White Water Rafting In CDO

Sunday morning and the never-empty premier park of the city, Divisoria, stirs up a buzz, but quite different from that of the two previous nights when this park gets transformed as the locale for the weekend night café.

This time it is for the now popular sports activity in the city noted for its river. It is white water rafting, widely patronized by the young uns both from local areas and by hordes of intrepid tourists from across the country.

As the pictures show white water rafting starts in the park. But initially with rafts above the heads of the would-be thrill seekers.

Lashed on top of massively-built vehicles known as the Philippine jeepneys. An unseemly amalgamation of designs and structures reminiscent of WW2 war vehicles, fitted with surplus Japanese engines and parts, joined with generic parts from local parts stores, splashed with tons of paint, and throw in a hippo for good measure. And what you see is this ugly monstrosity that passes as public utility vehicle in many parts of this country.

Less than an hour’s ride going west will bring these eager beavers to the different launching sites, for several hours of fun, frolic, and fear.

Have fun!

Maya Updates

Three days and counting, and these two are still alive – barely, from my vantage point. During the day, the mother visits regularly, though at the first signs of human presence she scampers and soars skyward. She sits at the nest entrance with prominent beak protruding outward.

Looking at the two hatchlings, one gets to understand why it was generally believed that birds were descended from the now extinct dinosaurs and not the present-day lizards. The formers’ young sure look like those gargantuan beasts of old.

Invading Privacy Of Maya's Nest

Image of Chestnut Mannikin (Lonchura malacca) from "Birds of the Philippines" (Gonzales & Rees1988).

The proud Maya has fallen into hard times. Once honored as the national bird of the Philippines and unrivaled denizen of rice fields and paddies, this feathered flyer has been stripped of its title and wrenched away from its natural habitat, quite unceremoniously and with utter derelict abandonment.

The country has replaced this chestnut beauty with the imposing Philippine eagle, since way back when. And adding insult to injury the maya has been driven away from its familiar, comfy and bountiful haunts with creeping urbanization and the subsequent disappearance of the once ubiquitous rice fields and paddies in the countryside of Mindanao’s provinces and the rest of the country.

Consigned to congested urbanized settings, it has had to make do with what it can find adaptable. Like nesting on the leafy branches of trees lining concreted city streets. Or on the occasional trees providing shade and comfort in some old city homes. Or even on any potted flora on top of the many multi-storey buildings punctuating the cityscape.

One such Maya family has honored us by nesting in one of the potted brushes of our building’s roof deck. It picked this one particular plant obviously because of its tightly-packed foliage. We had before noticed, but only upon closer scrutiny, the remains of a nest in this potted ornament but had not minded it much. Then recently, we found that it had been spruced up and fortified with more dried thicket.

Aha, we thought, a family is ready to move in and raise some chirpers.

The other day, one bright sunny morning, I almost had my heel on top of a wriggly pinkish piece of something live being attacked on all sides by a horde of frenzied black ants, on the barely-bearable heated concrete floor of the roof deck. Just the size of a little worm, and lying a few feet from the nested brush. It was only when I stooped low that I realized that that wriggly thing was a newly-hatched bird – naked without feathers, almost translucent body, a huge mound of head with discernible beak, and fighting for dear life against a determined enemy.

How did it get there?

I gave myself no time to answer that. So to shorten the narrative, picked it up, settled it inside a small shallow glass made comfy with some curled cotton threads and parts of toilet paper, and ensconce it on a little table on the shaded and airy part of the deck. Hoping the mother comes back and takes care of its young.

Sadly, when I came back the following morning, I found its dead inert body fully covered by small ants feasting on its tiny carcass. Anger and revenge got the better of me so without any second thought, decided to quickly carry the glass over to the sink. Filling it to the brim dumped it in the middle of a deep baking pan already filled to the brim with water. Pretty soon the pan was a sorry maze of dead ants and ants flailing around with nowhere to go. The quick trip to the drain ended the gory scene.


That late afternoon almost instinctively, curiosity led me back to the nest. With point and shoot camera taut and ready, this voyeur was ready to invade somebody’s privacy.



Approaching the brush slowly this predator started clicking away in some cadence. From a distance until I was mere inches away. It was almost twilight so the flash was also working overtime. Before I could bat an eyelash and squint to focus, the unnoticed mother had shot out of the nest and left home and hearth in a huff and without even a by your leave.

These are what I found inside.









Life created – elemental, naked, helpless, humble, and at the world’s mercy.

Will these two get to witness life as adults? Will both find harsh realities rewarding, or worth all the trouble?

PART FOUR: Neri Genealogy: Some More Thoughts

What really continue to confound are the countless persons carrying the surname or middlename, Neri, even in our little locality. From the younger generations to the oldest still living and extant. Based on personal knowledge and because I met her a week or so ago, the oldest Neri I know is Pureza Neri Ramos who is in her 90’s. And mind you, she has a sister in San Francisco, USA, who has already hit the century mark. So what about you? What are some of your own personal experiences? But how are we really related? Given the available data and postulating on some of the unknowns, the best case scenario I continue to hold as a distinct possibility of our being related is this. But first, let us review what we have. Regardless of which parts can be considered legends or historical facts, the story is told that a Sampurna from Lanao came to settle in Cagayan and married into a native-born family. He succeeded Prince Salangsang as ruler of Cagayan. In 1779, he was baptized by Fr. Pedro de Santa Barbara, who was the registered parish priest then, and was given the name of Neri. We are said to have all descended from him; the name, Neri, being so different from other common names then, being so Italian. Until the turn of that century (18th) not much is traceable about that nascent Neri family. But the start of the new century (19th) ushered in many local Neri families. The families of Juan Neri and Anastacia Chaves, and the husband’s sister, Maria, who married Filomeno Chaves. The families of the brothers Lino and Salvador Neri. And that of little-known Leon Neri. The Neri’s mentioned above appeared to have been born very close to each other. Were they and presumably many others who remained unnamed and unknown all siblings? Coming from the same father and mother, christened a scant 21 years before? I seriously doubt they all came from the same mother. There is anyway no data to show that they all did. If they indeed all came from the same mother, why no mention in any of the several known branches of the Neri clan? We know the father was Sampurna who came from Lanao, who started carrying the name Neri in 1779. But no mention of the mother or mothers. So what about this. We all share the same father progenitor but from different mothers. Huh? As is common even to this day, an influential and affluent Muslim family may be composed of one husband and multiple wives. Which is allowed in the culture and I believe, in the religion, too. In other words, so the datus of old practiced polygamy. It is interesting to note that the bisayan word for rich is datu. If one could afford it, one could have multiple wives. Thus, a likely scenario for our mythical Sampurna, prince ruler of Cagayan, was a mass christening of his family of many wives and many children. Thus, a mere 21 years later we witnessed a prolific flowering of the Neri name among the many prominent descendants who graced the historical landscape of our little rustic community at the start of the 19th century and all the way to the present. And beyond. And breaking geographical barriers. From the temperate climate of Scandinavia to the desert sands of the Middle East. To the many cosmopolitan nooks and crannies of the United States. And yes, it continues to proliferate in the little confines of the old poblacion of Cagayan de Oro and its far-flung barrios.

PART TWO: Genealogy: The Neri Family of Mindanao

UPDATE: From Rogelio Roa Neri re Neri-Estavas line:

From Rogelio Roa Neri re Estavas-Neri Line

Regarding attached FB Post,Subj:NERI GENEALOGY,I have additional details to its paragraph 4 as regards the Neri-Estavas Clan.
Yes,my brother Ramon Roa Neri III and I belong to the Neri-Estavas Clan of Ozamiz City and Oroquieta City,Misamis Occidental. We have another brother,Renato Roa Neri. Our father,Agustin Estavas Neri,married to Adela Daaca Roa of Cagayan de Oro,has two brothers,namely:

1.Narciso Sr-married to Socorro Centino
Sons:a.Narciso,Jr
b.Fortunato II
2.Nemesio Sr-married to Herminigilda Acot
Sons:a.Fortunato III
b.Joseph
c.Antonio
d.Nemesio,Jr
e.Mario
f.Benjamin

Narciso Sr,Agustin,and Nemesio Sr are all sons of Fortunato Sarigumba Neri who was married to Praxedes Lumacang Estavas. Thus,the Neri-Estavas Clan.

To go further,my grandfather's father was Lucas Dumanjug Neri of Ozamiz City who was married to Pastora Sarigumba. My great grandfather had five other sons aside from my grandfather,Fortunato,namely:

1.Hospicio
2.Eleuterio
3.Susano
4.Pantaleon
5.Francisco

I think accounts on my lineage will not be complete if I do not mention as well who my great grandfather Lucas' siblings are and their father's(my great great grandfather)name too. Well,my great grandfather has three other brothers,namely:

1.Tomas
2.Eusebio
3.Sixto

In our clan,considered as our patriarch or progenitor was Juan Neri,father of my great grandfather Lucas,who in turn as discussed earlier was the father of my grandfather,Fortunato. He was said to be from Cagayan de Oro.
As chronicled,Juan lived for some time in Lanao having married the daughter of a royalty and bore her three sons named Datu Samporna,Datu Buaya,and Datu Barandaya. Not long after his wife died,he went to Ozamiz to help the inhabitants there fight marauding pirates from the deep South. It was there that he met a lady(her name skips my mind) surnamed Dumanjug. They soon got married and thereafter Lucas and his three brothers were born.
Our grandfather Fortunato used to regale his older grandchildren with stories about the intrepidity of our great great grandfather Juan as a warrior that saw action in the Lanao Provinces. Well,this is a subject of another story.

Postscript: The details herein are culled from the personal files of our older cousin,late Daylinda Centino Neri-Saren. It appeared that she religiously chronicled all the stories told to us by our grandfather Fortunato during his leisure time then. I hope my other cousins can share their own stories of our genealogy too.

Latest update in August 15, 2018, originally posted on Facebook:

NERI GENEALOGY

After having posted the initial blog entry so many years ago, followed by several related entries, it is time to take a review of what has transpired and what unfinished business needs to be attended to
Serendipitously got the free time, so I went through not only all the entries made, but importantly reviewed all the comments entered, which in toto numbered over 400.

So as informal review these are the points I came up which in my personal belief were not only highlights but issues that could assist the completion of the overall genealogy charting and tracing.

1. This first point is more of a spotlight on the following Neri descendants who because of the blogs were able to find resolution and maybe closure to the issues of their parentage, or maybe simply for allowing them a medium to express their sentiments:
Maria Angelica Neri – daughter of Ramon M. Neri
Maria Christina Neri – daughter of Ramon M. Neri
Denver Estopil Neri – son of Luis Neri
Michele Andrea Neri – daughter of Felino M. Neri, Jr.

2. This came from Teddy Delfin. Esperanza Nery y Neri who descended from Mariano and Ambrosia Fortich Neri, was the mother of former Camiguin Gov. Joselito “Joseling” Neri. Esperanza had a brother named Eustaquio, while Joseling had a sister named Ying Neri y Navarro. It looks like these data will have to be matched and verified with what we already had written and established.

3. Ande Nagac gave us the name of Casiano Neri, who is related to the Neri-San Jose. He had a brother named Crisanto Neri. What we can establish is that Casiano Neri is listed as one of the heroes of the Battle of Cagayan.

4. Luke Neri introduced us to the Estabas Neri line.
His grandfather was Narciso Estabas Neri, whose son was Eros Narciso Neri. Narciso’s siblings were: Agustin Neri, whose sons were Ramon Roa Neri and Rogelio Roa Neri; Loloy Estabas Neri; and Genoveva Neri Pambuena (Iligan).

5. A descendant gave us the name of Isaac Neri Chaves, Sr. who was born June 3, 1905, and he came from Camiguin and Cagayan de Oro.

6. Beltran Neri gave us the name of his father which was Angel Neri and his grandfather, Marcelino Neri

7. Lastly, Mary of Australia who is writing her own version of her genealogy gave us the following:

 Her grandfather was born in 1877, and his wife was Desideria Balboa Neri. We are in the dark as to whether it was the grandfather or the grandmother who was a Neri.
Those reading through and finding names familiar may leave comments, whether for clarification, correction, or whatever. Any input will be appreciated.

                                                            **********************





Just realized that adding more comments to the original blog entry has become problematic, so decided to introduce a new blog entry with the same title for purposes of future updates and for new comments.

Those visiting this original blog entry please add your comments here please.

Let’s keep them coming.

Second Peep: Old Town Look Meets Urbanization

Another short walking trip, and a few more discoveries, this time against the fading light of late afternoon.



Another important political personage used to live in this fenced-off property. The late Vicente de Lara, who used to be both governor and congressman of the province, and his family called this place home, situated at the corner of Del Mar and Carmen streets.


Then a few houses away on the opposite side of Carmen Street is this Spanish-inspired two-storey edifice, with the very distinctive front veranda. Or didn’t we call this by its Spanish name, azotea? Living here was the late Tio Loloy Velez, city councilor, medical doctor, and renowned local historian. It has been preserved quite well, down to the unpainted concrete façade. The good doctor being also our family doctor, we used to visit his office on the ground floor of this building. All of us five brothers I believe went through him for our painful rite of passage to adulthood, circumcision.

Finally, next to the Velez residence was that of the Fernandez family, home to a couple of good-looking young ladies as I recall. They were also related to us somewhat, having roots to the Neri clan. But the passage of time has not been kind and unsparing to this once-impressive timber structure, with the blocks of translucent glass studded on the front façade still visible. This allowed outside light to permeate inside, though preventing onlookers from intruding into its privacy.

Another view of the de la Camara house.