Nayna Katigbak. Just an ordinary girl.

Or is she? HHHmmm….

Historical revelations are not an everyday occurrence, so much so that when one does occur, you do what any historian would  naturally do. You document it. This is what I’m doing here (not because I’m a historian, but because I’m a bored housewife who can’t watch TV after doing the dishes, thanks to my two-year-old who is hogging the screen, watching her fave cartoons).

It all started when I said, “Katigbak…  I seem to have come across that name in Philippine History books. Are you, in any way, related to some historical figure?”  Nayna, who was a visitor at my mother’s place,  cocked her head slightly to one side and  looked at the ceiling thoughtfully.  Then she began, ” All I know, from an auntie who made our family tree, is that we are descendants of Segunda Katigbak.  On my mother’s side, we are related to Leonor Rivera.”

Do these names ring a bell? If they don’t, what grade did you get in your PI 100 class? In UP, PI 100 is the required course on Dr. Jose Rizal. I don’t know what they call it in other colleges, but I’m sure that most teachers of the course would never skip juicy class discussions and speculations about the love life of the Philippine National Hero.   That’s right.  Leonor Rivera and Segunda Katigbak are among the many love interests of Rizal.  

And this Nayna Katigbak– this pretty, slim, chinita lady in my mother’s living room could very well have been smooching with the Julio Iglesias of Philippine History  if she had been born 140 years ago.  

Sparks would have flown between them had Rizal laid eyes on her. She is, afterall,  a living relic of Segunda Katigbak and Leonor Rivera.  She carries the genes of these two women, who were not just our hero’s cup of tea, but have held hands with him and probably even done some hanky panky with him.  (gasp!)  WHOOAAAA! What an awesome realization! I have touched the demi god of our country through Nayna Katigbak.