PICTURES FROM THE PAST - MY MATERNAL GRANDPARENTS
- Jaime Picornell
- May 13, 2019
- 2 min read
Here are photos of my maternal grandparents - Colonel Jacinto Rodriguez y Lasala and Maria del Pilar Perez de Sandoval.
Jacinto was born in Bogo, the son of Jose Rodriguez y Alvarez (born in Linares, Asturias, Spain) and Vicenta Lasala, born in Bantayan, Cebu.
Jacinto went to Spain to study with his siblings, among them Celestino and Pedro Rodriguez who would later be elected to the Philippine Senate.
Whereas his brothers and sister returned to the Philippines to finish their studies, Jacinto remained in Spain as he was studying at the Military Academy in Toledo.
Jacinto volunteered as a soldier in Cuba to avoid killing his brother Filipinos during the war conflict. In Cuba he met Maria del Pilar Perez de Sandoval.
When Cuba was lost they returned to Spain and got married in Zaragoza where they lived in a large house at Paseo de Ruiseñores. The house still stands; it is now a school.
Maria del Pilar died when my mother Anita was only nine years old. We don’t know much about her but we do have her genealogy. Her great grandfather was the Marques de Casa Pacheco.
My mother had two elder brothers, Luis and Jose; two younger surviving sisters, Consuelo and Maria Luisa; and a younger brother, Ismael. Jacinto remarried but had no children with Concepcion Garcia Imbert who was a loving mother to his children.
In 1933 my grandfather Jacinto returned to the Philippines, fleeing the Republic that had been installed in Spain. He came to Cebu, Bogo in particular, with his three daughters and youngest son. Ismael eventually returned to Spain when the civil war broke out. He was killed in action, fighting with the army of General Francisco Franco. He is buried in Valle de los Caidos.
Jacinto’s inheritance in Bogo did not generate enough to maintain him and his daughters in the style they were used to, so they moved back to Cebu City and found work.
Jacinto taught Spanish at the University of the Visayas; my mother Anita also taught Spanish at the University of Southern Philippines, Consuelo worked for Heacock in Magallanes (a Rustan’s-style department store), and Maria Luisa was the executive secretary to the manager of the Bank of the Philippine Islands.
They were in Cebu (my mother already married to Santiago Picornell) during World War II, Jacinto did not survive it, for lack of the proper medication. He had been an exemplary man, much admired by those who knew him, specially those who played a good game of chess.
When I was 10 my parents took me to Spain to meet the family, most of the time spent in Zaragoza. One day my mother took me on a visit to an elderly noblewoman who had been a friend of her mother. They spoke at length but I don’t recall anything.
What I remember is how the noble lady asked my mother to sit by the window as the afternoon light flooded the room.
”That’s it, that’s how I remember your mother. You look exactly like her.” My mother smiled back at her. No tears. Just that serene smile my mother was very good at.
From time to time I will bring out more photos from the past, published in no particular sequence but properly captioned, if possible, as to time, place, how, why and any other pertinent data.
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