Name origin and meaning "abundance of valleys" | ||
Ethnicity Spanish Filipino, Visayan (Hiligaynon) Members Juan Anacleto AranetaGregorio S. AranetaSalvador AranetaLeopoldo M. AranetaJ Amado AranetaLuis Ma. AranetaMar Araneta RoxasJose YuloRafael M. Salas | ||
The Araneta family is an influential Spanish Filipino family that originated from Guipúzcoa, the Basque region of northern Spain. The name is derived from the Basque word "aran" meaning valley, with the suffix "eta" meaning abundance of, but also a locative term denoting "place" - in this case, the Araneta name meaning the family that comes from the valley.
Contents
Origins
In 1723, during the Galleon Trade, two brothers named Baltazar de Araneta and Don Jose de Araneta arrived in Manila aboard the Spanish Fleet,"La Sacra Familia". They came from the Basque region of Spain by way of Acapulco, Mexico. However, this was not conclusive as some members of the family disputed that the two are not brothers. Don Jose de Araneta must have been born in Gipuzkoa, but not Baltazar de Araneta. He was born in Mexico.
Baltazar served as a regidor of the cabildo and secretary of the Charitable Fraternity of the Misericordia in Manila. He was married to Manuela de Aguirre and he died in Manila in 1750. One line of the Araneta family is descended from him.
In 1725, Don Jose joined the first Spanish expedition forces to Mindanao. A passage quoted from the book (Islas Filipinas: Mindanao Vol.11), by Benito Francia and Julian Gonzales Parrado, which was translated in Chabacano dialect by Datu Michael Mastura, establishes two facts: First, Don Jose de Araneta served the Spanish Politico-Military Government of Mindanao based at Zamboanga City. Second, he served as interpreter between the Spanish colonial government and the Sultan of Maguindanao, together with Placido Alberto de Saavedra. Another passage in the document revealed that in 1746, Don Jose Araneta was executed in Sulugan, Mindanao, nowadays known as Anuling in Cotabato, Philippines. However, there are conflicting information drawn from translations of various documents pertaining to him.
In 1823, Buenaventura Araneta son of Mathias Araneta became the Gobernadorcillo (Alcalde Naturales) in Molo, Iloilo. He married Isabel Theresa Estrella. They had four children: Hermenegildo, Antonio, Pantaleon and Aniceta. Hermenegildo married Petrona Estanislao (Melitante) y Locsin of Iloilo. They had nine children, one of them was Felix who married Paz Soriano y Ditching (daughter of Don Anselmo Soriano y Flores and Maria Ditching of Binondo, Manila) and they had seventeen children, namely Leopoldo, Angel, Isabel, Pablo, Marciano, Gregorio, Anastacio, Maria, Filomena, Rosario, Lina, Jose, Concepcion, Candelaria, Encarnacion, Felicito and Remedios.
19th century and the Philippine Revolution
Buenaventura Araneta became the Gobernadorcillo (Alcalde Naturales) of Iloilo, becoming the first member of the family to enter political life.
In the latter part of the century, a kinsman of his on the Negros side; Juan Araneta was the architect of the Negros Revolution that defeated the Spanish forces in that island. This would lead to the creation of the Cantonal Republic of Negros. He would serve as Secretary of War of the short lived government which were later absorbed into the American controlled military government of the Philippines. A statue of him stands in the Bago City public plaza.
Other members of the family were involved in the revolution elsewhere.
Pablo Soriano Araneta (1864–1943) Commanding General of the Panay Revolutionary Forces and Chief of the expeditionary forces of the Federal Republic of the Visayas, encountered several fierce battles in San Miguel, Pavia and in the outskirt of Jaro, more notably the battle of Oton to Arevalo. Along with General Angel Corteza and General Leandro Fullon of Antique, who fired the first shot, they crushed the Spanish Garrisons.
Marciano Soriano Araneta (1866–1940) and Anastacio Soriano Araneta [1870 -1898] participated in combat against the Spanish forces and captured the Spanish Garrison in Mangkas (now La Carlota City, Negros Occidental)
The eminent Gregorio Soriano Araneta (1869–1930), legal luminary, businessman, nationalist and patriot, served his country and people under three regimes. He was elected a member of the National Assembly representing Iloilo. In 1898, he was appointed by General Emilio Aguinaldo as Secretary General and delegate to the Malolos Republic. Gregorio Araneta became the Secretary of Justice of the Philippine Republic on September 26, 1898.
Gregorio also became a successful and prosperous lawyer in Manila and married Dona Carmen Zaragoza y Roxas, of the prominent Spanish mestizo Zaragoza and Roxas clans of Manila, and established the Araneta name in Manila Society for the first time.
After the end of the revolution and the creation of the Philippine commonwealth, members of the clan expanded their business and political interests. Juan Araneta went on to establish the Ma-ao Sugar (refinery) Central in his hometown of Bago City. Industrialist Jorge Araneta would later expand it, and later the barangay where the Central stood was named after him. Jorge was also a close friend of commonwealth Philippine President Manuel Quezon.
It was Jorge's son-in-law and distant relation, J Amado Araneta, who made the family into a household name. He established the real estate empire of commercial Cubao. His most prominent achievement is building the Araneta Center. It's landmark structure, the ARANETA COLISEUM, was the world's largest indoor stadium. It still remains one of the largest in Asia.
In politics Salvador Araneta, son of Gregorio Araneta become a Cabinet Secretary in the Philippine government. He was the founder of Araneta University (now De La Salle Araneta University) and FEATI University. Later, his nephew Greggy Araneta married Irene Marcos, the daughter of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.
Other members of the clan involved with Marcos was Rafael M. Salas, the son of Ernesto Araneta Salas of Bago City. He served as Marcos' Executive Secretary, due to political differences he left this position and later become Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, head of UNFPA. He would serve in this capacity for 17 years.
Many other members of the clan also serve in various political positions. Currently, the most well known example is Senator Mar Roxas, a grandson of J Amado Araneta. The most prominent is Philippine former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, husband of Philippine former President Gloria Arroyo. He is a descendant of Jesusa Araneta Lacson de Arroyo of the Negros Branch of the family.
In terms of religion, it is the descendants of Josefa Araneta also of the Negros branch, that produced the largest number of Catholic clergy. She married Gregorio Varela , and the line of their son Antonio Araneta-Varela has produced three nuns, two Priests, and a Roman Catholic Bishop,the Most Reverend Jesus Varela. Meanwhile, their daughter, Dolores Araneta Varela who married Agaton Ramos, had a grandson who transcended politics and Religious service; Rolando Ramos Dizon, was a La Sallian Catholic brother, who was also appointed to a national government position as Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education (Philippines).
Politics
Business
Araneta also serves as Chairman of the Board of Autobus Transport Systems Inc. (Autobus), Gregorio Araneta Management Corp., Gregorio Araneta Inc., Gamma Holdings Corporation, Carmel Development Corp. and Gamma Properties Inc.He also held various other executive positions to the following companies:ISM Communications Corp. (ISM), Atok-Big Wedge Co. Inc. (Atok),Alphaland Corporation (ALPHA),LBC Development Bank (LBC Bank),Asia International Travel Corporation
Religion
Others
Araneta Group
The Araneta Group holds the key businesses and investments of J. Amado Araneta. This includes Araneta Center, Inc. (ACI), the owner, developer and manager of the Araneta Center (Gateway Mall, Ali Mall, Farmers Plaza, Farmers Market and Aurora Tower); United Promotions, Inc. (Uniprom) manages the leisure and entertainment businesses (Araneta Coliseum, Fiesta Carnival, TicketNet and movie theaters); Philippine Pizza, Inc. (PPI), the exclusive franchisee of Pizza Hut in the Philippines; and Progressive Development Corporation (PDC), the management company of the Araneta Group. PDC also holds investments in Wenphil and Philippine Seven, local franchisees of Wendy’s and 7-Eleven. The Araneta Group, through the Binibining Pilipinas Charities, Inc. holds the Philippine franchises to major international beauty contests and organizes the annual Binibining Pilipinas Beauty Pageant. It also operates Taco Bell and Dairy Queen in the country.
The Araneta Group Management:
CEO, Chairman and President
Vice Chairman
COO, Araneta Center, Inc. EVP, Progressive Development Corporation
COO, Philippine Pizza Inc.
OIC, Uniprom Inc.
General Manager, AHI
Other businesses
Salvador Araneta started RFM Foods Corporation, which manufactures and distributes White King, Swift, Fiesta, Sunkist, and Unilever-licensed Selecta products. Jose S. Concepcion, Jr. is the current chairman of RFM.
LBC Express, founded as the Luzon Brokerage Corporation, was started by Carlos "Linggoy" Araneta. Its current CEO is Santiago "Santi" Araneta.
The Araneta group, under Ramon Araneta, also ventured into advertising through Ace Advertising Agency (AAA), now known as Ace Saatchi & Saatchi. As of today, the Aranetas don't have shareholdings in the agency - now owned by the France-based Publicis group through its Saatchi & Saatchi network of agencies.