The Juan List: March 2026

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Anselma Duro, first wife of Juan Atenga

Here is a detailed account of what became of Juan Atega's three sons by Anselma Duro — the "Three Kings," as their Uncle Andres affectionately called them.

The Three Sons of Juan Atega and Anselma Duro

Their Mother: Anselma Duro

Not much is known about Anselma Duro, Juan Atega's first wife, as she died relatively young. She was from Maug, Butuan City. Her early death set in motion the events that would shape all three boys' lives — their transfer to the Dakung Balay under the care of Uncle Andres.

The Three Boys at the Dakung Balay

After Anselma's death and Juan's eventual remarriage to Remalda Calo, Andres Atega took Juan's three sons under his wing at the Dakung Balay in Cabadbaran, fearing they might not be treated well by their stepmother. He called them his "Three Kings." It was in this ancestral home — the largest and most storied house in Caraga — that the boys came of age.

1. Conrado "Dado" Atega — the Eldest

Conrado, called "Dado," is the least documented of the three in surviving records. He is named as the first of Juan and Anselma's sons, and his branch is referred to by the blog's author as "Dado's Darlings" — a line whose stories she hoped to collate alongside Belo's and Pinsoy's, though much about his descendants remains unrecorded in available sources.

2. Isabelo "Belo" Atega — the Second Son

Belo is the best-documented of the three, as the blog's author is his granddaughter.

Isabelo Duro Atega was born on September 24, 1908, as registered — though his younger brother Pinsoy maintained the correct year was 1901. He died around 2002. He married Teresa Lansang Gancino, born October 15, 1908, who died in September 1996.

Belo was known as a spirited and wayward young man who preferred to hie off to the forests with his Tio Andres than attend school. When his father Juan — then a judge — sent policemen to catch him and bring him back to class, Belo evaded them entirely, even jumping onto a moving boat as it pulled away from the dock to escape.

Belo and Tering had five children together:

Alicia G. Atega, born 1930, died 1943; Virginia G. Atega (born March 9, 1934); Anselma G. Atega (born February 13, 1937); Rodrigo G. Atega (born September 24, 1942, died January 1, 2010); and Oscar G. Atega (born November 10, 1946, died May 2025).

The eldest, Alicia, died of complications from tetanus at age 12, after which her sister Virgie assumed the role of eldest in the family.

Virginia "Virgie" Atega Rosales — Virgie studied at Silliman University in Dumaguete, where she shifted from Nursing (her vision did not meet the 20/20 requirement) and later graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of San Carlos in Cebu. She became a grade school teacher, serving at Bading Elementary School in Barrio Obrero, Butuan, for most of her career. She married Apolonio Sanchez Rosales and had seven children.

Anselma "Ansel" Atega Ruiz — named after her grandmother Anselma Duro, she was the middle child of Belo and Tering. She became a teacher by profession and married Adolfo Yap Ruiz, a man of Chinese roots. They settled in Calape, Bohol, where they had six daughters — locally known as "Dolfo's Angels." As of 2015, Ansel was in her late 70s but was described as looking remarkably youthful, having been meticulous about skin care her entire life.

Rodrigo "Egoy" Atega — described as "perpetually hungry" as a child during the Japanese occupation, his sister Virgie would ensure he ate his fill even when food was scarce. During one escape from Japanese soldiers who were pursuing the Ategas, Virgie dunked Egoy's head into a rice pot to stuff his mouth with boiled rice and silence his crying. He died on January 1, 2010.

Oscar G. Atega — born November 10, 1946, married Victoria Estorba, and had children including Rochelle, Roel, and Roxanne. He died in May 2025.

3. Florencio "Pinsoy" Atega — the Youngest

Florencio Duro Atega, known as "Pinsoy," was born October 10, 1914. He is the youngest of Juan and Anselma's three sons. Notably, it was Pinsoy who preserved important oral history about the family — it was he who maintained that Belo's correct birth year was 1901, not 1908 as officially registered. His branch of the family is referred to as "Pinsoy's Peeps" in the blog, though detailed records of his descendants have not yet been fully compiled in available sources.

A Note on the Family Name

The blog's genealogical record traces this line across seven generations — from Padre Pedro Garcia de la Virgen de los Mártires in 1840s Spain, down to young Juan Zachary B. Amores, born October 13, 2023, who was named in honor of his great-great-great-grandfather Juan Atega. The line from Anselma Duro is thus very much alive, spanning three countries and seven generations.

Frederick Johnson and Juan Atega

Here is a compiled research profile on Frederick Johnson, drawing from genealogical forums, a Danish obituary, and Dean C. Worcester's colonial-era book The Philippines Past and Present.

Frederick Johnson — First American Governor of Agusan Province

Origins: A Danish Adventurer

Frederick Johnson was born as Frederik Johnsen in Assens, Denmark, the son of a men's equipment dealer named L. Jensen. At age 17 or 18, he emigrated to North America, where he initially struggled in New York before finding work as a regimental clerk.

During the Spanish-American War, in which he participated, he rose to the rank of Major — and later became Governor of a district in the Philippines, where he performed what contemporary accounts described as meritorious service.

Appointment as Governor of Agusan

Johnson was appointed first Governor of the Province of Agusan by Dean C. Worcester, the Secretary of the Interior of the Philippine Islands from 1901 to 1913. His appointment was part of the broader American effort to establish civil governance in Mindanao following the Philippine-American War.

His profile was significant enough that his photograph was included in Worcester's landmark 1914 colonial reference book The Philippines Past and Present, alongside other prominent figures of American colonial governance in Mindanao.

The Cholera Crisis and Public Health Work

Johnson's tenure as governor coincided with one of the worst public health crises in Philippine history. The cholera epidemic stretched from March 1902 to April 1904. In the Surigao province — which then included Butuan and the Agusan area — the epidemic was compounded by simultaneous outbreaks of smallpox, and shortly after the cholera ended, typhoid fever struck the population as well.

Johnson is credited in family and local historical accounts with introducing sanitation and hygiene measures to Butuan and Agusan during this period — bringing American-style public health protocols to a region devastated by disease.

Marriage to Remalda Atega Calo

Johnson's personal life wove him into Butuan's most prominent families. He married Remalda (also written as Romualda) Atega Calo in 1910 — a member of the Atega clan of Cabadbaran and Butuan, and who would later become the second wife of Juan Atega himself. Descendants in Agusan have confirmed his lineage there, with at least one granddaughter — through his daughter Josephine Johnson — still traceable in the region.

Death and Legacy

Johnson returned to Denmark for a visit in his later years, and while there was diagnosed with cancer. Unable to continue in his position, he remained in Denmark until his death — passing away in Frederiksberg at age 41, on September 13, 1913.

He left behind a fascinating personal web: a Danish immigrant who fought in the Spanish-American War, governed a remote Philippine province through a cholera epidemic, married into the Atega family — one of Caraga's most storied political clans — and died young, leaving descendants in both Europe and the Philippines.

A Note on His Connections to Juan Atega

The link between Johnson and Juan Atega is one of the more remarkable threads of Butuan's social history at the turn of the 20th century. Johnson, as American Governor of Agusan, represented the new colonial power; Juan Atega, as the last Spanish-era Gobernadorcillo of Butuan, represented the outgoing order. That they were eventually connected through the same woman — Remalda Atega Calo, whom Johnson married in 1910 and who later married Juan Atega after Johnson's death — makes them an unlikely pair of bookends to the colonial transition in Caraga.

Juan Atega as described by research through AI

This is how AI puts it

The Padre Garcia Connection — More Detail

Padre Pedro Garcia de la Virgen de los Mártires was born on September 1, 1840, in Ateca, Zaragoza, Spain. He joined the Recollects on June 3, 1860 at age 20, and was sent to Butuan four years later in 1864. He died in Cebu in December 1883 at age 43.

Padre Garcia converted entire tribes of Manobos in the hinterlands of Tungao and Antongalon. He was said to own vast tracts of land from Cabadbaran to Carmen in Agusan del Norte — likely acquired by marrying into large, landed native families and fathering children by their daughters. Acknowledged as a naturalist by Spanish authorities, he had a special interest in Philippine plants, which he studied and featured in European fairs.

Andres Atega — Juan's brother — was born on November 9, 1865, when Padre Garcia was 25 years old. Andres died on February 19, 1937, at age 72.

Juan Atega's Land Holdings in Butuan

Isabelo ("Lolo Belo"), Juan's second son, recalled that the land stretching from the Butuan Post Office all the way to the Philippine Offset Printing House once belonged to their family. Because Belo was young at the time, he never learned how the property was sold or came to cease being theirs.

Juan's Character — Known Through Oral Memory

Belo described his father Juan as a man so devoted to reading that he even slept with a book for a pillow — a detail Belo shared after noticing his granddaughter had done the same with a novel she was reading.

The Ategas' love for nature is also noted — Belo would join his Uncle Andres when the latter would "commune with supernatural beings" in the forests, sometimes disappearing for days at a time. Belo never saw Andres' "friends" but said he felt their presence. This was attributed to the Ategas' proud Manobo heritage and their deep connection to flora, fauna, and land.

Juan's Second Marriage and Its Complications

Juan Atega's second wife, Remalda/Romualda Atega Calo, had previously been married to Frederick Johnson, the first American Governor of Agusan — credited with introducing sanitation and hygiene to Butuan during the cholera epidemic of 1902. Johnson was born in 1872 and died of cancer on September 13, 1913, in Denmark. He and Remalda married in 1910.

It is on record that Remalda Calo married Juan Atega after Johnson, though they had no children together. Juan likely married Remalda around 1913 or after Johnson had already left the Philippines. Remalda was Juan's first cousin, as their mothers were sisters. Some accounts suggest that Juan also took care of Remalda's children by Frederick Johnson.

If Isabelo Atega was born in April or September 1901, he would have been around 12 years old when his father Juan remarried and entrusted the three boys to the care of Andres at the Dakung Balay.

Juan Atega's Death — Disputed

There are conflicting accounts of when Juan Atega died. One says he died in 1938 — a year after Andres passed — while another places his death in 1948, two years after his grandson Oscar Atega (son of Belo) was born. If reconstructed from Andres' timeline, Juan was probably in his 70s when he died, given that they were born of sisters who were close in age.

The Mystery of His Omission from the Family Tree

Moses Joshua Atega — son of Judge Virgilio Noja Atega, a descendant of Don Andres — confirmed that "the Juan Atega line will be attested by the children of Virgilio Atega." In his own blog, Moses wrote that his father "came from a family which indeed was like a mother stone of the peridot, so green and with many unpredictable branching — some were from stories intentionally silenced by the complexities of the pedigree." This alludes to why Juan Atega's line has been difficult to trace and appears omitted from the main Atega genealogy.

The Atega Family in Cabadbaran's Broader History

In politics, the Ategas — alongside the Curatos, Rosaleses, Aquinos, Calos, and Plazas — are among the families that have indelibly left their marks in the administration of Agusan province.

The Atega Ancestral Home in Cabadbaran — the abode of revolutionary hero Don Andres Atega — is considered the biggest and most beautifully preserved ancestral house in all of Caraga. It was within this home, the Dakung Balay, that Juan's three sons were raised after their father's remarriage.

Timeline done by AI

Here's a dual-column timeline juxtaposing Juan Atega's life events alongside major Philippine and world history of the era.A few observations worth highlighting from this juxtaposition:

Juan Atega sat at the exact hinge of two empires. His tenure as Gobernadorcillo in 1898 coincides precisely with the most turbulent colonial handover in Philippine history — the Spanish-American War, the Treaty of Paris, and the birth of the Malolos Republic. He was not a peripheral figure; he was Butuan's chief administrator during this seismic transition.

The Vatican flag episode (January 6, 1899) is especially telling when placed against the national backdrop. Aguinaldo's revolutionary government was only weeks old and had no real reach in Mindanao. Juan Atega's choice to fly the Pontifical flag was not merely piety — it was a pragmatic act of neutrality in an uncertain power vacuum, a local administrator trying to navigate between a departing empire and an arriving one.

His second marriage to Remalda Calo (c. 1913) ties him directly to Frederick Johnson, the first American Governor of Agusan — meaning Juan Atega had intimate social connections to both the last Spanish regime and the earliest American colonial administration in the region.

The disputed death date (1938 vs. 1948) matters historically: if he died in 1948, he lived through the Japanese occupation, the liberation of Butuan, and Philippine independence — a man whose entire life spanned the end of Spanish rule through the birth of the republic.