"Kapitan Tiago de los Santos" Rizal's character in "Noli me Tangere"

...Jose Rizal's "Noli me Tangere" character Kapitan Tiago, was a typical figure during the time of Rizal. He is a rich native-born Pilipino who rubbed elbows with the powers that be during that time. He symbolizes the rich Pilipinos who oppress their fellow Pilipinos in exchange for the influence and the riches that they might gain from their powerful associations.

"Kapitan Tiago" actually is a fusion of two persons during Rizal's time. The first half was Hilario Sunico - renowned 19th century bell-caster, metal smith and became the Gobernadorcillo of China Town (Binondo), while the other half was Balbino Mauricio, one of the three Pilipinos (Jose Maria Basa and Manuel Yriarte were the other two) who welcomed him in Hong Kong.

# HILARIO CHANUANGCO SUNICO y SANTOS, was born in 1865 to the Chinese "Chan Uan Co" and his Spanish mestiza wife Trinidad Santos of Gagalangin, Tondo. He was only fourteen years old when he started working in a foundry owned by a Chan Uan Co, the Chinese father of Hilario Sunico, that he eventually took over and at the age of fifteen he married Sergia Litonjua y Pablo, their children were: Dionisia, Tomas, Sebastian and Rosalia. Hilario Sunico the renowned 19th century bell-caster and metal smith, whose formula up to this modern age failed to capture the right mixture of bronze, copper, ore and mineral of iron called stannite, to produce a great sounding bell, in his foundry on # 20 calle Jaboneros, San Nicolas, Manila. He began by casting little bells and metal accessories for the horse-drawn carriages or calesas and the small but growing income helped support his family. Aside from bell casting, Hilario is also responsible for the grill workers of old Spanish churches and some civil works including the Puente Colgante (Ayala Bridge, Quiapo), the first suspension bridge built in Southeast Asia and the Tutuban Railway Station.

By 1890, the couple had a beautiful residence "bahay na bato" at # 3 corner of calle Lara and calle Madrid, a block away from calle Jaboneros, where the foundries of Sunico and other metalworkers stood. By 1872 he had cast the first recorded bell that bears his own foundry's name "FUNDICION DE HILARIO SUNICO." In 1878 he was commissioned to cast the largest bell and recast two other bells in the church tower of Binondo the country's richest enclave, the original/first and biggest China Town in the world. From then on his name was to be inscribed on in numerable church bells all over the country, for a period that stretched to some sixty-five years (1872 to 1937). Hilario's brothers joined the business towards the end of the nineteenth century, as indicated by the marking, "Fundicion de H. Sunico y Hermanos." In 1889, they crafted the elegant wrought-iron fence of the new Jesuit church, which had also commissioned to them for "sonoras y elegantes campanas." They manufactured electric chandeliers designed by Isabelo Tampinco, replacing old oiled chandeliers in San Sebastian Church in Quiapo, the Tutuban Train Station a number of cast and worked metal work, cast a statue of Rizal that was erected in Iloilo and a bust of Marcelo del Pilar in Malolos, Bulacan.

The successful Hilario Sunico became the Gobernadorcillo (Cabeza de Barangay or Capitan del Barrio) of China Town (Binondo). No record on what date and year Hilario Sunico passed away, but was still alive according to a tribute article about him printed in 1907. He passed on the company and all its secret formula of mixing and casting metal to his son Tomas, as manager of the "Herederos de Hilario Sunico." The dawn of the twentieth century and the onset of the American regime saw a slow but steady decline in commissions for church bells. In the 1920s, Sebastian Sunico, son of Hilario, complained... "The demand for bells has almost disappeared."

# BALVINO MAURICIO was with Jose Maria Basa and Manuel Yriarte, who welcomed Jose Rizal when he left the country passing Hong Kong. On March 14, 1872 Balvino Mauricio and other Pilipino patriots sailed on board the "Flores de Maria" bound for the Marianas islands to serve their prison terms for complicity in the Cavite Uprising.

There is an extant "Letras y Figuras" painting of Balvino Mauricio by Jose Honorato Lozano, which depicts his calle Anloague mansion. His house was supposed to have been the model for Kapitan Tiago's residence in Jose Rizal's novel Noli Me Tangere. Lozano's painting "Balvino Mauricio" shows the interior of the owner's mansion on calle Anloague (now Juan Luna) in Binondo, a huge house with an inner court and a tower, described in Noli me Tangere as the house of Kapitan Tiago and Maria Clara. The sala, the long and narrow caida and the comedor (with a dining table set for maybe two dozen) are all shown in detail, with their floor planks of alternating light and dark wood, mirrors, chandeliers, and heavy crimson curtains.

Balbino Mauricio y de Jesus was an ancestor of the Roces family.
Alejandro Rozes y Gonzalez (of Gijon, Asturias, Spain) married Florentina de Leon. After Florentina passed away, he married Severa Mauricio y de Jesus (sister of Balbino Mauricio y de Jesus), of Binondo, Manila.

Alejandro Roman Domingo Roces y Mauricio married Maria Filomena Gonzalez and they had 11 eleven children; Filomena (married Benito Legarda), Alejandro (married Antonia Pardo), Rafael (married Inocencia Reyes y Baptista) Marcos; et. al.. Filomena Roces y Gonzalez married Benito Legarda and they had several children: Alejandro Roces y Gonzalez married Antonia Pardo and they had seven children; Rafael; Antonia (married _ Prieto), Ramon, Mercedes, Filomena (married _ Verzosa), Isabel, and Joaquin.

According to Rizal's Noli me Tangere, Crisostomo Ibarra was staying in a hotel "Fonda Francesca de Lala Ary," which used to be on # 37 calle de la Barraca ("Barracks" the street where China Town's Gobernadorcillo Carlos Palanca "Tan Quien-sien" the Sangley character in Rizal's El Filibusterismo "Quirioga," built housing barracks for the Chinese working for the Manila/Acapulco Galleon Trade), in San Nicolas. On its site now stands Allied Bank, Crisostomo Ibarra had a room overlooking the estero (Muelle de Binondo) and from his window he could hear the sound of Kapitan Tiago's party. Claimed from this room with a view, one could see Kapitan Tiago's house. The building across Allied Bank in Plaza del Conde (formerly Barraca) is the State Investment Building. Kapitan Tiago, a fictional character, the real owner of the house # 175 Juan Luna Street was Balvino Mauricio who later sold it to Don Telesforo Chuidan.

My father and I also recorded the house of "Kapitan Tiago," the setting of Rizal’s Noli me Tangere. It might have existed or might only be a place in Rizal's imagination. I'm not trying to disclaim "the house on Anloague Street" # 175 Juan Luna St. (former calle Anloague) of Balvino Mauricio. But by crossing Muelle de Binondo from Plaza Calderon de la Barca one have to take San Fernando Bridge that connects Binondo & San Nicolas. By crossing the bridge from Binondo, one will find himself in the district of San Nicolas. After the bridge one will cross the first street, the tail of calle Tabora, next street (turning left, south) will be calle Sto. Cristo perpendicular to calle Barraca which the dead end is the Pasig River.

According to previous research revealed that the warehouse # 2 on "calle Barraca" was the site of the hotel "Fonda Francesca de Lala Ary" because according to Rizal's description on the 5th chapter of Noli... "Ibarra returns to his hotel room and looks out the window across the estero into Kapitan Tiago's house where the party in his honor continues without him."

Indeed, if one is in hotel Fonda Francesca de Lala Ary located in San Nicolas, looking beyond Muelle de Binondo you can see calle Anloague (Juan Luna St.). But its too far, your vision have to pass calle Tabora, Muelle de Binondo, then calle Anloague and calle Ingreso, to be able to see # 175 Juan Luna St. without blocking one's view, like buildings, houses, trees, etc… Remember calle Anloague (tagalog word for "builder") was named, because this street was once where one can buy building materials and deal with "carpenteros" had tall buildings and houses.

Now, here's my father's research and claim, the house of Kapitan Tiago which I agree, Rizal's description on the 5th chapter of Noli me Tangere… "Ibarra returns to his hotel room and looks out the window across the estero into Kapitan Tiago's house where the party in his honor continues without him." Remember Rizal stayed in Room # 20 at "Hotel de Oriente" in Binondo before going to Europe, before writing Noli me Tangere. Crisostomo Ibarra walked two blocks (from his hotel and crossed "calle Oriente" and "calle Condesa") to attend mass in Binondo Church located on Plaza Calderon de la Barca.

Hotel de Oriente occupied the whole block from calle Oriente to calle Veronica. Calle Veronica few meters will be the Estero de Reina and taking the bridge, you’ll be at "Meisic" (Ma Insik). Rizal, looking out his hotel window, will have the view of the Plaza Calderon de la Barca on his right is calle Veronica a corner block meeting calle Anloague (Juan Luna). The "bahay na bato" on this corner with a "tisa rojo" was the setting of Rizal's Noli me Tangere. The back of this house is the "Estero de Reina" which Rizal mentioned on his Noli that Kapitan Tiago and his neighbors used the estero to wash their clothes, dishes, drink, bath etc… # 175 calle Anloague (Juan Luna St.), house of Balvino Mauricio does not have a estero at the back.

Don Santiago de los Santos, known by his political title Kapitan Tiago existed in Hilario Sunico and Balvino Mauricio, Rizal blend them together to symbolize another weak Pilipino characteristic in Rizal's imagination, "to ring a bell" for us. 
- ka tony
the 19th of October (the fiesta month of Binondo/San Nicolas), '13