All The Presidents' Sons, Daughters, and Relatives

The results of the may 2022 elections still baffle many political observers. While some say that the recent elections did not make any difference as far as dynastic politics is concerned, with many people from the same family running and winning, not all of these related families were successful. In fact, among the descendants and relatives of Presidential families, not all were lucky enough. Here is a run-down of the sons, daughters, and relatives of Philippine presidents who ran and won (or lost) in the recent elections:

Aguinaldo

For generations, the Aguinaldo clan has continued to dominate the politics of Kawit, Cavite. The fight for Mayor of Cavite was between two great-grandsons of President Emilio Aguinaldo: incumbent Mayor Angelo Aguinaldo (the son of Mayor Reynaldo Aguinaldo, who was the son of Emilio Aguinaldo, Jr.) versus Cavite 1st District Representative Francis Gerald “Boy Blue” Aguinaldo Abaya (son of Consuelo Aguinaldo Abaya, the daughter of Emilio Aguinaldo, Jr.). Angelo Aguinaldo defeated his cousin Boy Blue Abaya by just 3,028 votes. A brother of Boy Blue Abaya, former Kawit Vice-Mayor Dr. Paul Plaridel Abaya, failed to secure his bid as representative of the 1st district of Cavite against Ramon "Jolo" Revilla, son of Senator Bong Revilla. Jolo Revilla defeated Dr. Abaya 9,048 votes.

Former Kawit Mayor Federico “Hit” Aguinaldo Poblete, the son of Maria Aguinaldo Poblete and grandson of President Emilio Aguinaldo, lost his bid for Kawit Councilor and placed only in the 10th spot.

Final Tally: 1 win, 3 loses

Laurel

Luis Carlos Mariano Laurel II, a grandson of President Jose P. Laurel, lost as councilor in Tanauan, Batangas, placing only 11th among the candidates.

Final Tally: 1 loss

Osmeña

What once was a family with many members holding various national and local positions, only 3 members ran and only 1 won. 

Margot Vargas Osmeña, former Cebu City Councilor and wife of former Mayor Tommy Osmeña, son of Senator Sergio Osmeña, Jr. and grandson of President Sergio Osmeña, and their daughter-in-law Bea Villegas Osmeña, both lost in their Mayoral and Council bids. Margot placed second to Mike Rama while Bea placed 12th in the race for Councilor in the South district of Cebu City.

Renato Osmeña, Jr., son of former Cebu City Vice-Mayor Renato Osmeña, who was the son of Edilberto Osmeña, in turn a son of President Sergio Osmeña, won and clinched the 5th place in the South district council.

Final Tally: 1 win, 2 losses

Magsaysay

No direct descendants of President Ramon Magsaysay ran for office, but Angel Magsaysay - Cheng, daughter of his nephew former Governor Vicente Magsaysay (son of his brother Jesus del Fierro Magsaysay), ran for Mayor of Castillejos, Zambales but lost to Jeff Khonghun. A sister-in-law of Angel Magsaysay-Cheng, former Congresswoman Milagros “Mitos” Magsaysay, wife of Jesus "JV" Vicente, lost to Jay Khonghun.

Final Tally: 2 losses

Macapagal/Arroyo

Only former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, daughter of President Diosdado Macapagal, ran for Pampanga’s second district and won unopposed. Her sister-in-law, Maria Lourdes T. Arroyo, lost to Dino Yulo for 5th district Congressman of Negros Occidental by more than 42 thousand votes.

Final Tally: 1 win, 1 loss

Cojuangco-Aquino

No direct descendants of President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino ran in the 2022 elections, but several of her relatives did. Her former son-in-law, James Yap, won as councilor in the 1st district of San Juan, Manila. Lorenzo “Enzo” Oreta, the son of her sister-in-law, Senator Tessie Aquino-Oreta, ran for Mayor of Malabon City to replace his brother, incumbent Mayor Antolin Aquino Oreta III, but lost to Jeannie Sandoval by just 1,279 votes.

Among her Cojuangco relatives, Jaime Diaz Cojuangco, the son of Tarlac Rep. Charlie Cojuangco and grandson of the late Danding Cojuangco, first cousin of President Cory Aquino, won as Tarlac 1st district representative. Jaime’s uncle, Mark Cojuangco, won as 2nd district representative of Pangasinan. Another Cojuangco nephew, Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro, ran for Senator but lost.

Final Tally: 3 wins, 2 losses

Ejercito Estrada

The family of President Joseph Ejercito Estrada fared very well in the recent elections. Two of his sons, Jose "Jinggoy" Ejercito Estrada, Jr. and Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito won as Senators. 

His nephew, Emilio Ramon “ER” Pelayo Ejercito III ran but lost to Rosseller “Ross” Rizal for Mayor of Calamba, Laguna. Interestingly, Mayor Ross Rizal is the great-great-grandson of Gabriel Rizal Mercado, brother of Francisco Rizal Mercado, father of Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal.

ER Ejercito’s son, Jorge Jerico Ejercito lost to Karen Agape for Vice-Governor of Laguna Province. ER’s wife and Jerico’s mother, incumbent Pagsanjan Vice-Mayor Maita “Girlie” Ejercito, ran but lost the Pagsanjan mayoral race to Kuya Cesar Areza. A niece of President Estrada, Councilor Jannah "Jana" Ejercito lost to Atty. Bel Zamora for the Congressional seat of San Juan.

Final Tally: 2 wins, 4 losses

Duterte

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s three adult children won in their respective posts: daughter Sara is the incoming 15th Vice-President of the Philippines, while sons Paolo and Sebastian were elected as the first district representative and Mayor of Davao City, respectively.

Red Duterte, a great-grandson of Severo Duterte whose brother Facundo was the grandfather of President Rodrigo Duterte, won a seat in the 5th district provincial board.

Final Tally: 4 wins

Marcos

Of course, the Presidential family who did the best in the recent polls is the Marcos family. Former President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos’s own son, Ferdinand “Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos, Jr. clinched the top elective post and is the incoming 17th President of the Philippines. His daughter, Imee Marcos, is an incumbent Senator.

Two grandsons of President Marcos won: Senator Imee’s son, Matthew Marcos Manotoc, won as Governor of Ilocos Nortes while President-elect Marcos’s eldest son, Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos, was elected 1st district representative of Ilocos Norte.

Michael Marcos Keon, a first cousin of both President BBM and Senator Imee, won as mayor of Laoag City, Ilocos Norte. Another first cousin, Eugenio Angelo Marcos Barba, won as congressman by a landslide with 127,867 votes in the 2nd District of Ilocos Norte.

Cecilia Araneta Marcos, President Marcos Jr.’s cousin-in-law on both the Marcos and his wife’s Araneta side, secured another term as vice governor of Ilocos Norte.

P.S. The relatives of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on his maternal side also did well but are not included here.

Final Tally: 5 wins

While political analysts are correct in saying that dynastic politics in the Philippines is stronger than ever after the May 2022 polls, it is also true that bearing the surname of a President is not always a sure win. As seen in the tallies above, among the various relatives of Philippine Presidents who ran in the recent elections, of the 33 candidates, only 20 won while the remaining 13 lost, some by a very large margin

Leni Gerona Robredo: Another Daughter of History

The genealogy of Vice-President Maria Leonor Gerona Robredo has admittedly not been traced as much as that of, say, President Rodrigo R. Duterte. But Vice-President Leni Robredo is clearly another daughter of history, someone whose story has been set in the stars long before she was born. The Gerona history may not be as long, but there are still lessons to be learned and examples that have been set by her own ancestors.

While VP Leni Robredo has not always been associated with dynastic politics, her husband’s family has been politically active in Bicol politics, particularly the Villafuerte family, whose maternal line descends from the Robredo, as well. Through her own Gerona lineage, Vice-President Leni Robredo is also a product of the principalia: her Gerona ancestors were cabezas de barangay and gobernadorcillos during the Spanish period, while they also held the position of Presidente Municipal (equivalent to Mayor today) during the American period.

The Geronas were prominent principalia families during the Spanish era, and at least three members of the family, Don Rafael, Don Calixto, and Don Rufino Gerona, served as gobernadorcillo since as early as 1852. As a previous article would tell anyone, though the principalia were of some importance during the Spanish period, having such ancestors was not enough to inflate a family's ego or turn them into oligarchs. In fact, the concept of a principalia was actually as a link of the common people to the Spanish government. When the Americans came, the family's political prominence continued with Rufino, Salvador, Pascual, and Federico Gerona elected as presidente municipal.  

Initial research into the Gerona family shows that a brother of the above mentioned Presidente Municipal Salvador Gerona, the son of Casimiro and Senona Gerona, had a brother, Julian, who took a different path in his career. He took up law and was admitted to the Philippine bar. He was one of the foremost Bulaneños of his time, and must have been active in fighting the Americans when they came to colonize the Philippines. In January of 1901 Julian Gerona was sent to the island of Guam together with such famous personalities as Artemio Ricarte and Pio del Pilar. In the official list of prisoners, Julian was listed as holding the position of “colonel”, thus indicating his importance in the fight against the Americans. Julian and the rest did not stay long in Guam, because as soon as peace was restored in the Philippines Julian was back and before long, he was appointed as the first secretary to the First Philippine Assembly of 1907. Julian must have turned a new lead and must have decided to cooperate with the Americans since such lofty position would not have been given to him had he continued fighting against the Americans.

As early as 1903, the aforementioned Don Rufino Gerona was already assisting the Americans in going around town and capturing bandits. In fact, in a report by the commanding officer of the Constabulary force in Sorsogon, Rufino Gerona features prominently as not only guiding the American troops around Sorsogon, but also providing them with local scouts to help in the apprehension of said bandits. The same Rufino Gerona was also mentioned in a meeting of all dignitaries in Sorsogon after the Americans came. The acting governor of Sorsogon, Don Leon Paras, insisted that the salaries of the local officials of Sorsogon be paid the same amount as those of the province of Albay, despite the fact that Sorsogon’s population was just half that of Albay’s. Rufino protested against this, saying that the high salaries were not congruent to their province’s size and that the province’s coffers were not sufficient. Most of all, Rufino Gerona was concerned about the idea of paying officials too high a salary despite the ravages brought about by the war. Clearly, Rufino Gerona was an early crusader against excessive government spending.

One of Secretary Julian Gerona’s sons, Fernando P. Gerona, continued his father's legal profession and became a justice of the peace. The legal profession went another generation when Fernando's two sons and a daughter also became lawyers: Ronando, Fernando, Jr., and Leonor. Another of Julian's sons, Melanio Gerona, married Leonor Nicomedes and they had a son, Antonio Gerona, who later became an RTC judge. Antonio Gerona had been practicing as a lawyer for 19 years when he was appointed judge of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch II on July 9, 1980. He would also later serve as a Judge of the Regional Trial Court Branch 28 in Naga City beginning in January 30, 1987, as well as also taught Law at the University of Nueva Caceres in Naga City. Leni Gerona-Robredo, who is also a lawyer, is the daughter of Judge Antonio N. Gerona and Salvacion Sto. Tomas.

Luisa Azaola

It is interesting to note that despite the current political contest between former Senator Bongbong Marcos and Vice-President Robredo, there are several historical convergences between them. For instance, while the judiciary is independent, it is very interesting that Vice-President Leni Robredo’s father was in essence also a Marcos appointee. Another connection between them is the fact that  during the 2016 elections, one of the contested provinces in the recount in the Vice-Presidential race was Camarines Sur, a bailiwick of Leni Robredo. A former alcalde of Camarines was Don Íñigo González de Azaola, who served from 1809 to 1814; one of his daughters was Luisa Azaola who married José María González y Brenes in 1861. They would later become the great-great-grandparents of Atty. Louise Araneta, who would later marry Senator Ferdinand "Bong Bong" Marcos, Jr. Without a doubt, this ancestor of Presidential hopeful Bongbong Marcos's wife would have circulated among the principalia of Camarines, and would have very well met some of Vice-President Leni's Gerona ancestors, as well.

Maybe a little too speculative, but this is the beauty of genealogy. We get to tell the stories hard-core historians tend to ignore.