On the eve of the Filipino Chamber’s trip to Laoag to attend the Sister-Province symposium on March 3, 2025, an event hosted by the government of Ilocos Norte, it is timely to review this family history titled His Name Was Absalon: A Family Odyssey authored by Kaua‘i resident Catherine Pascual Lo.
The book’s cover is adorned by a photograph of the Laoag Plaza taken around the 1950s or 1960s when the author lived in Laoag. The town held special memories for her, especially this view of the plaza. She notes the location of the Laoag Plaza Lunch, her parents’ restaurant before the family immigrated to Hawai’i.
She also points out the location of the Laoag Public Library—“at the far end of the three buildings, located on the street corner across the post office.”
Even back then, as a school girl, she must have been interested in libraries, because as an adult, she has chosen librarianship as her career, retiring as the academic librarian of Kaua’i Community College.
This book was initially conceptualized as a collection of the author’s writings on the Pascual Clan of Laoag. Eventually, she asked her sisters to submit their recollections, which they did.
The resulting book is a compilation of memoirs, poetry, creative reflections, photographs, and memorabilia that showcased their various perspectives that told the story of an Ilokano family’s journey to Hawai’i and beyond.
The author starts with her dad, named Absalon but was called Chicago by his friends—a name that stuck to him until his passing, with that name Chicago inscribed on his tombstone.
As a young man, he learned the restaurant business in the city of Chicago—the name that the American soldiers can remember and pronounce.
Absalon Pascual first left the Philippines in 1928 at the age of 18 to study in the United States, but the Great Depression of the 1930s derailed his plans.
He eventually moved to Chicago and found employment in the restaurant business. In 1933, he had saved enough money and returned home to Laoag and opened the Laoag Plaza Lunch and a two-room inn which he successfully owned and managed until the Japanese Occupation.
The business climate during the post-war years was bleak. Coming to Hawai’i to work in the plantations seemed the best option—so he went to Vigan to apply with the HSPA who were recruiting contract laborers for the Territory of Hawai’i. He was denied—he was too educated.
The next time around, he and his friends downplayed their academic history, roughened their hands and palms with dirt, and were accepted the second time around.
He sailed on the second voyage of the S.S. Maunawili from Port Salomague in Cabugao arriving in Kaua’i on March 15, 1946.
Eight years later, his family joined him in Kaua’i, where they first lived in the ‘Iliahi Estate, home of Caleb and Florence Burns. Caleb Burns Sr. was then the manager of Lihue Plantation.
The story of Absalon Pascual comprised Chapter One. Chapter Two was devoted to ‘Iliahi, the plantation manager’s mansion. The author recalls how her father “envisioned work at the ‘Iliahi as a family affair.”
Her mother embraced her unexpected employment as a cook, housekeeper, and laundry woman for the Burns family, while her father continued as the estate’s handyman/waiter.
Chapter Three was devoted to the author’s mother, and the next five were each allocated to the daughters of Absalon Pascual (Catherine was the second oldest). Absalon had five daughters, but Chapter Nine was on Pablo Alejandro—his hanai son, and the five sisters’ hanai brother.
Chapter Ten is aptly titled “The Family Album.” It is formatted as a photo album of the family but carefully labeled and annotated. Chapter Eleven is a short chapter of three pages on the family home in Hanamaulu—republished from the author’s earlier publication called Hanamaulu Town Celebration released in 2005.
Both printed and primary sources were carefully noted. A glossary is also included—where origins of “foreign” words that were used (whether it is Tagalog, Ilokano, Visayan, French, or Latin) are noted.
What fascinated me about this book was the level of detail that the author remembered of her childhood. In the process, we get glimpses of the day-to-day life of that bygone era—whether she was describing the pastoral landscapes of Ilocos Norte or the plantation days in Kaua’i.
The Pascual Family’s links to their employers—Florence and Caleb Burns, are also notable for the mutual affection and respect they held for one another. She also remembers with aloha and gratitude the physicians who “brought health and hope to Kaua’i” which is in contrast to the recollection of other sakada descendants whose remembrance of those days is depressing.
We hope others would do the same—write down their remembrances for the next generation. The stories collected here were shared by those who lived it—the primary sources.
For future historians, these publications will be their printed or secondary sources. The author has meticulously checked the accuracy of the shared stories by purposely getting multiple perspectives.
When I arrive in Laoag in a few days, I will view the city with a certain curiosity. I wonder if the plaza still looks like how it is pictured on the cover. The Pascual’s Laoag Plaza Lunch is no more, but there will be other food places—a McDonald’s perhaps or a Jollibee?
The foreground of the photo is the steps to the Ilocos Norte Capitol. When we walk up those steps to pay a courtesy call to the current governor, I will hear the distant rumble of drums, that once upon a time, a girls’ scout by the name of Catherine Pascual had played a snare drum as they marched in the parade in front of the Capitol. Oh, so long ago!
ROSE CRUZ CHURMA established Kalamansi Books & Things three decades ago. It has evolved from a mail-order bookstore into an online advocacy with the intent of helping global Pinoys discover their heritage by promoting books of value from the Philippines and those written by Filipinos in the Diaspora. We can be reached at kalamansibooks@gmail.com.
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