Friday, April 22, 2005
FAMILY FUN
There's a saying that you can't choose your relatives. Yeah, I agree with that. There are relatives though that I get fairly well along with. There are those that I'd rather not see. We all come from one extended family, sharing traits and yet are so different from one another.
Got a text from my sister yesterday at about 6:30PM just as I was about to leave the gym that the Ongsiako cousins are coming over for scotch and kobe/wagyu beef. I called her to tell her I was on my way. Wouldn't miss that kobe/wagyu beef for the world! Well that was the motivation. I do enjoy though their company.
You see my father's side comes from a wealthy land owning family. Most of us end up as doctors or lawyers or politicians. During the Spanish time(like mid 19th century), a Intsik trader from Shanghai came over to trade in these islands. He fell in love with a half breed spanish lady and married her. He then brought her back to Shanghai but his family couldn't accept a gweilo (foreign barbarian). So he came back and burned his ships. He then settled with his wife and foounded a trading firm that eventually lent out money. His father in law was a gambler. One day his father in law gambled away the family hacienda. He bought it back from the debtor and found himself in possession of more than 10,000 hectares of land stretching from three provinces of Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Pangasinan. He had 2 children. His children were considered mestizos. But they couldn't figure out if they were mestizo intsik or espanol. They grew up speaking 4 languages, Spanish, Intsik, Tagalog and English.
The girl ended up marrying a spanish mestizo and so this is where the de Santos, Orosa, Olegario lines are descended from. While Lucio (my great grandfather) fathered 3 daughters and three sons. His daughters married a de los Reyes, Gallego and yes a de Santos (1st cousin--this will be a normal occurence within the family--marrying cousins). My grandfather, Ramon, married my grandmother, Carmen de la Paz (a former Ms. Markina) from Marikina. He had 6 children with her and 6 children with other women, including an actress by the name of Naty Bernardo (grandmother of singer Jo Anne Lorenzana--yes she is a half 1st cousin). Pacita de los Reyes-Philipps, a 1st cousin of Dad, became Ms. Philippines in the 1930's and became the 1st woman lawyer to graduate from UP and top the bar. She also made a splash of some sort when she sued Wack Wack Golf for not allowing her to become a member of the golf club. She won the case.
My Lolo loved women. He was a handsome fellow. He was also an eye, nose and throat doctor. He also put up an insurance and tobbacco firm before the outbreak of World War II. He was intensely nationalsitic and got angry when people called him intsik. He was also eccentric. He burned his house in the farm because Pacita's dad kept on using his house for months to conduct business in their hacienda. He was also jailed by the Japs in Fort Santiago. Unfortunately he died in 1949 of cancer. My grandmother, CArmen, was a businesswoman. She expanded the family wealth by buying up foreclosed properties from the banks. Together, they had 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls.
The girls married well. Imelda, married Ramon Cojuangco (mother of Tonyboy C. and Gretchen Barretto's favorite peeve), Carmen, married Edmundo Reyes from Marinduque (she is governor of Marinduque and her son (my cousin) is congressman from that province) and Myriam, married Rodolfo Montelibano from Bacolod.
The boys married well too. My Dad's eldest brother, Oscar, a lawyer married twice. He married his 1st cousin, Violet Gallego who unfortunately died during childbirth. He married Noemi Villanueva. He founded also the Siguion-Reyna, Montecillo and Ongsiako Law Offices. He liked to brag that he wrote the Coporation Code and the Labor Code in the Philippines.
Ramon, a doctor married Cecille Hidalgo, a descendant of Tomas Morato.
My father married Hideliza Paraiso Tambunting. He married rich.
The Ongsiako's are an eccentric, intelligent, cultured, refined and horny bunch of people. They have this sense of noblesse oblige (with great wealth comes great responsibility). They have a social conscience. While the Tambunting's are a shrewed, money grubbing and pretentious bunch of people who only looked out for themselves and their status in society. My mother was the complete opposite of her siblings. I think she got it from the Paraiso side of the family. Gentle, refined and very principle oriented. She also had this soft spot for poor people that we always have to restrain her from donating to any poor priest or nun.
I have more fun with the Ongsiako's. They are very natural people. What you see is what you get. They like to drink. They like good food and they know how to have fun. And they love to flirt. Men and women. They're perpetually horny. That's why the Ongsiako's die of lifestyle diseases like heart attacks, strokes etc. And they do it in a very classy way. Even when they die, they seem to do it with aplomb and class.
Last night, we had caesar salad, kobe/wagyu beef and tanguinge washed down with Johnny Walker Black. We had pulutan of chicharon with laman, beef tapa and tofu. The conversations were free flowing and we talked about cars, places, ideas and as it got rowdier, their female conquests. Of course, I couldn't talk about mine. Didn't conquer anyone lately except A.
But A isn't a conquest. He's more of a a a concubine.
Last night, we bonded. Family bonding is good for the soul. Wife though had to clean up the mess.
Got a text from my sister yesterday at about 6:30PM just as I was about to leave the gym that the Ongsiako cousins are coming over for scotch and kobe/wagyu beef. I called her to tell her I was on my way. Wouldn't miss that kobe/wagyu beef for the world! Well that was the motivation. I do enjoy though their company.
You see my father's side comes from a wealthy land owning family. Most of us end up as doctors or lawyers or politicians. During the Spanish time(like mid 19th century), a Intsik trader from Shanghai came over to trade in these islands. He fell in love with a half breed spanish lady and married her. He then brought her back to Shanghai but his family couldn't accept a gweilo (foreign barbarian). So he came back and burned his ships. He then settled with his wife and foounded a trading firm that eventually lent out money. His father in law was a gambler. One day his father in law gambled away the family hacienda. He bought it back from the debtor and found himself in possession of more than 10,000 hectares of land stretching from three provinces of Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Pangasinan. He had 2 children. His children were considered mestizos. But they couldn't figure out if they were mestizo intsik or espanol. They grew up speaking 4 languages, Spanish, Intsik, Tagalog and English.
The girl ended up marrying a spanish mestizo and so this is where the de Santos, Orosa, Olegario lines are descended from. While Lucio (my great grandfather) fathered 3 daughters and three sons. His daughters married a de los Reyes, Gallego and yes a de Santos (1st cousin--this will be a normal occurence within the family--marrying cousins). My grandfather, Ramon, married my grandmother, Carmen de la Paz (a former Ms. Markina) from Marikina. He had 6 children with her and 6 children with other women, including an actress by the name of Naty Bernardo (grandmother of singer Jo Anne Lorenzana--yes she is a half 1st cousin). Pacita de los Reyes-Philipps, a 1st cousin of Dad, became Ms. Philippines in the 1930's and became the 1st woman lawyer to graduate from UP and top the bar. She also made a splash of some sort when she sued Wack Wack Golf for not allowing her to become a member of the golf club. She won the case.
My Lolo loved women. He was a handsome fellow. He was also an eye, nose and throat doctor. He also put up an insurance and tobbacco firm before the outbreak of World War II. He was intensely nationalsitic and got angry when people called him intsik. He was also eccentric. He burned his house in the farm because Pacita's dad kept on using his house for months to conduct business in their hacienda. He was also jailed by the Japs in Fort Santiago. Unfortunately he died in 1949 of cancer. My grandmother, CArmen, was a businesswoman. She expanded the family wealth by buying up foreclosed properties from the banks. Together, they had 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls.
The girls married well. Imelda, married Ramon Cojuangco (mother of Tonyboy C. and Gretchen Barretto's favorite peeve), Carmen, married Edmundo Reyes from Marinduque (she is governor of Marinduque and her son (my cousin) is congressman from that province) and Myriam, married Rodolfo Montelibano from Bacolod.
The boys married well too. My Dad's eldest brother, Oscar, a lawyer married twice. He married his 1st cousin, Violet Gallego who unfortunately died during childbirth. He married Noemi Villanueva. He founded also the Siguion-Reyna, Montecillo and Ongsiako Law Offices. He liked to brag that he wrote the Coporation Code and the Labor Code in the Philippines.
Ramon, a doctor married Cecille Hidalgo, a descendant of Tomas Morato.
My father married Hideliza Paraiso Tambunting. He married rich.
The Ongsiako's are an eccentric, intelligent, cultured, refined and horny bunch of people. They have this sense of noblesse oblige (with great wealth comes great responsibility). They have a social conscience. While the Tambunting's are a shrewed, money grubbing and pretentious bunch of people who only looked out for themselves and their status in society. My mother was the complete opposite of her siblings. I think she got it from the Paraiso side of the family. Gentle, refined and very principle oriented. She also had this soft spot for poor people that we always have to restrain her from donating to any poor priest or nun.
I have more fun with the Ongsiako's. They are very natural people. What you see is what you get. They like to drink. They like good food and they know how to have fun. And they love to flirt. Men and women. They're perpetually horny. That's why the Ongsiako's die of lifestyle diseases like heart attacks, strokes etc. And they do it in a very classy way. Even when they die, they seem to do it with aplomb and class.
Last night, we had caesar salad, kobe/wagyu beef and tanguinge washed down with Johnny Walker Black. We had pulutan of chicharon with laman, beef tapa and tofu. The conversations were free flowing and we talked about cars, places, ideas and as it got rowdier, their female conquests. Of course, I couldn't talk about mine. Didn't conquer anyone lately except A.
But A isn't a conquest. He's more of a a a concubine.
Last night, we bonded. Family bonding is good for the soul. Wife though had to clean up the mess.
