Sisig Queen

Lucia Cunanan of Angeles City has been credited with inventing sisig. The Philippine Department of Tourism has acknowledged that her "Aling Lucing's" restaurant had established Angeles City as the "Sisig Capital of the Philippines" in 1974. Cunanan's trademark sisig was developed in mid 1974 when she served a concoction of boiled and chopped pig ears and cheeks seasoned with vinegar, calamansi juice, chopped onions and chicken liver and served in hot plates. Today, varieties include sisig ala pizzailo, pork combination, green mussels or tahong, mixed seafood, ostrich sisig, spicy python, frog sisig and tokwa't baboy, among others.

Lucia "Lucing" Cunanan (1927 or 1928 - April 16, 2008) was a Filipino restaurateur credited in some quarters as having invented or re-invented sisig, a Kapampangan dish now popular all over the Philippines.

Career

Born as Lucia Lagman in Tarlac, she settled in Pampanga after her marriage to Victorino Cunanan. She established Aling Lucing's, a restaurant in Angeles City, Pampanga in 1974. Her restaurant featured what has been said as a reinvented variant of sisig which soon became nationally famous. The popularity of her sisig had helped establish Angeles as the "Sisig Capital of the Philippines", and Cunanan herself was dubbed as the "Sisig Queen"

Death

Lucia Cunanan was found bludgeoned to death in her Angeles City home with 10 stab wounds on April 16, 2008. She was 80 years old. Two days after her murder, local police filed parricide charges against her 85-year old husband, Victorino Cunanan.

By: Bernie Manalac
Email: bernie_manalac@yahoo.com