How the Nepomucenos changed Angeles

IT is impossible for anyone who has been to Angeles City in Pampanga at one time or another to miss the Nepo Mall or Holy Angel University, or not use up electricity from the Angeles Electric Corporation (AEC), which supplies power to Angeles City as well as parts of the Clark Special Economic Zone. There is one family behind all these: the Nepomucenos. A well-researched book by UST professor Erlita P. Mendoza called A Cofradia of Two: Oral History on the Family Life and Lay Religiosity of Juan D. Nepomuceno and Teresa G. Nepomuceno of Angeles, Pampanga reveals the story of how that family changed the face of Angeles. Juan was a lawyer while Teresa, although having finished only third grade due to poor health, had business acumen. They had 12 children. The couple started an ice plant, the Angeles Ice Plant (later renamed Teresa Ice Plant), in 1921 at a time when hardly anyone owned a refrigerator. When Teresa saw that there was unused space in the ice-making machine, she made ice drops and sold them in strawberry and grape flavors. The empty milk cans (milk was used for making ice drops) were recycled and Teresa put them in baskets and sold them in the market. Wanting to provide electricity to the church, the couple established a power plant, later renamed Angeles Electric Corporation, using P500 borrowed from Teresa’s mother to start the business. This was in 1923 and P500 was already a fortune that time. In 1928, they started a soft drinks plant, making their own “Reina” and “Aurora” soft drinks, and also made burlap sacks which were then sold to sugar and rice producers. Holy Angel Academy (now Holy Angel University) was put up in 1933 by Juan and a parish priest to provide quality affordable education to Kapampangans. The war and a fire after Liberation affected their businesses, but the couple bounced back. Although the soft drinks plant was not revived, the power plant was rebuilt, and the school was reopened. In 1965, the family converted their agricultural land into a subdivision, calling it Villa Teresa. Three years later, Nepo Mart Commercial Complex was established and was known as the place to go for PX goods. Now there’s Nepo Mall with department stores, cinemas, banks – name it, they have it. Just one family started all these. Mendoza’s profile of the couple shows the Nepomucenos’ secrets to success: the ability to identify a need, proper timing in providing that need, hard work and perseverance, with faith in God. Good formula. *A Cofradia of Two published by Holy Angel University Press is available at National Bookstore (SM North EDSA and Quezon Avenue), Solidaridad Bookshop, Tradewinds, Lopez Museum, and Filipinas Heritage Library. It won a National Book Award from the Manila Critics Circle in 2005.