in the Philippines, are engaged in business. 

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's Royal Descent and the Value of Genealogical Provenance

People do genealogy for various reasons.

Some people trace their family trees to answer common questions like where their family has been and where they are headed. Some do it hoping to find possible long-lost inheritance or claims to hidden fortunes. A more common reason for doing it is the dream of finding a connection to a famous person, be it a president, a billionaire, or to royalty. In the past, it was a common practice to trace the descent of royalty from the divine: the Japanese Imperial family has long held that they are descended from the Shinto Sun goddess Amaterasu (David Kinsley, 1988); many Roman Emperors and politicians claimed to be from the families descended from the Greek and Roman pantheon (O. Hekster, 2005); the British Royal family is said to be from the Norse god Woden or Odin; or powerful Islamic dynasties would always claim to be the Prophet Mohammad's descendants.

Photo grabbed from SGMA's FB Page

In modern times, people continue to have such fantastical claims to lofty pedigrees. For decades, people would scoff when families like the Macapagals would claim descent from Lakan Dula. Many families, especially those from Bulacan and Pampanga, have always claimed to be descendants of the Manila Lakans or the Super-Principalias. The same could be said for some families in Cebu and Bohol that claim descent from Lapulapu (Mojares, 2018), Humabon (Abellana, 1998), Sikatuna (Dery, 1992), and others.

These claims of descent from antiquity are common in many cultures. And while historians are skeptical of these genealogies, many of these family trees are actually complete with names and details. It may be that some distant court genealogist felt pressured and fabricated these family trees to further consolidate the power of their kings. Or, it may also be that these were from oral histories. Before writing and printing became a common preoccupation of the human race, certain groups of people in many societies were tasked to memorize their histories. Author Alex Haley in his book Roots wrote at the end of his novel about very old men in Africa called "griots" - men who could recite the centuries old village histories, of clan and family stories, of all the great men of their village. Basically, they were what Alex Haley called 'living, walking archives of oral history' (Haley, 1976). Who, then, can tell if this skill has not been passed down through the centuries along certain families in the Philippines?

In truth, many genealogies, no matter how fantastical, have some basis in reality. Many elements of the Lapulapu and Humabon oral traditions can be corroborated by documents found in Spanish and Portuguese archives as proved by historian Danilo Madrid in his book on Ferdinand Magellan.

One such example of oral traditions being backed by archival documents albeit having some discrepancies is the Veloso of Cebu family tree. For years, members of the prominent Veloso family (whose members include no less than the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo R. Duterte, and host of other senators, legislative representatives, and more) believed that their line came from a Portuguese merchant who came to Southeast Asia in the 1600s. The Velosos have a long and documented genealogy. However, in his 2015 scholarly article The Myth of the Portuguese Ancestor: The Veloso Family of Nineteenth-Century Cebu, historian Michael Cullinane expertly provides detailed proof that some of the names of earlier generations of the Veloso family were incorrect. He further provides archival evidence that the Velosos, at least those in the nineteenth century, were racially classified as mestizos sangleyes (Chinese mestizos) and not Portuguese. Considering the practice at that time, racial status was inherited paternally. If the Velosos were indeed Portuguese, this classification would have been carried over to the 19th century. Nevertheless, while Cullinane's work has disproved some of the Veloso family's claimed history, this updated story of their family has even added more details into their genealogy. 

At the end of the day, there is nothing wrong in continuing to believe in oral histories. What is important is that one knows how to delineate between fact and fiction as well as learn to accept when oral traditions are proven to be something else. 

Establishing the Macapagal Genealogy

The Macapagal-Arroyo Family (Photo from SGMA's FB)

One of the best examples of a genealogy that has a mixture of oral and archival documentation is that of the Macapagal genealogy. For decades, the history of the Macapagals has been the subject of many speculation and debate. There are a few who claim that the Macapagal family (in particular the line of President Diosdado) is descended from Lakandula. 

Former MTRCB Chair Alejandro Roces in his eulogy during President Macapagal's necrological service at Malacanang in 1997, stated that “Macapagal was an impoverished royalty because he was of royal descent...” This was one of the earliest public recognitions of Macapagal's descent from Lakandula. Seven years earlier, social historian Luciano P.R. Santiago published the authorative journal article The Houses of Lakandula, Matanda, and Soliman (1571-1898): Genealogy and Group Identity. While he traced the descendants of Lakandula and the other superprincipalias down to the 16- to 1700s, he did not go beyond this. In fact, though he mentions that Diosdado Macapagal and Jovito Salonga are known Lakandula descendants, he does not trace how that is so.

Another former government official, National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) chairman Jaime C. Laya, stated in 2001 that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, daughter of Diosdado Macapagal, was the "great, great, great granddaughter 15 times of Don Jose Macapagal" (Vanzi, 2001). Don Jose was the son of Don Juan Macapagal, a proven great (3X) - grandson of Lakandula. He backtracks in his book, Letras y Figuras, when he said that GMA was likely a descendant of Don Jose Macapagal, a great (10X or so)-granddaughter of said Jose Macapagal (Laya, 2001). Laya's backtracking is quite logical. When he said President Arroyo was the great (15X)-granddaughter of Don Jose Macapagal, this was quite problematic. Using the standard 25 - 35 years for every generation, Laya's claim would put President Arroyo as having been born between 2075 and 2215, way in the future! 

Truth of the matter is, there has never been a concrete illustration of the descent from Lakandula to President Macapagal despite everyone claiming it as such. Even the biography of Diosdado Macapagal by Cecilia P. Serrano simply rehashes the old general claims of Macapagal’s descent from Lakandula but makes no detailed illustration of this.

Interestingly, Macapagal did descend from Lakandula but, unlike the claims of Laya and Serrano, not through the aforementioned Jose (or Joseph) Macapagal. President Diosdado Macapagal was the great (11X) – grandson of Lakandula, making President Gloria M. Arroyo the 12X great-granddaughter of Lakandula. There is clear and valid archival provenance for former President Gloria M. Arroyo’s family tree up to her great-great-grandfather Quirino Macapagal. The baptismal record of Arroyo’s father, former President Diosdado Macapagal, still exists and shows the name of PGMA’s grandparents and great-grandparents (Lubao baptismal register, 1910).

The baptismal record of Gloria’s grandfather, Urbano Macapagal, also exists and shows the name of Don Quirino Macapagal (Lubao baptismal register, 1877). Thus, in these 2 baptismal records alone, we can see the proof of descent of the Macapagals in 5 generations. It is the first key to connecting the line of PGMA to Lakandula. Urbano’s grandfather as listed in his baptismal record was Don Qurino Macapagal who was, though not mentioned in the record, not from Lubao but from San Simon, Pampanga. Don Quirino Macapagal’s own baptismal record is the next and most important key in the Macapagals’ Lakandula descent, an indisputable proof of PGMA’s descent from Lakandula. Clearly stated in the record is the inclusion of Quirino’s parents in the “barangay de Lacandola”. The barangay de Lacandola, or more formally the gremio de Lacandola, was the administrative grouping of proven descendants of the three great rulers of Manila. The Spanish authorities decided to put this up in order to keep track of who exactly were the descendants of the Super-principalias as well as safeguard these families as they were prone to various abuses and exploitation by local Spanish and indio functionaries alike.

Portion of Quirino Macapagal's baptismal record showing his parents to be
part of the barangay de Lacandola

The last provenance in PGMA’s tree is the marriage record of Pedro Macapagal and Ma. Gracia Paguio, which gives us the names of both their parents. Once again, they are both listed as being members of the Lacandola barangay, Pedro from the gremio de Lacandola in San Luis, Pampanga, while Ma. Gracia from San Simon.

So whatever other families who claim that a) the line of Diosdado Macapagal is a “bogus” Macapagal line, b) that the Macapagals are just servants of the Gatbontons, the “real” descendants of the royal Lakans of Manila, or c) that the Macapagals of Lubao are not related to the Macapagals descended from Lakandula, all these are irrelevant. The fact is very few families can provide detailed archival proof like PGMA’s family. Even if one cannot connect her directly to Lakandula (which we can), the fact that several records show that Gloria’s direct ancestors were registered in the gremio or barangay de Lacandolas is enough proof of her descent from the famed Lakandula of Tondo.

Proving the Macapagal Descent from Lakandula

Thanks to the efforts of the late Luciano P.R. Santiago as well as those of Luis C. Dery, it is now easier to extend PGMA’s family tree further using their scholarly works. Don Quirino Macapagal, his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all appear in Santiago’s research. Using this and other research materials, we can further extend Don Quirino Macapagal’s line to Don Eugenio Lapira Macapagal and his wife Doña Cathalina Sinacumanglugod. Don Eugenio L. Macapagal was the father of the aforementioned Don Juan Macapagal, the father of Jose or Joseph Macapagal from which PGMA has been erroneously said to be descended. In fact, it is from another son of Don Eugenio, Don Miguel Lapira Macapagal, where President Arroyo’s line is from.

Don Eugenio Macapagal was the great-great-grandson of Lakandula. His line going up to Lakandula, Matanda, and Soliman and several of his descendants may be traced using the secondary sources Descendientes de Don Carlos Lacandola, the only existing cache of documents in the Philippine National Archives that specifically trace the family trees of the Lakandulas, Matandas, and Solimanes.

PGMA’s Descent from Royalty

From PGMA, we count 6 generations up to Don Jose Macapagal whose name is the last name we see in primary sources. Using secondary sources as well as the previously researched genealogies by various scholars, we can further connect Don Jose Macapagal 8 generations further up to Don Carlos Lacandola. In other words, former President and outgoing Speaker of the House Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is a 14^th generation descendant of Lakandula.

Culling from the writings of Isabelo de los Reyes, H. Otley Beyer, Luther Parker, and Mariano Henson, it has been generally accepted that Lakan Dula, Ladia Matanda, and Rajah Soliman II were brothers, and that the younger Soliman, Soliman III, was Lakan Dula’s and Matanda’s nephew. They were descendants of the Sultans of Brunei and Sulu and in fact there were several intermarriages among the royal houses of Manila and Tondo, Sulu, and Brunei, and Matanda, Lakandula, and Soliman were descendants of Sultan Bolkiah of Brunei and Sultan Sharif al-Hashim of Sulu.

These connections to the genealogy of Brunei and Sulu thus stretches the family tree of PGMA further. Lakandula was the grandson of Sultan Bolkiah of Brunei and Princess Leila Menchanai (or Menjanai) of Sulu, in turn the granddaughter of the founder of the Sultanate of Sulu, Sultan Sharif al-Hashim, said to be the son of Shariff Ali Zainal Abidin from Yemen. Shariff Abidin is further said to be the father of Shariff Muhammad Kabungsuan, the founder of the Sultanate of Maguindanao.  The tarsila of the Sultans of Maguindanao further shows the descent of Shariff Abidin, the father of their founder Shariff Muhammad Kabungsuan, from the Prophet Muhammad. Thus, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is at the 34^th generation from the Prophet Muhammad.

Many Moslem historians believe that the genealogy of Muhammad can be traced to Ismail, one of the the sons of Abraham. Between Ismail and Muhammad are seventy generations. However, there seems to be some debate on Muhammad's ancestry. Some scholars believe that the lineage of Prophet Muhammad actually has three versions: the first was authenticated by biographers and genealogists and states that Prophet Muhammad's genealogy has been traced to Adnan. The second is subject to controversies as to which son of Ismael the Prophet really descends from. It traces his lineage beyond Adnan back to prophet Ibrahim (Abraham). The third version, traces his lineage beyond Ibrahim back to Aadam (Adam). Genealogists differ from which son of Isma'il عليه السلام the line of descent came as well as in the names on the line of descent. So, while the exact descent of the Prophet Muhammad cannot be established for now, it is nevertheless interesting to note that PGMA can further connect herself to another royal line due to her descent from Muhammad.

Fatima’s son, Shariff Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abi Talib, married Shahrbānū, who was a Sassanid princess and the daughter of Yazdegerd III, the last Emperor of the Sassanid dynasty of Persia (now Iran). The Sasanian dynasty was named after Sasan, the ancestor of the dynasty. It was founded by Ardashir I in 224, who defeated the last Parthian king Artabanus IV and ended when the last Sasanian monarch, Yazdegerd III (632–651), lost a 19-year struggle to drive out the early Arab Caliphate, which was the first of the Islamic empires.

Because the Macapagals are descended from Don Quirino Macapagal, himself a descendant of Don Eugenio Lapira Macapagal, who was the great-great-grandson of Lakandula, himself a grandson of Princess Laila Menjanai of Sulu who was a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, they can count as their blood relatives the royal families of Sulu, Maguindanao, Brunei, Jordan, the United Kingdom (although Queen Elizabeth’s descent from Mohammad is debated), and a host of other families that have been traced to Muhammad.

This genealogical writeup is just a simple thank you to former President and outgoing House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for her service to the Filipino people. Her full genealogy with generation per generation illustration of descent from all abovementioned families will be featured in the author’s upcoming books UNANG PAMILYA: Brief Genealogies of Philippine Presidential Families and Descendants of the Super-Principalias.

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Sources:

Primary sources:

1. Church records of Saint Augustine in Lubao, Pampanga, Philippines.
2. Church records of of Saint Simon San Simon, Pampanga, Philippines.
3. Church records of of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, San Luis, Pampanga, Philippines.

Other References:

1. H. Otley Beyer. Philippine History Quarterly, 1919.
2. Luther Parker. "The Gats and the Lakans." Philippine Magazine, 504-505. Manila, Philippine Magazine, January 1931.
3. Luther Parker. "The Lakandolas." Philippine Magazine, 572-573. Manila, Philippine Magazine, February 1931.
4. Luther Parker. "The Last of the Lakans." Philippine Magazine, 628-629. Manila, Philippine Magazine, March 1931.
5. Mariano A. Henson. "Genealogy of the Rulers of Central Luzon as Related in the Will of Fernando Malang Balagtas." The Province of Pampanga and Its Towns (A.D. 1300-1955), 163-168. Manila: Villanueva Book Store, 1955.
6. Luciano P.R. Santiago. "The Houses of Lakandula, Matanda, and Soliman (1571-1898): Genealogy and Group Identity." Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, Volume 18, No. 1, 39-73. Cebu City: USC Press, 1990.
7. Jaime C. Laya. "The Lacandola Papers in the National Archives." Letras Y Figuras: Business in Culture, Culture in Business, 54-55. Pasig City: Anvil Publishing, Inc., 2001.
8. Luis C. Dery. "Isang-Dugo: Kinship and the Origin of the Filipino People." A History of the Inarticulate: Local History, Prostitution, and Other Views from the Bottom, 1-20. Quezon City, New Day Publishers, 2001.
9. Cecilla P. Serrano. "Ancestors." Beating the Odds: The Life, the Times, and the Politics of Diosdado P. Macapagal, 1-5. Quezon City, New Day Publishers, 2005.

The Euskaldunak: All in the Family

Although they keep a low profile today, too low a profile some would say, their presence cannot be ignored nor forgotten. For centuries, this small group of people have made their mark in the growth of the Philippines as a nation. While many Filipinos today lump them together with the rest of Spain, they maintain a distinct and quite separate an identity as a people. They are the Euskaldunak, the Basques. Seafarers, merchants, conquistadores, and nation-builders. In Spain, while their homelands were incorporated into the Spanish kingdom, they remained a separate group of people. In the Philippines, while they could often be mistaken for a Spaniard, their ever mellifluous, often unique names would make them stand out. 

As with previous articles, this post is a demonstration of the interconnection of families in the Philippines, in this case, the Basque Descendants of the Philippines. It is interesting to note that like many cases of family connections, those who are descended from the Basque immigrants in the 1800 to 1900s are also related to one another, some many times over. 

Looking at the family trees of Basque clans in the Philippines, one can see how much intermarriages there have been in the last few years. While the early Basque immigrants usually married into families from their own Basque province, the recent generations have not followed the same patterns and has married those from other provinces, albeit still from the Basque country. 

For instance, the four major Basque clans of the Philippines include the Aboitiz, Ayala, Elizalde, and Ynchausti families. They represent the four provinces of the Basque country in Spain: Araba, Bizkaia, Guipúzcoa, and Navarre. We add to this another Basque clan, the Aranetas, who also hail from Guipúzcoa. One of the earliest merging of Basque families was the marriage of Mercedes Zobel de Ayala y Roxas, a great-granddaughter of Don Antonio de Ayala, founder of the Ayala clan and fortune in the Philppines, and Joseph "Joe" R. McMicking, the great-grandson of Don Jose Joaquin de Ynchausti, founder of Ynchausti y Compañía. A major stakeholder of this company were the Elizaldes, who also intermarried into the Zobel de Ayalas: Francisco Jose Elizalde, Jr. to Sofia Zobel de Ayala. The Elizaldes, meanwhile, also intermarried into the Aboitiz clan: Francisco Jose's brother, Carlos Antonio, married Melissa Aboitiz, who is not just an Aboitiz but also the great-granddaughter of former President Sergio Osmeña. The Aboitizes also married into the Zobel de Ayalas: siblings Mariana Zobel de Ayala and Jaime Alfonso Zobel de Ayala married cousins Danel C. Aboitiz and Margarita Aboitiz, respectively. 

Meanwhile, Danel's brother, Sabin, married Beatriz "Bettina" Araneta, from a clan founded by Jose de Araneta, another Basque from the province of Guipuzcoa. The Aranetas, like in many other family trees, also feature prominently among the Basques. Another Araneta, Maria Blanca Araneta, married Juan Manuel Elizalde. Judith "Judy" Araneta married Gerardo Roxas, son of President Manuel A. Roxas while her cousin, Louise A. Araneta, married Ferdinand "Bong-Bong" Marcos, Jr., son of President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

Interestingly, Louise Araneta's mother, Milagros Cacho González de Azaola, was the great-granddaughter of another Basque, Luisa Florencia de Azaola who was married to another Basque, Don Jose de Oyanguren, founder of the province of Davao.

Of course, there are probably more intermarriages among these families and many more other families of Basque descent. However, in just these famous clans, we have already seen at least 8 intermarriages. The Basques clearly are an interesting sub-group in the Philippines. Though there are just a few of them, they are, collectively, very influential and worth billions of pesos. 


Truly, just like other family trees, the Basques of the Philippines belong to one big family tree.

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Sources:

De Borja, Marciano R. Basques in the Philippines. University of Nevada Press, 2005.
Ayala Corporation. “Pioneers from the Beginning: The Country's First Business House, 1834.” Ayala at 175, 2009.
Ayala Corporation. “Revolutionary Thinkers: Casa Ayala and the First Zobel.” Ayala at 175, 2009.
Aboitiz, Endika. “La Familia Aboitiz – Our Roots.” Aboitiz Eyes, 2016, p. 52.
Araneta Family Tree by Roland Oscar Araneta (shared with author October 2010).
Picornell, Jaime. “An Aboitiz-Osmeña Golden Wedding Anniversary.” Philippine Daily Inquirer, 9 Jan. 2011.
“The A List.” Philippine Tatler, 3 Apr. 2017.
“Jaime Alfonso Zobel and Marga Aboitiz Tie the Knot.” Bilyonaryo, 22 May 2018, www.bilyonaryo.com.ph/2018/05/22/jaime-alfonso-zobel-and-marga-aboitiz-tie-the-knot/.

Philippine Family Tree Series: The Genealogy of Pre-Hispanic Visayan Royalty

As an improvement to the genealogies of Humabon and Lapulapu discussed in previous posts, this new tree explores the connection between Rajah Humabon and Sri Lapulapu. That Humabon was Lapulapu's brother-in-law is actually backed by both archival documents and oral history.

It is true that documentation on the Visayan pre-Hispanic royalty is fewer than that of the Lakans of Luzon. Because of this, we know very little of the royal families of the Visayas. We also do not have proof of where their descendants are today. This is where oral tradition comes in to fill in the void, and where clues left by what little archival document we have complete the story.

One interesting factoid in the family tree of pre-colonial Visayan Royals is that the Abellana family of Cebu claims to be descendants of Tupas, Humabon's nephew and son-in-law and eventual successor. President Duterte's ex-wife's, Elizabeth Zimmerman, mother was Purisima Abellana, born in Tuburan, Cebu. While we have no way yet of proving her Abellana line to be related to those of San Nicolas, Cebu City's, further research just might shed light on the possibility of Duterte's children being descendants of pre-Hispanic royalty. It would be tantalizing to also compare this with PGMA: her father's family was from pre-Hispanic native royalty, and she later became president herself. If Sara Duterte were descended from Tupas, well, then, you make the conclusion.

Naturally, this does not make any claim of authenticity. There was a need to delineate between archival documentation and purely oral history to make sure people understand that the chart simply is an amalgamation of various sources on Humabon and Lapulapu. 

Welcome to the World, Rodrigo Duterte III!

The Duterte family recently extended one generation further with the birth of Rodrigo Duterte III, President Duterte's first great-grandchild. The name is clearly an homage to the child's popular great-grandfather. Interestingly, Rodrigo, though a name common in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, is more popular in Portugal. What;s more interesting is that the Veloso family, from where President Duterte is descended on the paternal line, has always claimed to be descendants of a Portuguese. But that is another story to be told at a later date.

Welcome to the world, baby Rodrigo III!