Research Findings of Iñaki de la Torre
Notwithstanding the opposition of some of his relations, to display
one's heritage, Iñaki de la Torre (left photo), of Bizkaia and who was an Orbeta on his
mother's side, painstakingly compiled
the genealogies of 10 generations ( 1768-2000 ) of the Orbeta-Echevarria
family - a comprehensive database of Basque, Puerto Rican, Spanish,
and American Orbeta families. (Note: A supplementary branch of
the Vila-Coto family that was not listed in Iñaki's copy that he sent
to the Webmaster, was by courtesy of fellow researcher, Dominick Vila Coto of
Florida, USA.)
According to Iñaki, "His maternal great grandfather, Don José Ramón de Orbeta y Echevarría, was captain of the Regimiento de Pangasinan 2' de Milicias Disciplinadas de Luzón, with the rank of commander, from 1829 to 1847. Iñaki's mother remembered that he sent back pictures from the Philippines.
"There were many Basque Orbeta families that immigrated to Puerto Rico, Chile, and Venezuela. In the courts of Bizkaia, there were some twenty Orbeta deputies as ' farmaceuticos, notario y abogados notables de aparente rectitud.'
"In the maritime file of the City of San Sebastian, Spain, a mariner named O. Orbeta was registered to have navigated to the Philippines."
Read Dominick
Vila Coto's
English translation
of excerpts from "Libro de Plencia" by Pio
Baroja.
E-Mail
gorbeta@gmail.com
Related information from Romina S. Orbeta
According to Romina, "Her grandfather
was Juan Lope Orbeta y Llorente, the son of Capt. Olegario Orbeta who
was a ship captain plying the Manila-Mexico ( Galleon Trade? ) route.
Her grandfather had passed over to her Dad, the family's coat of arms."
Tip for Romina's research option. Was O. Orbeta, who was registered in the maritine file of the city of
San Sebastian, Spain, as having navigated to the Philippines, Capt.
Olegario Orbeta, the great great grandfather of Romina?
Ms. Romina S. Orbeta (left photo with Sanirose), formerly the Director of Career and Placement Office of De La Salle
University in Manila, and currently connected with Andersen Consulting,
is the daughter of Olegario Martinez-Orbeta and Sanirose S. Orbeta, the nutritionist who used to write in the " Philippine
Daily Inquirer " some years back.
Historical Notes
Here is an excerpt from Roots by Jose S. Arcilla, S.J.,
in the Business World, some years back:
"In pre-hispanic time, Filipinos were known only by their nicknames and other familiar terms. A thin person was called 'Mabilis', a fat child was 'Matakaw'.
Close friends called one another by such terms as 'Kasaging ko',
or 'Kahirap ko'.
"To systemize things, on 21 November 1849, Gov. Narciso Claveria (1843-49)
issued an alphabetical list of Spanish family names (Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos)
from which each family head chose one for his surname. Each barangay
or town received names that begun with the same letter of the alphabet. Provinces had towns that followed the letters of the alphabet in succession.
"This explains why most
Filipinos, even without a single drop of Hispanic blood in their veins, now carry Spanish family names."
Rolando mentioned that, "A Larrazabal woman (who had married a Veloso) recalled
during their conversation, that some of
her family's documents mentioned Orbeta as the maternal name of a Larrazabal
patriarch."
In reference to Fr. Artilla's "Historical Notes", Rolando's comment
was: "Insofar as the Orbeta name is concern, I am of the belief
that this was not just adopted by a Filipino family during the Spanish
Era. It is possible we do have Spanish roots. For instance,
my grandfather and my aunt's father (both are dead now) had sharp Spanish mestizo features." 
Rolando O. Borrinaga who is from Naval, Biliran province, and an Associate
Professor at the School of Health Sciences, U.P., Leyte, is an Orbeta on his mother side.
His great grandfather, Sotero Orbeta of Calubian, Leyte, was known to have hailed from
somewhere in Cebu.
His aunt Benilda Orbeta-Go, a radio broadcast person
in Tacloban, is in pursuit of the genealogical research of their clan and had traced a
branch of the Orbeta family in Davao.
Historical Web Site
of Rolando O. Borrinaga
In answer to some questions raised on the surname of my family, I took into account, with reservations, our ancestors of having gotten their surname when pre-hispanic Filipinos were decreed to adopt a surname, as mentioned in the above article of Fr. Jose S. Arcilla.
But contrary to my assumption, my aunt, Irenea Orbeta-Quintos, said that her father, our patriarch, Francisco Paras Orbeta, carried a Spanish family name because he was a mestizo - (most probably, a descendant of a Basque-Filipino or Spanish-Filipino family).
Be that as it may, I hope that I will one day come across the forebears of our patriarch and settle, once and for all, the ambiguity about our ancestry.
On-going Tasks:
Catch up on my research for family data and most importantly, for the forebears of our patriarch, Francisco Paras Orbeta, from relatives, old friends, the Internet and other resources like the baptismal record books of the old San Pedro Catholic Church of San Pedro de Makati, Metro Manila.
Trace the consanguinity of the Orbeta-Alcantara clan, with the other Orbeta families, here at home and abroad.
Contact the family of Miguel Orbeta of Cebu, who was a relative according to my aunt, the late Irenea Orbeta-Quintos.
