Who is late president Sergio Osmeña's real father? DNA test cracks the mystery after many years

Six decades after his death, a mystery surrounding the late president Sergio Osmeña finally unraveled.

Born on September 9, 1878, Sergio was the son of Juana Suico Osmeña, and — based on speculation touched on by history books — businessman Don Pedro Lee Gotiaoco.

However, speculation is just speculation, and while it was widely believed that Pedro was Sergio's father, there are those who remained convinced this was not particularly true. The team of "Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho" headed to Cebu City, where the Osmeñas hailed, to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Apparently, even Sergio himself had been supposedly tight-lipped about it.

"He never mentioned," said Sergio's granddaughter Annie Osmeña. "Ang naalala ko sa mga istorya, si Senator John Osmeña asked daw Lolo, 'Who was your father?' Stories lang ito, si Lolo Sergio daw slapped him slightly and told him, 'Never ask that question.'"

According to historian Resil Mojares, Sergio's mother Juana had been close to the businessman Pedro, and it's him who's widely believed to be the father. Pedro had often visited the bakery owned by Juana's mother; Juana, in turn, used to buy gas and matches in Pedro's family's store.

Supposedly, they had an affair but never wed — especially since Pedro was already married to someone else at the time.

"Everything is speculation," Mojares said. "'Yung Gotiaoco story is the more popular version. Pedro Gotiaoco and the mother of Sergio Osmeña, were close friends. They knew each other because they all lived in the same block."

However, there are also rumors that Sergio's father was from another prominent family in Cebu — another businessman named Antonio Sanson, who had land in Borbon. He, too, was married with a child at the time.

Sergio's other grandchild Maribel shared, "I am in contact with Michael Cullinane who's the foremost expert on Turn of the Century Cebu, talagang ang belief niya si Antonio Sanson. So he was saying na even as a child, Lolo Sergio would visit that big farm in Borbon. So supposed to be alam ni Lolo Sergio kung sino talaga ang father niya. As a matter of fact, during the Tres de Abril uprising, the Filipinos against the Spaniards, doon siya nagtago sa farm."

("I am in contact with Michael Cullinane who's the foremost expert on Turn of the Century Cebu. He believes that Antonio Sanson is Lolo Sergio's father. He was saying that even as a child, Lolo Sergio would visit that big farm in Borbon. It was assumed that Lolo Sergio knew who his father was. In fact, during the Tres de Abril uprising, it was said that Lolo Sergio hid at the Sanson's farm.")

For decades, the Sanson family had considered getting a DNA test, but only few remained alive, and they weren't certain about the procedure.

And finally, just this March, in commemoration of Sergio Osmeña's 145th birth anniversary this coming September, the Osmeña family officially commissioned a DNA test.

Genealogist Todd Lucero led the procedure. His team harvested specimens from the families Osmeña, Sanson, and Gotiaoco.

"Ang importante dito is number one, lalaki 'yung ating kinunan ng sample kasi 'yung test natin was Y DNA test," Lucero said. "Tinignan natin kung sino 'yung pinakamalapit na buhay na lalaki na anak ng lalaki, na anak pa rin ng lalaki na galing doon sa main natin na mga characters."

("We had to take samples from male members of the families. We looked at which members had the closest link to their ancestors.")

The DNA specimens collected were from the following:  the grandson of Sergio Sr., Tomas from the Osmeña family; Ronnie, the great grandson of Antonio Sanson's first cousin; and a member of the Gotiaoco family whose name was not disclosed to the public. 

After several weeks, the results finally came in.

"There is a 100% match in the DNA of the Osmeñas and the Sansons," Lucero said. "It's also very genealogically accurate, that they share — remember the family tree, it was to the end of three to five generations, even if the sample is from a first cousin of Don Antonio Sanson."

And there you have it, the truth 145 years after his birth — Sergio's father was not Don Pedro Lee Gotiaoco, but rather Antonio Sanson.

Both sides of the family are nothing but happy about this discovery.

"We are happy that we have new relatives," Maribel said.

Annie agreed, saying, "Yes! And they were old friends."

She added that it's "for history, for the truth to come out."

Ronnie, who provided the sample for the Sanson clan, said, "It's enough that I gave them the true father of Sergio Osmeña. We're so glad."

According to Lucero, they will be submitting copies of the report to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, and perhaps even the Malacañang Museum and Library.

"Kung babaguhin ba nila 'yung like mga write-up tungkol kay Osmeña sa kanilang website, puwede naman 'yun," he said. "So 'yan 'yung challenge talaga. Sa rightful na authorities."

("The challenge now is for the rightful authorities to update the write-ups about Osmeña.")

"Sa mga succeeding and future mga biographies at articles tungkol sa pagkatao ni Sergio Osmeña dapat i-mention ang pangalan ni Antonio Sanson because ngayon alam na natin na ama siya ni Sergio Osmeña," he added. "Hindi na siya tsismis."

("In future articles that talk about Sergio Osmeña's identity, Antonio Sanson's name should be mentioned. He is, after all, Sergio's father. It's no longer hearsay.") —JCB, GMA Integrated News