Francisco “Paquito” Lacaya
Martinez (Nov. 22, 1938 – June 29, 2013). Clan members addressed him as “Tío”
(Spanish) or “Uncle” (English). Tío Paquito is the only son of the well known Francisco
“Kikoy” Zamoras-Martinez and Jacoba Lacaya. Kikoy, his father, served as the
treasurer of Pagadian in 1940, evaded the Japanese during the World War II and
resumed his job in Pagadian in 1952. During the
World War II, while Kikoy went into hiding in Tambulig, he purchased large tracks of
lands in Zamboanga del Sur and managed to cultivate them. Through these
productive lands he cumulated so much wealth, built a “big house” in Dipolog and
earned a social status. For some time Tío Paquito’s family enjoyed being in the
wealthy echelon of Dipolog society as well as in Pagadian. With so much wealth,
Paquito was described by his peers as having a life of a “prince” during his
youth. He seemed to acquire a sociable disposition in life giving him interest
and pleasure in meeting people. He graduated BS Civil Engineering but was
unable to practice the profession.
Perhaps thru social exposures, he
conceived of constructing the Zamoras Family Tree. As to which year did he
start, that, I failed to ask him. Why did he focus on the Zamoras instead of the
Martinez or the Lacayas? The answer could be, there were already more than a hundred
Zamoras families in Dipolog who gathered yearly since 1928 (every Easter
Sunday) for the clan reunion. His grandma Rufina Zamoras (daughter of
Roman) likely gave him social involvements in those activities during
his youth. Such experiences might have pushed him closer to the Zamoras Clan.
How did he construct the 5-generation
family tree? He met people in ordinary meetings and casually discussed who’s
who in the family tree. He attended parties and various activities and met the
people he heard about and talked with them. He travelled to some places with
this genealogy research in mind. He wrote letters to distant relatives mailed thru
the post office to ask about updates of their respective family branches. I
myself read his letters to his second-degree cousin Angelina Zamoras (Roman→Pedro→Ricardo→Angelina) in Bohol, and they had sensible discussions about
the family tree, between intelligent persons. I could not imagine myself
exerting that much effort to write letters, mailed thru the Post Office, then
wait for 3 weeks for reply, and then write a reply which will take another 3
weeks to reach the other person.
For this generation, it is so very
easy to communicate, but achieving Paquito’s work may still be challenging for
any of us. This kind of work demands so much time, going to places, attending
parties and requires huge amount of patience. Five years ago, acknowledging the
fact that Tío Paquito was turning 70 already, I attempted to invade his
genealogic realm and studied his “Big Tree” which he cultivated for quite a
while. He proudly shared with me his valued records. I photocopied his drafts
and stored them in my archives as duplicates. I could recall the surge of
enthusiasm in his face while he was recalling names after names. I was so honoured
to be shared with those documents. However I realized that I lacked time to follow
his footsteps because I had a job to prioritize. Perhaps I also lacked patience and
efforts in dealing with people who do not appreciate this kind of thing. Or
perhaps I did not have the authority that Tío Paquito had in discussing such
matters. In short, this work is not easy at all. Since Tío Paquito was
self-employed, he had enough time to spare on this family tree research. No
other person could have given enough time to this unfunded and non-profit research
other than him. We owe him so much the Zamoras Family tree that otherwise would
not have been conceived at all. I think this big family tree should be shared to
all clan members who are interested so that his work will be immortalized. It
is thru this blog that I can share the information he imparted to me or to some
of us.
Tío Paquito enjoyed life for 74
years, married to Lydia Renion and had 5 children, Walter (RIP), Warren, John, Laverna
(Ging) and Paul. His family wealth slowly dwindled year after year around the
1970s, for some reasons that we know (long story). His children had their
respective families already; Paul settled in the US as physical therapist. His wife
Lydia passed away 5 years ago making his senior life even more challenging. But
it did not wane down his enthusiasm on his “Big Tree”. His daughter Ging told me that in his last few weeks,
conversations mentioning the Family Tree energized his mood and stimulated his
memory as if he had no ailment at all. So bad I missed to chat with him once
more. His last health problem
was a liver infection caused by dialysis. He died at the National Kidney
Institute on June 29, 2013. His body was cremated and his urn is laid at the St.
Peter Columbary, St. Peter Parish, Commonwealth, Quezon City.
Rest in peace Tío…
