“Gervacio Suaverdez went to his office regularly and attended to his numerous customers in his unorthodox getup”
The latter part of the 19th century was a time of increasing sentiment against Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines.
Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo were published in 1887 and 1891, respectively; La Solidaridad, the engine of the propaganda movement, was published in Spain in 1889; and Andres Bonifacio formed the Katipunan in 1892.
Amidst political unrest, Gervacio Suaverdez was born to Honofre and Josefa on June 19, 1890, in Infanta, in what is now part of Quezon Province.
Despite a thirst for education, which his parents could not provide, he left for Laguna to work as a “farm helper at P50 centavos per day with free food and cigarettes [and later worked at the Manila pier as a porter].” (Weekly Graphic, Barefoot Banker of Baler, Isagani S. Valmonte, Sept. 25, 1963).
“After saving P100, Gervacio migrated to Baler and engaged in the buy[ing]-and-sell[ing] of carabaos for seven years” (op. cit.)
After giving a dowry of 10 carabaos to the parents of Rosita Santos of Bulacan, he later married her with whom he had 11 children, with nine born alive and two stillborn.
He had a merchandising store in Baler that sold products such as rice, sugar, salt, canned goods and clothing.
He also ventured into lending, allowing him to purchase ricelands and coconut plantations in Baler (op. cit.)
He “recalled a funny incident in 1937, when he went to Manila to buy farm implements.
Because he was barefoot, shabby, and with a pistol tucked under his belt, he was apprehended by a policeman and subjected to heavy grilling.
Only the intervention of President Quezon… who had been his wedding sponsor, saved him from being detained” (op. cit.)
Although not having had any formal education, he believed “education is not a hindrance to one’s success.”
Despite this, he pushed for his children to pursue further schooling.
For one, his son Ananias, finished medicine and became a resident physician in one of the hospitals in the United States (op. cit.) All his nine children were sent to schools in Manila.
His business acumen led him to form his own rural bank in Baler in 1962, which he operated during his lifetime without any formal training in banking.
He ran his bank on his bare feet, sometimes in short pants, an outfit that he became accustomed to since his stint as a carabao trader (op. cit.)
He was popularly known as Mang Gerva, a quiet and unassuming man.
He went to his office regularly and attended to his numerous customers in his unorthodox getup.
For this, he was referred to as the “Barefoot Banker” (op. cit.)
He was also a perpetual candidate for the mayorship of Baler but had never won.
“He said his political opponents capitalized on his being barefoot and the fact that he did not read and write English [although he fluently conversed in Spanish].
He totally abandoned politics after he organized the Baler Rural Bank in 1962” (op. ccit.)
He was unlike his brother in this aspect. Landelino Suaverdez became the Municipal President (Mayor) of Infanta during the American Occupation in 1929-1931.
It was during his term that a strong typhoon wreaked havoc on Infanta, engulfing it in a flood for two days, causing President Manuel L. Quezon, Governor Leon Guinto, Sr., and the National Red Cross to make an emergency visit to the town (Read infanta.gov.ph).
“The bank he organized served the farmers and merchants also in the neighboring towns of San Luis, Maria Aurora, Dipaculao, and Casiguran.”
“[He was] one of the most prosperous immigrants of Baler [who during his lifetime] [was] reportedly second in financial standing to a Chinese logging magnate” (Weekly Graphic, Sept. 25, 1963).
