1st Familia Ledesma Grand Reunion - Now A Reality

Over a year ago Ramon Severino Conlu, Jr., the researcher behind The Ledesma Genealogy Book, created a Facebook Group, the Familia Ledesma of Jaro, Iloilo. The group’s on-line membership grew from an initial few hundreds to more than a thousand in a few month's time.  That was when Ramon and other members like Ekoy Golez, Mardi Mapa Suplido, Ging Palanca and Marie Silva Vallejo began entertaining the idea that a grand reunion could very well happen.  A series of monthly meetings were started and the adhoc committee proposed for a three-day affair.  Several dates were mentioned but the most feasible was May 24 to 26, 2013.   The people in the organizing team knew that it was going to be an ambitious project considering that the Ledesmas are generally not the social type.  But then, if not now...when?

Patag: History and Nature's Bounty

On the foothills of Mt. Silay (also known as Mt. Mandalagan) lies the village of Patag, the site of the Japanese military's last stand in Western Visayas during World War II. In 1945, U.S. military forces landed in Negros Island. The occupying forces of the Nagano Detachment of the Japanese Imperial Army retreated to Silay and proceeded up Mt. Silay to Patag where they were prepared to make a stand.  My father (they had moved from the city to the haciendas to avoid the Japanese) would tell me stories of how they can hear the passing of the trains filled with the fully armed soldiers. To say that it was scary was an understatement. The Japanese were defeated by military forces of the Philippine Commonwealth and soldiers of the U.S. 40th Infantry Division with help from the local guerrilla fighters. To honor all those who died in that battle, the Japanese government built a Friendship Shrine as a memorial. Not to be outdone, there is also a WWII memorial dedicated to the Filipino and American soldiers.