heritage
The Philanthropic Legacy of Eusebio and Consuelo Bulaong
Eusebio Manicad Bulaong was born to a poor family on December 13, 1899 in Malolos Bulacan and had to work for food as an all-around helper to relatives and neighbors. He later became a truck helper and met Consuelo Sabile (born June 21, San Simon, Pampanga) in Baguio where she was an ambulant vendor helper. Deprived of education, both struggled in poverty. Eusebio’s highest educational attainment was Elementary Grade 5, and Consuelo at Grade 4. They married on July 10, 1932 in Bautista, Pangasinan and were blessed with 9 children namely: Florentina, married to Genovevo Espinosa (deceased), Romana, married to Tranquilino Honorio (deceased), Claudio (deceased), married to Flora Manansala, Juanita, married to Danny Damasco (deceased), Vicentita (deceased), married to Josefino Tubao, Atty Erlinda (deceased), married to Atty Pedro Ferrer, Emilia, married to Randolph Santos, Jovita (deceased), married to Charlie Dimalanta, & Josefina, married to Atty. Felimon Cimafranca Jr.
Eusebio dreamed of owning land as a ticket out of poverty, and by God’s grace, his opportunity came when he was chosen to be one of the 64 first batch of settlers led by National Land Settlement (NLSA) General Manager (Ret.) Gen. Paulino T. Santos to venture into Mindanao. Together with 63 other first batchers, they arrived in Sarangani Bay aboard the ship S/S Basilan with 3 children in tow (Florentina, Romana & Claudio) on February 27, 1939. The eldest child, Florentina recounts the difficulties she had to go through to get to school (from the current Bulaong Terminal location where they had their first house). She walked daily to and from Lagao carrying freshly bottled cow’s milk to sell along the way. Eusebio was one of the first to own a horse-drawn calesa and took pride in ferrying General Paulino himself during his visits to the different settlement areas. When war broke out, the whole family trekked (Eusebio’s mother Juana rode the calesa with the family belongings) along the coast of Sarangani Bay all the way to the Municipality of Kiamba to escape the advancing Japanese invaders.
While Eusebio was not able to achieve higher college education, he dabbled in Pilipino poetry, under the pen name Matanglawin. He would write Tagalog poems in paper from emptied sacks of cement. The name had two meanings, “Eye of the Hawk” and “Glow of Light” (from the word Tanglaw which means light). It was said that he was able to woo the beautiful Consuelo Sabile through his romantic poems. At a senior age, he still strove to go to school and took a short course on Mushroom Culture from the University of the Philippines and Bookkeeping Course from the now defunct Southern Island Colleges.
As one of the first batch of settlers, Eusebio & Consuelo Bulaong were awarded a 12- hectare property and a 443sqm meter lot at Pioneer Avenue. The first real estate property Eusebio bought was a 20+ hectare land owned by Francisco Kamahalan where Bulaong Subdivision is now situated. This is also where he started his philanthropic legacy by donating 4.5 hectares to what is now the 8.5-hectare Camp Fermin Lira and the PC Reservation residential area which houses an estimated 200 families of PC & PNP retirees.
- This was adjacent to the 12 hectares given to him earlier by NLSA. While he continued to amass more real estate properties, he also gave back by donating tracts of prime land for different purposes, among these are the following:
- Transportation – the donation of a 1-hectare prime property within easy access of the populace provided much needed convenience to the riding public
- Healthcare – 1-hectare prime property along the Leopoldo Dacera Avenue (aka Mabuhay Road) donated to Mindanao Baptist Church where they built the Mindanao Medical Center. The only condition for the donation is that said hospital should have a room which will provide free medical care to those in need. MMC has complied through its 25 bed Eusebio Bulaong Hall ward.
- Home for the Aged (St. Francis of Assisi) – 2,000sqm out of the existing total area of 4,000sqm donated to provide a place to stay for needy/ abandoned senior citizens.
- Community Security/ Peace & Order/ Residential area – 4.5 hectares donated (out of the existing total 8+ hectares, 2.9 hectares of which were donated by the Acharon family) to what is now known as Camp Fermin Lira and PC Reservation where retired PC soldiers & their families permanently reside.
- Place of Worship – San Antonio de Padua chapel at Barangay North (initially 357sqm and eventually expanded to almost 1,000sqm)
- Barangay Hall – Barangay North building area.
- Wide Road lots – road lot donations at Bulaong Avenue
Eusebio & Consuelo Bulaong through their foresight, hard work, dedication, and faith in the Almighty have contributed to enable most of their descendants to lead comfortable lives and have produced a clan of professionals (doctor, lawyer, nurses, engineers etc) and entrepreneurs. The family still engages in real estate through the family corporation Bulaong Enterprises, Incorporated – Villa Consuelo Subdivision, Tierra Eusebio Subdivision, Bulaong Subdivision and Socalized housing projects (EMB Homes & Bulaong Village). Eusebio died of complicated ailment on June 30, 1983 at the age of 84. He will always be Matanglawin, the “Glow of Light”, an inspiration to the succeeding generations of the Bulaong clan, and those who benefitted from his philanthropic legacy.