Looking for the women
Like Dr. Rhodora Masilang-Bucoy who asked: Where are the women? I looked for the women in the exhibit and forum, Pinanggang Sugbuanong Banay.
In “A Mountain of Names” of Cebu More Than an Island Resil Mojares: “The public face of this society was male. Men were expected to deal with the “outside world”, and male heirs were privileged. Yet women played an indispensable role in the less visible precincts of the city’s old families. They did inventories of harvests, dealt with tenants, managed household businesses, or ran their own businesses, eateries, small neighborhood stores. Nineteenth-century matriarchs like Doña Fausta Regis, Doña Damiana Veloso, and Doña Benigna Cui exercised a great deal of influence in managing family properties. This was a role that quickly extended into the public sphere in the early twentieth century as evidenced by the careers of women like Felicidad Climaco who was active in the women’s suffrage movement and electoral politics in the 1930s”. We see this in the families of the cluster which were presented in UP Cebu.
Socorro Borromeo Atega who spoke for the Borromeo family gifted UP with their family coffee table book, Gathering Around the Table Stories and Recipes from the Reynes Borromeo written by Kathleen Martinez. The original couple are described as : “Tatay Pepe the Blacksmith and Nanay Titay the Business Woman.” Then Kathleen says, “she was a hard working woman with an eye for business; Margarita excelled in commerce, acting as a middleman in commerce between the farmers from the provinces and the buyers in the city. The business that Margarita generated proved to be the key to moving the family upward. With the money she made selling produce in the Cebu City wharf, she was able to invest in properties including agricultural land in San Isidro Leyte, today the site of the Salud Borromeo Memorial Charity Clinic.”
Among the many interesting anecdotes in the book was the one told to Carmen B. Mercado and Bernadette B. Gallego: “So she would give birth and she would make torta again?” “Yes! She was a hard working woman.”
There were more sons and only three daughters; the sons and one daughter were educated and left Cebu. Salud and Matilde remained at home —“the roles they played at home were vital to supporting the family.” They were in charge of the “kitchen to provide enough food for social events and running the household on a day to day basis”.
The book and Socorro Borromeo Atega declared the love for delicious food of the members of the family. So although there were more sons, the book about the family is dominated by the women who excelled in affectionately preparing memorable meals – feasts – for the Borromeos. In fact, the special recipes form a large part of the book.
Susan Herrera Tañedo descendant of Patrocinio and niece of Salud shares this about her aunt: “Tita Saling made super great angel cake and made homemade mango and ube ice cream. During the summer Tita Saling would make me take up pattern making and dressmaking. I even had a small weaving loom wherein I would make placemats like hablon fabrics which were very colorful.”
In the next generation the daughter of Jose U. Borromeo, the family’s military man, studied in UP; here she was described by a nephew as “a sharp shooter and on the UP Rifle Team and a very good horseback rider.” During World War II she was a leader in the Women’s Auxiliary Service. “ In 1951 she received the Military Merit Medal in Malacañang Palace; in 1958 she served as ‘Woman Labor Leader’. Upon her death she was “buried with full military honors.” Among the Borromeo women were two ICM nuns.
With the Del Rosarios we have Ceferina Urquiga del Rosario, wife of Vicente del Rosario, the son of Pantaleon del Rosario who fought in the revolutionary wars. She was Cebu’s first female councilor. But there is mention of Sra. Pering who “fielded tartanillas”. She also managed a salt and fishpond enterprise. She was also into the production of muscovado sugar.
The exhibit on the Garcias included three women of achievement: Severiana B. Garcia, who was involved and exercised leadership in the Girl Scout Movement; her daughter Nelia Garcia Neri who served in the Commission on Tourism during the Cory Aquino administration; and Cebu’s first lady governor, Gwendolyn Fiel Garcia.
In the Inocian family we have Paterna Bontuyan Inocian, who is not only a puso maker but who also leads in rituals of thanksgiving and other purposes such as healing or pleading for a good harvest. Her granddaughter, the SK chairperson of Taptap has learned puso making. Here we are back with women as mediator between the divine and the human as well as tradition keeper, ancient roles of females in our islands.
The response of the students to the entire experience was great enthusiasm. In fact not only the young but many who attended declared the affair was a beautiful experience. Prof. Henry Francis Espritu in his reaction asserted the importance of the Cebuano family and the values related it; he emphasized its significance in our cultural heritage. For history teachers, let us remember what Mojares stated: “Through the stories of its families, the story of Cebu can be told.”
