Quiros Clan - The Reunion (May 26, 2013)

In our barrio, there are only two clans. Therefore a local can either be from clan Quiros or clan Aguilar or both. Though not obvious, I am part of the Quiros clan. I had no idea of such fact until I received an invitation to join the Quiros Clan’s reunion fourteen years ago. The clan named me as an awardee. I wondered how I became part of the list. Fortunately, I now know the story and here it goes:

Clemente Quiros, a Spanish enterpreneur from San Fernando in Pampanga, landed on our shores during the 1700. He met a beautiful island girl, felt in love and got married. They both lived happily ever after on our serene locality around three hundred years ago.

They had eight wonderful children and each headed a tribe. The oldest child, Claudio, was known as “Teniente Alao”. He established Maslog, our barrio, as balangay and for that he became the first "teniente del barrio"

of Maslog. My father told me that he was super strong and the man with the loudest voice. He used to carry coco fruits using bamboo stems with twenty pieces on his left and another twenty on his right. His voice was like a thunder and can be heard from Sitio Tabunok to Sitio Pasil (two kilometers away). He sounded like a legend and if I was a kid, I would think of him as our clan’s superhero. More or less, to me he is still a hero. Not because of being an extraordinary but because of being ordinary yet able to lead us to where we are now.

I used to believe in legends. That is why I cannot ignore the feeling of being proud that a drop of his blood is circulating in my viens.

Claudio’s youngest child is Anunciasion. Fondly called as “Lola Anun”. She married Tereso Tacumba, a native from Liloan, Cebu. So here goes my surname... Tatay Tereso was the “teniente del barrio” of Maslog for more than twenty years. He started the “Moro-moro” (a famous stage play featuring the victories of Christians in their wars against the Muslims) which is still played until today during our fiesta celebration.

I was so surprise with these facts as our family is no longer prominent in the area. How can that be? Well I guess that is another blog entry.

My grandfather, Luis Tacumba is the son of Lola Anun and Tatay Tereso. Lolo Luis was not as active in politics as his forefathers but to me he was my “wonder Lolo”. He gave me my first lessons in geometry, geology and language. He spoke to me in spanish, english and chinesse. If only Lola Anun had not died early and Tatay Tereso had not drown to misery, Lolo Luis should have continued their legacy.

Luis Tacumba married Felixberta Curpos (with typo error on her birth certificate).  Their eldest son is my father.

It feels good to unleash part of your history. How I wish I could trace more.

 We will be joining again the reunion this coming May 26, 2013. This is going to be big and hopefully I can share that event here…