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2014 Update: We’ve now documented this story in a more detailed video, here:

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2013 Update: Living here in the Philippines, GMA TV Network contacted us and came to our house to conduct interviews and feature our story in a piece they aired on Siquijor Tourism — Video here!

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Original Story (2012): Of all the places we visited during our three weeks in the Philippines, our one day (two nights) on the small island of Siquijor was by far the favorite. The pristine beaches and lack of crowds / tourists played a role in this, but it was the fact that we started the day unaware of the existence of living relatives in the Philippines, and ended the day surrounded by them! The most we hoped to find was census or baptismal records of people related to Tia’s grandfather, but to our shock and amazement, we actually located his descendants!

Background: Martiniano Pogot Limatoc was born on Siquijor in 1905 and moved to Hawaii in his early twenties. As part of the move he changed his last name to something more “American”: Limary, and went by the nickname Manny. Not long after arriving in Hawaii, he married a lady named Ida who already had at least one child (and they then had more together). At some point down the road, Ida passed away, and then he married Ida’s daughter (his step-daughter): Edith. Martiniano and Edith had more children, one of them named Jeff, who is Tia’s father.

After returning from my third business trip to the Philippines in nine months, I felt impressed to propose to Tia that we spend our summer vacation there instead of Tahiti. It would give me a chance to introduce Tia to all the friends and places I had been telling her about, plus we could venture outside of Manila to some of the world famous beaches my Filipino co-workers had recommended. (Okay, I also wanted to play in the company basketball tournament in Manila)

In addition to the friends, beaches, and basketball — we both knew it would offer a rare opportunity to research more of Tia’s family history up close and in person. We liked the idea of visiting the places her grandparents were from to see if we could find more information about her family. Originally, the data we had said that grandpa was from “Siguigor, Bisayan”, but with a bit of google-fu, we found the proper spelling: “Siquijor, Visayas” (and that it had an infamous reputation for witchcraft, monsters, etc!). Knowing we’d benefit greatly from a translator, we invited my younger brother Andrew to join us on the vacation (having served a 2 year LDS Mission in the Philippines, he maintains a fluency in Tagalog, the national language).

The Story: After almost two weeks of travel in Manila and Bohol, we boarded a ferry bound for Siquijor. After a three hour ferry ride, followed by a one hour trike ride, we were greeted by the most amazing accommodations at Firefly Cove. This bed and breakfast is built and owned by an American, right on the beach in eastern Siquijor. Scott and his wife, Cecile, do a great job hosting their visitors and offer excellent food and company. They live in a large house about 30m up the hill from two beach front cottages (two rooms each). We arrived at nearly 10pm and were quite happy to have such a great place to crash for the next two nights, we only had one full day on Siquijor and wanted to make the most of it.

The next morning our plan was to circle the island (via a ~46 mile circumferential road) on rented motor bikes. We wanted to hit the main tourist attractions (beaches, waterfalls, hikes, caves, etc), while still making reasonable attempts at finding information on Tia’s family.

The first place of interest was Salagdoong Beach — a public beach resort about 15 minutes from our B&B. We were pleasantly surprised by the beauty and calm of this well-maintained beach park. With ocean water slides, platform dives, white sand beaches, and picnic tables, you would think this place would be packed, but there was only one other family there at the time of our visit. In a place like Hawaii, this resort would be crawling with tourists and locals.

After some fun in the sun at Salagdoong, we were passing through the small town of Maria on our way to Cambugahay Falls, when my brother Andrew (Drew) pulls over on the side of the road and points to the town hall and says that if we are serious about finding information, we need to stop at every town hall we see and ask for information. With that, we parked and entered the town hall of Maria.

Filipinos have a reputation for their kindness and hospitality, and this rang especially true when we were greeted at the town hall front desk by Jovie — a delightful lady who worked with us over the next hour in search of information. She first took us upstairs to the records office to speak with an administrator who sat behind a large metal desk with nothing electronic in sight. After explaining our mission and flipping through a few pages of an old records book, the lady behind the desk said that she does remember going to a school with someone of the last name Limatoc, but that her records only go back to 1945. She suggested we try baptismal records at the Catholic church across the street, as they go back to the early 1800’s.

Jovie took us across the street to the Church and helped sift through some very old hand-written records in search of Martiniano Limatoc. While a few Limatoc baptisms were found, there was nothing for Martiniano specifically. The records administrator at town hall believed the Limatocs she went to school with were from the village of Bogo, so Jovie gave us directions along with the name of the village counselor (someone who should know if there are any Limatocs in his village).

Typical of most places in the Philippines, there were no street signs or posted landmarks on the roads we traveled. So we found ourselves stopping every few minutes to ask for directions (there’s only one road, so we really just needed to know if we had arrived in Bogo or not). We eventually arrived in Bogo, then we had to start asking random people if they knew the village counselor (we had his name). After several referrals to “the house two doors down”, we finally located him. At first he appeared confused by our visit (I’m sure he doesn’t get many Americans on his front porch), but after he understood what we were asking of him he seemed quite pleased to offer his assistance.

As he began to explain that indeed there were people in his village who he believes are related to Limatocs, one of them rode by on his bike right in front the house. The counselor waived him down and asked him to guide us to his Aunt’s house. But he was on his way to drop a young girl off at school, so he wasn’t able to help right away. We parted with a vague description of the house, and again found ourselves stopping every 30 seconds trying to figure out if we were in the right place. Luckily the man on the bike returned and directed us to the proper house (we were right in front of it and didn’t know it).

As usual we were greeted with very confused looks and Tia broke right in: “Do you know a man named [showing a piece of paper with the name written down] ‘Martiniano Pogot Limatoc’?” To our surprise, the response was “Yes, he is my grandfather…. [still looking confused]” To which Tia replied in delight “He is my grandfather too!”

At first I was a bit skeptical as to whether or not we were truly referring to the same person, but the lady, Anita, continued to tell the story of how her grandfather left for Hawaii as a young man and eventually married a woman named Edith (she didn’t know much more than that). Again, Tia was able to confirm “Edith is my grandmother!”.

As several more relatives joined the reunion, hearts grew heavy, throats choked up, and a few in the room shed a tear or two. At one point Anita’s daughter, Judith, and I both had our camera phones out video taping as Tia was grilling everyone in the room about their respective families (number of kids, names, ages, etc). Judith also showed me a portrait in their kitchen that clearly showed the same Martiniano we’ve seen in photos back home.

Anita Limatoc (now Grado) went on to explain that Martiniano had married at a young age before leaving the island and even had a son with his wife in the Philippines. When he left to Hawaii, his wife was fearful that the boat would sink, so much so that she refused to join him. Apparently she was also pregnant with his second son (it’s unclear if he knew this at the time of his departure). Those two sons (now deceased) grew up and married on Siquijor.

The first of Martiniano’s sons on Siquijor had only a single child, Anita, but the second son had three daughters. As the afternoon went on, they sent someone to fetch saltine crackers and a coke for us from a street vendor, and we ended up meeting the other two living granddaughters of Martiniano and his Filipina wife (Regina): Sylvia and Estrella. We also met many of their kids — one of whom, Sherwin, graciously offered to be our tour guide for the day. Anita said that Martiniano stayed in touch with his first wife Regina for a few years after leaving Siquijor, and that he also visited the island 35 years ago with Edith and his youngest son Tommy (Tia’s uncle, who was too young to remember much of the visit).

After a lengthy visit, Cousin Sherwin took us to Cambugahay Falls, The Enchanted Balete Tree, Tulapos Marine Sanctuary, and San Juan de Capilay Lake (which were all great). Like most Filipino men, Sherwin and his relatives are avid basketball players. They welcomed the proposal of a family game at the village court after dinner. I’m sure it was a comical sight to watch Drew and I struggle due to the heat and humidity, not to mention the great speed of our Filipino cousins — but I have to recognize Drew for playing Filipino style: in flip-flop sandals (awesome book). As we played some fairly competitive games, Tia caught up with family members on the sidelines.

The Aftermath: In retrospect, this single day of the three week vacation made it worth every penny we spent on this trip. We now have knowledge of, and a connection to, a previously unknown branch of our family. A few of our new-found cousins use Facebook (usually via internet cafes in town), and we’ve since added them as friends and exchanged messages. We’re also spreading the news to the “Hawaiian side” of the family and hoping to rally enough interest for a return trip in the next few years.

2013 Update: Living here in the Philippines, GMA TV Network contacted us and came to our house to conduct interviews and feature our story in a piece they aired on Siquijor Tourism — Video here!

Below is a family tree I created which shows our relation to the cousins we met in person. I’ve also included a set of slides that I put together when sharing this story with co-workers.

(click any of the images for larger versions)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More pictures: Siquijor Photo Album

2013 Update: Living here in the Philippines, GMA TV Network contacted us and came to our house to conduct interviews and feature our story in a piece they aired on Siquijor Tourism — Video here!

2014 Update: We’ve now documented this story in a more detailed video, here:

Aloha XI: Wave Your Flag
Created: 12/25/2011
Length: 01:05:01

Ma$on Man, Kalani, California, Hawaii, Ashlee & Jon, El Salvador, Philippines, Barcelona, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, France, Drop It Low Girl

You must click here to upgrade your Flash player to see this video.

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of visiting the Philippines for the first time and wrote a short blog post about it here.  Luckily, I was able to return for a second business trip the last two weeks of September.

This second trip was long enough to permit a weekend with my brother Drew, who is serving a two year LDS mission in the Cagayan Valley (a one hour flight from Manila).  It was great to spend some quality time with my brother after not having seen him for nearly two years.  It was also fun to see him as a missionary, participate in missionary activities, and hear him speak Tagalog fluently.  He finishes his mission in December 2011 and will then attend university at BYU Hawaii.

Similar to the last trip, I was taken yet again by the kindness and warmth of the Filipino culture.  I guess you could call it culture shock, but with a positive connotation.  This alluring contrast was even more pronounced in the small city of Tuguegarao where Drew lived.  Over the weekend he taught me a few phrases in Tagalog which served me well throughout the trip (‘How’s it going?’ ‘Thank you sir’ ‘Yes sir’ ..etc..)  Most of these attempts at Tagalog were received with a very surprised smile and a bit of laughter.

The photos below illustrate some of the highlights of the trip, and the rest can be found here.

It wasn’t quite the Thrilla in Manila, but I was fortunate enough to visit the Philippines on a week-long business trip. My younger brother Drew has been over there for 18 months as an LDS Missionary and has shared some great stories in his letters.  Also, my father in-law Jeff is Hawaiian Filipino, which means Kalani and Mason have a dash of Filipino in them.

As a family we’ve visited Hawaii several times and do a decent job of exposing the kids to the Hawaiian culture, but we haven’t done so much on the Filipino side.  The trip turned out to be very rewarding, both culturally and from a business perspective.  Below are some of the thoughts and impressions I’ve brought home to share with the family:

A culture of kindness — the never ending smiles, customer service, genuine desire to please, thoughtful respect, happiness without regard for material possessions:

• Everywhere we went, we were greeted with a glowing smile accompanied by a “Hello Sir!”.   Everyone seemed eager to interact, help, answer questions, or assist in any way possible. Contrast this with our recent trip to Europe and it’s a night and day comparison.  Often times in Europe, you feel like you’re ruining someone’s day by asking them a question.  It was quite refreshing to have the opposite experience in Asia.
• One evening a hotel employee knocked on my door asking if I’d like him to prepare the room for sleeping (change the pillows, etc).  I wanted to decline, but I could not say no to the eager anticipation on his face.  His body language seemed to imply that it would have been a major let down if I had told him no.  After prepping the room he ended with a big smile and “Please sir, is there anything I can do to further assist you?!”
• I was often asked if I’m rooting for Miami or Dallas in the NBA Playoffs.  Not only did they want to make conversation, but they love basketball in the Philippines.  Everyone plays it, courts are ubiquitous.  One waitress gave me a laughing smile and high five when I told her she was getting no tip because she was rooting against my team (Miami).
• When the airplane was pulling off the runway, the entire ground crew assembled in formation to provide an animated farewell wave to the passengers on the plane.  (Could you ever see that happening in the states?)
• When shopping or dining, the staff was always quick to assist, but never too pushy or rude.
• Just to reiterate how pleasant these people are: A janitor at a cafe one evening had the biggest grin while cleaning the restrooms and simultaneously dancing to the music being played outside.

We sometimes hear of the positive effect laughter can have on health, stress, and mood.  I would venture to say that a similar phenomena exists when exchanging smiles.  When someone smiles at me I can almost feel a small boost of energy, enthusiasm, and stress relief. When everyone around me is smiling, like in the Philippines, I can tangibly feel it lifting my spirits.

Other Thoughts / Activities / Stories

Greenhills Mall - Pearl Shopping

• One evening while shuttling from the office back to our hotel, a convey of police and SUVs followed has up to the hotel doorstep.   Security guards kept us at bay while the President of the Philippines made his way into the hotel (for a meeting?).  About an hour later on our way out to dinner the President made his exit and walked by us at only an arm’s length or so (he still had an entourage with him).
• Security is much higher in the Philippines than it is back home.  I’m not sure if this is merely a scare tactic to keep crime in check, or if there is enough crime to warrant the extra security (or some combination of the two?).  Upon entry to the hotel or the office, we are stopped and inspected by bomb sniffing dogs and metal detectors.  Each floor in the office high-rise has its own security guard. Additionally, most retail stores have their own security guard.  Someone asked if I felt insecure while out and about due to all the security, but it actually had the opposite effect.  I felt quite secure thanks to all the guards.
• We spent a day touring our geothermal operations.  This renewable source of energy is fascinating to learn about, and even more interesting to see in person.
• A local co-worker invited me to come play basketball with some other employees one evening.  I anxiously took him up on his offer and had a great time.  The court was a high quality roofed / open-air court in Forbes Park, Makati (one of the nicest parts of town).  It’s kind of neat to think that I’ve now played basketball in four countries:  USA, France, Scotland, Philippines.
• Pearl shopping is a common tourist attraction thanks to the near-market low prices found in Manila.  A couple co-workers took us to a large bazaar of sorts and helped negotiate good prices on South Sea and Freshwater Pearls for our spouses.  It doesn’t sound too exciting writing it here, but it was actually one of the more entertaining cultural experiences we had.  (the sheer size of the shopping area was astounding)
• When watching Filipino TV, you’ll notice that the dialog switches mid-sentence between English and Tagalog.  There doesn’t appear to be a rhyme or reason as to when the switch between the two languages should occur.  This back and forth is apparently called “Taglish” and is a common form of communication.  When pulling money from an ATM, it prompted me to pick from two languages: English or Taglish.  It was also interesting to watch the NBA Finals on TV being called by local announcers switching between English and Tagalog.
• When I asked why Filipinos speak such good English and have great accents, I was told it’s due to all the American TV they watch (in addition to their adoration of American pop culture).
• Piracy is the norm without any social stigmas.  In our airline lounge on the way home, they were showing a bootleg copy of the movie Thor, which was still in theaters back home.
• There doesn’t seem to be any adherence to traffic lanes when the streets get congested.  Nor is there any concept of a fluid merger (most people are cut off with only inches to spare).  Luckily, there isn’t much road rage and we always have an assigned company chauffeur.
• The weather was similar to Houston, Texas, with a bit more humidity.
• It wasn’t too surprising that we were stared at wherever we went, but one of the more memorable occasions was when a local girl exclaimed “Maximooooo!!!!” as our 6’7″ Scottish co-worker passed by.  (We then named our 5′-something English co-worker “Minimo”)

Overall the trip was very educational, fun, and productive.  Due to the travel distance I was not able to go visit Drew up north in Cauayan, but there may be other opportunities to do so in the near future.  If nothing else, he will be able to share the Filipino culture with our family as the kids get older and want to learn more about their heritage.

I don’t actually spend much time on Facebook, but this made me laugh: