Ambiguity about the Family's
Surname I was close to my first cousin, the late Honorata Quintos-Gloria, long since we were both staying with the family of her half-brother, Apolinar Orbeta, on San Andres Street. She was then taking her Teacher's Course in the Philipine Normal School, and I was in my Radio Operator's Course in the Philippine School of Arts and Trades. In one of our casual conversations, Honoring, as we fondly call her, stated that her mother, Irenea Orbeta-Quintos revealed that their family’s paternal surname was Paras and not Orbeta, and that her father, Francisco Paras Orbeta was a Spanish-Filipino or a Basque-Filipino mestizo. Sometime later, when I brought out the subject to my other first cousin, the late Nieves Orbeta-Martinez, she sort of confirmed it, and propounded that her father, Luciano Orbeta, was known to his contemporaries in Makati, by his alias "Cianong Paras" - indicating that he was one of the Paras clan, and not of an Orbeta family. Jean Gloria-Malig of Los Angeles, CA, in respond to my inquiry, stated in her e-mail of January 2004, that her late mother, Honorata Quintos-Gloria had mentioned about Paras being the family’s real surname and that she (Jean) even told her mother that they were probably related to her former classmate in the elementary, Corazon Paras, who eventually got married to a close relation, Avelino Olitan Orbeta. Likewise, Lina Orbeta-Shylo of Winnipeg, Canada, stated in her e-mail, that : " I was close to Lolo Melanio (Orbeta,) and I think he mentioned to me the last name Paras and Alcantara. I think his mother was an Alcantara but I can't remember what the Paras was." Based on the testimonies of our close relatives, it appears that Paras is the paternal surname of Francisco Paras Orbeta, and Orbeta is the surname of his mother. But if it was so, why did all his children adopt the maternal surname Orbeta, instead of Paras?
If the information from Amiel Orbeta, was correct, I believe that there was another Luciano Orbeta, a surveyor, other than the Luciano Alcantara Orbeta, who, according to his daughter, the late Nieves Orbeta-Martinez, spent his early manhood in manning, via the Pasig River, the big river boat of his father, Francisco in their "buy and sell" business around the coastal towns of Laguna de Bay. And it was in the town of Pililla, where Luciano met his 1st wife, Cecilia Paz; settled there and raised his family. After the death of Cecilia, he married the widow Aguida Olitan, by whom he had 3 children when he and his family migrated to Makati, and worked as an "escribiente" for the Zobels and Ayalas. The surveyor Luciano could be the brother or the father of Francisco's mother (an Orbeta), and was likely short of heirs, so it was probably arranged for the children of Francisco Paras, to adopt the surname Orbeta, so they could be entitled to the "substantial land rewards" to be divided among Luciano's scant heirs. Francisco's 4 older children, his brother-in-law Rosauro Alcantara, and some close relatives were known to have lands of their own, close to each other, in that area behind the Makati municipal building, which they probably inherited from the surveyor Luciano Orbeta. I have not come across an odd event in the family's history, for Francisco's children to sweep under the carpet, and adopt another surname, other than for them to be counted as heirs of surveyor Luciano, and be entitled to his estate. ![]()
![]() Last revised: 02 November 2005 Created and maintained by Gregorio Orbeta y Sanchez |