Frances Eslao Lacebal: An Educator With Filipino and American Sensibilities
By Erick Mata
Update — October 2026: This October marks Frances Eslao Lacebal’s 94th birthday. Since this profile was first written in 2006, her vibrant spirit has remained an inspiration.
Before moving to Los Angeles from her native Philippines, Frances Lacebal spent several years teaching high school in her homeland. Her resilience, devotion to family, and lifelong dedication to education were shaped by her childhood in Agoo, La Union.
The third of seven children—three boys and four girls—Frances grew up during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines and the country’s liberation by American forces in the mid-1940s. These experiences instilled in her a lasting sense of duty, responsibility, and service.
Childhood During the Japanese Occupation
As a child, Frances and her siblings each had household responsibilities. During the war, her eldest brother, cousins, and late mother quietly supported the guerrilla movement, while her father worked with the Japanese police. The nearby police station regularly drew water from the family well, making the presence of Japanese authorities a constant part of daily life.
Frances also assisted the resistance in small but meaningful ways, including guiding guerrilla soldiers in the early evenings as they planned their movements.
At age 10, she balanced school, family obligations, and work in the family fishing-fleet business. She learned Japanese, helped on the farm with her father, and assisted her mother in selling the day’s catch. The family’s fishing business employed about 30 people, many of whom relied on the Lacebal family for necessities such as rice, salt, kerosene, and medicine.
Education After Liberation
After the war, Frances attended South Provincial High School, one of only four high schools in the region. Conditions were difficult: students brought their own chairs and attended classes under tents or trees. In physics, the teacher’s copy was often the only textbook available.
Despite these limitations, Frances was highly active. She served as school librarian, class president, literary editor of the school paper, and first-aid aide. She also attended the National Press Conference in Manila.
Her parents considered education the most valuable inheritance they could give their children. Although Frances initially considered fisheries as a career, she chose teaching because she believed she had much to offer future generations.
She attended the University of the Philippines, majoring in history and economics. Her studies fueled a lifelong interest in travel, as she dreamed of visiting the places she read about in school.
Beginning Her Teaching Career
After graduating in 1953, Frances moved to Manila and began teaching at Araullo High School’s Isaac Peral Annex. She taught retail merchandising, advertising, and business English, and helped students manage a school retail store.
She later taught social studies at Manuel Roxas High School. During this period, she also began what became a lifelong involvement with the Girl Scouts of the Philippines. In 1960, she helped bring her school international recognition at the World Chief Guide event in London. She also helped establish the only Girl Scout amateur ham-radio station of its kind internationally.
As the eldest sibling living in Manila, Frances also took on a motherly role for her younger brothers and sisters, as well as others living in the household. She continued teaching night school, volunteering with the Girl Scouts on weekends, and taking graduate management courses.
A New Life in the United States
Frances moved to Los Angeles in 1968. Like many Filipino immigrants, she had to rebuild her professional career. She worked in a university benefits department, a law firm, and later as chief administrative assistant at a university library, where she experienced workplace discrimination during the 1970s.
She ultimately returned to her first love: teaching.
Because social-studies positions were limited, Frances earned certification in special education and taught at several secondary schools in the Los Angeles school system. She later joined the newly opened Lanterman High School, one of the district’s first self-contained special-education schools.
Frances believed that students with special needs should be expected to do their best while their individual difficulties and dignity were respected.
Her fluency in Ilocano, Pangasinan, and Tagalog—combined with her involvement in the Filipino American community—led to her role as the school system’s Filipino Adviser. She remained in that position until her retirement in 1999.
Retirement and Continuing Service
For Frances, retirement was never an ending. She remained involved with community organizations in Los Angeles and the Philippines, supported Filipino teachers adapting to the American education system, and continued her family and civic responsibilities.
Her family has long regarded her as a pillar of strength and unity.
A passionate traveler and community organizer, Frances has approached life as a continuing journey—one filled with learning, service, family, and exploration. Her enduring energy and generosity remain a testament to a life devoted to helping others.
