Elias Rol, a Centenarian

by Mario Ugalino
(as published 4 years ago in MVP)

Tang Elias and his immediate family

The Spaniards, through Magellan, discovered the Philippines over four centuries ago by accident.  Instead of sailing to India, they found the land of what the Spaniards called, “The Land of the Indio”.  That was the name they first called our Motherland.  Later on, they named it Islas Filipinas in honor of King Philip or Felipe. Years later the Spaniards made their way deeper into the north.

Parallel to that, the same thing happened in Old America.  Lewis and Clark were sent deeper into the west of the Mississippi to explore more lands. They passed through dangerous territories in order to clear the pathway for more would-be settlers to explore the West.  Because of that, more States would be formed.

If America had Lewis and Clark, Spain had Juan Salcedo, who would sail and explore the North of the Philippines. They later called the North, los Ilocandia where the Rol family originated from.

In earlier Philippines after the Spaniards arrived, Spain sent 80 to 100 men to explore the North and they were called the Conquistadores.  This group of men was led by a young brave man, Capt Juan Salcedo, who earlier would join his grandfather and brother (who themselves were Conquistadores) in conquering Manila and its surroundings some years back.

Capt Juan Salcedo then founded the city of Vigan which he named Ciudad Fernandina in honor of the King of Spain‘s son, Prince Ferdinand.   It was in Vigan where he died of fever at the young age of only twenty seven years old.  Most Ilocanos we know today are brave and resilient in sailing through life just like Juan Salcedo.

Later on in 1849, after almost three centuries of ruling the Philippines, a Spanish Governor named Claveria initiated and introduced giving Spanish surnames.  This was given to all the natives who did not have a Spanish surname or anybody who wanted to change their surnames.  The hidden motivation for doing this is for the Spanish government to have easier way of identifying their constituents who would pay taxes to Spain.

Thus 80 percent of the population in the Philippines now has Spanish surnames. There are about 20 percent of the Philippine population whose forebears either held on to their native surnames or were not dominated by the colonizing Spaniards at all.  The surname Ugalino is a good example.

The way the Spaniards distributed names was according to where they lived.  For example, they gave names that would start with C to Narvacan or R to San Vicente or T to Santo Domingo and so on.  San Vicente, Ilocos Sur is where the Rol clan trace their family roots.  And that was how they got their surname.  I remember asking my father-in-law (Elias Rol) just after I married his only daughter as to how they got their unique surname - so unique from all the surnames in the Philippines.  I have not met or heard any Rol anywhere in the Philippines or the whole world besides his family.  He said he does not know how they came up with Rol.  Some examples of surnames that originated from San Vicente, Ilocos Sur are Rebibes, Rapanot, Rabanal, Rosal, Raquepo, Retuta, Rosette, Rotor and more.

Half a century after the Spaniards distributed Spanish surnames, a boy named Elias Rol was born on September 19, 1908 in Barrio Labot, Magsingal, Ilocos Sur, on the Island of the Philippines.  He was born to poor but extremely industrious parents who were originally from San Vicente, Ilocos Sur but moved to Labot before their children were born.  Young Elias and his 11 siblings were brought up by their very religious parents to become God-fearing and were encouraged to serve God.  Two of his sisters became nuns and a niece also became a nun.  Some of his cousins became Catholic priests.  Tatang Elias has two other sisters who are still alive and living in the Philippines. His sister Auntie Pisiang, 94 years old,  lives in Labot and the other one, their youngest,  Auntie Lourdes (a retired nun) living at their Manila‘s retirement home of her Order.

When Elias Rol was about 18 years old, America for the second time, would recruit hard-working Ilocano workers to work in Hawaii. They were called the Sakadas. This group was the second wave of  Sakadas who would arrive and work in Hawaii mostly as sugar plantation workers. And like Capt Juan Salcedo before him, who explored the Northern Ilocandias, and brought religion and resilience to the Ilocanos which young Elias would learn and apply, he would sign in as a Sakada in the mid 1920‘s.  Young Elias would then become a Sakada and sailed the rough waters of the Pacific and Hawaii in the mid 1920‘s with hundreds of young men like him.

Some of them would not make the voyage and died while at sea. Those young men who died would be wrapped in linens and would be dropped deep into the Pacific Ocean which would be their resting place forever. Their family who they left behind would probably never learn of their fate. After sailing for a month, young Elias was sick but in great spirits.  They finally saw lands that would look so beautiful. They first arrived on the beautiful Island of Hawaii Grande also known today as the Big Island. It is the biggest island of all the Hawaiian Islands. He worked like a slave for a while at the Hawaii Grande’s vast and wide-open sugar plantations. He worked from sunrise to sundown and got paid like a dollar a day.  Some Sakadas got paid like 2 dollars a day.

Later after a couple of years of working under the hot and humid Hawaiian daylight at the sugar plantation, he moved on to California where he would work picking fruits and vegetables at the vast vegetable- producing fields of the San Joaquin Valley.  There in California, he would move to places where seasonal crops would be harvested - grape picking season on the Napa Valley, to harvesting asparagus in Santa Maria plains, then back again to the San Joaquin Valley Area. It turned out that he met a lot of Magsingalenos working as seasonal workers like he was. He would also experience the Great Depression in the 1930’s where there were no jobs around.

with grandchildren

A lot of Magsingalenos he met in California did not bother to marry thus making most of them “naglaklakayen nga awan asawana”.  Two of my late Grandfather’s younger brothers, who Tang Elias  met in California, would become bachelor for life, and so with many like them who did not bother to even go back to the land of their birth. This is probably one reason why a lot of our grand aunties in the Philippines would become bachelorettes also because most men their age would go overseas and never went back home to visit or marry the many available bachelorettes left in Magsingal.  Tang Elias would live in California up until World War Two erupted.

After so many years of living in California, and still a single man at the age of over 31 years, he decided to go home to Magsingal where he was born. This was just before World War II erupted. His primary purpose for going back home was to find a wife. So he left California and went home to the Philippines.  His plan was to get married and return to California after. He was able to get back home and marry, but was then unable to go back to California because the Japanese have invaded and taken over the Philippines.  He would then join the guerilla in fighting the Japanese like so many men who were able.  During the time of “bakbakwit”, he finally met a young and beautiful lady named Isabel Guerrero who was 18 years old and decided to marry her. They got married even while the war was still going on.

***Let us go a few years back before he went back home to Magsingal. In California, he met his future father-in-law, Grandpa Vidad.  Grandpa Vidad would tell Tang Elias that he left a very young daughter in Magsingal.  He continued to tell Tang Elias that his daughter was then a young woman.  And he would therefore want to go back to Magsingal and take care of her.  He would not know that some years later, Tang Elias and Nang Isabel would marry.  I am so proud to say that Tang Elias and Grandpa Vidad Guerrero were both Sakadas from the second wave of Sakadas. As most of us know, Sakadas are the unsung heroes of the Filipino workers who showed the way to America to the next generations of Filipino Sakadas who they now call OFW’s today.  They came to America in the early 1900’s, 1920’s and 1946’s.  They will always be our heroes!***

One year later, Mr and Mrs Elias Rol, for the first time, became parents to Jose.  And after the war ended, 5 more children came along - Gene, Bert, Edna, George and Benny. After the war ended,  he could have come right back to America without his family but decided to stay back in Magsingal and together with his young wife who was 13 years younger, raised  their children in Labot, Magsingal until their children started to go to school and thus moving his family to the district of San Vicente, Magsingal. His children have said that their life in Labot was hard but was a happy family and a very close family until today. They did not have much money but they had everything they needed to live comfortably. He would later become grandfather of 11 grandchildren and great grandfather of 12 great grandchildren. All his children are all hard-working, and all good citizens and I am proud and happy that I am connected to his great, generous and most humble family. Sadly, his second son, Manong Gene, recently died early this year.

Back in 1967, thanks to his younger brother, Carlos Rol, who petitioned him to Hawaii. The late Carlos Rol, who himself  was one of the third and last wave of Sakadas that arrived in Hawaii after the war, was the generous brother who would help him return to Hawaii and bring all his family members with him later.  He sold his carabao and all his farming equipments so that he could come to Hawaii together with his second oldest son Gene. The rest of his family would follow him to Hawaii later. He arrived in Hawaii with just a couple of clothes and no money at all. He worked very hard while he was in Hawaii. In fact, he had two full time jobs at the same time as a custodian, even though he was already 59 years old when he started. And he did continue to work up until he was 75 years old. He could have worked until he would reach 80’s, but was forced to retire as a company policy, they would tell him. But it did not stop him from working as yard maintenance man around town.

When he was 93 years old, he was still able to travel down to Alaska to visit his only daughter’s family and he was still looking strong.  I have not seen a more generous and a stronger man than him. That is my father-in-law, Elias Rol, formerly of San Vicente, Magsingal - a man of all seasons.  Yes, he will be celebrating his 100th birthday in a few days and what a century it has been for this outstanding man’s life!

To see the birthday party celebration, click here.