Lopez clan revisits Iloilo

Over 700 descendants of Basilio Lopez and Sabina Jalandoni recently celebrated the 7th Lopez reunion in Jaro, Iloilo where the original Lopez family was from. Headed by the family’s current patriarch Oscar Lopez and his cousin Marivic Araneta Concepcion, the reunion was a huge success with the fifth to seventh generations showing up in full force.

Oscar first undertook this massive project at the onset of Martial Law. He was assisted by historians and genealogists who combed through church and municipal records to enable them to trace the history of their forefathers. With the guidance of his aunt Lilia Lopez Jison who knew the older generation, the project took approximately a decade to complete with a clan of, currently, over 4,000 family members and a complete lineage of up to the ninth generation. This family tree is officially updated every five years for posterity.

The 2012 grand reunion was planned and conceptualized by a working committee headed by cousins Lourdes Jison Ledesma, Cedie Lopez Vargas and Bettina Lopez Osmeña with a series of get-togethers to kick start the celebration. A fund-raising project was included in the Lopez Cup tournament organized by Ana Lopez Angeles and her husband Manny at the Santa Elena Golf Club.

Beneficiaries were the Uswag Calunusan Livelihood Association, Sagip Kapamilya and a tree-planting activity in barangay San Rafael in Iloilo City.  

Not to be outdone, the younger Lopezes composed of Martin and Juan Miguel Naguiat, Joey and Bea Osmeña, Marco and Martin Vargas, Magsy Concepcion, Maui Velasco and Cez Golez organized a pre-reunion party not only to encourage their age group to attend the reunion in Iloilo but to get to know each other better.

The Iloilo festivities started with a dinner dance at the famed Nelly Garden that was built in 1928 and was the ancestral home of Vicente Lopez, the grand patriarch of the Eugenio Lopez clan. During the pre- and post-war years, this was the site where many genteel balls and parties were held –– a time when the world was kinder and gentler. Good manners, elegance, culture and class were the order of the day with the ladies dressed in their Filipiniana finery. Invited guests from Manila and other nearby provinces would troop in their finery to celebrate the birthday and Jaro fiestas of sugar tycoon Vicente Lopez with flourish. This annual celebration was carried on by his daughter Lilia Lopez Jison, who in 1982, hosted the first grand Lopez reunion at the stately mansion to reconnect the descendants of Agrapino, Clara, Eugenio, Eulalia, Francisco, Gregoria and Marcelo Lopez.

Sarabia Manor Hotel was the venue of the second night of festivities with a number of family members showing off their singing talents during amateur hour. The evening’s highlight was a musical “Enduring Bonds” based on the life of Basilio and Sabina Lopez. After the musical, the younger generation danced to the music provided by DJ Joey Lopez Osmeña.  

Many of the Lopez progeny are now successful in their chosen fields in the arts, academe, business, music, theater and politics not only in the Philippines but also abroad, with their family motto that proudly states “Honor, Riqueza, Gloria.”

* * *

For comments and ideas, e-mail jacinto.fa@gmail.com.