JoJo for short, Emiliano Fortunato Orencia Jr. ponders: What's in a Name?

My name is Emiliano Fortunato Orencia, Jr. My late father always told me to sign my full name on official documents like the SAT (can you imagine how feverishly I worked my right hand in the hopes of being able to take this exam?), personal checks, financial aid forms, etc. even though my nickname is “JoJo” which, as most Filipinos know, is an indigenous thing not an American tag for convenience. When I was a kid, I always imagined that one day I might be known as just “JoJo”, kind of like the Brazilian soccer players and I dreaded having to pronounce my name correctly to teachers during roll call and then saying, “you can just call me JoJo” which would lead to bewilderment among my classmates and engender more questions. It was, to say the least, pretty annoying. I went to the homeland when I was twelve years old and my Auntie Monette used to refer to my pops as “Emilio” and to me as “Emilio Jr.”. Auntie Monette is a wondrous raconteur and one day she explained to me how my grandfather loved history and, with his own twist, named my father after a much admired Philippine hero. That man’s name was Emilio Aguinaldo. My father always said, “Take great pride in your name because it carries with it enormous honor and prestige”. I know, he did not say it exactly as such – I’m taking literary license and paraphrasing. Anyways ……you get the point. I had no idea what he was talking about then……..

Emilio Aguinaldo is considered by many Filipinos to be the first and youngest President of the Philippines although not officially recognized by foreign governments in that manner. Aguinaldo was born on March 22, 1869 to a privileged and prominent family of Cavite El Viego, (now Kawit), Cavite province. After dropping out of school in his teens, he was elected cabeza de barangay of Binakayan in which his primary duties were to serve the needs of his town-mates and he did so dutifully for eight years. A reorganization of town governments worked in Aguinaldo’s favor as he was elected capitan municipal or town head in 1895. (Wikepedia)

Later in 1895, Aguinaldo joined the Katipunan brotherhood which was an organization dedicated to the overthrow of their Spanish occupiers who ruled the Philippines for over 400 years. Young Aguinaldo swiftly rose to the status of general in Katipunan as the Philippines officially revolted against the Spainiards in 1896 and was known throughout the Philippines as an indomitable warrior who effectively moved the Philippines closer to independence.

The Philippine rebels retreated against the Spanish and a fight for power ensued between Andres Bonafacio who founded Katipunan and the ambitious Aguinaldo. An election would catapult Aguinaldo as the de facto leader of the rebels and shortly thereafter Bonafacio would dissent and later be tried and executed for treason. This became the crossroads at which divergent parties separated. The Pact of Biak-na-Bato was signed on December 14, 1897 as the Spaniards began to overwhelm the rebel forces. Aguinaldo and his rebel leaders were exiled to Hong Kong after an agreement granted them amnesty and 800,000 pesos. (Library of Congress) This caused a rift because thousands of the Katipuneros were peasants and laborers who despised the idea of “indemnities” and chose instead to fight the Spanish Rebellion for a sovereign nation.

The United States arrived in early 1898 and fighting ensued with the Spanish. A restless Aguinaldo returned in May, 1898 to continue his guerilla tactics alongside the Americans in what became known as the Spanish-American War. Aguinaldo declared June 12, 1898 as Philippine independence and the Philippine Constitutional Convention elected him President in January, 1899. (Library of Congress)

The American government under President McKinley opted to occupy the Philippines after Spain ceded Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the U.S. McKinley felt that democracy and civility could be brought to this foreign culture albeit one which was thousands of miles away (sound familiar to our current situation in the Middle East) and interestingly McKinley’s impetus for this policy was fueled by his religion (could this have been the prequel?). Obviously, the U.S. did not acknowledge the newly elected President Aguinaldo and the Philippine-American War broke out in May, 1899. Fighting ensued for two more years before Aguinaldo pledged allegiance to the United States after his capture and the U.S. began its reign over the Philippines in 1901.

Aguinaldo would retire from public life for over three centuries but then made an ill-fated run for the Philippine presidency which resulted in a 1935 landslide loss to Manuel Quezon. Aguinaldo would besmirch his own legacy by allegedly supporting the Japanese during WWII and in fact, was arrested for collaborating with the Japanese. Presidential amnesty was bestowed upon him and he probably came full circle when the United States granted full sovereignty to the Philippines on July 4, 1946. Later, in honor of Aguinaldo, President Diosdado Macapagal (father of the current president) moved Philippine Independence Day to the original declared date of June 12 and this holiday stands today. Aguinaldo passed away at the age of 94 in 1964.

No matter what feelings are engendered by the memory of Aguinaldo, few can refute the fact that Emilio Aguinaldo stands as one of the influential forces of the Republic of the Philippines as we know it today.

Now after all these years……I know and understand those sage words from my dad.

I went to the homeland again in 2003 and saw Auntie Monette and when she calls me Emilio Jr., I can actually smile and understand the significance of the genesis of my name and what it means to Philippine history and to my family. It also leaves me ruminating about my personal hero, Emiliano Fortunato Orencia, Sr. and to this day if my signature is required, then it is that 26 letter celebration which he bestowed upon me that I eagerly scrawl with great honor and pride.

Posted by Emiliano Fortunato Orencia, Jr.

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