Lualhati Aldaba Cojuangco: From Malolos to Tarlac

Lualhati Aldaba was from Malolos, Bulacan. She was beautiful and had dusky skin. Following Filipino tradition, Tia Hatti (as we called her) wore a terno as often as she could.

One cannot write about the woman with the kind, solicitous smile and quick laughter without also mentioning her husband’s family sagas. For, indeed, Juan Chichioco Cojuangco’s family history has always been a point of curiosity that began in China, then Binondo to Malolos, and finally Tarlac. In their 26 years of married life, Lualhati and her husband remained childless. Being affluent, Juan built health centers and churches; Lualhati would do the same upon Juan’s – or Tio Etoy – demise.

Here’s a bit of Tio Etoy’s interesting background.

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Once upon a time, there was a Manchu emperor named Qianlong who ruled China between 1736 to 1795. It was during Qianlong’s reign that Zheng Chi left Hongjian (now known as Fujian) with his eldest son Chang Zen, who would later be known as Juan Co. They may have arrived in the Philippines in the late 18th century by junk ship upon someone’s invitation. That was often the case for most Chinese immigrants to the Philippines.

Very likely Zheng Chi proceeded to Binondo. It was as it is today the bustling center of Chinese trade. It was there that Zheng Chi took a job. It is said that his son Juan Co eventually moved to Pangasinan.

Like many other immigrants, Juan is said to have returned to his hometown in China. However, in the early 1800s, he returned to the Philippines again with a son known as Martin Co. Juan later married a Filipina, Trinidad Tiongson from Bulacan. Genealogy record states that Zheng Chi, Juan’s father, died in Pangasinan in 1786.

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Martin Co grew up in the Philippines. Upon saving enough money he went back to Fujian, had a son and returned to Manila in the mid-1800s. His wife in China may have been chosen for him from birth but back in Manila, he married a mestiza by the name of Andrea Mendoza. But firstly, the Spanish authorities required Martin to be baptized. Martin’s parents didn’t convert so Martin in his late 20s to early 30s took the name of his sponsor, another Martin Co, who was a Christian Chinese from Binondo on March 19, 1842. When his Filipino wife became ill, he left his son Jose to relatives in Binondo and was said to have returned to China probably with Andrea.

Jose, later known as Ingkong Jose, became the grandfather of the four Cojuangco brothers Jose, Antonio, Eduardo and Juan.

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The evolution of the name Cojuangco according to a niece, Marisse Cojuangco Reyes, the author of the family biography Tide and Time, is from Ingkong Jose’s Mandarin names of Shu Sang Zri or Shu Yu Huan.

Marisse assumes Mandarin names were dropped in favor of the Fujian dialect which was commonly used for business in Binondo. The Xu in Mandarin is pronounced as Co. To quote Marisse, "Ingkong was given the name Jose because he was baptized on the Feast of Saint Joseph, March 19, 1842, the same date as his father Martin Co. Like most Chinese then, Inkong Jose used his full Fujianese name – Co Giok Huang as a Filipino surname. His middle name Giok, which could have stood for his generation, was dropped and the Fujianese polite suffix k’o meaning elder brother was added to his personal name. Thus the name Co Juan Co."

Marisse’s mother Josephine, and her siblings Pedro, Cory, Passy, Peping and Terry are the fourth generation migrant Chinese. Co Chi Kuan before, now of Jose Cojuangco I clan. The last "Co" in the name is really an honorific suffix added to the shortened Chinese name. In China, a person’s name is made up of three letters which correspond also to three syllables. And the first letter is the family name, the next two being given names. To shorten the name and the last letter of the given name, So, Ko (or Co) Chi Kuan became "Ko Kuan." Adding the honorific "Co" (as in Teopaco, Limjengco, Gotanco, and so forth) in his case Ko Kuan Co later became Cojuangco.

Great-grandfather to Marisse was Melecio Cojuangco who pursued an education first at San Juan de Letran, and then at the University of Santo Tomas. Melecio achieved another distinction denied his two sisters – he got married. His two sisters, Ysidra and Trinidad, would remain spinsters all their lives. His future wife Tecla Chichioco was a Chinese mestiza born to Juan Chichioco and Timotea Valenzuela in the Malolos pariancillo on September 22, 1868. A spirit of adventure and business brought them to Paniqui, Tarlac where Ingkong Jose built his house next to the railroad station, now called Estacion. Ironically it was on a train along this railway system that Lolo Melecio was to die unexpectedly several years later prematurely leaving behind his four young sons Juan, Antonio, Eduardo and Jose. Juan without inheritors, Antonio being Tony Boy’s dad, Eduardo, the father of Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco, and Jose Cojuangco, the father of Peping and Pedro.

Ingkong Jose’s children – his daughters and married son – lived with him in the new house. Juan, the second son of Tecla and Melecio Cojuangco, was born in that house on April 8, 1898 followed by Antonio on October 18, 1899 and Eduardo Sr. on October 13, 1902. Jose was born on July 3, 1896 in Malolos, Bulacan. Juan became Lualhati Aldaba’s husband.

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Tia Hatti was the first Mrs. Cojuangco whom I met in 1962 before my formal engagement was announced. As it should be, Peping and I paid her husband and her our respects. Juan was the only living brother of my father-in-law.

Ever gracious Tia Hatti’s life was one of contributions to governors and mayors for the building of health centers and charity work for the indigents, the religious and their parishes.