Domingo Vergara, January 11, 1999

Two more trips to the Philippines both in 1997 enabled me to gather more data on my research. The death of my father on January 11, 1999 brought me back to the Philippines once more and gave me the chance to meet many more relations. I would recall him as very close to his relations and would always maintain this close relationship. I always remembered his story of always going to the 'fiesta' of Saints Peter and Paul in Apalit, Pampanga on June 28-29 and spending the night in a big house with his father, Perfecto, until my grandfather's death in 1933. I also remembered going to the fiesta but only for one day, but could not recall meeting any Vergara relations in Apalit. Our family tree did not show any connection with them, but a year later on, further investigation would lead to very probable link. One thing I remembered about my father was his plan to marry me off at a very young age because, being the only male Vergara, he was afraid that his posterity would not be assured. His fear was somewhat realized when at the age of fourteen, I left to become a religious missionary. He would place his hope on his two remaining sons. But this is another story.

Back to my search!

I thought I had gathered the details on all Vergaras from Pulilan. A conversation after my father's funeral with Juana Vergara Caleon, his second cousin who was in her eighties, would result in an exciting adventure. I had been toying with the idea of expanding my study beyond the town of Pulilan. She said that there were some relations of ours who had settled in Anyatam, San Ildefonso, Bulacan. I decided to investigate and search our 'lost people'. On my way, I called in at the parish of a certain priest, Fr. Adi Vergara at Cruz na Daan, San Rafael, Bulacan. He could not tell any substantial details about his Vergara roots but suggested that his father, Dr. Pacifico Vergara, a retired optometrist in Burol 1st, Balagtas, Bulacan might be able to help. He also revealed that he had met a certain Fr. Cesar Vergara from the neighbouring province of Nueva Ecija who considered him a relation but how they were exactly related could not be established. My horizon was expanding.

'Missing Link' in San Ildefonso, Bulacan?

Proceeding to San Ildefonso, I stopped in front of the elementary school of the barrio of Anyatam and inquired the whereabouts of the Vergara folks. I was directed by the local people to where a chapel of the 'Iglesia ni Cristo' was located and I found myself hiking on a dirt road a kilometre away from the main highway. I met Efren de la Fuente who claimed his mother's mother to be a Vergara. He introduced me to Gil Vergara whose father was my namesake, Jose Vergara. They could not tell me anything much and Efren suggested that I should see his mother, Emerenciana Vergara de la Fuente, and directed me to where she lived - just across the road where I had in the first place got off in Anyatam. She was very surprised on seeing me, and disclosed that I was the spitting image of her uncle. She was very helpful but was a little vague. She revealed, however, that she had cousins in Munoz, Nueva Ecija who had made it good. One of them became a town mayor and another bore a son who became a priest. He turned out, as I would eventually learn, to be Fr. Cesar Vergara who had met Fr. Adi Vergara. She also revealed another Vergara living in the town proper of San Ildefonso. On my way home, I called in to see him, but he could not tell anything much about where his roots had come from, except that he had taken the unusual step of discarding his paternal surname for his maternal one. It's a story worth investigating, but I was in hurry to go home and in no mood to make any sensitive inquiry.

Bulacan to Nueva Ecija

The following day at 4:00 AM, I got up and make preparations for my journey of discovery. I boarded a bus bound for Nueva Ecija. I called in at my Vergara relations in Baluarte, Gapan, Nueva Ecija where my grandfather's sister, Simeona, and her husband had migrated from Pulilan. They were childless and they were joined by her sisters, Marcosa, Sabina and Serapia and Serapia's husband, Elias Tudla;. Simeona would eventually marry Fidel Manalastas, a cobbler. Fidel's daughter, Lourdes or Ate Lud1ng, a retired schoolteacher, was the lady married to Pedro Maniquiz, the insurance agent who had given me relevant information on his Vergara clients and had persuaded me eight years before to expand my genealogy search. No one had any idea that in the same year, Ate Lud1ng would suffer the tragic loss of her eldest daughter, my second cousin.

Ate Luding accompanied me to the Vergaras of Gapan and met Lucinia Paral Vergara, a retired schoolteacher. She gave me important family details and revealed that her great grandfather whose name she could not recall had originated from Apalit, Pampanga. Two of his sons, Venancio, three times married, and Delf1n had settled in Gapan. Lucinia also recalled a grand-aunt, Maria, and grand-uncle, Pano, in Apalit. This clan, after a year, would be formally re-united with that big one in Apalit.

Having been told that the mayor of Cabanatuan City was a Vergara, I proceeded to the capital of Nueva Ecija and made inquiries where the city hall was. To my great disappointment, I was told he would not be there. I forgot it was Saturday! The tricycle driver suggested going to the mayor's house where his mother also lived. I dutifully gave the tricycle guy a good tip. Two armed guards eyed me closely and suspiciously when I rang the door bell of the mayor's house. Having eliminated their justified suspicions and won them over with my impressive credentials apart from my magnetic personality, I was told to my great disappointment that there was no one home. I was directed to Selcor, which I found out to be the city's supplier of electricity belonging to the mayor whose full name is Julius Caesar Vergara. Having seen on the big administrative board the mayor's name and Alvin Vergara, I insisted on seeing Alvin, the mayor's second cousin. He was very helpful but could not tell much except that his and the mayor's grandfathers were two brothers, Emilio and Felipe, who had changed their Chinese surname Chua to Vergara. I was fascinated and kept wondering whether they and their ancestors had always kept the Chinese surname together with the hispanized Vergara surname all along until recently. Anyway Alvin promised to send me the details of their roots. My hopeful waiting was almost in vain, but the information on this clan was to come all the way from the United States after a few months.

Click for To the Hills of the Sierra Madre Ranges . . .