Mayor Alfredo Locsin Montelibano

So one day, I was sitting there, looking around on the internet for more people to add to my family when I chanced upon the family of the late mayor of Bacolod City, my place of birth. He was attached through the Javellana-Lopez family. One of my siblings was actually named after his mother, Corazon Locsin. My sibling was born in the hospital which bears Corazon Locsin's name.

So, I searched for information about the late mayor and the first information I came across was a Dutch Wiki about Alfredo Locsin Montelibano. It translates as follows:

"Alfredo Montelibano Jr. was born on January 7, 1934. His parents were politician and sugar magnate Alfredo Montelibano Sr., The first mayor of the City of Bacolod and Defense Minister and Corazon Locsin."

Montelibano was more vice president of the Organization of Governors of the Philippines, president of the National Federation of Sugarcane Plant Holders and one of the founders of Sugar Industry Foundation Inc.

Montelibano was also governor of the province of Negros Occidental from January 2, 1968 until April 12, 1986. Then he was Mayor of Bacolod, one of the largest cities in Negros, from 1988 to 1995.

Montelibano died on 2 January 2008 of the effects of cardiac arrest at the Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod. Montelibano was diagnosed with cancer in April 2007. He was married to Jhay Montelibano (2nd wife) and had five children with her."

Here's my connection to the late mayor:

National Artist - Lucrecia R. Kasilag

It is amazing what you find when you try to build your family tree.

From the Philippine Government Website of National Commission for Culture and Arts, I found one of the National Artist is Lucrecia R. Kasilag. She was Dean of the Philippine Women's University College of Music and Fine Arts. She served as Artistic Director and as president of the Cultural Centre of the Philippines from 1969 until her retirement in 1986.

Details of her are as follows:

"National Artist for Music (1989)
(August 31, 1918 – August 16, 2008)

Lucrecia R. Kasilag, as educator, composer, performing artist, administrator and cultural entrepreneur of national and international caliber, had involved herself wholly in sharpening the Filipino audience’s appreciation of music. Kasilag’s pioneering task to discover the Filipino roots through ethnic music and fusing it with Western influences has led many Filipino composers to experiment with such an approach. She dared to incorporate indigenous Filipino instruments in orchestral productions, such as the prize-winning “Toccata for Percussions and Winds, Divertissement and Concertante,” and the scores of the Filiasiana, Misang Pilipino and De Profundis. “Tita King”, as she was fondly called, worked closely as music director with colleagues Lucresia Reyes-Urtula, Isabel Santos, Jose Lardizabal and Dr. Leticia P. de Guzman and made Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company one of the premier artistic and cultural groups in the country.

Her orchestral music include Love Songs, Legend of the Sarimanok, Ang Pamana, Philippine Scenes, Her Son, Jose, Sisa and chamber music like Awit ng mga Awit Psalms, Fantaisie on a 4-Note Theme, and East Meets Jazz Ethnika."

This is how we are connected in the family tree:

Still Another Family Tree

It's nice to be able to get different views of your family tree. This is another one of mine. This is from Magdaleno and Servanda to myself. The living persons have been blurred out for privacy reasons. Please click picture to see a bigger image.

Another Family Tree

I have also joined familysearch.org and I was able to generate another family tree chart. They call it a fan chart. Again, I have blocked out the living persons for privacy reasons. Just click on the picture for a bigger view.

My Family Tree

I have joined the family history website called Ancestry.com and I was able to generate a family tree chart. It is very interesting and I am planning to build it more so I can have a broader family tree. Below is the family tree that I have generated. I have blocked out the names of the leaving persons for privacy reasons. Click on the picture to get a bigger and clearer view.

My Mother's History

My mother was born at Kabankalan, Negros Occidental, Philippines, at the house of her maternal grandmother, Faustina Verzosa Apla-on Abadiano. She stayed in Kabankalan for a few years and later on moved to Bacolod City. This was because of an eye infection that she had at three years old. She needed to have an eye specialist see her so their family moved to Bacolod City.

I grew up with my mothers brothers and sisters close by. She had 3 sisters and one brother. She also had a half-brother named Oscar Castel (deceased) and a half-sister (whom I do not know the whereabouts). My mother was quite close to my uncle Oscar as we visited their family every now and again but I have never met my aunt.

Being the eldest, my mother was quite hardworking and responsible. She had to learn to assist my grandmother at an early age because my grandfather was always away working as a sugar broker. I remember her telling me stories about how she would go my grandmother at only about 8 years old because sometimes my grandmother was at work or was sick. My grandmother has really trained her well at a very young age. I also remember her telling us stories about how she and her siblings would help each other doing household chores regularly because my grandmother was busy as a school teacher. They didn't have the modern machines those times so they had to do things manually. It's always fun hearing them recollect those childhood memories they had.

When my mother was a teenager, she worked at the Governor's office. She did some typing work and that has helped her to be trained early to work in an office, something that has really helped her in her later years. That has prepared her to become a working student which she has done later to help her get into the university because her parents could not afford to send her there. She was very serious in life at a young age, probably because she was the eldest child in her family and was quite responsible and hardworking at a very young age.

After high school, she went to Colegio De San Agustin de Bacolod and took a Secretarial Science course. She finished with the highest honours. Later, she went to the University of Negros Occidental Recoletos and finished Bachelor of Science in Commerce, major in Accounting. Because she was married with kids when she was in the university, it took a while before she finished.

She worked with SPCMA, Sugar Producers Cooperative Marketing Association, when she married my father. That is where they met each other. Later on, she worked with the city government of Bacolod. Around the late 70's, she moved on working for the GSIS, Government Service Insurance System, where she worked until she retired in the late 90's.

I have learned so many things from my mother. First and above all, her love and devotion to God was a priority. She has also taught me hardwork and responsibility. She has always taught me to do my best in everything that I do. She doesn't always tell me what to do but she says it best with the example she gives me. My mom was quite affectionate and always showered me with love and attention. She was very encouraging and was always proud of the accomplishments that I have made.

As an adult, I spoke to my mother often. We can talk for hours and never get tired of doing so. We shared a lot of discussions over the years. We were very like-minded so our conversations were always fun and engaging. Hopefully this will keep on going for many more years.

My Mother's Ancestry

My mother's ancestry has been traced 3-4 generations back, thanks to my grandmother Josefina Abadiano who was very faithful in doing her family history work. I remember, I used to go with her when she would visit her hometown to update her family history records. My mother's ancestors, are a mix of Filipinos, Spanish and Chinese people as evidenced from our family history records. Also, my grandfather (Rafael Castel) seemed to speak more Spanish than our dialect because that is the language that they probably used in their own family. I grew up with my grandmother close by. Although vague, I can remember my grandfather a little bit. He used to visit us at home. I was 4 years old when he passed away in December 1975 and was buried in January 1976. We have always joked that he wasn't buried until after a year later because of the difference in years of his death date and his burial date.

My grandmother was a school teacher, something that I wanted to be at one point in my life. One of the most prominent member in her family was a senator by the name of Esteban Raymundo Abada. He was the 2nd cousin of my grandma's father (Tomas Abadiano). A few public schools in the Philippines were named after him because he was a leader in the education sector. I was never aware of schools being named after him until I met Mary Jane, who later on became my friend in the university. She mentioned going to a school named Esteban R. Abada. From there, I researched and found out that there were actually many public schools named after him.

My maternal grandfather's family were fairly well off. I remembered stories told about how they went about checking out their lands riding on horses. They had to be on horses because their lands were vast. However, due to some mismanagement and gambling problems of some family members, they slowly lost their wealth over the years.

My maternal grandmother's family were farmers. I learned that they had vast lands in the early days but because they were not very well educated, they also lost their lands of inheritance to someone who borrowed the legal documents and changed ownership of their vast lands to his relatives. It's a sad story but it's a lesson to learn from.

There was also another prominent member of my mother's ancestry. His name was Andres De Los Reyes Castel. He was the brother of my grandfather, Rafael De Los Reyes Castel. He served as an official in their hometown. I don't think I met him in person but I remember, we went to his funeral service when he died. There was a Philippine flag draped on his casket. I wonder why that was and my auntie told me that he actually has served as a vice-mayor of their town a few years back, that is why he had a flag-draped casket.