Aguinaldo, Francisco R.
HS 1934, ACS 1936; DLSAA President (1954 - 1955)
DECEASED
1993
DLSAA Sports Hall of Fame Awardee
Football
The three AGUINALDO brothers —Daniel, Heriberto and FRANCISCO —were supposed to study at the Ateneo de Manila, but Mrs. Patro-cinio Hernandez of Bulacan, a close relative, convinced their father, Leopoldo, to send them to La Salle. In 1923, two years after the school had left the Nozaleda site, Dan was in the fifth grade, Titong was in the third grade, and Paquing in the first grade. The Aguinaldos came from a distinguished ancestry. General Emilio Aguinaldo and Marcelo H. del Pilar were grand uncles, while General Gregorio del Pilar, who gave up his life at Tirad Pass, was the first cousin of their mother. The Gatmaitans and the Constantinos of Bula-can province were their relatives. When the Aguinaldo brothers entered La Salle, the school had been relocated from Paco barely two years earlier. Taft Avenue extension was non-existent. To get to school from their residence in Santa Mesa, they had to pass by Pennsylvania Street, then swing in through Estrada. Manila's traffic was then very light, and rolling along the streets were mostly calesas and carretelas with a few Model-T Fords in sight. At that time it took the brothers not much more than 20 minutes to get to school, but today the same takes close to two hours during the rush hours. Brother Michael was then the director of the religious faculty consisting of 13 Brothers. Lay teachers numbered less than a dozen. The total enrollment, from kindergarten to commerce, numbered about 600. "In the course of my school stint," said Paquing, "the Brothers who cast a profound influence on my education were Brother Andrew in French, Brother William who fol-lowed my class from seventh grade to fourth year high, Brother C. John who was idolized by all, Brother An-thony, Brothers Felix and Edmund in English literature, Brothers Peter and Xavier in mathematics, Brother Basi-lian in history, Brothers Aloysius and Louis in Spanish and Brother David in science. Among the lay teachers were Messrs. Im-perial and Buenconsejo." After graduating in com-merce, Paquing left for the United States to take a gra-duate course in retailing at New York University. After graduating with a master's degree in 1940, he became a trainee at Macy's, the "world's largest retail store". He was shifted from section to section in order to learn all aspects of department store operations. Then he returned to Manila in 1940 to work for his father's department store, Aguinaldo's, the pioneer retailing emporium in the archipelago. Some 11 years ago he retired from business, resigning his directorship at the Luzon Surety, National Life In-surance and the Deep Sea Fishing Companies. While in school he was active in football, basketball (he is five feet 11 inches in height), badminton, tennis and golf. He now lives with his wife on the 21st floor of the Twin Towers condominium, which commands a magnificent view of the countryside to the east of Makati. (La Salle: 1911-1986 by Carlos Quirino)