Wednesday, March 30, 2011

164. Carnival Beauties: ROSARIO J. IMPERIAL, 1927 Miss Albay

IMPERIAL BEAUTY. The second Miss Albay, Rosario Jaucian Imperial, belongs to a very influential family in the region known for their vast land holdings and prosperous abaca business.

Rosario Imperial y Jaucian, Albay’s bet to the 2nd National Beauty Contest belongs to the most affluent clan from Daraga with a most interesting history from both sides of her family. The earliest forebear of the Jaucians is a Christian Sangley from Molo, Iloilo whose grandson, Mariano, relocated to Daraga where he strated a family with a native Bicolana. His descendants made a fortune in abaca and, until the mid 20th century, the Jaucians were the biggest and richest landowning family in Bicolandia.

The Imperials, on the other hand, traces their roots to two brothers shipwrecked in San Bernardino Strait in the 1800s. After settling in Manila, they moved to Daraga where succeeding members married into the Jaucian family. Rosario is a product of this Jaucian-Imperial union, which consolidated the two families’ wealth, power and influence.

Well-known Imperials include the brothers Carlos (1907 Albay representative to the Philippine Assembly), Leoncio (senator, 1916-22) and Jose (Albay governor). To this list, we can now add Rosario, who ably represented her provincemates in the national quest for Miss Philippines.

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