WALA LANG
I was a bit surprised to discover that many young people don’t even know the names of their grandparents, let alone what they did. I was an inquisitive kid myself and Lola Trining was on the garrulous side so we got along well. She didn’t go to the Luneta when Rizal executed because she would just have cried. The family evacuated to the wilds of Loma de Gato in Marilao, her hometown, during the Filipino-American War and returned to find only ashes where their house was. Family stories like those flesh out the big picture that history books describe.
The Lopezes of Iloilo, the Nepomucenos of Tayabas, the Paternos and Tuasons of Manila, the Hidalgos of Marinduque, and no doubt other families have gone further and published books with family trees and stories.
OLD FAMILIES The Tuason Coat of Arms
The Tuasons have a most interesting history.
The first Tuason may have been Juan Toazun who was baptized in the Parian quarter in March 1699, the son of Hilario Ganio and Maria Pasquala. More definite is a 1763 document that mentions Son Tua, said to be the then richest man in the Philippines. He raised a battalion to help Simon de Anda fight the British who had invaded the Philippines and were in control of Manila and Cavite port. In gratitude, the King of Spain raised him to the Spanish mobility, the only Chinese who became a Spaniard, much to the annoyance of local peninsulares and insulares.
Spaniards and Chinese grew rich on the galleon trade that lasted from 1565 to 1815. Spaniards had the right to ship while Chinese bought porcelain, silk, and other goods from their homeland and sold them to the Spanish who had the right to ship. They sold their goods not only at a mark-up but sold them on credit, payable when the incoming galleon arrived with payment in New World silver, charging interest for the time lapse and in effect insurance premium for the risks incurred. Then they used the silver to buy more goods for the next shipment. They also bought boletas that were effectively valuable shipping rights and made more money when the goods were sold at the Acapulco Fair. They had to make friends with the higher-ups, including the archbishop, the governor-general, and religious orders who were not above milking the Chinese for a share in the profits. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
When the British landed in 1762, most Chinese welcomed the invaders, possibly to protect their monopoly, possibly out of resentment at the way they had been treated. Not Son Tua, who was probably the person already known as Don Antonio Tuason. He sided with Spain, correctly predicting the winning side—or maybe he hedged his bets and secretly supported both sides.
Anyway, Don Antonio raised and paid for a battalion of some 1,500 Chinese mestizos to fight the Brits and later, gave large sums for the Spanish wars against the Moros of Mindanao. He was rewarded with exemption from paying tribute for two generations and raised to the hidalguia, the Spanish nobility with an impressive Coat of Arms. This was in 1775, granted by King Carlos III.
A majorazgo or an entailed estate necessarily accompanied a title of nobility that was passed on following the principle of primogeniture, i.e., from eldest son to eldest son, failing which one traced back to the living eldest son of the next son of the founder. Don Antonio had no shortage of land to endow the majorazgo. He entailed the Hacienda de San Isidro de Mariquina that included the sitio of Diliman, to which was eventually added Hacienda de Nagtajan and Hacienda de Santa Mesa—the present-day Quezon City plus parts of Marikina, San Mateo, Pasig, and Mandaluyong. These were former Jesuit estates auctioned off by government after the Jesuits were expelled in 1768. The urban legend, however, was that Don Antonio was allowed to claim all the land he could cover on horseback from a sunrise to sunset.
A seat on the City Council (Ayuntamiento de Manila) was awarded to the highest bidder and in 1795, Don Vicente Dolores Tuason submitted the highest bid to be councilor or regidor. A big controversy erupted. He may be a Spaniard by decree but he was still a slit-eyed Chinaman. The second highest bidder, a Spanish Spaniard, was allowed to match the bid of Don Vicente, the Chinese Spaniard. Racists had their way.
After the last Galleon sailed in 1815, the family went into international trade. Among other things, José María Tuason y Cia imported wine and textiles and exported sugar, indigo, hemp, wood, tobacco, tortoise shell. Shipments were with Spain, Ireland, US, China, Ireland, Singapore, Australia. A Tuason was also among the founders and officers of the Banco Español Filipino de Isabel II.
The majorazgo haciendas were passed on from eldest son to eldest son—from Antonio down to José María, Severo, and ultimately to Juan Enrique—until the 1920s when relatives took the title holder to court and won. The entailed property was then divided among numerous claimants and the majorazgo ended.
Descendants of the founder Son Tua probably number in the hundreds, many prominent in 21st century business, political, academic, and social circles. Their faces don’t appear in society pages, they keep to themselves, occasionally hosting gracious dinner parties like one at an elegant La Vista home that ended with a five-minute fireworks display. The gracious majorazgo lifestyle survives.
Notes: (a) This article is based on Luciano P.R. Santiago et. al., Teresa de la Paz & Her Two Husbands (The descendants of Teresa dela Paz, 1996); (b) Teresa de la Paz (1841-1890) was the wife of Don Jose Severo Tuason (1833-1874). Her second husband was Don Benito Legarda (1853-1915); and (c) the Chinese Parian Quarter was in the area now occupied by Liwasang Bonifacio, Metropolitan Theater, Arroceros Park, and Mehan Garden. It was demolished after the British Occupation to create an open area around Intramuros. Residents moved across the river to Binondo and Santa Cruz.
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