THE Christmas season is about parties and at times those parties provide families an opportunity to bond and for clans to reunite. For the clan of the late Andres Jaca of Inayawan, Cebu City, that party-cum-reunion was held one day after Christmas, on Dec. 26 along White Road. Andres is the brother of the long-time Inayawan barangay captain, the late Emilio “Miling” Jaca Sr.
When Cebu City celebrated its 75th year as a chartered city in February of 2012, then mayor Michael Rama also honored 75 families that have helped keep Cebu moving forward.
“It is important for us, the City Government, and for the private sector to give distinction to 75 families for their contribution to the City then and now. They gave meaning to Cebu City,” said a member of the Charter committee then, Councilor Lea Japson.” Among the notables were the Ramas, the Aboitizes, the Gothongs, the Lhuilliers, the Abellanas, the Aznars, etc.
In the list were the Jacas of Inayawan.
I am married to a Jaca, the daughter of one of Andres’s sons. Incidentally, the incumbent Inayawan barangay captain, Kirk Bryan Repollo is a Jaca on the side of Miling. Meaning that he is continuing what has become a tradition of having a Jaca lead one of the bigger barangays in Cebu City.
That tradition was snapped for several years when the late Rustom Ignacio won as barangay captain and was later succeeded by his daughter, Lutherlee “Lotlot” Ignacio-Soon, for a few terms. Bryan defeated Ignacio in the recent barangay polls.
Interestingly, Ignacio ran for Cebu City councilor in the previous elections and lost. Still, it was a recognition of the influence of Inayawan in city-level elections. Ignacio was with the Rama lineup. In the 2019 elections, Mayor Tomas Osmeña included Repollo in his slate. That means a Jaca will be running for councilor under the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan slate.
During that party, I talked at length with one of Andres’s sons, retired Municipal Circuit Trial Court judge Cornelio Jaca, on many things including barangay politics. The choice of topic is not surprising, which reminds me of the talks I had with my late father Tiyong, who once ran for barangay captain and later for barangay councilor of Sambag 2. In those elections, he lost.
I didn’t know much the late Andres Jaca. I saw him only a few times after I got married, and he was already ill at that time. There were stories about his quarrels with Miling, especially on the setting up of what was then the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill in the said barangay. Which only showed that the Jaca elders led what can be considered as colorful lives.
The party was not about politics but a way for relatives to reconnect. Andres’s grandchildren have grown and it is important for them to at least know a bit of each other. The worst thing to happen is when relatives bump into each other in Colon and do not recognize their blood ties.
The problem with getting connected is the distance. My father’s brothers sought greener pastures in Mindanao and I only have vague recollection of them. My mother is an Ortega and many of her brothers and sisters are in the United States. I don’t know my relatives who were born there.