EJERCITO FAMILY HISTORY

The original name of the family was Ejercito de los Santos which means Army of the Saints, but E.R.'s great-grandfather Don Telesforo (Don Porong) Vasquez Ejercito and great grandmother Doña Lucina Abella Liza, found it too long. The Ejercitos are from Cavite City, Cavite and Pagsanjan, Laguna. Don Porong was appointed as the head doctor of the provincial hospital of Laguna. Don Porong and Doña Lucina had four children - Doña Pilar, Don Zacarrias, Dr. Antonio and Don Emilio. His youngest son, Don Emilio, was E.R.'s grandfather,and he was the first sanitary engineer in the Philippines. He married Doña Maria Marcelo, who was crowned Miss Manila and Carnival Queen. E.R.'s Father - Jorge, Tito Jessie and Tito Joseph (Erap) were the three youngest of 10 children. E.R's grandmother did not want her sons to use Ejercito in the movies. E.R.'s mom thought up Estregan, so his dad's movie screen name was George Estregan. Though he never did become a politician, E.R.'s dad was a well-known multi-awarded movie actor and a very generous man. Generosity and public service are already part of the Ejercito DNA. E.R.'s mother, Ramona Telan Pelayo, also belongs to a family of educators, clergy, doctors, lawyers and public servant leaders from Ibajay, Aklan. Jorge and Ramona has four children - E.R., G-nette, K.J. and Gerald. E.R.'s parents always told him that "In anything you do in life, always autograph your work with quality and that you become successful by helping others succeed".

Public service, generosity, and sacrifice for the greater good of the greatest majority are already part of the genes of the Ejercito Family. Gov ER Ejercito has been doing the right crazy things by always going the extra mile and beyond the call of public service. He has managed to balance his public and private life, and has reinvented himself from cinematic Tondo's Robin Hood gangster to revolutionary epic hero, with his recent gangster films "Manila Kingpin: The Asiong Salonga Story" and "Boy Golden: The Arturo Porcuna Story" to his latest monumental epic movie 'El Presidente: The General Emilio Aguinaldo Story', the first film on the life story of the First Philippine President. For E.R., it is important for Filipinos to watch true-to-life hero movies to be inspired, motivated, and to learn from history's mistakes. E.R. also filmed a tribute for his godfather FPJ Fernando Poe Jr. (The King of Philippine Movies) by filming a remake of the action blockbuster movie "Muslim Magnum .357" where he played Jamal Razul, a honorable tausug policeman from Tawi-tawi, Mindanao.

PELAYO FAMILY HISTORY

A brief family history of the Pelayo clan in Ibajay, Aklan

It was a folktale that for more than two centuries ago, the first Pelayo's known in the Philippines were composed of two brothers and one sister.

One of them stayed in Aklan and got married, the other went to Luzon (and got married in Pampanga) and the sister is unknown where she got married.

The early Pelayo's found in the municipality of Ibajay, Aklan were considered as the founders of the establishment of the municipality and was once ruled for a long time by Gobernadorcillo Don Teodoro Pelayo (1826), Gobernadorcillo Don Pablo Pelayo (1839), Gobernadorcillo Don Gregorio Pelayo (1862), Municipal Presidente Fabio Pelayo (1908) and also a respected and feudal leader - Juez Naro, Juez Taloy among others.

In the 35 barangays of Ibajay, one can find the sons and grandsons and granddaughters of the Pelayo's. It is said that some of the great grandparents had five to sixteen wives and some of their sons and daughters did not use the surname Pelayo because of the feud between the sons and daughters from different wives.

Since the Philippines was under Spanish Rule at that time and the revolution was on-going, some of the grandparents fought hard against the Spaniards and they were forced to leave ('bakwit') Ibajay and transferred to other parts of the province and adjacent provinces. Some members of the clan were too adventurous and got married in other places and some sought for greener pastures in other parts of the country and the world.

Today, the Pelayo's are spreading throughout the 17 municipalities of Aklan and other provinces and in different parts of the world. We have an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 clan members at present throughout Aklan alone. We can see and hear the names of Pelayo's in different fields of endeavors and from different walks of life.

Some as government officials like Vice Mayor Rufino Pelayo - the first vice mayor of Malay, undivided Davao Governor Pantaleon A. Pelayo, and OIC Governor of Aklan Jolie R. Pelayo, great educators like Dr. Concepcion Pelayo-Constantino, to name some, architects, engineers, doctors, CPAs, even revolutionaries and others. Some of our clan members migrated to different countries.

Our history extends in Candaba, Pampanga where we can find thousands of Pelayo's under the leadership of Mayor Jerry L. Pelayo, and also in Pagsanjan, Laguna under the leadership of former Pagsanjan Mayor and Laguna Governor Emilio Ramon Pelayo Ejercito, III.

Now, we’re still growing and searching for the origin of our long lost families. Our history does not end here but this is just the beginning of searching and digging of our long-lost history.

To make our family history complete, we are calling our IGKAMPORAN to research and inform our reunion organizers on the facts, data, old pictures, figures, especially our Pelayo family tree.

All clan members are proud to be a Pelayo.