Happy Birthday Papa

 If papa  is still alive today, he should have been celebrating his 74th birthday today, August 2. He died at the age of 65 nine years ago, or on November 16,2003.

 

In my blog “KAMATIS” LOVE AFFAIR OF PONCHING AND LINDA GORECHO I wrote that if I will submit the love story of my parents to “Maalaala Mo Kaya,” I will use the title “Kamatis.” The wedding line, “Till death do us part” will be replaced by “But death will not set us apart.” All throughout their more than thirty years of marriage, we never saw them engage in physical fights. Although we were accustomed to Mama’s masungit and mataray lines, we knew that was just how they expressed their emotions: only through words and eye contact. Laging sinasabi ni Papa: Bago pa man magkasala si mama sa kanya (siguro sa pagiging mataray ni Mama) pinapatawad na nya si mama. If mama was angry, Papa would just step back. Di nya sasalubungin emotion ni mama.

When we were growing up, I remember times when Mama scolded us, “Buti nga kayo di nyo naranasan ang magtinda ng kamatis sa palengke.” Then she would cry. Perhaps, this was her way of saying that whatever the benefits we were enjoying then were due to their hard work..This is something that children have to realize: that parents will sacrifice a lot for the future of the kids. If mama would say the “kamatis” story, Papa, on the other hand, would tell us stories when he was still a security guard in a government agency before they got married in July 1968. Papa was a security guard by day and a student by night taking up library science. When he graduated, he proceeded to be a librarian in the same office until he retired in early 1990s.

People wonder why we have several stuff in our house which Papa did not want to dispose, especially the shoes. Papa justified this by saying that while he was growing up, he never had the luxury of owning new ones since both he and mama came from a family with very modest means. He tried to instill this in us such that long before ukay-ukay became famous, we were already wearing secondhand clothes and shoes, sleeping on beds, sitting on chairs and sofas that papa bought from the secondhand shops in Bangkal. Seldom did we wear brand-new clothes, except maybe during Christmases when our Titas bought us clothing on an installment basis - one Tita would buy us pants while another took care of the shirts. Never mind the shoes, andyan naman ang Bangkal. We became the walking models for ukay-ukay.

 My mother, fondly called Mama Linda, died last year on May 17, 2002 due to pericarditis and lymphoma or cancer of the lymph nodes after almost a month of confinement at the Philippine Heart Center. A year and six months later, my father, Papa Ponching to many, died last year, November 16, 2003 a Sunday, due to pneumonia after being bedridden for almost eight months brought about by complications arising from an operation on his brain (hydrocephalus).

Happy father's day...

Gorecho and Jose Rizal

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSE RIZAL . Dateline: June 19, 1861. José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was born. He was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reform in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He is regarded as the foremost Filipino patriot and is listed as one of the national heroes of the Philippines by the National Heroes Committee. His execution by the Spanish in 1896, a date marked annually as Rizal Day, a Philippine national holiday, was one of the causes of the Philippine Revolution. (note: photo taken at CCP wall)

There is more to every photo than meets the eye. Howie Severino presented  the stories behind these photographs on I-Witness last May 30, 2011  at 11:30 pm after Saksi.

"No Filipino hero of his time was as photographed as Jose Rizal. Each photograph reveals facets of his personality and sheds light on the relationships that were very much a part of who Rizal was. One of these photos is a group photo in Paris from the 1880’s that shows Rizal wearing a mischievous half-smile. Could it be because he was foolishly in love with someone in the picture? But he would soon break her heart and have his own broken too. Also in the picture is Rizal's best friends' sister Paz Pardo de Tavera, who would soon meet a tragic end at the hands of another of Rizal's illustrious amigos. The picture captures the short-lived joy in Rizal's happy-go-lucky life in Paris , before he himself would descend into a chain of sad events."

http://pinoy-ako.info/tv-show-replay/81-i-witness/42942-i-witness-30-may-2011.html

Photograph Of The Original "Mi Ultimo Adios" There was some argument whether this was the original because as you will note, there were no erasures and the grammar was flawless. It was determined such was Rizal’s concentration in the eve of his death that his writing came straight from his soul.

On the afternoon of Dec. 29, 1896, a day before his execution, Dr. Jose Rizal was visited by his mother, Teodora Alonzo, sisters Lucia, Josefa, Trinidad, Maria and Narcisa, and two nephews. When they took their leave, Rizal told Trinidad in English that there was something in the small alcohol stove (cocinilla), not alcohol lamp (lamparilla). The stove was given to Narcisa by the guard when the party was about to board their carriage in the courtyard. At home, the Rizal ladies recovered from the stove a folded paper. On it was written an unsigned, untitled and undated poem of 14 five-line stanzas. The Rizals reproduced copies of the poem and sent them to Rizal's friends in the country and abroad. In 1897, Mariano Ponce in Hong Kong had the poem printed with the title "Mi Ultimo Pensamiento." Fr. Mariano Dacanay, who received a copy of the poem while a prisoner in Bilibid(jail), published it in the first issue of La Independencia on Sept. 25, 1898 with the title "Ultimo Adios."  The stove was not delivered until after the execution. Rizal needed it to light the room and to be able to write the poem and his other parting words. 

In the I-Witness  documentary titled  "Ang Mahiwagang Ngiti ni Rizal" ,  my good friend Howie Severino reported that the lamp that contained the paper of "MI ULTIMO ADIOS" was given to him by Juliana Gorricho Pardo de  Tavera. He carried with him said lamp until his last breath. Juliana is the mother of Paz Pardo de Tavera who was the wife of Juan Luna, another of Rizal's illustrious amigos,. Paz  and Juliana soon met a tragic end at the hands of  Juan Luna  in the Pardo de Tavera house in Paris.

While in Paris, Rizal described the gorrichos pardo de tavera in  a letter dated January 15, 1886 he wrote to his parents:


"My mode of life doesn't change. Luna and I eat here at the studio and as he has many friends at Paris, families who hold soirées at their homes often invite him. For this reason he eats outside often. The Pardo family who lives here also invites me to eat at their home from time to time. Then Luna, Resurrección, and I go there. On such days we do nothing else but talk about our country -- its likes, food, customs, etc. The family is very amiable. The mother (widow) is a sister of Gorricho and remains very Filipino in everything. Her sons Trinidad and Felix Paredo are both physicians; her daughter Paz speaks French and English and she is very amiable, and also very Filipino. She dresses with much elegance, and in her movements and manner of looking she resembles Sra. Itching. She is beautiful and svelte and it said she is going to marry Luna. She asked me to write something in her album and I wrote the story of the monkey and the turtle with illustrations. The young women in Europe usually have the custom of keeping an album (not of pictures) in which they ask their friends to put there drawings, dedications, verses, etc., etc. and they keep them as souvenirs."

In an Inquirer interview by historian Ambeth Ocampo with former social welfare secretary Mita Pardo de Tavera, she narrated that fateful night:

"I’ve often read that in a fit of jealousy, Luna killed his wife and mother-in-law, but until it was insinuated that it was for unfaithfulness, I had to say what I know of the affair. They [Juliana Gorricho, Paz Pardo de Tavera and little Andres ‘Luling’ Luna] were going down the stairs of the house and they did not tell Luna that they were abandoning him because he was violent. Very violent, like his brother [Antonio] the general who was a killer, [had a] killer’s instinct, and so they were also afraid of this Juan Luna because he also had this killer’s instinct. They were leaving the house, the two brothers Trinidad and Felix, with [their lawyer] Regidor were waiting across the street. When the three were going down the stairs, Luna flew into a rage and tried to stop them, and then he shot them."

Juliana Gorricho vda. de Pardo de Tavera (seated at the center with baby Andrés Luna y Pardo de Tavera) with María de la Paz Pardo de Tavera y Gorricho de Luna (standing 2nd from the right) and José Rizal (standing 2nd from the left)

The alcohol lamp [food warmer] that concealed Rizal's Mi Ultimo Adios

Though Juliana's surname is spelled "GORRICHO", there is a possibility that my surname is related to her though mine is spelled as "GORECHO". I have also encountered persons carrying another variation of my surname which is "GORICHO".

We are now  embarking into an illustrious endeavor to document the Familia Gorecho of  Matabao, Tubigon,Bohol.Perhaps, if preparations and coordination will be successful, a grand clan reunion can be organized soon.The Gorecho Family Tree will be an updated database on the members of the Gorecho Clan that originated from the matrimonial bondage of Isidro Gorecho and Tomasa Cristobal. I am now in the process of documenting eight (8) generations of Gorechos.  Out of this matrimonial bondage are three siblings: Alejandro Gorecho, Melchora Gorecho and Joseph Gorecho. Alejandro was married to Barbara Bulahao with six children, Melchora was married to Pedro Mascarinas while Joseph was married to Irenea Estabaya. Thus, there are eighteen (18)   major lines : Six for Alejandro Gorecho and Barbara Bulahao (Librada, Leopoldo, Benegilda , Victoria , Victor, and Gregorio), seven  for Melchora Gorecho and Pedro Mascarinas (Segunda, Enrique, Seferino, Florencio, Felis, Herminigilda and Isidra), and five for Joseph Gorecho and Irenea Estabaya (Constancio, Eusebio, Eulogio, Teofilo, and Juanita).   

For the complete Family Tree, please see http://kapitankokak.blogspot.com/search/label/family%20tree


It is interesting to note that surnames seems to re-appear in other lines (like Gorecho-Mante, Mante-Gorecho, Gorecho-Corpuz, Gorecho-Embradora, Embradora-Gorecho) signifying intermarriage between not-so distant relatives, a typical occurrence in the provincial set-up. 

To review your Philippine History , the filipinos were forced to change the surnames during the Spanish era as a means of population control, or a zoning scheme to determine your place of origin. On November 21, 1849 Governor General Narciso Clavería ordered a systematic distribution of family names for the natives to use. The Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos was produced and approved names were assigned to families in all towns. The book itself consists of 141 pages. The  surnames are arranged in 6 columns with at most 72 surnames per column. Despite the title, the surnames are not strictly listed alphabetically (after Gandain is Ganavacas then Gandoy, and Balledor is listed under "V"). All of the letters of the Spanish alphabet are represented except for the letters "I" (in the Spanish orthography of the time "Y" was used instead of an initial "I"), "K" and "W" (there are no Spanish surnames starting with these letters) and "X" (due to a consonant shift, earlier surnames like Ximénez were spelled Jiménez, with a J, by that time.) Name distribution was so systematic that civil servants assigned family names in alphabetical order causing some small towns with only a few families to end up with all names starting with the same letter. Since there are potentially at most 61,000 surnames in the book, not all of the surnames were used..

However, when i checked the said list, the surname "gorecho" or any of its variation are not included in said list. Perhaps, it came from a Spaniard who settled in the Philippines  since  Gorecho/ Gorricho/ Goricho  is a Galician surname meaning it was patterned from the inhabitants of Galicia , Spain. It  is an autonomous community in northwest Spain., bordered by Portugal to the south, the Spanish regions of Castile and León and Asturias to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Bay of Biscay to the north.The name Galicia comes from the Latin name Gallaecia, associated with the name of the ancient Celtic tribe that resided north of the Douro river, the Gallaeci or Callaeci in Latin, and Kallaikói (καλλαικoι) in Greek (as mentioned by Herodotus). According to Ptolemy, these Callaeci were the first tribe in the area to battle the invading Romans.

annulment vs. divorce

The debate on legalizing divorce took a kick-start when news of Maltese referendum favoring divorce reached the Philippines a few days ago. This has prompted progressive groups to make a bolder call for the country to follow in Malta's steps and legalize divorce in a predominantly Catholic nation.

In House Bil 1799, which is proposed by the GABRIELA Partylist,  they argued in essence,  the philosophy behind the divorce bill in the following manner:   :

"Underpinning this proposal is a commitment to the policy of the State to protect and strengthen marriage and the family as basic social institutions, to value the dignity of every human person, to guarantee full respect for human rights, and to ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and men .. Given realities, couples must have the option to avail of remedies that will pave the way for the attainment of their full human development and self- fulfillment and the protection of their human rights. Existing laws are not enough to guarantee and protect these rights. .. The sanctity of marriage is not based on the number of marriages existing but on the quality of marital relationships. When a marriage is no longer viable, divorce should be an option."

Under this bill, the grounds for filing divorce are , among others, a.

a.       a. when the petitioner has been separated de facto (in fact) from his or her spouse for at least five years at the time of the filing of the petition and reconciliation is highly improbable,

b.      b. when the petitioner has been legally separated from his or her spouse for at least two years at the time of the filing of the petition and reconciliation is highly improbable

c.       c. when the spouses suffer from irreconcilable differences that have caused the irreparable breakdown of the marriage

d.      d. when one or both spouses are psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations.

It must be understood however that divorce in the legal parlance, is the dissolution of marriage for whatever reason resulting in capacitating both parties to remarry.  Divorce legally recognizes that a marriage actually existed, but for whatever reason, one or both parties can no longer continue with the commitment.

On the other hand, for a marriage solemnized in the Philippines to be terminated is, however, not called divorce, it is called an annulment.  An annulment unlike a divorce has the effect of considering the marriage as “void ab initio”, a latin term to meaning the marriage NEVER existed at all.  The grounds for annulment are often pertaining to the absence of, or defect in, one of the essential or formal requisites of marriage. Although it has a different effect in how it considers the marriage (null and void) after annulment, it has however the same effect in terms of capacitating the parties to remarry. It should be noted that for a marriage to take place, there are essential requisites and formal requisites which must first be met.

The essential requisites of marriage are: 1) legal capacity of the contracting party, who must be male and female, and 2) consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer (Article 2, Family Code [FC]).  The formal requisites of marriage are (1) authority of the solemnizing officer, (2) a valid marriage license (except in specific instances mentioned under Chapter 2 of the Family Code), and (3) a marriage ceremony which takes place with both of the contracting parties appearing before the solemnizing officer and declaring that they take each other as husband and wife in the presence of not less than two witnesses of legal age. (Article 3, FC).

Although many loosely call all actions for terminating marriage in the Philippines as annulment, the truth is there are several actions that may be instituted to terminate the marriage.

Declaration of Nullity of Marriage

Grounds rendering a marriage “void ab initio” are:

1. those contracted by any party below 18 even with the consent of parents
   or guardians;
2. those solemnized by any person not legally authorized to perform marriage unless either or both parties believed in good faith that the solemnizing officer had the legal authority to do so;
3. those solemnized without a marriage license except those expresslyexempted by law to secure a marriage license;
4. those bigamous or polygamous marriages;
5. those contracted through mistake of one of the contracting parties as to the identity of the other;
6. incestuous marriages as defined in Article 37 of the FC; and
7. void marriages by reason of public policy (i.e. between step-parents and step-children, between adopting parent and adopted child).

An action for the declaration of the absolute nullity of marriage may be instituted at any time and shall not prescribe (Art. 39, FC).

It must be emphasized that although the marriage is void from the beginning, a party cannot unilaterally contract a subsequent marriage with the thought in mind that the previous marriage was invalid.  For example, A and B contracted a marriage with a fake marriage license.  Spouse B who knew that the marriage license was fake contracted a second marriage with C.  Is the marriage between Spouse B and C valid? No!  The marriage between A and B should have first been declared null and void by the Court before Spouse B and C can marry.

Annulment of Marriage

In an Action for Annulment of Marriage, the following marriages may be annulled:

1. that the party in whose behalf it is sought to have the marriage annulled was eighteen years of age or over, but below twenty-one, and the marriage was solemnized without the consent of the parents, guardian or person having substitute parental authority over the party, in that order, unless after attaining the age of twenty-one, such party freely cohabited with the other and both lived together as husband and wife;
2. that either party was of unsound mind, unless such party after coming to reason, freely cohabited with the other as husband and wife;
3. that the consent of either party was obtained by fraud, unless such party
   afterwards, with full knowledge of the facts constituting the fraud, freely
   cohabited with the other as husband and wife;
4. that the consent of either party was obtained by force, intimidation or undue influence, unless the same having disappeared or ceased, such party thereafter freely cohabited with the other as husband and wife;
5. that either party was physically incapable of consummating the marriage with the other, and such incapacity continues and appears to be incurable; or
6. that either party was afflicted with a sexually-transmissible disease found to be serious and appears to be incurable.

 Unlike in the first set of grounds above mentioned, an action for the annulment of marriage prescribes; in case of lack of consent, until the party filing for annulment reaches 21;  in case of insanity until the death of either party or the lucid interval of the insane spouse; in case of fraud, force, intimidation or undue influence, incapacity to consummate the marriage or knowledge of the sexually-transmissible disease, within five years from the occurrence of the fraud, force, intimidation or undue influence, incapacity to consummate the marriage or knowledge of the sexually-transmissible disease.

For couples desperate to find a way out of their troubled marriages, annulment is a trying and tedious legal process. Aside from being weighed down by the difficulty of proving the psychological incapacity of either spouse, they also have to incur many expenses: the cost of litigation, filing fees, and even the professional fees of psychologists and psychiatrists.

Bayan Muna proposed House Bill 3952, "An Act Recognizing Spousal Violence, Infidelity and Abandonment as Presumptive Psychological Incapacity Constituting a Ground for the Annulment of Marriage", hopes to make annulment more accessible even to poor couples and seeks to simplify the annulment process, offers couples an easier and less expensive way out.

Under HB 3952, infidelity, abandonment or spousal violence are presumed indications of psychological incapacity. In effect, psychological incapacity would be easier to prove, and the annulment process would take less time and money to complete. Under the measure, adding the presumption of psychological incapacity under Article 36 would reduce the length of the proceedings, and cut expenses like professional fees for psychiatrists or psychologists.