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.
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