IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 19TH CENTURY, a young man from Zambales went to Leyte to learn the abaca trade. Thus began the saga of Don Fernando Escaño. From Tacloban in the north, he moved to Maasin in the south. He sired a few children before his marriage to Agustina Faelnar, with whom he had 16.

Doña Agustina came from the small municipality of Malitbog on the shores of Sogod Bay. This town flourished when the Escaño couple made it the capital of their expanding business empire?abaca, shipping, real estate, coconut plantations, etc.

They built Casa Escaño facing the bay. It was a huge house with numerous rooms, furnished with the elegance of the period. There they lived with children, their spouses, grandchildren and guests who came to attend family celebrations. The guests were brought from Cebu onboard the Escaño ships, which also served as lodging when there were many visitors.

The feasting was ever highlighted by theatricals and musicals. Don Agustin Escaño, who had studied art in Europe, took charge of the backdrops with his oil-on-canvas paintings. His brother Don Lorenzo and wife Doña Piling took care of the music, maintaining a band for the purpose.

Thus was Southern Leyte exposed to ?La Viuda Alegre,? ?Gigantes y Cabezudos,? ?Molinos de Viento,? ?El Conde de Luxemburge,? La Rosa del Azafran? and other zarzuelas, including ?La Geisha.? The Spanish dialogues of these musicals were translated to Cebuano, but the songs all remained in Spanish.

In 1929, Don Agustin built his own Villa Margarita named in honor of his wife, in the style of an Italian palazzo. The ceilings and walls were painted in Art Noveau style by Don Agustin himself. In front of the house was a formal garden with hedges and fountains. A wonderland of every fruit tree imaginable was at the back portion.

Casa Escaño, Villa Margarita, other grand homes, Malitbog and its surrounding areas figure prominently in the book ?American Guerrilla in the Philippines,? later made into a movie starring Tyrone Power in the title role. Micheline Presle was the love interest Curly (in real life surnamed Corominas). Infrastructure in the 1950s, being what it was, Malitbog was out of the question as location site.

World War II, with its carnage, intrigue and treachery, which are all depicted in the book, changed the life of Malitboganons, specially the Escaño family. The celebrations continued, the zarzuelas, too, but something had gone, and it would never return.

In January 1957, Casa Escaño mysteriously burned on a particularly hot afternoon. There was no water to fight the fire. Family members, too stunned to say a word, just watched the blaze, tears streaming from their eyes.

It was duly reported in the New York Times not just for its fame in the novel but because the Escaño international abaca trading office was located on its ground floor. What remains today are the brick walls of the ground floor.

Miracle

Villa Margarita still stands, a miracle in itself after a strong typhoon almost blew it away in 1982. It is lived in by Ramon and Maria Pilar Escaño who, with their daughter Ana Maria, try their best to keep it up.

The travel book ?Lonely Planet? once dedicated a whole page to Villa Margarita. Since Ana has refused the curious entrance into what is, after all, a private residence, there is but a peremptory mention, and a bit sarcastic, of it, in recent editions.

We would need pages upon pages to make a family tree of the Escaño clan, and that is just what the descendants of Don Fernando did in 1986 with the intention of putting it into a book, published in 1987. That was also the year of the clan?s first grand reunion.

Ingrid Sala Santamaria, granddaughter of Doña Belang Escaño Sala, played the piano, and others featured in various Broadway excerpts, like Angeling Lhuillier frisking in a ?South Pacific? number, and a whole bevy of long-legged gals kicking up ?One? from ?A Chorus Line.?

Reunions have been regularly held in varied venues under the aegis of Fundacion Escaño, whose first project was to restore the Escaño mausoleum in Malitbog. The domed structure has two levels?a ground floor for the burial vaults, and an upper terrace with a chapel that has a marble Pieta from Italy. Malitbog?s people call it their Taj Mahal, and those who drive past stop for a photo op.

Latest reunion

The latest reunion was a few weeks back, at the ballroom of the Casino Español de Cebu. There was a large attendance that roared approval at the evening?s program?a takeoff from ?Mamma Mia,? with all those Abba songs, ably directed by Django Diola.

Tico Aldenese and Mon-Mon Escaño were the leading voices, announcing the various highlights. Alex Escaño, as president of the Fundacion, along with first cousin Angel E. Veloso Jr., informed all that quite a chunk of real estate that belonged to Don Fernando has been traced and has augmented the organization?s assets.

Anna Marie Corominas DeWit shared slides of the new updated book on the Escaño family which will be launched in 2010 with the latest genealogical chartering. Resil Mojares, who wrote the original, has also been involved in this one, with more historical insights and a wealth of additional photos.

Priced at P2,500 per copy, reservations were made that very night, and more since then. It is not just Escaño descendants who are interested but many more, several ambassadors included. Anna Marie says it is printed on paper that will last for centuries.

The ?Mamma Mia? show was true to Escaño style in form and content. Undisputed stars were Marguerite Lhuillier, Margette Sarmiento and Petite Garcia, no less than the president of the Arts Council. Maritoni Corominas was in every dance number. Her daughter Shelly Sato sang divinely, and so did Josie Sala and Irene Yap when they rendered ?Chiquitita.?

People in the audience sang along practically to every number, especially the finale, ?Thank You for the Music? for the curtain call, to a reprise of ?Dancing Queen.? Tico in drag was absolutely hilarious.

Dancing then began in earnest; never mind if you had a partner or not, so much so that the line dance had to spill on to the carpet. It was at this point that Alex E. started a long conga line that went hopping between tables and back to the dance floor. ?Exhausted?? someone queried. ?Never,? everyone chorused.

They say they can?t wait for the next reunion, scheduled in 2013 in Cagayan de Oro, hosted by Joy Escaño at this Pryce Hotel.