Leonor Evangelista Jacinto

LEONOR EVANGELISTA-JACINTO: Artist and Civic Leader

Born on July 1, 1924, in Manila, Philippines, Leonor Evangelista-Jacinto was the only child of Dr. Honorio Canciller Evangelista and his second wife Carmen Lacanilao. Leonor belonged to the last generation of children to grow up in the International Settlement in Shanghai, China, before hostilities began with Japan in the 1930s which ultimately escalated into World War II. Leonor was a member of the Evangelista Clan of Candaba, Pampanga, a Principalia family during the Spanish Colonial Rule. She was the granddaughter of Don Santiago Canciller Evangelista, a haciendero and Candaba's richest man in the 19th century, who was elected Gobernadorcillo of that town, serving from 1881 to 1883.

Spending one's formative years in the economically and socially vibrant International Settlement, which was almost like a city-state, was a unique experience. For Leonor or Nonong Evangelista, it was an idyllic childhood. She was adored by her parents and was doted on by her paternal grandmother Doña Maria Pilar Salunga vda. de Evangelista whom her family would visit in Candaba. Leonor studied at a British school where she acquired a British accent. Her parents also encouraged her in sports and the arts. She excelled as an equestrian and as a pianist and singer.

Looming in the background of a happy childhood, however, was the Japanese Imperial Army poised to attack Shanghai at any time. Within the safety of the International Settlement, a young Leonor was not oblivious to the sufferings of the Chinese refugees who were caught in the middle of the fighting between the Japanese and Chinese armies which broke out in the early 1930s. Hundreds of thousands of refugees tried desperately to enter the International Settlement. As hostilities worsened in Shanghai, Leonor's mother took her and her maternal half-sister Asuncion, whom Don Honorio adopted at an early age, back to the safety of the Philippines. Her father Don Honorio, as the Captain of the Philippine Company of the Shanghai Volunteers Corps, remained behind in Shanghai for the duration of World War II, and was a decorated war hero.

When the Japanese Imperial Army invaded the Philippines on December 8, 1941, a teenaged Leonor witnessed the destruction of her country and the sufferings of her countrymen under the cruel regime of Japan. She blossomed into a great beauty with a charming persona just like her father. A year before the end of World War II, she married Atty. Emmanuel Tinawin Jacinto on March 25, 1944. Their child Honorio (Norrie), the eldest of 11 children, was named the Neil Sedaka of the Philippines in the 1960s.

Leonor never forgot all the hardships and adversities she experienced and saw during World War II, and buoyed by her deep Catholic faith, she and her husband joined the Manila Jaycees (JCI Philippines), the greatest youth movement to rise from a devastated Manila in 1947. The couple was very active in the organization.

As a Jayceerette, Leonor who was very active in the Glee Club, did her utmost to help the less fortunate, and taught her children to do the same. She was involved in numerous projects and fundraisers that benefited the poor and the marginalized. The Christmas season would find Leonor and her husband, along with many of Manila's high society and civic leaders, at Malacañang Palace distributing "bayongs" containing food and relief goods to the poor under the Manila Jaycees banner. Sometimes the couple would enlist their children's help with the distribution, giving them a practical lesson in civic duty early on.

As an artist, Leonor encouraged her children's musical talents. They learned to sing and play various musical instruments including the piano and guitar. Leonor herself expressed her artistry when she appeared in the leading role as Ensign Nellie Forbush, in Far Eastern University's stage production of South Pacific in the early 1950s.

In Candaba, Leonor played an active role in preserving her Evangelista heritage which included an ancestral bahay na bato on Gallardo Street, and the ancient life-size statue of an ivory-faced Mater Dolorosa which is still processed on the streets of Candaba every Good Friday, in the tradition of her Principalia ancestors.

The Evangelista-Jacinto family immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. Leonor Evangelista-Jacinto, wife-mother-artist-civic leader went to sleep in the Lord on May 23, 2017, at her home in Federal Way, Washington. She was 92 years old.

In 2023, Leonor Evangelista-Jacinto's life was immortalized in the Evangelista Clan book, "Recuerdos de Candaba: Casa de Evangelista, Familia Principalia."