About Segunda Katigbak

Segunda Solis Katigbak

(1863-1943)
Lipa, Batangas
Segunda was born in 1863 (date unknown) 

to Don Norberto Kalaw Katigbak (gobernadorcillo 1862-1863) and Doña Justa Metra Solis. 

She was the second child in a family of seven:

Mariano (Capitan Municipal 1896-1897), 

Norberto Jr., Carmina, ysabel,Ynes and Jose

Rizal saw her during his visit in his maternal grandmother’s place whereas, he claimed that he blushes everytime she sets eyes on him. He made made pencil sketches of her during that time..

Rizal came to know Segunda more intimately during his weekly visit to La Concordia College, where his sister Olimpia was a boarding student.  Olimpia was a close friend of Segunda.  That was apparent that Rizal and Segunda loved each other.  Theirs was indeed “a love at first sight”.  But it was hopeless since the very beginning because Segunda was already engage to be married to her townmate, Manuel Luz.  Segunda had manifested by insulation and deeds, her affection for him, but he timidly failed to propose.

Rizal was going home to Calamba, on her part, told him she was also going home one day later.  She kept quiet after her brief reply, waiting for him to say something which her heart was clamoring to hear.

Segunda, the first girl whom he loved with ardent fervor was lost to him forever.  She married Manuel Luz....

"Manuel Luz" was the son of Jose de San Miguel Luz and Gertrudes Metra (eventually named Mitra). Almost a six footer, he came from an affluent family as his family owned vast tracks of land and coffee plantations in Balete, Lipa. Manuel had eight siblings--Alejandra, Celestino, Simeon and Maria (from his father's marriage to his mother), Conchita and Gertrudes (from the second marriage of his father) and Filomena and Rosario (from the third marriage of his father). Manuel's elder brother Simeon was an intelligent man, having instructed the young Claro M. Recto the English language. It was also Simeon who became the first governor of the province of Batangas. Simeon married four times on account of the deaths of each wife during childbirth. Manuel's youngest sister Rosario married Mariano, Segunda's elder brother.

Segunda married Manuel at the tender age of 14, and 
their marriage produced nine children:
Cristeta (married to Guillermo Africa Katigbak), 
Manuel Jr. (bachelor), 
Flora (married to Edelberto Mendoza), 
Arsenio (married to Amparo Katigbak), 
Paz (married to Pablo Dimayuga), 
Julio (married to Carmen Genato), 
Justa (married to Isabelo Katigbak), 
Valeriano (married to Rosario Dimayuga) and 
Fernando (married to Luz Cabal). 
One notices that in the family tree, 
it is usual to find a Katigbak-Katigbak marriage 
as it was again, an accepted 
arrangement at that time.

Manuel and Segunda built their dream house in the heart of the city. It is a typical bahay-na-bato which follows a Spanish architecture yet is essentially a tropical house. It is known for its dramatic arrangement of space and its unique sense of grandeur and solidity. Here, their children and grandchildren were trained in music as it was common for them to play the piano and sing songs after dinner. In their old age, Manuel was fondly called Lolo Uwel and Segunda was called Lola Unday.

Rizal, a frustrated lover cherishing nostalgic memories of a lost love.

Three years later, Rizal recording his first and tragic romance, said “Ended at an early hour, my first love!  My virgin heart will always mourn the reckless step it took on the flower-decked abyss.  My ilusions return, yes, but indifferent, uncertain, ready for the first betrayal on the path of love”.

His sad experience in his first love made him wiser in the ways of romance. Shortly after losing Segunda Katigbak, he paid court to a young woman in Calamba. In his memoirs, he called her “Miss L”. He described her as a “fair with seductive eyes”. After visiting her several times, he stopped and the romance died a natural death. Two reasons why he changed his heart are: he still loves Segunda Katigbak and his father opposed because the young woman is older then him.

Segunda spent her last days with her nine children in the big house. Lola Unday eventually grew weak, suffering from a stroke and passed away on June 16, 1943, eleven days short of one year that her beloved husband passed away. In 1996, the house that Manuel and Segunda built and which over a thousand descendants call home was renamed Casa Segunda and was declared a heritage house by the National Historical Commission.