Rizal kin embrace hero’s standards Down Under
Dr. Jose Rizal’s descendants are all over the world. FILE PHOTO
SYDNEY, Australia—Enrique “Iking” Reyes, great-grandson of Dr. Jose Rizal’s eldest sister, Saturnina Realonda Rizal, has an IQ hovering between 130 and 150.
He said his first love is math, and he couldn’t think of a better profession than to teach math to the young till the day he dies.
His three children are above average, too, excelling in their own chosen fields this side of the world.
Iking, now 60, is still pondering the real importance of being a direct descendant of the national hero, although he told the Inquirer that as a Rizal, “you set the standards, and try to be as honorable as the great man.”
Iking came to Australia a year before the fall of the Marcos dictatorship. He confessed to still feeling uneasy about his ancestry, but is emphatic that his direct blood link to the revered family of Rizal doesn’t make him any different from the rest of mankind.
“I guess we cannot choose our relatives. I was lucky enough to have descended from that family,” he said.
Bloodline
Iking’s maternal grandmother, Adela Rizal Hidalgo, was the eldest daughter of Manuel Timoteo Hidalgo and Saturnina, Jose Rizal’s eldest sister.
This makes Iking’s mother, Emma, who turned 90 on May 7, the oldest living direct descendant of the Rizal family, according to Iking.
Emma married Ramon Reyes, who turned 90 last month. They live in Greenhills, San Juan, where Iking paid them a visit in January this year.
Iking’s family now lives in Mudgee, New South Wales, a five-hour drive from Sydney.
Asked how it felt to be a descendant of the national hero living in a foreign land, Iking said he remains a true-blue Filipino in blood and soul.
“Pinoy na Pinoy pa rin (Still very much a Filipino),” he said.
Bright kids
Iking and his family—wife Helen, 53, and children Isaac, Adele and Jared—were present when President Aquino unveiled the Rizal statue at Rosemeadow in Campbelltown City in suburban Sydney on Oct. 26.
Iking’s eldest child, Isaac, has the body that won him the top place in a body-building contest in Canberra and the brains that drove him to finish his master’s degree in statistics at Australian National University.
Fluent in Spanish, daughter Adele is pursuing a double degree in languages and mathematics. She wants to follow in her father’s footsteps.
Son Jared, a disc jockey, is in his senior year at the University of Sydney, studying physiotherapy.
“Jared is quite well-regarded as a part-time DJ as well. He goes by the name ‘Down Kick,’” says Iking.
His wife, Helen, works as an office administrator in an accounting firm.
Asked why his children seemed to have put a high premium on education, Iking said: “In a way, my kids followed the Rizal tradition of education. That’s one message we want shared with our Filipino youths.”
Also present at the unveiling were select members of the Aquino Cabinet, Ambassador to Australia Belen Anota, Ambassador to the Philippines Bill Tweddell, New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell and Campbelltown Mayor Sue Dobson.
The simple ceremony capped close to five years of fundraising by Filipino migrants here for the statue, which cost at least $36,995 to ship to Australia and put on its base.
The statue itself was donated by renowned Filipino sculptor Eduardo Castrillo.
‘Powerful symbol’
In his speech, the President described the statue as “a powerful symbol of this new chapter in an old friendship.”
Mr. Aquino said the monument “pays homage to his ideals and will be an enduring pledge that those ideals will continue to guide us, and that Australians will be there as true friends in our collective quest for even better lives for our peoples.”
Iking’s family “felt honored” by the President’s presence as well as the efforts of the Filipino community, particularly the Rizal Park Movement of Campbelltown City formed under the initiative of former Consul General Theresa Lazaro.
Describing himself as semi-retired, he now teaches mathematics, tutoring some 40 high school students per week.
Iking wants to be remembered as a “humble mathematics teacher in Mudgee.”
“I find helping young students in their math very rewarding. Most of them have gone to universities doing really high-powered courses like law and medicine. It is nice to impart knowledge to young people,” he added.
Iking obtained his Math degree from the Imperial College in London, one of the top universities in the world.
Iking was brought to the Australian shores in 1982, when San Miguel Corporation sent him as manager for operations research.
“San Miguel sent me here for some fellowship in management science. This was the time of the Sorianos. I’m a San Miguel old hand. I might have met Mr. Danding (Cojuangco, who took over the chairmanship of SanMiguel from Andres Soriano) for a year before I left,” said Iking, who worked for San Miguel for around 10 years, starting in 1975.
While working for San Miguel in Australia, he met his future wife, Helen Phillips, who used to be his neighbor.
He dropped everything for love, and decided to migrate to Australia.
When he left San Miguel in 1985, he worked for less than a year in the Mathematics department of the University of South Wales.
When Cojuangco became chair of San Miguel, he contacted him shortly.
“When he asked me if I wanted to manage his farm in Mudgee, I said, ‘yes,’” recalled Iking, describing the farm as nestled in a “beautiful quiet town, a nice place to raise my children.”
Iking worked for the farm that was raising thoroughbred horses, cattle and sheep and also had vineyards.
He was managing director of the farm from 1986 to 1999.
What about spending retirement in what Rizal so lovingly described as “La Patria Adorada?”
Iking’s answer is unequivocal.
“Oh yes. That’s one thing that I have to discuss with my wife in the future,” he said.
