Sometime in the year about 1860, a braided Chinese named Uy Hio Co from Amoy, Mainland China, came to Ilong-Ilong and reached the town of Salog, now called Jaro. There, he boarded in a house owned by a Spanish couple who engaged in paper flower-making business. He stayed in the place to try his luck in a business of making candles with designs of dragons and flowers. He fell in love with his landlord's daughter,Teresa Benedicto. Teresa's parents disapproved of their marriage, so they eloped and took asylum in the Chinese community called "Parian", now known as Molo. Teresa's parents discovered their hiding place and tried to get her back, but they escaped the hot pursuit and sought refuge in a southern town called Tigbauan. Here, they raised their children and survived through their flower and candle making craft.
Being a flower maker, Teresa later on became an "hermana" in the parish of San Juan de Sahagun church. Every afternoon, she went to the church to decorate the altar. Non-Christian Uy Hio Co, curious of the activity of his wife, would go to the church to observe her work. But as he would enter the door of the church, he could see image of the Sto. Niño turning back. Because of this strange happening, he tearfully asked his wife, "Telesa, ngaa ako gani sulot inyo simbahan, talikot Niño?" To this, Teresa answered, "Ano abi kay wala ka mabunyagi".
One time, Teresa asked Uy Hio Co to take the finished flowers to the church. It was raining that afternoon. When he entered the church, he was startled at what he saw. He caught sight of the Sto. Niño descending from the altar. He threw the flowers on the floor and ran back to their house. Gasping, he frantically dragged Teresa by the hand to show to her what he had seen. When they arrived at the church, they saw the Sto. Niño image ascending the altar. They got hold of the cape of the image. It was wet. Uy Hio CO then decided to be baptized into the Catholic religion. His given Christian name was Jose, and his family name was Gonzales, because that was the family name of his "padrino".
The Sto.Niño image did not turn its back anymore whenever Uy Hio Co entered the church. He went to Parian and convinced the Chinese community to be baptized too, telling them, "Tu-ot git ila Dios!". The Chinese in Parian followed him, and from that time on, up to this day, it became customary for them to take a pilgrimage to Tigbauan every feast day of Sto. Niño, as their traditional devotion.
Teresa Benedicto and Uy Hio Co, also known as Insik Jose, told their story to their children, among whom was Constantino Gonzales y Benedicto, the father of Ramona Gonzales vda. de Tejero.
This story is true. It was told to me by my grandmother, Ramona Gonzales, granddaughter of Teresa and Insik Jose.
Some churchgoers also claimed that they saw the Sto. Niño stamping its feet in the water at the eavesdrop, giggling as it bathed itself with the water falling from the eaves of the church. The miraculous image of the Sto. Niño however, was buried in the rubbles when the church was bombarded during the Second World War. Later on, it was excavated during the time of the late Rev. Fr. Eleuterio Carton, when the old baptistery was reconstructed. Unfortunately. it was stolen in the year 2004, when Rev. Fr. Carton was no longer the parish priest of Tigbauan.
