ROMANCE WITH HISTORY | Leonor Rivera's piano to be finally returned to Dagupan

InterAksyon.com
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DAGUPAN CITY -- The provincial government of Bulacan has agreed to turn over to Dagupan City the piano of Leonor Rivera, a childhood sweetheart of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, Dagupan City Councilor Jeslito Seen said.

Seen, chairman of the committee on arts and culture of the Dagupan City council, said the National Cultural Commission (NCC) helped facilitate the negotiation for the transfer of Rivera's piano to Dagupan City.

He said NCC, at the request of the city of Dagupan, talked to officials of the Bulacan provincial government, which agreed to the turnover on a still unspecified date next year.

Record showed the Riveras lived in Dagupan City from 1890 to 1891 and it is where Leonor learned how to play the piano.

On June 7, 1890, Leonor married Henry Kipping, an English engineer who was among those working on the construction of the Caloocan- Dagupan railroad, in a religious ceremony at the Dagupan church. When the Kippings and Leonor's parents moved to Camiling, a town in Tarlac then part of the province of Pangasinan, they left the piano with her aunt in Dagupan and took this with her when she and family moved to Bulacan.

The family of Leonor Rivera came to Dagupan as her father was engaged in clothing merchandise. There were claims they hid Leonor from Rizal in Dagupan as Rizal was being labelled as a filibuster at the time.

It is said that Rizal once came to Dagupan to serenade Leonor at their residence on a street in Dagupan now called Rivera Street. While in Dagupan, he reportedly stayed in a warehouse called "Tabacalera," where he, Antonio Luna, and other Filipino patriots used to meet.

At that time Rizal and Leonor were already sweethearts after they met in La Concordia in Manila where she studied at the age of 13. But Leonor’s mother was opposed to Rizal as a suitor to her daughter as Rizal and Leonor were related to each other by blood.

Rizal called the father of Leonor, Antonio Rivera as "uncle." The father of Rizal, Francisco Mercado, and Antonio Rivera were said to be first cousins. However, Pangasinan's foremost historian Restituto Basa said it was the mother of Rizal, Teodora Alonzo and Leonor's mother Silvestra Bauzon, who were cousins.

Teodora Alonzo is a granddaughter of Manuel de Quintos, a lawyer who graduated from the University of Sto. Tomas, the first Sangley mayor of Lingayen. The Bauzons were of Chinese lineage who traced their roots in Lingayen.

Councilor Seen said that if Rivera's piano is returned to Dagupan, it will be a priceless treasure of the people, same as the head engine of the first locomotive train that first ran the Caloocan-Dagupan railroad line, which is now displayed in front of the Dagupan City Museum.

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LET ME SHARE ABOUT THIS ARTICLE OF THE HISTORY OF THAT PIANO DONATED TO BULACAN MUSEUM

EXCERPTS FROM HISTORY OF DAGUPAN:

Municipal President : 1931-1934 (My Grand Father)

JOSE FERNANDEZ LLAMAS belongs to a long line of the Llamas clan who were elected to the position of municipal president, municipal mayor and city mayor.

It started with Don Antonio Llamas Fernandez, to Amado Llamas Ayson, down to Liberato Llamas Reyna and even almost Felipe Llamas Cuison. Cuison was twice city mayor in 1967 but lost.

As town executive Don Jose left as a memorial of his administration, the water tank behind the city hall building. He also constructed the original Kiosk in the plaza which has been demolished in later years to give way to improvements.

He served in the government service in several other capacities: 1) as municipal councilor, 2)Pangasinan provincial board secretary during the term Gov. Servillano dela Cruz; 3) Secretary to the Speaker of the House of Representative during the time of Speaker Eugenio Perez; 4 ) Justice of the Peace of Sta. Barbara and Rosales.

As municipal president he was elected chairman of the Municipal Presidents League of Pangasinan. He won as municipal president on the platform that he would work for the Dagupan into a city,. He was the son of Juan Llamas and Eulalia Fernnadez, a sister of Don Antonio Llamas Fernandez. He was married to the forcer Maria Villamil Jovellanos daughter of DonToribio Jovellanos and Dona Carmen Villamil. He was a newspaperman-lawyer who wrote with the pen name Silin Tabal, for Tunong. He died August 16, 1960 and was survived by nine children: Alfonso, Hernando, Baltazar, Juanito, Angeles, Luis, Fanny, Jesusa and Leonides (My father).

Angeles inherited the piano of Dona Carmen Villamil, her grandmother. This was the piano on which Leonor Rivera used to play. She later donated the same piano to the Bulacan museum. She was married to Felipe Lazaro of Bustos, Bulacan.

Alfonso became a COMELEC register and a municipal judge and later became Regional Trial Court Judge, while Hernando is now city treasurer of San Carlos City (Pangasinan). Leonides is now municipal judge of Magsaysay Occidental Mindoro. Luis became a priest; Fanny is a Librarian head of the periodical section at the University of Santo Tomas, Baltazar is a ranking legal officer of the Bureau of Lands.