 |
| LVNA, ARQUITECTO |
For Filipiniana book hunters, Fully Booked has been a treasure trove of both Fiction and Non-Fiction book finds.
Their Gateway, Powerplant, and Trinoma branches hold a fair amount of Philippine books published by Vibal Foundation, Ateneo Press, and even by small independent presses. Their Ayala Center Cebu branch has also given me some choice books, but some of the titles that I found in the Manila branches have not reached Cebu yet.
One book that I found while browsing in Fully Booked was "Luna, Arquitecto" by Saul Hofileña Jr. It takes a look at the only surviving son of Juan Luna and Maria de la Paz Pardo de Tavera Luna --- Andres Luna de San Pedro. Juan and Paz had two children, Andres, who was born in 1887 and Bibi (Maria dela Paz, named after their mother). Andres was the only child who survived into adulthood. Bibi's death at three years old was the catalyst of the 1892 tragedy.
The book came out in 2021 and was printed by Baybayin Publishing. It read like a novel, interesting and easy to read. But it's branded as a historical book. References used and researched by the author are also listed for further reading.
The book tackled the deaths of the de Tavera women and how Juan Luna got away with their murders. Since Hofileña is a lawyer, he delved into an understanding of the Penal Code that Luna's defense team used to their advantage. You might say that the Juan Luna tragedy is our version of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. A large part of the book was dedicated to the trial and histories of both of his families (Luna and Pardo de Tavera). The later chapters chronicled Luling's life after the deaths of his parents.
After reading the book, my conclusion was, it tried to answer two questions: How did the 1892 tragedy impact Andres Luna de San Pedro growing up, and the effects on who he became as a man. One of the results of what he experienced when he was five years old could have been his decision not to have children of his own. He was in his 40s when he married the American, Grace McCrea.
Andres or Luling as he was called by his parents, was, for me, a tragic figure. He witnessed how his father killed his mother and grandmother. And we can only imagine the emotional trauma he suffered from this event. His father was tried and imprisoned for the crime. Upon release from prison, he was brought back to the Philippines to live. He was orphaned again in 1899 when Juan Luna died of a heart attack in Hong Kong. He was cared for by his father's brother, Dr. Jose Luna, and his family. When Dr. Jose died in 1917, Andres was in Europe studying architecture.
 |
| Andres Luna de San Pedro sketch by Juan Luna |
Luling was influenced and molded by his Luna relatives rather than by his Pardo de Tavera family. But his financial needs were funded by his de Tavera inheritance. Mara Pardo de Tavera commented in one public post on Facebook that it was her grandfather, Trinidad, who funded Luling's European education because by this time, the 1910s, Andres' inheritance from his mother had already dwindled.
One of the things that I have been curious about is whether Jose Rizal communicated with the Lunas during this time of upheaval in 1892. With the hundreds, if not thousands, of letters that Rizal left, I've never encountered anyone who wrote or spoke about this incident concerning Rizal's relationships with the de Taveras and the Lunas. I asked eminent Rizal Historian, Ambeth R. Ocampo, about this, but he just made a vague comment.
I've always wondered how Rizal felt about the tragedy since he was friends with both the Luna and de Tavera families. In some ways, he was the one who brought the two families together. He was connected to the de Taveras first and introduced Juan Luna to the family.
I recommend this book to those who are intrigued by the Luna-Pardo de Tavera saga.
 |
| Escolta, Manila: Regina and First United Buildings |
Comments