Lourdes Tuason de Arroyo lived a double life. As the genteel matriarch of one of the most landed families in the Philippines, she pursued a very quiet passion of helping others, which took her out of the comforts of her well appointed home, to voluntarily endure the kind of service to community that is unheard of from an aristocrat like herself.
As Lourdes’ 110th birth anniversary approaches, her granddaughter Luli Bernas-Arroyo—who, like her in many ways has preferred to stay behind the scenes of their prominent family—speaks to The Sunday Times Magazine to reveal the lesser known side of a woman whom she is proud to recognize as the driving force of their family to this very day.