A grand reunion
On Sept. 8 will be held the first family reunion in my lifetime on my paternal side—the Roceses. It promises to be a grand one, by sheer number alone. Credit goes, of course, to chief organizer Kat Legarda, a fourth-generation member of the Legarda-Roces union.
Included are the children of the original seven Roces-Gonzales siblings—Filomena, Alejandro, Beatriz, Jesus, Joaquin, Rafael, and Marcos. I know if the job were left to the heirs of Rafael, on my Roces-Reyes side, we’d never get it off the ground. But Kat has made it all so easy: We only have to show up, which is really more our style.
I can, of course, only speak from the Roces-Reyes side. I’ve heard of other grand family reunions, for which each branch is assigned to wear a certain color and a heavy program of games is lined up, with prizes, and it all sounds like big production. We Roces-Reyeses are not exactly party poopers, but our own reunions are easy, limited to Sunday lunches at our grandparents home, on Park Avenue, Pasay City.
I remember that at Christmas or New Year’s, we had a catered lauriat, compliments of our tenant Lim Ka Ping at Lolo and Lola’s, and everyone down to my generation was welcome. That was as big as our parties got. And again, we only had to show up.
Through the years, the survivors of the seven Roces siblings and their children kept in touch. Lola Menang (Filomena) Legarda came for lunch at my grandparents’ at least once a month. Ramon, the oldest son of Lolo’s oldest brother Alejandro (Moy), came for dinner about as often. Usually my grandparents were visited at home by members of the other family branches and stayed for a simple lunch or dinner.
After a while, Lolo Rafael became the last survivor of the original seven. Moy’s daughter Isabel (Bebeng) extended invitations to us nieces and nephews occasionally for simple intimate lunches in her own home. In the same way, Marcos’ son Marcos Jr. took us to listen to piano music at the Peninsula, and Marcos Jr.’s sister Connie also invited us to lunch whenever she was in the country—she lived in Spain.
Great storytellers
Getting together was a simple event of good food and great desserts and lots of jokes and storytelling. My uncles and aunts were all great storytellers. We didn’t need any other entertainment. We never had speeches or any display of family talent—well, no one could really sing or play any instrument with any proficiency worth leaving home for. That was until my first cousin Josie came along and surprised us all with her schooled soprano. Lola Enchay’s own coloratura was good enough for a scholarship to Vienna, which she would have taken up if she had not married Lolo Rafael.
I belong to the third generation of that line. Lolo Rafael was the second to the youngest children of the Roces-Gonzales union, born in Barcelona of Spanish and Filipino heritage. Lola Enchay—Inocencia Reyes—of Binondo was Filipino-Chinese. They in fact got married in the historic Binondo church. She bore him nine sons to propagate the Roces name. The confusion arose when, like the rest of the clan, we had the irritating habit of repeating the first names of the original seven Roces ancestors.
Our Sunday gathering was long, interrupted only by our grandparents’ siesta, in which everyone else who was still around joined them, each one finding a nice place for their own nap. Most coveted was the silla perezosa, a special lounging chair. Siesta was followed by a light merienda, after which everyone dispersed.
This idea of a family reunion of such scope as organized for next month is timely. The younger generations hardly know one another, unlike before, when we were fewer and togetherness was a tradition. It will be at Milky Way, perfect for its comfort food and the rich memories it inspires.
The Roces-Reyes line holds the record in longevity. Of the nine sons, three are still living, and well. Brother No. 5, Francisco, is 103, and has chosen to spend his last years in Palawan, where the Reyes family has some roots; No. 8, Marcos, is 94, and lives in Wack Wack, Mandaluyong; No. 9, Alfredo, is 92, for many years now a resident of Sydney, Australia. Marcos and his wife Marietta will be in attendance.
This reunion will bring together for the first time all the living descendants of the first Alejandro Roces, from Asturias, Spain, who came to the Philippines in 1843. We have access to our rich family history, through the efforts of two family historians: our side’s own Alfredo and Beneting Legarda, Filomena’s grandson, who, if not for the pandemic, might still have been with us. He went at 94.
