Chapter 5: Ancestral Roots of the Nieva Clan of Marinduque

Cardinal Ricardo Vidal from Mogpog, Marindque-Philippines. Do you know of his connection with the Nieva Clan? Read on...

This is Chapter 5 of the series on the Ancestry of the Nieva clan of Marinduque authored by Rene Nieva. Previous Chapters have been published in my blogs just recently.

CALIXTO NIEVA: FOUNDING FATHER OF THE NIEVAS OF MARINDUQUE: The Calixto Ma. de Nieva who was Gobernardocillo in 1867 was the first known direct ancestor of the Nievas of Marinduque. However, I suspect that since the names Juan and Calixto surface in every generation of Nievas at that time, and based on the time span between them, our earliest ancestor could very well be the first Juan de Nieva who was the Gobernardocillo in 1825. But this is still subject to further research.

Calixto Nieva must have been born in the 1830s, maybe to Juan de Nieva and Juan's wife who is not known. Calixto was supposed to have had two brothers and two sisters. One of them, Francisco, became Gobernadorcillo in 1885. He was said to have moved to Zamboanga after marrying a Zamboanguena. I believe he was the grandfather of the late Antonio (Tony) Nieva, a well-known journalist, activist and labor leader who confirmed to me he was from Zamboanga. The younger brother of Calixto, Pedro, was Governadorcillo of Boac in 1902. He later moved to moved to Quezon province. (I believe he is the grandfather of Ramon Nieva, former Undersecretary of Defense under Marcos.)

It is said that of the two sisters of Calixto, one married an Alino, from which branch later came two police generals: Gen. Santiago Alino, who became Chief of Staff of the Philippine National Police (PNP) under President Fidel Ramos, and his younger brother Gen. George Alino, who also rose in the PNP chain of command and after retiring from the PNP was named Customs Police Director.

The other sister married a Nepomuceno, also from Boac, to which family belonged Ricardo Nepomuceno, former governor of Marinduque and later Secretary of Public Works. Ricardo Nepomuceno is the father of Pat Nepomuceno-Jacinto, who married former Security Bank president Nicanor Jacinto. A relative of Ricardo, Cesar Nepomuceno, became Mayor of Boac for several terms after World War ll.

It is also believed that a cousin (first name unknown) of Calixto was the great grandfather of Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, who was a leading theologian of the Catholic Church and long-time Archbishop of Cebu where he was well-loved not just by Catholics but by Cebuanos in general. As Cardinal Vidal himself once related to me, his mother, Maria Natividad Jamin, was the daughter of Emiliana Nieva Jamilla, who could have been the daughter of one of Calixto's Nieva's cousins. Emiliana married Fructuoso (Tusong) Vidal, who hailed from Mataas na Bayan in Boac, later moving to Mogpog. They had four children - Rafael (who was provincial assessor and died in World War ll fighting theJapanese in Bataan); Julieta (Liling), Fructuoso, Jr. (Tosi); Maria Loreto, and Ricardo who was the youngest. Cardinal Vidal related to me that his father did not want him to be a priest but a lawyer. So he said that if he was not accepted at the seminary, he would have become a lawyer.

(Next, Epifania Morente, wife of Calixto)

Personal Note: Cardinal Vidal and Calixto's cousin connection is a new information for me as well as for Macrine. I have heard of the Alino and Nepumoceno connection from my mother in law-Mrs Elena Nieva Jambalos( deceased). Again, thank you Rene for sharing this very interesting and fascinating series. Looking forward for the next chapter.