Enrique Ygnacio Salamat

The book Los Hijos de Señor Magat Salamat was written by Datu Magat Salamat's grandson Antonio Federico Salamat y Sy (1610– 1711) in 1628 as a student then of Colegio de Niños Huerfanos de San Juan de Letran in Intramuros, Manila, The Philippines. It stated in the book after the death of Datu Magat Salamat, his widow Maningning and his children were taken good care and were given refuge by the pious Roman Catholic women of Tondo before sailing north for safety where they first settled at the coast of the present barangay of Sta. Cruz, Paombong, Bulacan.

She and her remaining children were eventually converted and baptized into Roman Catholic by Fray Domingo de Salazar, OP, a Dominican priest and the first Archbishop of Manila in 1591. Their baptism to the Roman Catholic Church was not forced, but of free will by Maningning. One of her sons was Enrique Ygnacio Salamat, the seventh and youngest son of Datu Magat Salamat. Maninging’s Roman Catholic Christian name was Maria Potenciana who was a weaver. Her eldest child was known only as Putri who was married to a Moslem man in Sulu known as Datu Faizal. The second child was known only as Ibrahim Salamat who sailed to Sulu with his male kin where he eventually lived and married. Ibrahim Salamat was believed as the proto-ancestor of the Salamat clan in Moslem Mindanao.

They eventually went back to Manila as Roman Catholics. Because of their residence in Tondo, Maria Potenciana, her daughter Maria Soledad (3rd child) and her sons Martin Luis (4th son), Rafael Andres Salamat (5th son), Protacio Miguel Salamat (6th son) and Enrique Ygnacio Salamat served as sacristans of the Sto. Niño Church of Tondo. These Salamat brothers together with the young male children of Tondo were eventually educated by the Augustinian priests because of the request of Fray Martin Lacandula, an Augustinian priest brother of Datu Magat Salamat.

Maria Potenciana eventually had a customer of mats from Paombong, Bulacan, The Philippines. His customer was Catalino Sebastian Bagtas who eventually married here. They became the proto-ancestors of the Bagtas clan of Paombong.

Enrique Ygnacio Salamat became a good writer knowledgeable in Spanish, Tagalog, Capampangan, Chinese and Sulu dialects. Many of his books Los Yndios de Paombong y Malolos, La Bulaqueña Cristiana and Las Casas de las Augustinos were kept by his Paombong-born descendants who were also teachers, writers, poets, priests, cantors, politicians and businesspersons. He was the first escritor of St. James the Apostle Parish in Paombong, Bulacan, The Philippines where he eventually settled a family with his Han Chinese wife Sy Zhe also known as Yeuji Chuntian of Amoy, China. Sy Zhe was baptized as Maria Regina.

The place of foundation of the house of Enrique Ygnacio Salamat and his wife Maria Regina and their children was in Malumot, Paombong, Bulacan, The Philippines.