Rediscovering family ties

LOS ANGELES – There used to be a family tradition among members of my branch of the Chancos when my grandparents were still alive to get together on Christmas Eve in the ancestral home in Paco. Then it was moved to New Year’s Day. Now it is an effort to get the family together at all.

That’s because it seems there are more of my cousins who are in California than in Manila. They still get together on special occasions in the Los Angeles area. This year, they will have the reunion on Jan. 3, too late for me to be there. I fly home this evening.

 I however managed to have Christmas dinner with one of my cousins, Marica, who is married to Jess Arcega. For those of my generation, Arcega’s was a well known store for toys and a pioneer in the cinema in a mall at their lead store in Cubao. Jess and Marica have settled in the suburbs of Los Angeles for a few decades now.

It is good to touch base with long lost cousins specially those I grew up with like Marica. Somehow, I can’t help seeing them as the kids we once were looking forward to Christmas Eve rather than the 60-year olds we now are.

The Chancos are not very close beyond the immediate families but we are told that we are all somehow related. One of the fascinating things about Facebook is how we are now reconnecting or rather for many, connecting for the first time beyond the immediate cousins.

There is this Chanco Kamaganak page on Facebook which is serving as a way of keeping everybody aware of each other’s existence. There were attempts to trace a family tree to see how we are somehow related. That exercise could be full of surprises, as I found out.

Even without Facebook, the daughter of a cousin of my father managed to write me an e-mail introducing herself. I have heard of her father from my father but have never met him. There is old family story related in a disapproving whisper about one Chanco who has become a devout Protestant preacher even at the pain of being disinherited by a couple of rich spinster Chanco aunts who adopted him from childhood. The old aunts reportedly donated their estate to the Catholic Church.

It isn’t about the money for this Chanco. As his daughter Ruth relates it, the late Rev. Amado Chanco’s life as a preacher started when a Christian Bilaan tribesman handed him a religious literature and called an American missionary to speak to him about the Lord Jesus. 

“Dad changed drastically from a UP law student, member of the UP debating team to an evangelical preacher.  Dad committed his life to the Lord’s work completely,” Ruth relates.

Rev. Chanco went to the US to begin his theological studies at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, and at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. But he returned to the Philippines to start a mission  – The Christian Mission in the Far East.

He started his church in Manila, Philippines and among the 15 tribes in the southernmost island of the country, Mindanao. Going to the jungles of Mindanao, Rev. Chanco was confronted by the great need to bring the gospel to the tribal people, including the Bilaan, T’boli, Mansakas, Tirurays, Bagobos and more. As his daughter Ruth recalls it, “miraculously, most of them were eager to hear God’s word and message of salvation.  With the help of a tribal translator, many accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Now, numerous churches are thriving in the region.”

Ruth and her husband, Ramon Sanchez sought me out some months ago when they were in Manila. They are now based in Diamond Bar in the suburbs of Los Angeles. They were eager to tell me how they are keeping the memory of her father alive by continuing his evangelical work.

Christian Mission Far East has continued to grow and they have what used to be the family residence in Malate into Mission Headquarters. “Miraculously, The Lord provided the contractor as well as funds for the building. After years of ruin and decay, the Lord has answered our prayers and fasting. We were delighted by the attractive façade of the building. It brings glory to the Lord. The neighborhood as well as the people who pass often stop and admire the building. Now the building brings glory to God.  The ground floor will be the sanctuary of the Manila Calvary Church.”

This is a side of my extended family I was delighted to discover. Most of the Chancos I grew up with have been doctors, engineers, lawyers, journalists and teachers. I heard there were priests but when Ruth reached out to me, I confirmed the story I heard about one who became a passionate evangelist.

Rev. Amado Chanco must have trained Ruth well as she is continuing the work of her father. When I met her in Manila she told me that the Mission started by her father had grown into a remarkable Missionary organization: 150 churches, four Bible schools, four Gethsemane Home Orphanages, Mission School including a junior college, a medical clinic, several Bible Institutes and a mission farm.

The mission has spread to the tribe lands of the Manobo, T’boli, Bilaan, Bogobo, Igorot, Ifugao, Aeta, Ilungot, Mansaka,  and Kalingga. The vision, aside from the Spiritual needs, Ruth explained, included also the provision of literacy and vocational skills, to provide physical and material needs especially of orphans.

“The CMFE ministries include evangelism, children’s feeding, rescue mission and healing ministries. We look up to God for His provision,” Ruth said.

I thought this story of a man’s commitment to the Word of God is a fitting one for the start of the New Year. We need hope and faith in the Almighty to help us through the challenges we will face in 2015. Rev. Amado Chanco’s story is the inspiration that folks like most of us with little faith should try to imbibe.

A Happy and Prosperous New Year to all our readers!

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco