Cebuano Governors and their Connections

Based on the 2018 financial report of the Commission on Audit (COA) covering all 81 provinces in the Philippines, Cebu has once again been named the richest province in the country, with over PhP35 million worth of total assets. This recent accolade for the province, coupled with the recent research I have done on the Hispanic ancestry of Governor Gwen Garcia, has led me to once more take on the challenge of connecting all Governors of Cebu.

Counting from the time of US colonization, Cebu has already had 27 governors, although two of these, Governor Osmundo Rama and Governor Gwendolyn Fiel Garcia, have served twice, so technically there just have been 25 unique governors in Cebu.

While some local historians have insisted that General Arcadio Maxilom and / or Luis Flores are considered as the first governors of the province, the provincial government itself and most Cebu academics have yet to agree with this. Until such time that we accept this notion, Don Julio A. Llorente remains the official first governor of Cebu.

This write-up bears the same goal as that of RP Politics: Still A Family Affair, where I successfully connected all Philippine Presidents and other political and social personalities. So, like a microcosm of Philippine society, the genealogies of Cebu’s governors reflect the amalgamation of races that is descriptive of the Filipino genetic makeup. Majority of the province’s governors are mainstream Filipinos. That is, they are those whose ancestors are described as indios in Spanish-era records. But there are a few with other racial classification.

Julio Llorente, Buenaventura Rodriguez, Pablo Garcia, and Gwendolyn Garcia have proven peninsulares Spanish antecedents, while Vicente dela Serna is of mestizo Spanish stock. Juan Climaco, Arsenio Climaco, Sergio Osmeña, Sergio Osmeña, Jr., and Emilio Osmeña, Jr. have mestizo Chinese ancestry. All the rest are racially classified as Filipino.

While all governors of the province have at least 3 generations of genealogy available, not all have extensive family histories available for now. Among the more recent governors, Hilario P. Davide III can trace his family tree seven generations up, while Pablo and Gwendolyn Garcia's Spanish lineage goes back 11 and 12 generations, respectively, to Ciudad Real, Spain. Her earliest traceable ancestor, Francisco Garcia, lived sometime in the 1550s. Some, like Hilario Abellana, can be traced only to his parents. 

An interesting aspect of Cebuano politics is the inter-relatedness of several governors. We have the father-daughter tandem of Pablo and Gwendolyn Garcia and the father and son tandem of Mariano Jesus Cuenco and Manuel A. Cuenco. Then we have the uncle-nephew Juan and Arsenio Climaco. There is also the father-son / grandfather - grandson situation of and Sergio Osmeña Sr. and Jr. and Sergio Sr.'s grandson Emilio "Lito" Osmeña, Jr.

Aside from these blood relationships, there are also other connections among the governors of Cebu.  There are at least 2 major gateway families in the genealogies of the governors of Cebu; that is, families that allow us to connect various lines to one another. The first is the Chiong-Veloso family, to which many governors can be connected. One of the daughters of Don Nicasio Chiong Veloso, Estefania, married Governor (and later President) Don Sergio Suico Osmeña. Their son was Governor (and later Senator) Sergio Osmeña, Jr. and their grandson was Governor Emilio "Lito" Osmeña, Jr. A sister of Estefania, Tomasa, married Senator Pedro Rodriguez whose nephew was Governor Buenaventura Rodriguez. Another sibling of Estefania was Januario Chiong Veloso. He went on to marry Encarnacion Garcia whose brother, Antonio, is the grandfather and great-grandfather of Governor Pablo Garcia and Governor Gwendolyn F. Garcia, respectively. One other daughter of Nicasio, Hermenegilda, was the mother of Lourdes Velez, wife of Governor Jose Leyson.

The second gateway family is the Veloso family. This was that produced the line of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, the same family whose one member, Don Mariano Veloso, stood as godfather to Don Nicasio Chiong and which turned Nicasio's last name to Chiong Veloso. This same Mariano Veloso's granddaughter, Gliceria, married Valeriano Climaco whose son was Governor Arsenio Climaco. Valeriano's brother was Governor Juan F. Climaco. Gliseria's third cousin, Tarcela Veloso Gandiongco, was the mother of Governor (and later Senator) Rene Espina.  Another descendant of Mariano Veloso, his 2X-great-granddaughter Beatriz Duterte, married Ramon Durano whose sister Elisea married Josefino Almendras whose wife was Rosita Dimataga. Rosita's mother, Leoncia dela Serna, was the sister of Candido dela Serna, the grandfather of Governor Vicente dela Serna. A first cousin of Beatriz Duterte, Ramon Duterte Diores, had a son, Luis, who married Vicenta Cueva Fernan whose first cousin twice removed, Wenceslao Lepiten Fernan, married Margarita Ancajas Briones whose first cousin once removed was Jose L. Briones. Jose Briones's father, Manuel C. Briones, was the second cousin of Governors Sotero and Fructuoso Barte Cabahug. Another great-granddaughter of Mariano Veloso was Milagros Veloso who married Governor Manuel A. Cuenco, son of Governor Mariano Jesus D. Cuenco.

The Osmeña connection with the Climacos opens up the tree to some minor gateway families. Governor Arsenio's marriage to Januaria Cabrera Osmeña gives us our "Argawanon" gateway. A first cousin of Januaria was Pedro Lucero whose great-grandson, Dr. Procopio Lucero, Jr., married Gliseria Gullas, sister of Governor Eduardo Gullas. Another first cousin of Januaria Osmeña was Juana L. Villanueva whose husband, Salvador Aballe, was the brother of Martina Aballe, mother of Cebu's first governor, Julio A. Llorente. A first cousin of Martina was Francisco Aballe whose wife's own first cousin, Juliana Vismanos, was the grandmother of Governor Francisco Famor Remotigue. Still another first cousin of Januaria, Jose Lucero, married Ambrosia Bayot. Ambrosia's sister, Lutgarda Bayot, is the 3X-great-grandmother of Governor Hilario P. Davide III. Ambrosia's own great-grea-granddaughter, Fely Lucero, married Alexander Sales, whose grandmother, Carmen Legaspi, had a child with Julio Jakosalem, a brother of Governor Dionisio Jakosalem. Sergio's father, Don Antonio Sanson, was the son of Jose Maria Sanson whose first cousin, Valeriano Sanson y Rodis, "married" Cenona Rama, the mother of Senator Vicente Rama whose own son was Governor Osmundo Rama.

For now, I have only connected 22 of Cebu's 25 Governors. Perhaps there are researchers who can help expand this tree to include Governors Jose Delgado, Hilario Abellana, and Manuel Roa.

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Sources:

1. Parish Records of Argao, Cebu
2. Parish Records of Bogo, Cebu 
3. Parish Records of Carmen, Cebu
4. Parish Records of Dumanjug, Cebu
5. Michael Cullinane. "The Myth of the Portuguese Ancestor: The Veloso Family of 19th Century Cebu", PCQS Vol. 43, Number 3-4. Cebu City: USC Press, 2015.
6. Michael Cullinane. "A Chinese Life in Late Spanish Era Cebu City: Nicasio Veloso Chiong Tuico, 1838-1903", PCQS Vol. 43, Number 3-4. Cebu City: USC Press, 2015.
7. Concepcion G. Briones. Life in Old Parian. Cebu City: USC Press, 1983.
8. Victoriano D. Diamonon. "A study of the Philippine government during the Spanish regime." MA (Master of Arts) thesis, State University of Iowa, 1919.
9. The Cabahug Family Tree of Mandaue, Cebu
10. The Dela Serna Family Tree of Opon, Cebu (Private copy)
11. The Fernan-Pedroza Family Tree
12. The Sanson Family Tree courtesy of my prima, Gavin Sanson Bagares.
13. Various Newspaper articles from Sunstar Cebu and The Freeman

Philippine Family Trees Series 4: The Philippine Female Presidents and Senators

In this fourth article, I wanted to feature feminism at its best in celebration of International Women's Day last March 8, 2017. As much as I would have loved to connect all the female senators of the Philippines and of course the 2 female presidents we have had, like many family trees I was unable to connect 

Of the 22 female senators of the Philippines so far, I was unable to find any connections with the rest for Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Nina Rasul, Nikki Coseteng, Magnolia Antonino, and Tecla Ziga. Of course, I will continue to research so we can connect these 5 to the rest.

The above family tree connects the 2 female presidents so far, one of whom was a former Senator as well. And, all current senators: Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, Cynthia Villar, Leila de Lima, Risa Hontiveros, and Loren Legarda are all connected here.

We have the first female senator, Geronima T. Pecson, is here as well as the rest: Pacita Madrigal-Warns. Maria Kalaw-Katigbak, Eva Estrada-Kalaw, Helena Z. Benitez, Leticia Ramos-Shahani, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Tessie Aquino-Oreta, Loi Ejercito, Jamby Madrigal, and Pia Cayetano.

Philippine Family Trees Series 2: The Philippine Presidents

Philippine Family Trees Series: Connecting All Filipino Families

In my article, RP Politics: A Family Affair, I started with the dream of connecting all 15 (the article was rewritten during the presidency of Benigno Simeon Aquino III) Philippine presidents. Aside from the idea of Six Degrees of Separation, I have always been a firm believer that everyone can be connected genealogically, no matter how distant the relationship may be. Of course, in 2010, I failed miserably in my connections in that I was only able to connect 14 of the 15 presidents, and 2 of these were not even 100% verified.

With the exponential growth of information readily available on the Internet, things have become easier. I have finally been able to connect ALL 16 of our Philippine Presidents in one big family tree which I released to the public just a week ago. This writeup is meant to give the public an idea of how this feat was achieved, as well as introduce this series of articles on connecting Filipino families.

Genealogy Software

Before the web became accessible by just about anybody and back when I was still in high school and had no money to buy software for use in the my research, I connected family trees using pen and paper and scotch tape only. Naturally, this took very long to finish and the dream of connecting people from different families was still just that, a dream. When genealogy software became very inexpensive with some even being offered for free, tracing family trees became easier and faster. I detailed the more useful and readily accessible software in  RP Politics: Family Affair.

Geni and Other Online Family Tree Programs

While offline software helped me a lot in consolidating family trees, nothing could outdo the usefulness of Geni if you want to explore genealogy to a whole new level. According to its website, Geni is "solving the problem of genealogy by inviting the world to build the definitive online family tree. Using the basic free service at Geni.com, users add and invite their close relatives to join their family tree. All Geni users can share photos, videos, and documents with their families". In other words, Geni is trying to build one big family tree online with the contribution of users from all over the world. With Geni's ambitious goal, many family trees whose members do not even know one another are now connected via Geni.

Aside from Geni, there is also the online version of Family Tree Builder though MyHeritage. OF course, data stored in MyHeritage will now be accessible though Geni since Geni was bought by MyHeritage in 2012. 

Then there is also TribalPages, which was actually the first online family tree program I used. I still maintain several trees with TribalPages but it isn't really my go-to online genealogy software. At a later date I will try to expound further on these sites. For this writeup, suffice it to say that these online genealogical sites formed the bulk of my source in connecting the family trees of Philippine presidents. 

These sites can also help anyone connect themselves in a big family tree. Simply open an account with all three sites, input your family tree (do not worry about privacy issues. You can set your settings to not display any information to the public for people in your family tree who are living), and watch how your tree gets connected with other trees. It is that simple!

A Caveat: Finding Your Gateway Relative

Okay, so maybe I oversimplified things. It is not that simple, to be honest. You can spend all your life encoding your family tree on Geni and still not see your relationship with famous people. The key to Geni, and all other genealogy software, is having a what I like to call a "gateway" relative. This is simply someone in your family who married into a certain, well connected family. Allow me to illustrate:

My mother's family is fortunate enough to have 2 gateway relatives. The first gateway relative is from more than a hundred years ago when my 3 times great-grandfather's first cousin, Januaria Taguenca-Cabrera, married Don Victoriano Osmeña, who was the brother of Pres. Sergio Osmeña's mother. This relationship connects me to both Presidents Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

My second gateway relative is a bit closer to this century. My mom's first cousin, Alfonsita Lucero, was married to Ambassador Narciso Ramos, father of former President Fidel Valdez Ramos. My connection to the Ramos family then connects me to PNoy, among many other prominent families in the Philippines.

Because of these 2 women, I can connect myself genealogically to practically anyone in the Philippines. As will be discussed further in the next article, the more gateway relative one has, the more you can connect to more families.

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Many people have asked me how I connected the family trees of the Presidents, and this time the Vice-Presidents. Some are even skeptical if this is even accurate or factual. I would say that these family trees I am doing are more than factual. They are the product of love and devotion without the possibility of being paid. I do these genealogies because they amuse me, they teach me things, and I have always wanted genealogy to be appreciated by every Filipino. But many need proof. So here are the sources for the Vice-Presidents Family Tree. 

GENI. Many of the family trees are found on Geni. However, you have to make sure that the profiles you look at are the master profiles and that they are being managed by family members or reputable genealogists to guarantee their accuracy. There is a limitation to Geni, however. Those who are living will not have their names displayed, and many of those who are dead are sometimes kept private by the family so they will only display their last names. So while Geni is useful this is just the starting point. I had to go through a lot of sources to get to where I am now.

ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS. As I have already discussed in many previous articles, I have combed through tons of church and other archival documents over the years. So it is not an exaggeration if I say I have bits and pieces of documentation pertaining to this and that famous family. 

BOOKS. There are so many books that can give you data about family trees. For instance, the Osmena family can be seen in the book Life in Old Parian, writted by Concepcion Briones. The Duranos, Pardo de Taveras, Sinsuats, Masturas, and other political dynasties can be discovered in Alfred McCoy's Anarchy of Families. Another great resource is Sheila S. Coronel's The Rulemakers - How the Wealthy and Well-Born Dominate Congress, which has a lot of genealogical information. 

INTERNET. Finally, the internet. When I get stumped on two people's relationship, or when Geni only display's a person's last name, I search old newspapers and old books that have been digitized and you will discover a trove of information. 

I realize that genealogy is something that many Filipinos are familiar with but is at the same time difficult to understand as a discipline. While my articles tend to favor the elite of this nation it is only because they are the one with the records readily available. Sometimes my articles are quite slanted and I do not hide that fact because I always have an opinion. My blog is a genealogical blog but also a personal one. So I am not ashamed to admit that I have biases clearly written all over my articles. I will, however, start to religiously include documentation for all my articles moving forward so that while writing may be biased you will see that they have factual basis. This series will be the test drive for this.

And, P.S. to all readers who may or may not agree with me: do not overthink this. Genealogy is supposed to be fun! I am doing this to tell you all that tracing family trees is a great activity! So just enjoy it. More to the point, start tracing your family. As I have said over and over again we must sing our ancestors' songs. We must speak for the dead.

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

Retrospect on the (failed) Davide Impeachment: Tangled Webs of Families & Intrigues

Entanglements of Philippine Politics & Families (Click to enlarge)

What did President Arroyo, Ping Lacson, Erap Estrada, Imelda Marcos, Danding Cojuangco, Ace Durano, and Nerissa Soon-Ruiz have in common other than all being involved in the Davide impeachment, one way or the other? Well, they all also happened to be related to each other, in one way or the other.

President Gloria Arroyo, alleged to be behind the Davide impeachment, is married to Miguel Arroyo, of the infamous JOSE PIDAL CONTROVERSY, whose own grandfather, Jose Maria PIDAL Arroyo, was married to a Lacson, who also happened to be related to Senator Panfilo Lacson, whose KURATONG BALELENG case was reoppened by Davide. The first gentleman is similarly a cousin of Aranetas, whose one member, Greggy, is married to Irene Marcos, daughter of Imelda Marcos, who also received a negative SC ruling on her SWISS ACCOUNTS at that time. Irene's sister, Imee, married Tommy Manotoc, whose mother was the sister of the wife of Geny Lopez, whose family also received a blow from the Supreme Court because of its MERALCO RULING.

Another Lopez, Beaver, married Jackie Ejercito, daughter of deposed President Joseph Estrada, whose ouster was legalized by an SC ruling declaring GMA's presidency constitutional in 2001. Meanwhile, Imelda's first cousin, Danieling Romualdez, married Pacita Gueco, first cousin of Ninoy, whose marriage to Cory Cojuangco made him related him to Danding Cojuangco, another recipient of a negative SC ruling, this time on the COCO LEVY FUNDS. His nephew, Rep. Teodoro, was another signatory. Imelda's marriage to Ferdinand Marcos goes on to relate her to FVR, who was Marcos' 2nd cousin. FVR's stepmother Alfonsita Lucero vda. de Ramos's cousin Januaria Cabrera married an Osmena, whose cousin married a cousin of Ace Durano, another signatory of the impeachment rap against Davide. Another fourth cousin of Alfonsita, James Lucero, married Nazarena Soon, the sister of Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, still another impeachment signatory.

It seemed really astounding that all those involved in the Davide impeachment were related, but what was more astonishing was that they were all also related to the man they tried to remove from office. How? Well, FVR's stepmom is also the fourth cousin of the embattled Chief Justice, both coming from Don Agustin Cristobal Bayot of Argao, Cebu, who is both their great-great-great-grandfather.

Who says genealogy is boring?

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This was originally titled Tangled Webs of Families & Intrigues and published in my older website.

Related post:

1. RP Politics: Still a Family Affair