Eduardo Brillantes (1937-2006)

[[File:Tatay's_Photo.jpg|thumb|Eduardo Brillantes y Madrid

(30 April 1937 to 25 June 2006)]] Eduardo Brillantes y Madrid (30 April 1937 - 25 June 2006), was the telecomunications officer of the Municipality of Banate from 1960 until his retirement in the year 1998. Born of a devout, Catholic Spanish-Filipino mestizo family of the town, where his maternal and paternal ancestors with Principales for centuries, Eduardo carried his family's tradition of active service to the Catholic Church, and to the local community.

He was born in Banate, Iloilo, on 29 April 1939 of the spouses Francisco Brillantes y Pelagio and Josefina Madrid y Balderas, in  a family of five sons and five daughters.

His father Frincisco was a direct descendant of Capitan Don Tomas Juanico who, belonging to the Principalia of Banate, was Gobernadocillo of the town from 1855 - 1856.

Josefina his mother was the youngest daughter of Dona Maria Balderas y Baviera and Marcelo Madrid y Alguevar (a Spaniard born in Barcelona, Spain). Maria was the eldest daughter of Capitan Don Martin Balderas, also a Gobernadorcillo of Banate, and Dona Apolonia Baviera, who was herself the only heir of the first Gobernaadorcillo of Banate (1837), Don Felix Baviera. On the other hand, Marcelo's parents were Juan Madrid and Maria Alguevar.

His Family during the World War II
Eduardo was born a few years before the World War II. He was only five years old when Banate was occupied by the Japanese. His father, who was among the few people in the Philippines equipped with knowledge of electronic radio communications, was conscripted into the Filipino guerilla forces, participating in clandestine attacks against the occupying Japanese Imperial forces in the Island of Panay.

Before the Japanese army came to Banate, the ancestral home of the Balderas Family, which Josefina inherited from her mother Maria Balderas, was burnt to ashes by the Filipino forces, for fear that the huge house in the center of the town's capital will be used as an garrison of the enemies forces. Hurriedly, they had to carry whatever family heirlooms they could save from destruction, and move somewhere else to save their lives.

All these incidents left Eduardo's family in a very difficult situation, with only their mother Josefina left to take care of their daily needs and survival. They were forced to rent a nipa house in Barangay Belen, which was around three kilometers away from their former ancestral home, and quite a considerable distance away from the menace of the Japanese invaders. Unable to retain full control of their ancestral lands for cultivation, the elder children had to to out every now and then to find whatever was available in there for their food.

A very tragic incident came one day, when rumors about the death of their father by beheading, in the town of Sara under the Japanese powers, reached the knowledge of their mother Josefina. That shattered her senses. Only the will to survive of her children was able to sustain her to keep on going. However, every day, she would ask her eldest child Jesus, to accompany her to Mount Bual-bual in Barangay Libertad, which is around eight kilometers from where they had sought refuge. It seems that his father Francisco made some previous arrangments with his mother Josefina to meet in that place one day, when he could find away.

On his part, Francisco was able to escaped death and traveled on foot from Sara, trecking the forested mountains of central Iloilo, toward the town of Dumalag in the Province of Capiz. While already in the forests of Dumalag, he collapsed almost dead because of fatigue, sickness, and famine. However, luckily, an elderly couple in some remote villages of Dumalag found and saved him.

After Francisco recovered, he stayed to help in the farm of this elderly couple for some months. Fully recovered back to good health after the harvest, he was ready to come home. This kind elderly couple gave him two sacks of rice for his family, and asked two men from their village to accompany Francisco on his journey back to Banate.

Meanwhile, for months, Josefina never failed to go to Mount Bual-bual everyday, with his son Jesus. She never lost hope that Francisco would come home one day. Her love and hope never failed her, for one day Francisco indeed came home.

Reunited, the whole family lived simply and discretely in Belen, avoiding the attention of the Japanese invaders, until the war came to an end.

After the liberation of Panay, the couple and their ten children lived in Barangay Talokgangan, and engaged in commercial fishing, in partnership with one of their close relatives. When things went to back to normal and when  the Philippine government was restored, the family settled back to the town's capital, where their new home was built. Francisco also resumed his work as an officer of the Telecommunication Bureau in its Regional Office in Iloilo City. At this time Eduardo was also able to pursue his studies.

Studies and Profession
After the World War II, Eduardo took his elementary studies in the town of Banate. Later, he went to Iloilo City to continue his Secondary Education at the Lopez Jaena High School in the City's La Paz District.

He wanted to be a lawyer but later, deciding to follow his father Fracisco's profession, he enrolled at the Central Radio and Electronics School in Iloilo City, which was co-founded by Ludovico Arroyo Banas. Banas would later become his father in law.

A graduate at the age of eighteen years old, the young Eduardo was assigned in Estancia, which was and is one of the main fishing ports of the Philippines. The town had one of the busiest Offices of the Telecommunications Bureau in the country being a commercial fishing center.

In 1960, Eduardo opted to be near his family when the Bureau of Telecommunications Office in Banate became vacant. There he spent the rest of his life as a civil government official until he retired in 1998.

Notes and references
For the details regarding the genealogy of Eduardo Brillantes, confer: Alfonso Ceballos-Escalera y Gila, Certificacion de Armas a favor de Senor Don Eduardo P. Brillantes y Balderas Madrid, Segovia: 28 January 2006. Write the second section of your page here.