Our History... an guintikangan.

The An Taclobanon Association of Southern California is a 501 (c) (4) non-profit organization which was established because of the strong social ties among the Taclobanons in Southern California. The founding members hoped to nurture this closely knit community and transform it into a socio-civic organization that could benefit the US-based community and those in Tacloban. It was in 1984 that a group of  Taclobanons started planning to establish the non-profit organization. On July 20, 1985, The An Taclobanon Association of Southern California elected its charter officers:

Edwin Tiu, President

Ramon Duarte, Vice-President

Carlota Jaojoco-Sta. Ana, Secretary

Raffy Lagado, Assistant Secretary

George Yu , Treasurer

Henry Badar, Auditor

Eddie Ros, P.R.O.

Gendy Sydiongco and Cesar Urbayan, Protocol Officers.

Board of Directors:

Celing Aguinid · Baby Esperas-Cui · Guy Engle · Emily Garcia 

Nonie Jaojoco · Butch Ollero · Joe Salem

The following year, with about a hundred members, the Association undertook its first project, which was the celebration of the annual fiesta in honor of Señor Santo Niño de Tacloban.  The fiesta celebration  became an annual endeavor of the Association. In 1989, the Association held the first Ms. An Maglipayon USA pageant, with Rochelle Romana winning the crown. The Association focused on the annual fiesta celebration and the biennial Miss An Maglipayon USA events as a way of preserving the unique cultural heritage of Tacloban and to encourage Taclobanons to be actively involved.

On August 9, 1996, the Association received its certificate as a Non-Profit, Public Benefit Corporation from the Secretary of State of California. During the same year, it was granted the tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service and the California Franchise Tax Board, making it a full-fledged community-based charitable organization.

The Association has had the following presidents:

Edwin Tiu (1985 & 1986)

Cesar Urbayan (1987 & 1988)

Joe (Tating) Zosa (1989 & 1990)

Ramon D. Duarte (1991 & 1992)

Henry de Guia (1993 & 1994)

Raffy Lagado (1995 & 1996; 1997 & 1998)

Eric Cordeta (1999 & 2000)

Manuel Agner (2001 & 2002) †

Susan Urbayan-David (2003 & 2004; 2005 & 2006)

Peter Caludac (2007 & 2008)

Evelina (Baby) Esperas-Cui (2009 & 2010)

Robert (Bobby) Aguilos (2011 & 2012; 2013 & 2014)

Edna Cañete Asuncion (2015 & 2016; 2017 & 2018)

Jerome Costibolo (2019 & 2020)