Etymology
Pronounced [cal-ye'-ha], the family name is derived from a Spanish noun calleja, meaning alley or narrow street.
Our Line
Siblings Andres and Salome are the earliest known members of the Calleja clan. Salome Calleja had children with a Monsignor Bishop of the Franciscan order, Gonzalez Dietz, which explains a consistent family trait in the earlier generations, the Castillan nose.
The ancestral home of the known Calleja line is situated in a compound bounded by San Pedro and San Miguel Streets in Poblacion, Libon, Albay.
By marriage, the clan is related to other families of note: Abella, Aspillera, Diaz, Maronilla, Mijes, Mojica, Ocampo, Rubin, Seda, Serrano, Tuason, Velasco, Zubiri. Many gifted individuals, kin to the Calleja Clan, have touched lives and made this world richer with their contributions.
Luis Cezar Aspillera Calleja, lawyer and World War II hero | Salome Calleja, our family matriarch | Manuel Maronilla Calleja, a two-term Governor of Albay | Erlinda Tuazon Fernandez, a performing artist and educator | Gloria Aspillera Diaz, Miss Universe 1969 | Maria Rosario “Rio” Aspillera Diaz, beauty queen and politician | Bartolome Seda Fernandez, government official under the Quezon Administration | Manuel Calleja Fernandez, one of the founders of the Makati Medical Center | Manuel Ocampo Fernandez, a pioneering cosmetic surgeon | Maria Victoria Ocampo Fernandez, entrepreneur and social figure | Maria Pilar Tuason Fernandez, Libon Private High School administrator | Ramon Calleja Fernandez, Associate Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court | Ramon Tuazon Fernandez, once city councilor of Legaspi City | Adrian ”Adi” Alvarez Maronilla, child prodigy | Maria Cecilia Calleja Maronilla, a renowned educator in the musical arts | Illuminda Mojica Tuazon, Manila Carnival Queen of 1939 | Jose Velasco and Josefina Maronilla Velasco, musical pioneers of Libon, Albay | Renato Mijes Velasco, musical pioneer of Libon, Albay | Juan Miguel Fernandez Zubiri, politician | Jose Rubin Zubiri, businessman and politician.
Gallery
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