Individual Notes

Note for:   Isauro Gabaldon,   8 DEC 1875 - 21 DEC 1942         Index

Education:   
     Place:   Tebar, Spain

Education:   
     Place:   Colleges Quintanar del Rey and Villa Nueva de la Jara, Cuenca, Spain

Education:   
     Place:   Universidad Central, Madrid, Spain

Education:   
     Place:   Universidad Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines

Occupation:   
     Place:   Diplomat

Occupation:   
     Date:   BET 1907 AND 1911
     Place:   Member of Phillipine Islands House of Representatives

Occupation:   
     Date:   BET 1916 AND 1919
     Place:   member of Phillipine Islands Senate

Occupation:   
     Date:   BET 1920 AND 1928
     Place:   Resident Commissioner to U.S. Congress from the Phillipine Islands

Event:   
     Type:   Appointed
     Date:   1920
     Place:   Resident Commissioner to Washington, D.C.

Burial:   
     Date:   
     Place:   Cementerio del Norte, Manila, Philippines

Individual Note:
     Source - Zen Angara Collinson, descendent:
First Philippine resident commissioner to the US. Wealthy landowner in Nueva Ecija (rice granary of the Philippines at that time) but his wife was wealthier.

School houses in the Philippines were called "Gabaldon school houses" ?because they donated or built the prototypes.
======================
Source - Dr. Andreas "Andy" Aragon Angara:

Isauro Gabaldon owned land in three places: Gimba; San Manual, Quezon City; and ?Quezon City. He did not own land in Gabaldon.
======================
Source - LDS IGI:
Possible match:
Birth: 08 DEC 1875 San Isidoro, , Nueva Ejica, Philippines
Death: 21 DEC 1942

Parents:
    Father: JOSE GABALDON
Mother: MARIA GONZALEZ
======================
Source - http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/gabaldon-gafney.html:

Gabaldon, Isauro (1875-1942) — of Nueva Ecija, Philippines. Born in San Isidoro, Nueva Ecija, Philippines, December 8, 1875. Lawyer; member of the Phillipine Islands House of Representatives, 1907-11; member of Phillipine Islands Senate, 1916-19; Resident Commissioner to U.S. Congress from the Phillipine Islands, 1920-28; resigned 1928. Died in Manila, Philippines, December 21, 1942. Interment at Cementerio del Norte, Manila, Philippines.

======================
Source - http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000001

GABALDON, Isauro, (1875 - 1942), a Resident Commissioner from the Philippine Islands; born in San Isidoro, Nueva Ecija, Philippine Islands, December 8, 1875; attended the public schools in Tebar, Spain, and the Colleges Quintanar del Rey and Villa Nueva de la Jara, Cuenca, Spain; studied law in the Universidad Central, Madrid, Spain, and was graduated from the Universidad Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippine Islands, in 1900; practiced law from 1903 to 1906; Governor of the Province of Nueva Ecija in 1906 and 1912-1916; member of the Philippine house of representatives 1907-1911; served in the Philippine senate 1916-1919; elected as a Nationalist a Resident Commissioner to the United States in 1920; reelected in 1923 and 1925, and served from March 4, 1920, until his resignation effective July 16, 1928, having been nominated for election to the Philippine house of representatives; had also been elected in 1925 as a member of the Philippine house of representatives, but did not qualify, preferring to continue as Commissioner; died in Manila, Philippine Islands, December 21, 1942; interment in North Cemetery in Manila.

    ======================
Source - http://www.senate.gov.ph/senators/former_senators/isauro_gabaldon.htm
Isauro Gabaldon Senator Isauro Gabaldon was born in San Isidro, Nueva Ecija, on December 8, 1875. He studied in the public schools of Cuenca, Spain, and in the colleges of Quintana del Rey and Villanueva de la Tara, where he graduated in 1893. He took law in the Central University of Madrid, he returned to the Philippines and continued his law course in the University of Santo Tomas, where he graduated with the degree of LL.B. in 1900. He practiced law from 1903 to 1906.

In the elections of 1906 he came out triumphantly as Provincial Governor of Nueva Ecija, and on July 13,1907, he was elected Deputy to the first Philippine Assembly, and re-elected to the same office in the general elections of 1909. In the Philippine Assembly he was noted for his education bill, known as the Gabaldon Law, which provided an appropriation of one million peso for the building of modern public schools throughout the Philippines, and for his agricultural and tenancy measures protecting the interests of small farmers and farm laborers. In the first election for Senators under the Jones Law of 1916, he was elected Senator from the third senatorial district; and, in 1920, he was appointed Resident Commissioner to Washington, D.C., by the Philippine Legislature, which position he held for two consecutive terms. Besides being a planter and an owner of large estates, he was known as a businessman, being the organizer and president of the Pidatan Petroleum Co., Inc.; chairman, board of trustees, Sta. Catalina Gold Mines, and president, East Surigao Goldfields, Inc. He married Bernarda Tinio, of Nueva Ecija, and of the union where born two children.




Individual Notes

Note for:   Enriqueta "Eta" Aragon Angara,   8 FEB 1905 - 19 NOV 1972         Index

Individual Note:
     Source - Dr. Andreas "Andy" Aragon Angara, personal communication 2005-12-21

Born in Baler

Individual Notes

Note for:   Amado P. Amador,    - BEF 2003         Index

Occupation:   
     Place:   Judge

Individual Note:
     Source - Mary Aragon Angara (sister), Dec 2004)

Had four children in order of age:

Amado "Totoy"
Zeneida "Zeny" - the Theatre Director
Emilia
Antonio "Tony"


Individual Notes

Note for:   Amado Jr. "Totoy" Angara Amador,    - BEF 2003         Index

Occupation:   
     Place:   Judge

Individual Note:
     Source - Mary Aragon Angara (aunt), Dec 2004)

Married Nena and had 3 children Pink, Dito and Manny.

Individual Notes

Note for:   Zeneida "Zeny" Angara Amador,   7 FEB 1933 - 28 NOV 2004         Index

Occupation:   
     Place:   Stage Directress and Actress

Individual Note:
     Founder of Repertory Phillippines

Partner is Baby Barredo (also a Director)

Stage Director and actress.

President and Artistic Director of the Repertory Philippines
==========================
Exits and Entrances: Personal Essays by Zeneida A. Amador. (ISBN:9711004879)
Amador, Zeneida.
Price: US$ 31.50
Book Description: Philippines.: New Day. 1991. Softbound 8vo. Condition: Near Fine.Essays on work, daily life, real people, art, children, parenting, personal responsibility, social concerns, elan, travel, generosity of the spirit, on being Filipino and on those who have gone ahead. *** 356pp. ==========================

Source - Philippine STAR

Catching Bibot by surprise

By Joy G. Virata
The Philippine STAR 02/23/2003


Everyone was quiet at the Captain’s Bar of the Manila Mandarin although a few giggles escaped from the crowd that was gathered there. Everyone watched her through the glass door as she made her way through the lobby arguing with her cousin Ricky Avanceña who ostensibly was going to pick up his wife Pia at the Bar for a family birthday dinner to be hosted by his mother Nini Quezon Avanceña at another restaurant in the hotel. She saw many people through the glass and thought it was a wedding party. But Ricky prevailed and dragged her through the door. At that moment the lights went up, everyone shouted "surprise " and broke into the birthday song Weeks of planning and preparation in secret had worked. She obviously did not have an inkling of what was taking place.

This was a surprise birthday tribute to Zenaida "Bibot" Amador who celebrated her 70th birthday two days before on Feb. 7 and the operative word was "fun."

Hosted by her brother Atty. Antonio Amador and his wife Marijke, Father Reuter gave his own tribute praising her for her commitment and dedication to theater from her youth, her talent, her willingness to share that talent and the consistency of the company she founded 36 years ago – Repertory Philippines.

A sumptuous Chinese buffet was served, the wine flowed unabated and then the audience was treated to a 20-minute documentary film tribute on Bibot’s life and her contribution to theater put together by her niece Pinky Amador, assisted by another niece, Raquel Amador and cousin-in-law Pia Avanceña, written by Luna Inocian and narrated by Baby Barredo who also spearheaded the party plans. Recounting their memories of Bibot, or sending messages, were her relatives including her brother Tony, her aunts Mary Morato and Nini Avancena, her children Charlie and Etienne, Don Jaime Zobel, Sonia Roco, Nora Aunor, Eric Quizon, Sister Josephini Ambatali, Enchang and Mari Kaimo, Anton Juan, Behn Cervantes, Tony Espejo, Laurice Guillen, Father Reuter, Chito Ponce Enrile, Rajo Laurel, Rep. Imee Marcos, former VP and Mrs. Doy Laurel, Cesar and Joy Virata, Rep Miss Saigoners still performing abroad, Monique Wilson, other friends, actors and people she had worked with, and a person very important to her – her cook Carme

Then, alternating between tears and laughter, Bibot watched as many in the audience turned performer in an hour-long musical comedy entitled "The Ballad of Nenita" written by yours truly and directed by (despite having washed down his dinner with quite a big glass of wine) Michael Williams. Performing snatches of her life in songs and skits or singing their personal tributes were REP Shortstoppers and Showstoppers; Subas Herrero and Noel Trinidad; the REP actors, Celeste Legaspi, Mitch Valdez, Cocoy Laurel, Rep. Butz Aquino; Avon ladies; and Rep-Miss Saigon alumni. A special family number was performed by Baby and Charlie Barredo and Etienne Amador, Celia Diaz Laurel, Cocoy Laurel and the other Laurel children who had appeared with Rep; Roy, Nieves and Miren Alvarez; Noel and Joel Trinidad; Leo and Lorenz Martinez, Jimmy and Paolo Fabregas, Joy and Gigi Virata; and Tony, Marijke and Raquel Amador. A surprise number was performed by some of the members of Ms. Amador’s Thursday literature class including Marot Moreno, Marilou Guingona, Mary Rufino, Juda Liu, Dette Paterno, Ely Esteban and Monique Villonco. Finally Rep’s full-time office and technical and behind-the-scenes staff gave their tribute with a rousing production number entitled "My Boss."
Then Tony Amador asked the audience to raise their glasses to this "great lady" who is the founder, president and artistic director of the 37-year-old Repertory Philippines Foundation, Inc., heads the Cinema Evaluation Board, is a newspaper columnist, has appeared in and directed cinema and television, and has won numerous awards for acting and directing.

The party lasted way into the early hours of the morning and, as someone once said, "a good time was had by all."

===============================
Source - Manila Times

Monday, November 29, 2004
   

Philippine stage icon Zeneida Amador dies

   
Before Lea Salonga and Monique Wilson made a name abroad, the two Philippine thespians had to pass through the tutelage of Zeneida Amador, the actress and director who mentored hundreds of theater hopefuls under her Repertory Philippines.

Amador, who directed and produced commercially successful plays in the country, succumbed to lung cancer Sunday at her residence in Magallanes Village, Makati City.

Born February 7, 1933, Amador took her postgraduate courses at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York in 1956. After she taught drama and literature at the University of South Dakota, she returned to the Philippines in 1967 and formed Repertory Philippines as president and artistic director.

Her first production, Miss Julie by August Strinberg, translated by National Artist for Literature and Theater, Rolando Tinio, was a flop. Realizing that her company will not survive on such plays, Amador turned to works that had been certified sensations on Broadway and London’s West End.

Since then, Repertory had consistent hits, faithful audiences and regularly employed actors.

Amador, the aunt of character actress Pinky Amador, never ceased to uplift the state of Philippine theater and to hone talents to be future Leas or Moniques, among other Repertory alumni who graced plays here and abroad and also starred in film and TV.

Amador strived for her company’s improvement. In 2003 Repertory, the country’s oldest theater group, moved to Karrivin Plaza, Makati, which had a spacious hall conducive for rehearsals. To attract majority of youthful audiences, Repertory’s straight plays were moved to the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium of RCBC Plaza on Ayala Avenue and the children’s theater presentations are now slated at Onstage in Greenbelt.

Amador directed about 200 plays, mostly for Repertory. She played important roles in productions such as Mother Courage in Mother Courage, Berthe in Pippin and Berenice Sadie Bracma in Member of the Wedding. She wrote scripts for the TV series, Sta. Zita and Mary Rose and for the film Once Upon a Time.

She was one of the Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service honorees in 1977 and a recipient of the Aliw Awards from 1981 to 1983.

Amador was also dean of student affairs at St. Joseph’s College (where she was an alumna), a member of international theater delegations, Unesco and Film Ratings Board of the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines. She was also a columnist for the Manila Bulletin and member of the Cinema Evaluation Board until her death.

Her remains were cremated Sunday at the Manila Memorial Park. Wake will be held at Magallanes Church. Funeral Mass is scheduled on Wednesday.

As of press time, Amador’s family and friends were unavailable for additional information.
-- Lynda C. Corpuz

=========================================
Source - ABS-CBN News

Zeneida Amador, 71

By TOTEL DE JESUS

Theater icon Zeneida “Bibot” Amador succumbed to cancer of the lungs at 2:07 p.m. on Sunday at her house in Magallanes, Makati City. Her body was cremated around 6 p.m. at the Manila Memorial Park, and her ashes were brought to the Saint Alphonsus Chapel in Magallanes Village.

“It was only a month ago when she discovered she had cancer of the lungs. When she was hospitalized at the Makati Medical Center, it was discovered the cancer cells had already spread to her bones. She underwent radiation therapy for a couple of weeks. She chose to stay at her house,” said Dodo Lim, a close family friend.

Together with her long-time partner Carmen Barredo, Amador founded the Repertory Philippines, a pioneering theater company that has been mounting acclaimed stage plays in English since its inception in 1967. Since then, Amador had served as its president and artistic director. Over the years, Repertory Philippines has produced prime movers in Philippine theater: Lea Salonga, Michael Williams, Miguel Faustman, Bart Guingona and Monique Wilson, among many others. Salonga is a multiawarded, internationally acclaimed theater singer-actress.

Amador is survived by her siblings Antonio and Emily; adopted children Charlie, 19, and Etienne, 18; and Barredo.

Her ashes will be placed in the crypt of the Manila Memorial Chapel in Sucat, Parañaque, on Wednesday after a 9 a.m. mass.
TODAY/abs-cbnNEWS.com

==================================================
Source - Philippine Daily Enquirer

The legacy of Zeneida Amador

Updated 10:00pm (Mla time) Dec 05, 2004
By Cora Llamas
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page F1 of the December 6, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

FIFTY of them gathered in a close circle outside the Magallanes Chapel where their mentor's ashes were interred. The youngest was in her late teens, the oldest probably in his 50s. Many were still active in the business, some had been absent for a long time.

Eyes closed in deep concentration, their voices rose in solemn unison, making the closing credo of the Broadway musical "Camelot" almost a hymn. The singing of the melody seemed perfect and, given the situation, sounded inspiring.

But before the last note hit, acting choirmaster and director Michael Williams shook his head in dissatisfaction and said, "No, guys, wait, you don't stretch it until at this point..."

And the 50-odd musical theater artists comprising three generations of Repertory Philippines took their cue and started again. The next day, they would pay tribute at the Onstage Greenbelt Theater to the company's founder and artistic director, Zeneida "Bibot" Amador, who passed away on Nov. 28 because of cancer.

The actors' attention to detail and perfectionism are a Rep trademark. The over 100 artists who had trained and worked in it during its 38-year history fondly refer to the sleepless nights and the screaming sessions pressed upon the tardy and the unprepared as battle scars.

Yet, ultimately, in spite of the occasional tensions and semi-rivalries, the Philippine theater community has always remained a close-knit, outspoken family.

Amador, along with Rep co-founder Baby Barredo, was one of its most hardworking parents.

Many of Amador's "artistic" children have grown from teenagers who caught the passion of the stage to become professional theater actors, directors, production managers and designers.

Three eventually put up their own companies: Audie Gemora and the family-friendly Trumpets; Bart Guingona of the intellectually provocative Actors' Actors Inc.; and Monique Wilson's feminist New Voice Company.

Then there is the doorway to the international arena which Rep's training opened for many actors, starting in 1989 with nine members who landed roles in Cameron Mackintosh's "Miss Saigon," including Junix Inocian, Pinky Amador, Victor Laurel, Williams, Wilson, and Lea Salonga, who won the Olivier and Tony awards as the title character.

Wilson, who appeared in her first Rep play at age 9 and stayed until her departure for "Saigon" 10 years later, acknowledges: "My real training came from Rep. That's 10 years of my life, my formative years when my attitude and value systems were being formed. When we did 'Saigon,' our sense of professionalism and standards of working were already there; London allowed us to hone it on a different level. That was our edge. Cameron could throw us at the deep end of anything and we could do it."

Hard knocks

Like her fellow theater pioneers Rolando Tinio and Tony Mabesa, Amador came from the old school of hard knocks which demanded passion, excellence and commitment. An actor who comes to a rehearsal without studying his lines would be bawled out. One single second of tardiness would find the director waiting impatiently outside the door.

During the '70s and '80s, when the absence of alternates compelled a performer to play his role every single time for the entire run, only the "dead and dying" were allowed to be absent. Actors burning with fever gulped their medicine and marched bravely to the stage.

Struck with bronchitis during "The Fantasticks," Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo recited the lyrics on stage. Not even the 1989 coup halted "La Cage Aux Follies." The actors demanded from the soldiers guarding the Meralco Theater barricade, "Let us in The show must go on "

Yulo recalls that "Bibot's passion for theater was contagious. It was almost sacred. You do not do anything to disrupt the hard work that was going on. Every performance was delivered as if it were your last. Bibot made us strong and prepared us for the vulnerabilities actors experience on stage."

If Amador was a disciplinarian onstage, she was second parent and close friend off it. She was a cook who prepared dishes for the cast members at her home, a shoulder to cry on during relationship problems, and a proud professor who wrote letters of recommendation for her students entering international drama school.

Even the most intense disagreements never stayed for long. Gemora, who became estranged with Amador for some time, made peace with his old teacher at her deathbed.

"I had been wanting to come for some time but I thought that seeing me might worsen her condition," he says. "But during that final weekend, Bibot's assistant told me that she had forgiven me a long time ago, and that she saw our disagreement as business, never personal. At her bed, when I said I was sorry, Bibot just said, 'Wala na iyon.' After I prayed for her, she thanked me and went to sleep."

Love for written word

Amador, who acquired an AB English and a Master's in Literature from UST, was also a teacher who loved the written word.

After finishing postgraduate courses at New York's American Academy of the Dramatic Arts and teaching briefly at University of Southern Dakota, she taught English and Literature at St. Joseph's College in Quezon City.

Beyond the daily grind of rehearsals, Amador would hold literature classes that gave her young actors a deeper appreciation of Shakespeare and Sophocles.

Guingona, who entered Rep right out of UP, says that "it was her love for language and literature that influenced me the most. Her analysis and characterization were brilliant."

These same classes awakened the pen of Luna Inocian, the Rep "all-around-backstage-and-PR" person who became co-writer of Trumpets' "The Little Mermaid" and "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."

"Where did I learn [writing]? By reading and watching the other plays. I needed a model of experience that had been tested throughout the centuries," he says.

Inocian's comment echoes Amador's answer to criticisms leveled against Rep's preference for English-language foreign material. Rep was founded during the years leading to the First Quarter Storm when nationalist sentiments ran high.

Several years ago, Amador told this writer, "Rolando and Tony were already translating the classics. Peta was pioneering original Filipino plays in Tagalog. My vision is different. I want to show kids who had never seen theater, and people who could never afford to go to London or Broadway, the classics in their original form."

Left unspoken was Amador's lament that Rep never received any award or recognition, nor its core of actors any form of scholarship, because of its choice of language and material.

Late recognition

The recognition did come at Amador's deathbed: The National Commission on Culture and the Arts' (NCCA) highest, the Dangal ng Haraya Award, "symbolizing our people's deepest appreciation for your invaluable training of talents that have garnered critical acclaim and brought prestige for the Philippines in the international scene, particularly in the West End and Broadway."

Spearheading the tribute, ironically and fittingly, is NCCA executive director Cecile Guidote-Alvarez. Fittingly because Alvarez is Amador's peer who fought in the same battle, promoting national theater at a time when there was no audience, venue, and funding to speak of. Ironically, because Alvarez's company, Peta, in its creating original Filipino work, went a totally different direction from Rep.

Alvarez and Amador, who had known each other since youth as Fr. James Reuter's theater protégés, kept their friendship and mutual respect despite the differences. Upon her appointment last October, Alvarez planned to give awards of recognition to women who had contributed to national theater, Amador among them.

Learning that her old friend was fighting cancer fast-tracked the process; the NCCA executive director did not want to give it posthumously.

In the end, the formal letter of recognition was read to the dying theater director. The award ceremony is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 28.

"People think that we were doing different things, but it was the same," Alvarez points out. "We were working for the arts. Theater is a diverse community. In training people, Bibot contributed magnificently. Her commitment to professionalism was a discipline that she ingrained in the people that she trained. And if you're training your writers and people, there is a wealth of dramatic and literary heritage that you can learn from. There are eternal values and norms that [will] enrich their own creative norms."

As for the English-language factor, Guidote adds, "With globalization, you really need [it]; to be multi-lingual is good."

"Saigon" Manila producer Dong Alegre, who assisted in the Mackintosh auditions, says he "will always salute Bibot for having that vision to perform theater in English. Without the training that these Filipinos had in English-spoken theater, we would not have been successful in casting the Filipinos of 'Saigon.' I ascribe to her the single-handed development of English-speaking theater and actors. Rep has served as the training ground for many of our actors in the local and international scene."

Inocian, one of many artists who'd like to explore this bigger picture, admits, "I don't want my work to stay in the Philippines. I write for a Pinoy audience, but I'm looking beyond."

Theater is a tough commitment, whether you're vying for your place in the sun against Brits, Americans, Singaporeans, and Malaysians in their own country, or sticking it out in Manila with its dwindling sponsorship and still young audience.

But the "Camelot" credo is apropos: Like King Arthur passing on the memory of that "one brief shining moment" to the would-be knight, Amador's vision will continue through her creative progeny.

As Gemora puts it, "She taught us that theater can be an industry that we can build. Many of us who have pursued it as our careers-Trumpets, whatever else I am doing at this moment, all of that-we are Bibot's legacy."

Individual Notes

Note for:   Alberto Ramon Abad Avanceña,   8 APR 1919 - 1981         Index

Individual Note:
     Source - Manuel Quezon III
Nini, who remarried Alberto A. Avancena. Her second husband died of leukemia in 1981.

Individual Notes

Note for:   Patrick Montilla,    - BEF 2003         Index

Individual Note:
     Died with the sister of Mike Arroyo in a car accident - they were 1st cousins.

Big suger baron in Negros province.

Individual Notes

Note for:   Maria Aurora "Baby" Quezon,   23 SEP 1919 - 28 APR 1949         Index

Burial:   
     Date:   29 APR 1949
     Place:   North Cemetary, Metro Manila, Philippines

Individual Note:
     Died in same communist guerilla ambush as her mother.