Edsel Diwa

Edsel Diwa y Arlegui OIS, GCOR, OS (Tagalog: [ɛdˈsɛl ˈdiˈwa]; born October 25, 1842) is an Imperial Army officer currently serving as the country's Minister of Army under the rank of Captain General. 
Known for his lifelong dedication for the liberation of his countrymen, Heneral Diwa took an active role in the struggle for independence by participating in multiple revolts, up until the 1867 Calleja Revolt that finally bore a victory for the Philippines. Having served with the Callejas since the formative years of the Empire, he is one of the longest serving personnel and is thus highly trusted by the ruling dynasty. 
== Family ==
=== Family roots ===
Edsel was born out of an affluent landed family in the small municipality of Imus where his family, the Diwas, enjoyed the service of inquilinos within their ancestral land, the Corazón Estates. His father, Don Felipe Diwa IV, was a farmer and merchant by trade, overseeing the administration of the family's 4,000 hectare mixed-crop plantation that feeds most of the Cavite province. His mother, Josefa Diwa, was the youngest daughter of Señor Roman Arlegui, the incumbent gobernadorcillo of Cavite Viejo at the time of their marriage. The Arlegui family were prominent political figures of sangley origins who dominated the local government administration of various places in Cavite, which Edsel later cites to be one of his source of knowledge of how politics in the country works. 
=== Siblings ===
==== Felipe V ====
The eldest of the Diwa children is Felipe, named after his father and his father's father before him. Felipe, or "Pipoy" to many of his close friends and relatives, boarded at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran where he got his bachelor's degree in accounting. Pipoy was an avid equestrian, often sponsoring horse racing events in Cavite and Batangas - on par with his talents in bookkeeping and numbers, Pipoy made a fortune almost independent of his family's wealth. He however, became grounded to family responsibilities again when their father died in 1862.
During the Calleja Revolt despite his younger brother, Edsel, actively taking a leadership role in it, Pipoy was hesitant to help as war is generally bad for an agricultural business such as the estate's. Relationship between the two brothers soured even more as Edsel, now holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the revolutionary army, used the family estate as a temporary base of operations for the military movements in Cavite. Despite showing his displeasure to his brother's actions, he eventually accepted the reality of the country's circumstances and contributed to the war effort, even going as far as lending massive financial support to the Filipino forces.
Pipoy and Edsel now share a relatively amiable "professional" relationship with each other, but not as close as Edsel's bond with their youngest sibling. Outside of business and family affairs however, the two brothers do not interact at all.
==== María ====
The youngest of the Diwa children is Maria Panganiban, widowed by her late husband, Cpt. Miguel Panganiban, a frigate captain of the Armada who died under captivity of Chinese pirates. Maria takes after their mother's sangley beauty and their father's timid nature, usually seen tending the estate's livestock. Among the three Diwa children, Maria is the only one with a child⁠—Felipe Miguel, born without ever seeing his father. Not wishing to remarry, Maria opted to live and raise her child in the Corazon Estate under the care of her brother Felipe, who has declared Felipe Miguel to be the estate's primary inheritor as her brother remains unmarried due to his... decadent lifestyle of womanizing.
== Early life ==
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Category:Characters