25 February 2009
The development of this website was prompted by several events, the latest of which are the kidnapping of Marie Jean Lacaba of the International Committee of the Red Cross and her companions by the Abu Sayyaf, and the discovery of the photograph above from the home of our relatives in Negros Occidental.
Mary Jean Javellana Lacaba
Mary Jean Lacaba is a descendant of Capitan Tinong Javellana of Jaro, Iloilo. I, too, am his descendant. Lacaba is a third generation Javellana who belongs to the Melquiades Javellana branch. Lacaba’s parents moved to Mindanao from Guimaras during the 1950s.
Meanwhile, the photograph on top — taken during the interment of Perpetua Javellana Alfaraz in June 1955 — returned to our home in Cabatuan, Iloilo on 25 February 2009, nearly 54 years after it was mailed out. Written at the back of this photograph, in my grandmother’s penmanship, were the following:
Junio 16, 1955
Sr. Wincislao Meñez y Sra,
Para cay nanay Ciñang cag tay Eslao. Handumanan sang pag lubong cay mama.
Ang iño hinablos,
Pacing
Pacing is my lola, Pacita Alfaraz Cajilig. It was she who sent the photograph to the Meñez couple who were then living somewhere in Negros Occidental. How are we related to them, I still could not establish. But I am hoping to meet their descendants. One of the grandchildren of the Meñez couple had married one of the children of the Andrada couple from Barangay Calayo in Cabatuan, and this photograph was shown to the Andradas when they visited their in-laws in Negros Occidental. It was them who brought the photograph home to us.
Not one of us has ever seen this photograph before. If you can note the three young women kneeling in the front row, those were (from left) my aunt Perla (later Sor Perla of the Daughters of Charity, deceased), my aunt Thelma (later Mrs Miguel Magos) and my mother, Pacita (later Mrs Pio Lujan). Some of those in the photograph were identified as Lola Juana, Lola Charing and Lola Aurora.
This website, therefore, is an attempt to reconstruct for posterity the family tree planted by Capitan Tinong Javellana in the hope of knowing who is related to whom, especially among the surviving generations. From initial information gathered, Capitan Tinong married twice. As of this writing, no information can be obtained as to the first name of his first wife, surnamed Ledesma, while his second wife was identified only as Mindang.
Mayor Melquiades Javellana and Socorro Javellana
First Generation
By his first wife, Capitan Tinong had three children — Juana, Perpetua and Melquiades (He became mayor of Buenavista, Guimaras). Juana married Celerino Grecia, Perpetua (my greatgrand mother) married Antonio Alfaraz and Melquiades married Paz Darroca, daughter of Colonel Pedro Darroca of Cabatuan, a hero during the revolution against Spain and during the Philippine-American War.
By his second wife, Capitan Tinong had four children — Socorro (whom we affectionately call Lola Coroy when we were kids), Consolacion, Rosario and Jose. Lola Coroy never married, Consolacion married Cerilo Punzalan, Rosario married Pedro Pama while Jose migrated to Leyte and no further information on him was obtained as of this writing.
Senator Tomas Confesor, World War II hero, with wife Rosalina Javellana Grecia, circa 1930.
Second Generation
Celerino and Juana Grecia had three children: Daniel (he married Socorro Escarilla), Rosalina (she became the wife of World War II hero Senator Tomas Confesor, the Stormy Petrel of Philippine Congress) and Felomina (she married Jose Ledesma; the couple donated the land in Barangay Banguit, Cabatuan where the Farm Systems Development Corporation, and later the National Tobacco Administration, stands).
Antonio and Perpetua Alfaraz had only one child, Pacita, married to Judge Pacifico Cajilig of Leon, Iloilo who served as juez de paz of Cabatuan. They were my grandparents. (Antonio had two other children from two separate relations — Morito and Remedios.)
Corazon, Aurora and Monserat Javellana
Melquiades had 12 children with Paz Darroca: Alfredo (married to Purita Lopez), Crisostomo (married to Angelina Gorres), Leonor (married to Paterno Sanz), Elena (married to Epifanio Gagajena Sr.), Corazon, Estrella Javellana (married to Ernesto Maligad), Pacita (married to Alfredo Cuenca), Aurora (married to Cornelio Jaranilla Sr.), Abelardo (married to Leticia Tarrosa), Roberto (married to Rosario Alelis), Monserat (married to Eliseo Grecia, son of her first cousin Daniel) and Lily (married to Estanislao Remollata). From a subsequent relation with a certain Dimapallo, Melquiades had three children: Fortunato (married to Felomina Tarrosa), Norberto (married to Juana Capacillo), and Lerry (married to Maria Calizo; they were the parents of Mary Jean Lacaba).
Pedro Pama and Rosario Javellana had four children: Vicente (married to Araceli), Pedrito, Feliza and Milagros (married to Apolinario Panes). From this branch descended Maria Majella Panes-Liboon, mall manager of SM City Iloilo, and Dr. Ma. Ana Pama-Ausan.
I could not ascertain whether Cerilo Punzalan and Consolacion Javellana ever had children, and there is no available information as to what happened to Jose Javellana after he arrived in Leyte.
This website is a work in progress. If you have any information that can help reconstruct this family tree, please leave a message at the Guestbook or email me at nclujan [at] yahoo [dot] com. Would anyone out there know the full name of Capitan Tinong’s wives? If you are a descendant of Capitan Tinong, please provide me with the names of your parents and your siblings, with dates of birth or death if possible, and I will put them together into the tree. Thank you.
NEREO C. LUJAN
Cabatuan, Iloilo
Philippines
August 29, 2011
Today, August 29, 2011, I have finally established the identities of “Nanay Ciñang cag Tay Eslao” after communicating with two relatives — Ramon Severino Conlu Jr. and Maritel Riego Ledesma, both from Negros Occidental.
Tay Eslao’s true name was Ladislao (not Wincislao) Meñez, while Nanay Ciñang was Arsenia Jamora Guingona de Meñez. They were the great grandparents of Maritel Riego Ledesma.
Arsenia Jamora Guingona de Meñez — daughter of Vicente Guingona and Francisca Javellana Jamora and granddaughter of Juancho Jamora and Inocencia Javellana — was the second cousin of my Lola Pacing.
Inocencia Javellana was the eldest sister of Don Cristino Javellana. Francisca Javellana Jamora was first cousin of my great grandmother Perpetua Javellana Alfaraz.
Arsenia Jamora Guingona de Meñez was the sister of Senator Teofisto Guingona Sr., father of former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr.
From Maritel Riego Ledesma, it was also learned that the other siblings of Cristino Javellana were Inocencia (married to Juancho Jamora), Florentina (married to Sixto Golez), Cristeta, Escolastica (married to Jeronimo Jiz de Ortega), Carmen (married to Miguel Jayme y Lopez), Mariano (married to Crispina Gamboa) and Marcelina (married to Victoriano Catagui).
They were the children of Don Manuel Javellana and Doña Gertrudis Lopez.
In a related development, it was also established that Don Cristino Javellana had nine children — five by his first wife Baldomera Ledesma and four by his second wife Hermenigilda Hinolan.
By first marriage, his children were Juana (married to Celerino Grecia), Perpetua (married to Antonio Alfaraz), Maria Cecilia, Melquiades (married to Paz Darroca), and Cirilo (married to Felisa Rosales). By second marriage, his children were Consolacion (married to Cirilo Punzalan), Rosario (married to Pedro Pama) Socorro, and Jose (married to Cresenciana Papas).
I now hope to start the reconstruction of the Javellana family tree starting with Don Manuel Javellana and Doña Gertrudis Lopez.
NEREO C. LUJAN
Cabatuan, Iloilo
Philippines
Descendants of Don Cristino Javellana 