The TRUE Father of President Sergio Osmeña

Former Commonwealth President Sergio Osmeña’s paternity has always been shrouded in mystery. While he lived, he never spoke about his father. Because all his children have already passed on, his grandchildren are the closest living descendants who can shed light on this mystery. Unfortunately, he refused to mention if he knew his father, but he also never supposedly spoke of this matter with his children or grandchildren. 

An oral history that tells us more about the attitude of Sergio Osmeña towards the topic of his paternity is in an interview by American historian Michael Cullinane with the late Senator John “Sonny” Osmeña.  Sonny Osmeña informed Cullinane in the 70s that as a small boy he asked Sergio who his father was. In response, Sergio supposedly gave him a gentle slap on the cheek and told him to never ask him that question again. As such, Sonny claimed that he had no idea who Sergio’s father was. However, in another interview in the 1980s with Jesusa Sanson Zamora, it was revealed that Sonny Osmeña told her that in his final years, Don Sergio wanted to gather his family to tell them that his father was Antonio Sanson. Sergio’s second wife, Esperanza, however, ordered that this should not be made public. So, Sergio went to his grave never revealing his father’s name.

Despite all the mystery and secret, two names have emerged as his possible father: Don Pedro Singson Gotiaoco and Don Antonio Sanson. And while Sergio never commented about it, these names have been uttered by various people in society and mentioned in newspapers and magazines since as early as the 1930s. These and more oral histories have been passed on for 145 years now, but naturally, for the last decade or so all historians and writers could rely on are the available secondary documents that point to the alleged father of Don Sergio and oral histories that continue to abound. This year, some members of the Osmeña family finally decided to settle the matter and solve this mystery with the use of DNA testing. The timing was just right because in recent years, not only have DNA tests become more commercialized and more affordable and accessible, but advancements in modern technology have also made the results of these tests more accurate and reliable. 

For decades now, DNA testing has been used to solve centuries-old mysteries. For instance, in 2012 the remains of England’s King Richard III were thought to have been discovered but in order to confirm that the skeleton belonged to the said ruler, researchers turned to genetic genealogy methods. A comparison was made to Richard’s mitochondrial DNA with those of two living cousins. Their mitochondrial DNA turned out to match the remains, supporting previously accumulated evidence indicating King Richard III's remains had been discovered. Another mystery solved by genetics were those of the Romanov bodies. In 1991, to prove that the bones in Yekaterinburg were indeed those of the last Russian Imperial family, Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, donated his mitochondrial DNA for comparison with the bones found and it was conclusively proven that Prince Philip’s mitochondrial DNA matched those of the bodies found. These and many other examples show how DNA testing is used to help solve what used to be believed as impossible historical mysteries.

Historical Context

While the DNA result is conclusive, a short discussion of what has been written and said about the paternity of Sergio Osmeña is needed. It must be understood that while the internet today is full of newspaper and journal articles as well as book references and blog posts that discuss the alleged fathers of Don Sergio Osmeña, the earliest biographies and write-ups on Osmeña, especially during his lifetime, did not at all mention the name of either Don Antonio Sanson or Don Pedro Gotiaoco as the possible father of Osmeña. Most of these early biographies were silent about his parentage most of the time. For instance, in a 1931 collection of biographies of prominent Filipinos, neither Sergio’s father nor mother was mentioned in his biographical sketch. A US magazine’s feature article on Don Sergio in 1944 indicates that “Osmeña, who recently became the second president of the Philippine Commonwealth…refuses to discuss his father or mother or his early home life”. Even books after Don Sergio’s death in 1961 were still mostly silent on his father’s identity, one in 1967 simply skating over his early years without mentioning a mother or alleged father and another in 1976 saying “it was Juana Osmeña y Suico who was the mother of Sergio Osmeña; the father was unknown”. 

The earliest reference to Antonio Sanson (Courtesy of @Cebuanogenealogy)

Despite all the mystery surrounding his father’s identity, two names did come out as his possible fathers. The first, and the earliest name to be associated with Osmeña, was Don Antonio Sanson of the prominent Sanson clan of Parian. He was briefly mentioned in a Progress newspaper article written by Vicente Sotto in 1934 as the father of Osmeña. Being the political rival of Osmeña, Sotto probably wanted to humiliate Osmeña by mentioning Sanson since he was much older than Juana Osmeña and was already married with at least one child. In 1961, a monograph mentioned that “the most convincing evidence to date suggests that his (Osmeña’s) father was a prominent and wealthy man from the city of Cebu who owned extensive land holdings in the northeastern municipality of Borbon named Antonio Sanson. Since Sanson was already a married man, it was not possible for him to establish a legitimate bond with Osmeña’s mother.” The name of Sanson being Osmeña’s father, for some reason, started to be mentioned less and less especially after Osmeña’s death in 1961, and another name, Pedro Singson Gotiaoco, became the more accepted identity of Sergio’s father.

An early mention of Don Pedro Gotiaoco being Don Sergio’s father was in the 1992 “She-wu Hua-shang Ching-ying”, a Chinese version of Forbes magazine, which indicated that “Gotiaoco’s second wife is said to be the mother of one of the country’s most honored senior politicians, Sergio Osmena, Sr... While there are expressed doubts regarding the authenticity of Osmena’s biological relations to Gotiaoco, there is no evidence available to prove the contrary. The 10th volume of a collection of Jinjiang historical documents published by the Fujian Political Association, however, indicates that Sergio Osmena’s Chinese name is given as Go Si Bin.” This is interesting because the supposed Chinese name of Sergio Osmeña indicated him as a fourth son (si) which tallies with the known fact that Pedro Gotiaoco had three sons with his Chinese wife. 

Over the years, more and more articles have been written supporting the Gotiaoco paternity rather than Sanson’s, and in fact, President Osmeña’s official Wikipedia entry indicates that his father was Gotiaoco, and his master profile on the online genealogy site Geni.com also indicates that Gotiaoco was his father. One of the country’s leading Chinese writers and social historians, Wilson Lee Flores, wrote in 2010 that “the father of the late incorruptible and good President Sergio Osmeña, Sr. was the 19th-century rags-to-riches Chinese immigrant tycoon, philanthropist, and Cebu Chinese community leader Don Pedro Lee Gotiaoco”. Some circumstantial evidence provided in support of Gotiaoco’s paternity, as discussed in National Artist for Literature Dr. Resil B. Mojares’s Book of Go: The Gotiaoco-Gotianuy-Go Family of Cebu, included the lore that “Pedro Gotiaoco and Juana Osmeña knew each other since they lived in the same block”,  “Juana used to buy oil and matches from Pedro; Pedro patronized the bakery and gaming parlor Juana's mother, Paula Suico, operated out of their home”, “Pedro and Juana were often seen going out on paseos”, and that Gotiaoco helped pay for Sergio Osmeña's education at Seminario-Colegio de San Carlos and Universidad de Santo Tomas.”

Despite all the articles about Gotiaoco being Don Sergio’s more probable father, American historian Michael Cullinane, who has been studying primary documents from Cebu as well as other documents and sources, and who has conducted countless interviews with members of Cebu’s old families, insists that Antonio Sanson was the more logical candidate as Don Sergio’s father. As cited by John T. Sidel in his 1995 book, “Cullinane, in published writings and personal communications with the author, expressed doubt about the veracity of these claims (that Gotiaoco was Don Sergio’s father), noting evidence that suggests that the real father of Sergio Osmeña Sr. was another Chinese merchant, and that the putative kinship ties between the Osmeñas and Gotiaocos were convenient bases for a long-lasting business-cum-political alliance between the families.” Cullinane in 1999 offered both the names of Gotiaoco and Sanson as possible fathers of Osmeña; in the body of the book Cullinane mentioned that Don Sergio took refuge in Borbon, one of Cebu’s northern towns on the east coast, where his alleged father, Antonio Sanson, had lived. He further conclusively wrote in 2015 that Sergio Osmeña was the illegitimate son of Antonio Sanson and in his 2022 The Chinese Mestizos of Cebu City (1750–1900), he placed Antonio Sanson’s name as Sergio’s father in the family tree illustration at the end of the book.

DNA Testing and Sergio Osmeña’s True Father

Annie Osmeña Aboitiz and Marilou Enriquez Bernardo, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Sergio Osmeña, commissioned a DNA test in 2023 to finally have a definitive answer to Osmeña’s paternity. Using the company EasyDNA, a Y-Chromosome test was utilized to determine Osmeña’s paternity. The Y chromosome test is used to explore ancestry in the direct male line, and only individuals with a Y chromosome (males) can have this type of testing done. The Y-DNA test, otherwise called the Y chromosome DNA test, is a male-specific genealogical DNA test used for exploring a man’s patrilineal or direct father’s-line ancestry.  What this means to prove the paternity of Don Sergio Osmeña is this: if we can compare the Y-DNA of a direct male-line descendant of Don Sergio with the Y-DNA of direct male-line descendants of both the Gotiaoco and Sanson families, then we will finally have scientific and definitive proof of who Don Sergio’s father was.

Both the donors for the Osmeña and Gotiaoco DNA are grandsons of our main subjects Sergio Osmeña, Sr., and his alleged father #1, Don Pedro Gotiaoco. Unfortunately for the Sanson DNA, while Don Antonio Sanson was known to have at least three wives, he only had one child, a daughter. However, as long as the sample comes from the same paternal lineage, such as any male-line direct descendant of Don Antonio Sanson’s brothers or male cousins, then this sample could still be used to compare against the Osmeña DNA. Because we do not know of any male siblings of Don Antonio Sanson, we went up one generation higher to Don Antonio Sanson’s father’s brother, Ambrosio Climaco de Sanson, whose direct male-line descendant, Ronnie Sanson, gave his DNA. 

Result 1: Y-STR Comparison Report between Osmeña and Gotiaoco DNA

When comparing the 23 markers of the Osmeña DNA with those of the Gotiaoco DNA, the results indicate that they only matched in nine (9) out of the 23 markers, clearly a non-genetic connection in the paternal line and excluding them from coming from the same male line.

Result 2: Y-STR Comparison Report between Osmeña and Sanson DNA

The comparison of the 23 markers of the Osmeña DNA and those of the Sanson DNA clearly indicates a 100% match in all markers. Thus, genetically, Don Sergio’s descendants and the Sansons cannot be excluded from being of the same male lineage. Sergio Osmeña’s descendants have a 99.982% chance of being patrilineally related to the Sansons. The 100% match of the 23 markers also clearly indicates that the Osmeñas and Sansons are closely related in the patriline and share a more recent common ancestor (MRCA) within 3-5 generations.

The fact that all 23 Y-STRs of the Osmeña DNA matched the 23 Y-STRs of the Sanson DNA conclusively proves a shared descent from the same male line. And since one of Sergio Osmeña’s alleged fathers was Don Antonio Sanson, we can now safely and scientifically conclude, supported by historical documents and various oral histories, that the true father of President Sergio Osmeña was Don Antonio Sanson.

One June 2, 2023, a press conference was conducted sponsored by the Osmeña family to announce the identity of Sergio’s father. A short presentation was made by this author, and the results were revealed. It has taken 145 years, but finally President Sergio Osmeña’s dying wish of acknowledging his father by revealing his identity has finally been fulfilled.

Watch the 3-part video of the full revelation of President Osmena's true father:

What If of History: President Ferdinand R. Tabuebue, Jr.

The Marcos family name has an interesting history. While many Filipino families have surnames that were adopted in accordance with the 1849 Claveria Surname decree, it is interesting that the Marcos family already used "Marcos" as their last name prior to Claveria, then adopted a new surname to comply with the decree, but later would officially register Marcos as their official name.

The Marcos family has roots to Batac, Ilocos Norte where the surname has been traced back to the last quarter of the 1700s. The earliest ancestor of President-elect Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. that we can definitively trace is his 3X-great-grandfather, Don Gregorio Marcos, who was born on March 11, 1893. Unfortunately, his baptismal record (see below) does not state who his parents were and in fact simply states that he was padres no conocido, or parents unknown. This, despite him being described as a legitimate child. So we can only assume either the record keeper mistakenly wrote legitimate child in the record, or the other way around when he forgot to write down the names of Gregorio's parents. Whatever the case, family lore suggests that Gregorio Marcos was an assistant to the Spanish provincial judge in Laoag in the mid-19th century. His wife was also a Marcos named Maria who, according to some oral tradition, was supposedly Itneg by racial classification who was impregnated by the same Spanish judge her husband worked for. It is a possibility that it was Gregorio who was most likely the product of a liaison between a Spanish judge and a local woman, possibly Itneg as the oral tradition suggests.

Whatever the case, at least two of the children of Gregorio and Maria Marcos were baptized under the "Marcos" family name. Damaso Marcos, born on December 8, 1830, would have been too young to have been the one to register their family name to comply with the Claveria surname decree in 1849. Therefore, it was definitely Gregorio Marcos who would have officially adopted their Claveria-surname.

Even though the family already had a surname that was allowed by the provisions of the decree, the next decades saw the family name being listed in Batac's official records as either "Tabuebue" or "Tabuebue Marcos". These tell us that the family adopted "Tabuebue" as their new surname. It does not appear to be part of the list of surnames that accompanied the decree. It is very possible that the family simply reverted to an old indigenous name that they might have carried way before they used "Marcos". 

Damaso Marcos would later be listed as Damaso Tabuebue Marcos. His own son, President-elect Marcos Jr.'s great-grandfather, Don Fabian, would later officially revert the surnames to "Marcos Tabuebue" as seen in one official government gazette. Even the father of President Ferdinande Edralin Marcos, Mariano Marcos, was officially registered as Mariano Tabuebue when he was born on April 21, 1897. But records during the American period already consistently identified the family as using "Marcos" in all documents, which meant that they reverted to the use of their old surname and discarded the use of their adopted, Claveria-decree surname.

Had the family decided to stick with their adopted surname, we would have had a President Ferdinand Romualdez Tabuebue, Jr. today!

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.

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. 

Thicker than Water: The Manglapus - Marcos Nuptials

Marcos-Manotoc and Manglapus wedding. (Photo from the Marcos Presidential Center)

Their marriage has been hailed as something out of a fairy tale. Or, more appropriately considering their families, out of a Shakespearean opus. They are, after all, the grandson and granddaughter of bitter political rivals who both died probably hating each other.

During the 1965 presidential elections, Senate President Ferdinand E. Marcos ran against incumbent President Diosdado P. Macapagal. Senator Marcos, who ran under the Nacionalista ticket, eventually emerged the winner in the elections, gaining 51.94% of the total votes against the standard bearer of the Liberal Party, President Macapagal. While the fight was focused on these two key players, there was another candidate in the race who placed third - this was Raul Manglapus who ran under the Party for Philippine Progress, a breakaway of the Nacionalista party. While Raul Manglapus was not a threat to either Marcos nor Macapagal in 1965, he later on became one of the most vocal and prominent critics of the Marcos regime. By the time Martial law was declared, Manglapus went into exile as there was an outstanding warrant against him if he ever returned to the Philippines. Manglapus only returned to the Philippines after Marcos was removed from office through EDSA 1. Bitter enemies until the end, Raul Manglapus was one of the petitioners in court trying to stop the return of Marcos's body, which was not successful as the body eventually returned to the Philippines in 1993.

The political history is really just a backgrounder. While reports say that Michael Ferdinand Marcos Manotoc, son of Governor Imee R. Marcos and Tommy Manotoc and grandson of President Marcos, and his wife Carina Amelia Manglapus, granddaughter of Raul Manglapus, only met in 2014 during the wedding of Luis Marcos Araneta, son of Marcos’ second daughter Irene, where Cara was a guest of Alexandra Rocha, Luis’ wife.

Thicker Than Water

What isn't being mentioned in the press about the marriage of Michael and Carina is the fact that they are second cousins. Michael's father, Tommy Manotoc, is the son of Ding Manotoc and Nena La'O. Meanwhile, Carina's father, Francis Xavier Manglapus, is the son of Raul Manglapus and Techie La'O. Both Nena and Techie La'O were the daughters of Gabrielle La'O and Pacita Arguelles. Which means that Tommy Manotoc and Francis Manglapus are first cousins, making their children second cousins.

As I have discussed in an earlier post about consanguineous marriages, the Philippines only prohibits marriages between first cousins. Second cousin marriages are allowable, but need dispensation from the Vatican when married in a Catholic ritual.

The marriage of Michael Manotoc and Carina Manglapus, then, not only brought an end to a decades long feud between their families; it has also strengthened the familial bonds of the Marcos, Manotoc, Manglapus, La'O, and Arguelles families.

Philippine Family Trees Series 3: The Philippine Vice-Presidents

Family Tree of Vice-Presidents

In this third of the series, I attempted to connect the Vice-Presidents of the Philippines in one big family tree (click the photo above to see the details). It would have been a bit easier now since 6 of our presidents also used to be Vice-Presidents (Osmena, Quirino, Garcia, Macapagal, Estrada, and Macapagal-Arroyo) and the previous article on Philippine Presidents already laid the groudwork for their connections. I almost succeeded in completing the Vice-Presidents' family tree save for one: VP Noli de Castro, try as I might, could not be connected with certainty to any of the other Vice-Presidential family trees. I am in the process of researching his ex-wife's and current wife's genealogies and see where it will lead us. In this meantime, this is what we have so far.

It is quite amusing to think that some people have assumed I had an ulterior motive in writing the Genealogy of Power article because it made President Duterte appear like an outsider compared to most of the previous presidents of the republic. However, I have always held that Duterte's election as president is the first in a very long time (since President Garcia, at least) that a person who was genealogically distant from the ruling elite was voted into power by the electorate. I made this very clear in another previous article when I said that "Duterte's all encompassing, inclusive type of leadership was one major factor that catapulted him to victory - those from the countrysides and from the provinces are tired of being left behind." 

But what many have not connected is that I also made the same conclusion with Vice-President Leni Robredo, a woman who I did not vote for but nonetheless believed to be someone who is fresh, political-wise. In the same previous article I wrote that "Leni is also not a product of Imperial Manila. Her upbringing is of the province, so she definitely will complement Duterte's own provincial background. In fact, in 2015, she was proud to say that among the 3 vice-presidential bets (Senators Gringo Honasan and Chiz Escudero also have roots to Bicol) she is the only one who grew up in the province. This insistence on clinging to her provincial background is a tell-tale sign of her affinity to and advocacy for those in the countrysides."

Which is exactly what the genealogical table above and the matrix of power below will show us. Just as I surmised that among the presidents, Digong is second to farthest from the bases of power in Imperial Manila, so is Vice-President Leni Robredo clearly an outsider among the Vice-Presidents.

As seen in the matrix above, Leni Robredo has the farthest average connection, family-tree-wise, from the other former Vice-Presidents. Surprisingly, Sergio Osmena is the front-runner from among his fellow VPs with an average of 17 steps. Truly, Leni Robredo's provincial roots have almost guaranteed that her connections to the ruling elite would be quite far away.

That is why I believe that if only President Duterte and Vice-President Robredo would set aside their differences and work together, they could achieve a lot. These are two people whose genealogies tell us they are outsiders; true, they still both come from the local elite (Duterte from Duterte-Durano-Almendras of Danao City and Robredo from the Gerona and Robredo clans of Naga City), but they have carved their own brand of politics not like those of their families. And if they worked together? What wonderful country the Philippines would most likely become!

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So, how did I connect these people? Let's begin with the Osmeña-Macapagal connection. Sergio Osmena's tree connects with Gloria Arroyo's through one of Osmeña's daughters. Unfortunately, this early on, the daughter's name is kept private. However, the tree further continues with the last name of this daughter's son, which is Valencia. So, using Concepcion G. Briones's book Life in Old Parian I discovered the daughter's name, which was Rosalina and who married Dr. Elpidio Valencia. But their son's name was still private, so I had to find another means to know this son's name since Briones's book only traced the Osmeña tree to certain lines. This Valencia son is married to a Revilla, whose name is also private. So I googled the last names Osmeña and Valencia and Revilla and was directed to 2014 Philippine Star Lifestyle article celebrating the 90th birthday of Rosalina Osmeña Valencia. In the same article, Sergie O. Valencia is mentioned as having a Tina Revilla as a spouse. Since the Macapagal-Arroyo family tree connects this private Revilla with an Armando Goyena as her father, another quick google search revealed that actor Armando Goyena has a daughter named Tina Revilla-Valencia. An IMDB article further validates this. The family tree continues to connect us to the Santos, then de la Rosa, and finally to the Macapagal family with all names already displayed. But while these names were all displayed, I still googled all names or checked other family trees to validate their connections. So far, so good.

VP Osmeña also has another close connection, VP Emmanuel Pelaez. In the online family tree, the Osmeña-Pelaez connection is through Osmeña's first wife's family. The tree connects a "private" sister of Estefania Chiong Veloso, Osmeña's first wife, with the Villalon family. Once again, Briones's Life in Old Parian helped with the connection since the Chiong Velosos are also documented in the book. The book gave us the name of Estefania's sister, Eleuteria, whose daughter Genoveva married into the Villalon family. Because this was the only name made private, it was easy to follow the trail of relationship from Genoveva to her son Augusto, then connected to the Fabella family through his wife, then to Fabella's cousin, Edith, who married Vice-President Pelaez.

Then we connect the VP Gloria M. Arroyo with VP Jejomar Binay, VP Laurel, and VP Guingona through both sides of her husband's family. First Gentleman Arroyo's father is from the Araneta clan of Negros Occidental, whose complete genealogy has been compiled by Roland Oscar Araneta (who shared their records with me in 2010). The Araneta genealogy connects various lines and generations of the family until we go down to Tonypet Araneta, who married former Ms. International Gemma Cruz. From here, we look into the Nakpil genealogy, also available online. Gemma Cruz Araneta's step-sister, Nina Angela Nakpil, married into the Campos family and one of her sons, Luis Jose Campos, married Abigail Binay, daughter of Vice-President Jejomar Binay. Meanwhile, on First Gentleman Arroyo's mother side, we trace the connection with VP Laurel and Guingona. The Tuasons, Arroyo's maternal family, have their genealogy discussed in the the article The Last Haciendera: Teresa de la Paz by Luciano P.R. Santiago. So we trace this line through the Tuasons, then through the Legardas, Roces, and Prietos, who on one side married into the Rufino family whose one member, Paz, married Arsenio Laurel, brother of VP Salvador Laurel, and on another side married into the Romualdez family (genealogy derived from countless books including Carmen Pedrosa's The Rise and Fall of Imelda Marcos and Imelda and the Clans: A story of the Philippines by Beatriz Romualdez Francia), whose one member married into the Kittilstvedt family. Once again the online family tree made private the name of the Romualdez who married Yedda Marie Kittilstvedt but her personal website gives us the name of Martin Romualdez. And so through the Kittilstvedt family, then the Atega, then the de Lara, whose one member, Ruth, married VP Guingona. The de Laras also have their genealogy privately compiled.

Then we can go through the Romualdez family again and get connected to VP Fernando Lopez through the Manotoc-La'O-Lopez connection. Of course, this then would give us 2 more Vice-Presidents: one was Fernando Lopez, and the other is Erap Estrada whose daughter Jacqueline married into the Lopez clan. The Lopezes of course have their genealogies thoroughly discussed and documented. What I used was Alfred McCoy's An Anarchy of Families: State and Family in the Philippines, Phoenix: The Saga of the Lopez Family by Raul Rodrigo, and countless church records and other sources.

Still through the Manotoc connection we can further connect VP Elpidio Quirino which takes us through the Mayuga, Lucero, Besa, then Quirino connections. 

Finally, we connect the current Vice-President, Leni Robredo, through a long line: we start once again with one of Osmeña's daughters, connecting with the Alonso, Reynes, Veloso, Noel, Arriola, Pimentel, Requejo, and then Sto. Tomas families which ultimately landed us with Apolonio Sto. Tomas, grandfather of VP Robredo.

I think one can get the idea of how easy it is to connect family trees. As long as you have the patience and the nose to sniff out clues, then you can connect just about any family tree you want. As always, enjoy tracing family trees. And if you found this helpful, please like my Facebook page!

© 2017 TODD CABRERA LUCERO

President Duterte and the Genealogy of Power

There is a theory in America called the Most Royal Candidate theory. This is a term given to the fact that every presidential election, except one, in the United States has been won by a candidate descended from King John Lackland Plantagenet. The theory further suggests that the presidential candidate with the most number of traceable royal ancestors wins the election.

Of course this theory has met a lot of criticisms. But regardless if this theory actually makes sense or not, one thing is for certain: proximity and access to the base of power - in this case to "royalty" - is almost always a sure win for the candidate.

In a previous article, which took me about 5 years to complete and revise many times, I illustrated the interconnectedness of Philippine politics: from Aguinaldo to the BS Aquino several lines of relationships, whether by marriage or blood or both, connected most of those who are in power. Now, many years after that article was first conceived, I have yet again found more interesting connections between and among all 16 of our presidents.

The Presidential Connections

The Genealogy of Power matrix

It is admittedly an accepted fact that everyone is connected one way or another, whether by Six Degrees of Separation of through genealogy. But I am still amazed at the connections I saw once I put together the family trees of all 16 of our presidents. In this article, I propose the Genealogy of Power principle where we will see which of our presidents and other prominent figures have the strongest connections with the bases of power. This is different from the Six Degrees of Separation principle, which states that in most instances two people can be connected to each other by six degrees or less. For instance, the friend of Baste Duterte, the son of PDU30, is connected to former dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos by just 4 degrees since Digong's father, Vicente, knew President Marcos personally and even worked under him. My Genealogy of Power principle depends only on the genealogical connections of people which often means more in this country than anywhere else.

So, using the genealogies of all 16 presidents and other families with influence, we can assign corresponding points of relationships between 2 people (see Genealogy of Power table above). For instance:

• Presidents Diosdado Macapagal and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo are connected just by 1 relationship as seen in the matrix above because Diosdado was GMA's father. 

• FVR and Duterte are separated by 23 connections. And since FVR and Ferdinand Marcos were cousins, we can also connect PRRD with Marcos, both of whom are connected by 18 steps.

Among the 16 presidents, the 2 with the farthest genealogical connection are Presidents Quirino and Garcia. The two presidents are connected distantly through 38 relationships (in genealogy speak, President Elpidio Quirino is the brother of the father of the father of the husband of the daughter of the brother of the father of the wife of the son of the sister of the mother of the husband of the sister of the husband of the sister of the wife of the son of the brother of the father of the husband of the daughter of the wife of the son of the brother of the husband of the daughter of the daughter of the daughter of the brother of the wife of the brother of the father of the wife of the brother of the mother of the husband of the sister of the wife of President Carlos P. Garcia). You get my drift, then. Because all presidents have full genealogical data available on them, we can assign the relationships of all the presidents from Aguinaldo to Duterte. See the illustration below to see just how interconnected all our presidents are.

PHILIPPINE FAMILY TREE: Family Trees of all Presidents Connected

As seen in the genealogy of power matrix, colors have also been assigned to the closeness of relationships aside from number. For example, Marcos and Ramos are connected through just 5 relationships, being 2nd cousins, thus making their relationship extremely high and thus shaded red. Same with Aguinaldo and Aquino, who have very close relationships.

If we were to assign this "genealogy of power" relationships to all 16 presidents, we get some very interesting insights. The top 2 most "powerful" families using our genealogy of power matrix are Marcos and Roxas. The Marcos family, on average, is separated from all presidents by just 12 connections, while the Roxases just by 16. Tied on third "most powerful" spot are the Quezon, Laurel, Cojuangcos, Aquinos, Ramoses, and Estradas. Simply put, most, if not all, of these families are what we can consider strongly related to the bastions of power in imperial Manila. 

On the opposite side, we can see that Quirino, Duterte, and Garcia are the last 3 families with close proximity to power. Thus, it is clear that our current president, Rodrigo Duterte, is truly far removed from the cluster of powerful families, separated on average by 25 relationships to any of the presidential families.

Connection with PDI, ABS-CBN, and MINING

If we are to check the connection of President Digong, PNoy, and Mar Roxas with Maria Alexandra Prieto, CEO of broadsheet Philippine Daily Inquirer, we can see that the connections are 21, 11, and 6, respectively. When connecting with Gabby Lopez of ABS-CBN, the connections are 22, 9, and 11, respectively. And, if we want to see their relationship with Benjamin Philip G. Romualdez, who has deep connections to mining, the connections are 20, 10, and 7. 

Clearly, no matter how you look at it, President Duterte is a true outsider of imperial Manila. He is also so far removed from the oligarchs, as seen in his 20 or more connections that separate him from the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), ABS-CBN, and the mining industry. PNoy and Mar, on the other hand, are very close to these symbols of Philippine oligarchy. 

Connections to Pedro Paterno and Jamby Madrigal

I wanted to further connect PDU30, PNoy, and MAR with other figures in history to test my theory further. First, with Pedro Paterno, known to Philippine history as the original turncoat or, in Filipino, balimbing. Historian Ambeth Ocampo wrote:

"Remember, Paterno was one of the greatest "balimbing" (turncoat) in history (perhaps he was the original "balimbing" in Philippine political history). He was first on the Spanish side, then when the declaration of independence was made in 1898, he "wormed his way to power" and became president of the Malolos Congress in 1899, then sensing the change in political winds after the establishment of the American colonial government, he became a member of the First Philippine Assembly."

And since Pedro Paterno is related by blood to former Senator Jamby Madrigal who recently made news when she was accused of trying to bribe the inmates who accused Senator Leila de Lima of protecting the drug trade in Bilibid prisons, she will also be connected in the charts. 

Roxas - Paterno - Madrigal Connection

Aquino - Paterno - Madrigal Connection

Duterte - Paterno - Madrigal Connection

Obviously, once again, President Duterte is quite distantly related to the Paternos and Madrigal, two of the richest families in the Philippines even since the Spanish period. No wonder, then, that various nefarious groups and individuals have been seeking for PDU30's ouster left and right. For the first time in our history since another outsider, Carlos P. Garcia, was president, an ordinary man has been given the mantle of power by the Filipino people. This is why they want Duterte out. These people, whose genealogies situate them near the power bases, believe that they have the monopoly of ruling the country. As the genealogy of power matrix shows, those who are closely related have ruled this nation for most of our history. Duterte, who is too far removed from these powerful clans and oligarchic institutions, is a real threat to these people. 

But what they do not know is that not only does Duterte have the support of the ordinary citizens, he too has the historical mandate based on his connections to our heroes. I was also playing around with another theory when I wrote this article. I surmised that a "good" president is nearer genealogically to Philippine heroes. So, I chose Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, and Lapu-Lapu and connected them with PDU30, PNoy, and MAR. And the results were truly amazing!

The Heroes "Connection"

Bonifacio Connection

When connected to Andres Bonifacio, arguably the favorite hero of our leftist brethren and considered by some historians as the rightful first president of the Philippines, we see that hands down, President Duterte is the closest. He is 8 steps away from Andres Bonifacio, whose wife's great-great-aunt, Leonarda Alvarez, was married to Facundo Duterte,President Digong's grandfather. PNoy is a distant 21 steps away while MAR is 18 steps from Bonifacio.

Rizal Connection

And when connected to Jose Rizal, we still get the same result. President Duterte is still the one with the nearest connection, with 15 steps away but double the connection this time; meanwhile, both Aquino and Roxas are 20 steps away from the Philippine national hero.

Lapu-Lapu Connection

While Lapu-Lapu is known as the first hero of the Filipinos, very little of his genealogy is actually known. What we do know today is that some old families in Mactan are serious about their claim of being descended from them. One of these is the Dimataga family. So this family will be our basis in our connections.

It does seem fantastical and far-fetched, but the genealogical charts do not lie. Digong is the president with the nearest connection with our heroes with just 8 steps away from Andres Bonifacio, 15 from Jose Rizal through double connections, and just 8 connections apart from the Dimataga family of Mactan, one of the families believed to be descended from Lapu-Lapu. PNoy, on the other hand, is 21, 20, and 31 connections apart from the 3 aforementioned heroes, while MAR is 18, 20, and 31 steps away!

Rodrigo Roa Duterte may not be to the manor born and may be too far removed from the country's ruling elite, but among all presidents, he is the one with the closest connections to Lapu-Lapu, Rizal, and Bonifacio. Men who fought not just for the ruling class, but for every single Filipino. In the end, it is clear that history has chosen Duterte to be the inheritor of the greats of our past.

©2017 TODD LUCERO SALES

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Sources:

1. RP Politics: Still a Family Affair

2. Geni

3. American Presidential Bloodlines

4. Used Family Tree Builder and Geni as the main tool for connecting family trees

5. Dozens of online family trees