Family
Arenas was born Rosemarie Bosch Jimenez to an opera singer and a relatively middle-class man from Pangasinan. Due in part to her well-connected mother who sang in the prestigious opera galas in Manila and abroad, Arenas was exposed early to Manila's high society.
She married the late Ramon Arenas, from the old Arenas clan of Manila. Ramon's mother is the very wealthy Doña Julieta Hofileña Lopez, sister to industrialist Don Eugenio Hofileña Lopez (ex-owner of Meralco, Negros Navigation, ABS-CBN) and former Vice President Fernando Lopez (owner of the University of Iloilo). The Lopezes of Iloilo were one of the wealthiest clans in the Philippines.
Although an adopted child, Doña Julieta was the only recognized daughter of Doña Presentacion Hofileña and as such was an equal beneficiary of all the Lopez assets and haciendas when Doña Presentacion and her husband died.
As the favorite daughter-in-law of Doña Julieta who inherited much of her own heirloom jewelry, this may explain why Arenas is one of the very few females outside of the tightly-knit Lopez clan to own such select Philippine jewel sets.
Read more about this topic: Rosemarie Arenas
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