On Eñing Lopez’s 105th birthday

One is touched by the affectionate ways the Lopez family chose to mark the 105th birthday anniversary of the late Eugenio Lopez Sr., otherwise called Don Eñing. A commemorative program attended by some of the most prominent members of society was held at the Meralco Theater in Pasig City; a thanksgiving mass was observed at the beautiful Jaro cathedral in Jaro, Iloilo city where, that same night last week, a feast was laid out and appreciative and loving stories about the birthday celebrant were told by his son, Oscar M. Lopez, and grandsons.

But more long-lasting are four projects launched last week to benefit the townsfolk and children of Jaro. These projects reflect the commitment of Don Eñing to have the Lopez business enterprises practice Corporate Social Responsibility. These projects provide housing for the less-privileged (Gawad Kalinga), Educational Television for 15 elementary and three public high schools, nutrition feeding (Bantay Kalusugan), and Responsible Parenthood.

These projects, said son Oscar M. Lopez, "is only the beginning of what we would like to be a continuing process of investing in human development in our hometown (Jaro). Development in the end is about developing people, and we in the Lopez Group want to put our resources at the service of improving health, education and quality of life, so that the next generation of Jaro children can live better, happier, and more productive lives."

Today’s column focuses on the man so honored by his kin. His son Oscar, the Lopez Group chairman, has been giving speeches on his father’s legacy of greatness and beneficence, a task coming so naturally to him, and with authority, as he is "the family historian." His talks about his father’s origins and background "to help explain the complexities of the man we knew and loved, but never fully understood."

Eñing’s story, as told by Oscar, begins generations back – at least 200 years.

The first member of the Lopez family that could be identified possibly was Basilio Lopez, a cabeza de barangay from 1842 to 1862 and who was elected governadorcillo or mayor of Jaro. He was a trader by profession, trading textile goods and wood products. In the 1830s Basilio married Sabina Jalandoni and they begot 16 children, 10 of whom reached adulthood, and eight of these lines produced eight generations of descendants down to the present time.

Of Basilio’s children, his eldest son, the first Eugenio Lopez, was a pioneer sugar planter who owned the first steam-powered sugar mill in Negros, and hundreds of hectares of land. Eugenio and his brother Marcelo were the two Lopezes of the second generation who obtained a university education, both of them studying philosophy and law at the University of Santo Tomas during the 1850s.

The first Eugenio became a cabeza de barangay then governadorcillo, like his father before him, in Jaro. His believed in the dignity of the common man and the redemptive value of education to uplift the lot of the common; thus he implemented the first elementary public school system in Jaro. He believed in freedom of speech and of religion, and from him the Lopezes inherited a strong spirit of anti-clericalism. The spirit of "noblesse oblige" which characterizes the generations of Lopezes, was shown in Eugenio’s and in his brother Claudio’s organizing a Lopez family relief operation, using their own funds to distribute rice and money to countless victims who had been affected by a serious province-wide famine that struck Iloilo in 1878.

The later Lopezes would either take the path of entrepreneurship and wealth, or the high road to public service, civic responsibilities and even philanthropy, says Oscar Lopez.

Feminism sprang early in the women of the third generation of Lopezes. The great entrepreneurs were the women – the tough and strong-willed daughters of Eugenio – Doña Maria and Doña Rosario, the former becoming chair of the Lopez sugar central in Fabrica, Negros Occidental, and the latter establishing her own in Iloilo province.

The third generation had Benito Lopez, who became the dominant political figure in Iloilo during the first decade of the 20th century. Like his father Eugenio, he took up philosophy and law at the UST, and surpassed the academic records of both Manuel Quezon and Sergio Osmeña, his contemporaries at the Catholic university. He stopped his studies when the Philippine-American war broke out in 1899, and he wound up as the youngest member of the Iloilo revolutionary government which fought the Americans for more than one year.

At the end of the war, Benito married Presentacion Hofilena of Navalas, Guimaras Island, and had two sons – Eugenio, born in 1901, and Fernando, born in 1904. He established a newspaper called El Tiempo, served as justice of the peace, then got elected vice-mayor of Jaro and finally as governor of Iloilo province twice, in 1906 and 1907. After his reelection in 1907, he was killed by a supporter of his opponent; he was 30 years old.

Eugenio and Fernando were placed in the care of their uncle Vicente and his wife, Presentacion, who was married to the younger sister of Benito’s wife. Vicente could not have given his real sons a better education than what he gave his nephews. Fernando was sent to the Dominicans’ Letran College and the UST for law studies.

Eugenio was sent to the Ateneo de Manila where he finished the AB degree, cum laude, and learned to speak Latin, German, Spanish and English. Then he went to the University of the Philippines for law studies, and after finishing the bar in 1923, he went to Harvard Law School for graduate legal studies.

As Oscar relates it, the accumulation of a broad and rich education had a great impact "not only on the character and life of my father but also of his children and many other people and institutions he came in contact with." There were contradictions that developed in his character as a result of his education. Outwardly he was like "a man of the world who loved the best things that life could offer," but in his private life he was almost ascetic in his ways – undoubtedly the influence of the stern discipline and orderly life learned in Ateneo as an intern for seven years and reinforced by his upbringing under an equally stern disciplinarian uncle.

"He tried at all times to inculcate the values of hard work, unity and a good education to his children," Oscar recalls. Even during World War II, he gave the boys a tutor whether they were at the farm or up in the mountains, and having them walk, with Japanese planes bombing Baguio City, to the La Salle brothers in the morning and Sta. Scholastica nuns in the afternoon for classes. His love for books later led to the establishment of the Lopez Museum which contains the most comprehensive private Filipiniana book collection in the country as well as the biggest painting collection of Juan Luna and Felix R. Hidalgo.

His passion for learning must surely have impelled him to give the biggest donation for the establishment of the Asian Institute of Management, another donation to the Ateneo’s Rizal Library building, and the establishment of several scholarships at the UP In Iloilo City, he and his brother Fernando established in 1949 the Iloilo City Colleges which eventually became the University of Iloilo.

Eugenio joined the law office of Vicente Francisco, where he developed a close friendship with Claro M. Recto. In 1928, he married Pacita Moreno, from Manila, and from this marriage ensued five children – Eugenio Jr. (Geny), Oscar, Presy, Manolo, and Roby.

The brothers entered into joint ventures in Iloilo City. They revived their father’s paper, El Tiempo, which almost immediately, plunged into a crusade against gambling and jueteng, implicating top politicians, and causing the removal of the provincial governor from office, and setting the pattern for the fearless crusading he would carry on with the Manila Chronicle.

They went into the transportation business but which was confiscated by the retreating Fil-American forces or by the Japanese. After the war, the brothers took different paths. Fernando entered politics, eventually becoming senator for three terms, then Vice President under President Quirino then for another two terms under President Marcos.

Eugenio stayed in Manila to continue his entrepreneurial career.

(To be continued next issue.)

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