Redoble Family

“Ang taong hindi marunong lumingon sa kanyang pinanggalingan ay hindi makakarating sa kanyang patutungohan!” _ JPRMR, national hero.

This popular line by Kasamang Jose is the refuge of parents in counselling children who stay out of synch from family traditions. Thus, in our childhood we hear tales about parents walking to school clutching celophane bag containing school supplies,  linung-ag saging for snacks,  kan-on nga mais with ulo sa bulad as sud-an for lunch wrapped with banana leaves. ” Sa among panahon… blah, blah, blah, swerte kaayo mo karon kay… chu, chu…” They painted a picture of themselves as deprived, luoy, “uyamot”, etc.

There is no serious and exact account as to how our grand grand parents lives were. All the stories we’ve heard were just information passed on by tsismis, or through funny jokes cracked during fiesta, kalag-kalag, bilar, etc meant to amuse visitors, friends, and relatives. However, there are few who witnessed their gallant lives, accounts that says our grand parents kuno were born with a silver spoon in their mouth. There are accounts that says they were the wealthiest family in their times in the small town of Moalboal. Maybe, just maybe, our grand parents could have afford to send their children to the best school in the country or fund the business they like to raise their respective families. How true are these bits and pieces of information? And what went wrong ?

In my interviews with older relatives, they can only remember our patriarch Primo Redoble and Gregoria Sabanal. They could not even remember all the names of the couples’ children. Some names mentioned were Teodorico Redoble ( our lolo Rico, bana ni lola Iyang), Pacencio Redoble( papa nila Joecard, Garita Redoble, Inela Redoble, Lucia Redoble, Teodoro Redoble, and Juan Redoble(last account was in Liloy, Zamboanga del Norte). For sure  there are more children not mentioned because they are a big family. Remember, Redoble’s are cursed, they are tigasin!

Seriously, Tatay Primo  and Nanay Goria were local businessmen. Between the two, Nanay Goria posted a stronger personality than Tatay Primo. No one knows how this happened, maybe, nasakpan sad tu si Tatay mao nga pwerteng buotana. They were engaged in hemp, rice, livestock, and poultry production and trading business.  They own vast parcel of land. The ”Baton System” which is still very popular in Moalboal now, a system of raising animals where the owner leases his cow to a friends who tends and feeds the cow until it’s ready to be sold and the proceeds would be divided between them, is a system that could be traced to Tatay Primo’s business acumen. He could have won the World Bank’s award of micro-lending in his time. 

Lolo Rico drove his own passernger bus bringing people and merchandise to and from both ends of Cebu, while Lola Iyang tends his tindahan in the market. Imagine, no one among the siblings was sent for formal education. Maybe, the  other children of Tatay Primo were also given capital to start off their own business.

Before the second world war there was a big fire in Moalboal where the two houses of Tatay Primo and Lolo Rico were burned to ashes. Their life-time coin savings contained in jars were minted like lava reducing its value to zero and everything valuable inside their houses were turned to dust. They were left with nothing but their hopes of re-building everything again. I am sure our resilency to the blows of the tides of life we get from them.

During the war Lolo Rico was serving as the driver mechanic of the late Congressman Mariano Cuenco, the father of Congressman Tony Cuenco.  I recall Tiyo Abun telling me to approach Tony Cuenco whenever I have problems in Cebu because the Cuenco’s are close to Moalboalanons. When Cebu City fell to the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army at the peak of the war, Lolo Rico walked from Cebu City to Moalboal to re-unite with his family.

After their truamatic experience during the war Lolo and Lola were back to their business. However, the political tide turned in Moalboal. This started the diaspora of the Redoble’s from the little town of Moalboal to the lands of Mindanao. But were we the first Redoble ever to live in Mindanao? How come we have relatives in Jolo, Sulu; Labason, liloy Zamboanga del Norte; in Bukidnon; in Monkayo, Davao? Are they they same descendants of Tatay Primo and Nanay Gregoria?

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