THE formal launching of "Oyanguren: The Forgotten Founder of Davao" by Aida Rivera Ford was held on June 29, 2010 at the Ford Academy of the Arts on Ladislawa Avenue.
One hundred sixty two years ago on June 29, 1848, Don Jose Oyanguren offered a mass in thanksgiving to St. Peter at a site near the present San Pedro Cathedral after deafeating the pirate Datu Mama Bago at his kuta on the elevated portion of Bankerohan (presently the site of UIC).
This was the first mass ever said in the Gulf of Davao. Governor-general Narciso Claveria had granted Oyanguren three gunships and the governorship of Davao with the conquest of terrorists and the establishment of Christianity in the province.
And so on June 29, the feast of San Pedro is one of the most significant days for us Dabawenyos.
After Mrs. Aida Ford mentioned salient features in the life of Don Jose, including his death-bed marriage to Maria Luisa Azaola, the Spanish lady from the East Coast who helped him recruit nativos for this campaign, she recounted a recent visit from Mr. Melecio Cojuangco of Tarlac who is a fourth-generation descendant of Maria Luisa Azaola who remarried after Oyanguren's death in 1858 with European and finally Chinese progeny in the Cojuancos.
Dr. Julian Rodriguez traced the ancestry of prominent Davao families like the Butamantes, the Palma-Gils, the Bangoys, Monteverdes, Tionkos, the Garcias, the Lizadas, the Rodriguezes to a lady who was on the ship with Don Jose Oyanguren in his campaign in 1848. The lady was Macaria Alzate who was widowed twice, first with Pablo Suazo and then with Benigno Bustamante and produced the lineage of prominent Dabawenyos.
The Datu Bago Operetta, directed and choreographed by Rico Rono who played the role of Don Jose, portrayed his romance with Maria Luisa Azaola acted by Jennelyn Jamoner and Algerico Quitoriano as Datu Bago. All are faculty members of the Ford Academy of the Arts.
Rev. Fr. Felipe Mulawan of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary gave the invocation honoring San Pedro.
In the audience, the city government was represented by Councilor Nonong Cabling. Enrica Babao came with a full force from the Davao Historical Society; the historian Dr. Macario Tiu and three Ateneo teachers; Dr. Nieto Vitto of Mindanao Kokusan Daigaken; Lu Chin Bon of LCB Performing Arts Center; faculty members from the Philippine College of Technology, the Philippine Women's College, the Dona Pilar Learning Center, Museo Dabawenyo personnel and a host of friends from Ladislawa Village and San Pedro Village.
It was a historical and theatrical event to remember.