IF one must describe a true Batangueño 'barako,' he can completely describe it with one word — Laurel. Batangueños hold such a name in great reverence and admiration. In fact, my late father named me Paciano after the late President Jose Paciano Laurel, the great Laurel patriarch.

The Laurel leadership is best characterized by unyielding patriotism yet astute pragmatism in the face of seemingly insurmountable adversities that our country faced during World War II, the reconstruction after the war, and followed by the painful dictatorship under martial rule. The Laurels saved a lot of Filipino lives during the Japanese occupation despite the risk of being branded a traitor by the Americans and some fellow Filipinos. History has vindicated them as true patriots in those times of danger.