CULASI, Antique — Domingo Solis and Rita Alobog had six children: Agapita, Vicenta, Policarpo, Macario, Evarista, and Eduardo.
Their fourth child Macario married Bernabela Villo, and begat Rosario, Epifania, Tarcela, Nicolas, and Esperanza.
Macario’s fourth child Nicolas married Adoracion Ballo-allo, and begat Ireneo, who married Soledad Ramirez, and begat my mother Thelma, along with seven other children.
Macario’s fifth child (and Nicolas’ youngest sister) Esperanza married Alberto Javier, who begat Lolita, and five others.
Lolita married Josue Cadiao who begat Rhodora, incumbent Antique governor, along with eight others.
My mother Thelma and Gov. Cadiao are second cousins. In the Philippines, I am Cadiao’s “nephew from her second cousin”. In America and elsewhere, the lady governor and I are cousins twice removed, or cousins in the third degree.
On July 1 and 2, the Solis Global Grand Family Reunion in Barangay San Antonio, municipality of Culasi (considered as the “birthplace of the Solises of Antique”) gathered some 253 local and balikbayan participants from all over the globe.
In her privileged speech on opening day, Gov. Cadiao pointed out that “no one is coming to a reunion as governor or attorney or doctor or engineer, but only as family.” It was a well-applauded sentiment.
Aside from the early morning motorcade around town, reunion events included communal lunches and dinner, ballroom dancing, parlor games, organizational planning for the next reunion (in 2025), and the 93rd birthday of family matriarch Amelia Chavoso./PN
