Victorias Milling Company History: Don Carlos L. Locsin, Doña Salud Montinola and Company

These two black-and-white photographs did not have any date or annotation. After examining, I realized that what was written at the back were the initials of the important people in the photographs: CMC, CLL, SM, MM, and DG. Opposite their initials was "1", which means the number of copies given to the people in the photograph.

After looking for answers, I was able to identify them:

CMC is Cornelio M. Consing

CLL is Carlos L. Locsin

SM is Salud Montinola

MM is Manuel Mendez

DG is Daniel Gustilo

The location was the golf club house of the Victorias Milling Company (VMC), and although there was no date, I assume this was in the 1960s.

Don Carlos L. Locsin was the chairman emeritus of VMC, while Mr. Mendez was its president.

The other three, Doña Salud Montinola, Mr. Consing, and Mr. Gustilo were hacienderos, who milled their sugarcane with VMC, which was the biggest sugar central at that time. (Read VMC history here). 

Doña Salud Montinola, who was the one managing the haciendas of her family, gained the respect of the sugar industry because Hacienda Dapdap, one of their haciendas, was named was one of the best producing haciendas in Negros island. (Read Chapter 24 here).

It would have been easy for me to conclude that this was a big business meeting. After all, the attendees were VMC officials and planters. But after examining the photograph where you could see Don Carlos and Doña Salud standing, at the end, you can see nuns seated at the table. I wondered if they were the Maryknoll Sisters who were managing Saint Joseph's Hospital in Manapla, and this was a meeting about the Hospital, or, if you can conclude further, the five were members of the board of trustees of the Hospital.

And if they were members of the board, why does it look like Doña Salud had an important role? She was a pharmacist, a graduate of the University of Santo Tomas in 1920, and was the 'Presidente de Centro de Puericultura de Victorias' in 1930. Yes, she was the president of the puericulture center of Victorias.

If indeed they were members of the board of trustees, it would have been interesting to listen to them as they discussed and made decisions that would affect the lives and welfare of the doctors, nurses, and the workers of the Hospital, and of course, of the patients as well.

As I have always said that black-and-white photographs tell the most colorful of stories as long as you know where and how to dig for those stories.

By the way, in 1931, it was Don Carlos L. Locsin who initiated the organization of the Philippine Association of Sugar Technologies in Bacolod and was elected its first ever president. This association was the forerunner of the Philippine Sugar Technologies Association of PHILSUTECH. An award was named in his honor; the award is given to a person who has outstanding contribution to the sugar industry.😋 

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