MANILA, Philippines - The Casa Ordoveza Book is a collection of vintage photos and interesting articles, which records an illustrious Filipino family’s history of entrepreneurship, social responsibility, endurance of spirit for 443 years. It gives readers a peek into what family life was like in those times.
Dr. Chito Santiago, a much sought-after genealogist in the country, belongs to the Ordoveza clan. His incredible research, covering more than four centuries of recorded family history, spans 16 generations. It evolves from the family’s ancestral home, built in 1744 in Majayjay, Laguna. The extant, more than 250-year-old structure is regarded as the oldest ancestral house in the Philippines.
The clan has one of the longest, most comprehensive, and continuous genealogical histories in the Philippines, backed up by historical documents, taken as far back as the 16th century. The Ordoveza bailiwicks were the provinces of Laguna and Quezon.
“Like branches on a tree, our lives may have grown in different directions, yet the Ordoveza roots have always remained as one,” says Isabel Ordoveza Fernandez Guevara.
This extraordinary book, a treasure and a historical “keepsake of memories,” was launched last month at The North Forbes Park Pavilion.