Noy honors ancestors, visits 'Cory' tree

FUJIAN PROVINCE, China – It was a happy homecoming for President Aquino as he arrived in Hongjian village here yesterday to pay tribute to his maternal ancestors and follow in the footsteps of his late mother, former President Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco-Aquino.

President Aquino was greeted by exuberant bursts of firecrackers, a lion dance performed by villagers in colorful costumes and loud cheers as in traditional Chinese festivities.

The warm welcome brought a big smile to the face of the President, called a “great grandson of China” by Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao, as he entered the village where a memorial hall was built for his mother and an araucaria tree that she planted now standing tall but with the trunk having split into two, an auspicious sign for the Chinese people.

Aquino first proceeded to a shrine to light incense as an act of veneration and tribute to his ancestors from the Co side of his mother’s family and in accordance with local custom.

Consul General Adelio Angelito Cruz said veneration of ancestors is a one of the forms of filial piety and respect for elders.

Filial piety is considered the first virtue in Chinese culture and following Confucian ideals, filial piety is one of the virtues to be held above everything else, he said.

When the late President Cory Aquino visited this village in April 1988, she also paid tribute to her Chinese ancestors by lighting incense.

On the temple altar are wooden tablets containing the names of notable Co family members. Since 2009, when Mrs. Aquino passed away, her picture was placed among the tablets of the Co family ancestors in the clan temple.

“Filipinos have a saying ‘ang di lumingon sa pinanggalingan, di makararating sa paroroonan,’ so I believe that the President’s going to Hongjian to pay his respects to part of his ancestry will show that the Filipino and Chinese people have many similar cultural values,” Cruz said.

The late Mrs. Aquino was a fourth-generation Chinese-Filipino descended from Co Yu Hwan, a Chinese immigrant from Hongjian who settled in the Philippines in 1861.

Co converted to Roman Catholicism and was baptized as Jose Cojuangco; the surname Cojuangco is an amalgamation of his Chinese Hokkien name, Co Yu Hwan.

His son, Melecio Cojuangco (born in 1871), married another Chinese-Filipino named Tiakla Chico sometime in 1894 and among their children was Jose Cojuangco, Jr., father Mrs. Aquino.

Hongjian is a rural village located near the border of Xiamen’s Haicang district and Zhangzhou City. The village is home to about 1,700 residents with the surname Co, some of whom have traceable blood relations to the President, Cruz said.

The araucaria tree

Aquino said in his speech that he was grateful and honored to have seen the ancestral hall of the family Xu (the putonghwa or Mandarin pronunciation of Co) and to see how big the tree that his late mother planted 23 years ago had become.

“I cannot help but recall the gracious words of (Chinese) Premier Wen (Jiabao): the tree your mother planted has flourished and put in deep roots. I am grateful to all of you for the honor you continue to give to my mother,” he said.

Aquino noted the construction of the Sino-Philippines Friendship Memorial Hall in the village that would be dedicated to the memory of his late mother.

Aquino also mentioned the tree that his mother had planted.

“I was told that years ago, on its own, this tree split in two. Nature has its own laws and surely this natural phenomenon was not a prophecy for I never aspired to reach the same heights and achieve the same success as my mother,” he said.

“And yet, by the will of my people, I stand here in the same position she occupied as president of the Philippines, bearing the same responsibility she had, to change peoples’ lives for the better,” Aquino said.

In Beijing and Shanghai which he had visited earlier as part of his state visit to this country, Aquino always said that he wanted to see the landscape that gave birth to so many who braved long journeys to settle in a foreign land, to build families, homes, and successful enterprises.

“I said that I wanted to see the land where so many successful Filipino-Chinese came from... Their success brought not only prosperity but honor to their kinsmen, whether in the Philippines or China,” Aquino said.

”Ours, then, are not only ties of family and blood, they are ties of shared virtues: of hard work, study, loyalty, dedication, and empathy. Our ties are relationships that have transcended kilometers, generations, and borders because they are built on shared principles,” he said.

Aquino said he wanted to strengthen the relationship between China and the Philippines and cooperate on efforts ultimately to improve the lives of their respective peoples.

“This is a collective task. Together with me, hundreds of businessmen from the Philippines went to Beijing to meet your country’s political and economic leaders,” he said.

Aquino said the meetings between the businessmen were held with the aim of discussing opportunities to further expand the economic exchange between China and the Philippines.

“In my country we have a saying: that if one is to move forward, one must know how to look back. So I would like to thank the people of Hongjian – all my distant cousins, aunts, and uncles, for their warm welcome, and for being among the many who give me the strength to carry on and succeed,” Aquino said.

Aquino gave the residents “Cory dolls” as a parting gift.

He said the memorabilia from his mother would serve as a reminder to all of them, as well as future generations, “of the ties of history that bind us together; of the strong and centuries-old relationship between the Philippines, Hongjian village, and Fujian province.”

He also planted a tree in the village like his mother did.

“I leave to your care this tree that I have planted. May its roots also be deep, and may our kinsmen one day enjoy rest under the shade of what we have planted, as you and I have enjoyed the shade of what my mother planted in her time,” Aquino said.

Cruz said while the araucaria tree was growing and its trunk split in two and now has two trunks of equal height, the villagers took it as a sign that another branch from the former President’s family would rise up and achieve the same stature as the mother who planted the tree.

“Today, with the care of local villagers who are blood relatives of the Cojuangcos in the Philippines, the tree has grown to a height of a four-storey building,” Cruz said.

“Presently a park, named Hongjian Park, is being constructed on the site surrounding the tree planted by the former president. Fittingly, village planners are also constructing a Memorial Hall which, when completed, shall be dedicated to the memory of President Corazon Aquino,” Cruz added.

The village is located in Zhangzhou City in Fujian province. Cruz explained the southern Fujianese or Minnan people were among the most numerous overseas Chinese groups, the other being the Cantonese from Guangdong province.

“In fact, unofficial estimates say that 80 to 85 percent of all Filipinos of Chinese ethnicity can trace their roots to southern Fujian. This group includes famous Filipino-Chinese businessmen such as Henry Sy of SM, John Gokongwei of Robinson’s and Universal Robina, Lucio Tan of Philippine Airlines and Allied Bank, George Ty of Metrobank, Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee, and so many more,” Cruz said.

“Even one of the ancestors of our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal hails from southern Fujian,” he added.