The Gonzales family arrived in Australia in 1991 on visitors’ visas. Amelita, thrilled to have her eldest daughter in Sydney, let the family stay in one half of a duplex she owned along Lane Cove Road, Ryde. Teddy, Loiva and their two children stayed in the three-bedroom part, while Loiva’s sister Emily and her husband resided in the two-bedroom section.
Teddy and Loiva chose Our Lady of Dolours Primary School at Chatswood, an upmarket suburb in Sydney’s north, for their children. They would get the same good Catholic education Teddy and Loiva had had. Every morning and afternoon, Sef and Clodine would hop on the school bus, with Sef as big brother entrusted with ensuring Clodine’s safety. Through the Chatswood Catholic parish, Loiva and Teddy met Father Rex Curry and invited him to their home several times for dinner.
‘They were very private people, and because of their association with the church, they just invited me to their house and showed me a high level of trust and respect, but there was very little [personal] information traded as such,’ he recalls.
While Loiva got a part-time job working in a Chatswood bridal shop, Teddy set about making enquiries to gain permanent residency.
Loiva, in particular, was glad to be close to her family, says Freddie. ‘Because her mother, brother and sister were already there it was something good for all of them. Both children were admitted to school, they were able to find a house so they adjusted very fast,’ he says.
Through Amelita, Teddy met Jess Diaz, a cheerful, diminutive Filipino lawyer who ran an immigration law practice in the city. Diaz had arranged residency for virtually all the Claridades family members who lived in Australia.
Teddy could not gain permanent residency either for being married to an Australian citizen or having any dependent relatives living in Australia. Those options were out. However, there was a way he could stay in Australia, at least for a short period. That was if he made a refugee application.
Essentially, to qualify as a refugee, you had to prove you had left your own country because you were being persecuted because of your political or religious beliefs, your race, or your membership of a particular social group. Diaz advised Teddy that this application was unlikely to be successful, even though events had taken a very unfortunate turn for him in the Philippines with the earthquake.
However, Teddy forged ahead with the refugee application. He asked Diaz to read through his application. It was lengthy and very well written. Basically, the application revolved around Teddy losing his livelihood when his hotel collapsed in the earthquake, and detailed Sef’s injuries. It was supported by photographs of the injured Sef.
Refugee applications could take several years to process in the early 1990s, says Diaz. Until their cases were reviewed, Teddy and his family would be allowed to stay in Australia on bridging visas.
Diaz advised Teddy, in the meantime, to do something about qualifying as a skilled migrant, which was a far better option to allow them to live in Australia permanently. For this, Teddy would have to satisfy a points test, which took into account qualifications, age, language skills and sponsorship.
Teddy enrolled in a University of Sydney law extension course run by the Solicitors Admission Board, which would take about two years, and Diaz gave Teddy a job as a paralegal at his law firm.
‘He appeared to me to be a very honest person and well qualified and trustworthy,’ Diaz recalls. ‘He wrote very well. I had him do some research work, which was quite satisfactory.’ Teddy told Diaz he wanted a shift in his life direction after his work in the Philippines. He told Diaz that his father had had ambitions for him to run for the position of mayor of Baguio, but he was no longer interested in politics.
‘He told me he could not stand corruption back in the Philippines. He had exposure to being subjected to a big bribe, which he refused,’ recalls Diaz.
Simply put, Teddy wanted a quiet life in Australia, to spend time with his family and to create financial security for them. To this end, he took a keen interest in the share market.
‘He also has many times asked me how to do property investment, in terms of developing properties. I know he had made a lot of studies, I don’t know if he ever did it,’ says Diaz.
Teddy studied hard at law. Juggling a job and the course would have been tough, let alone family as well. His two young children occasionally turned up at Diaz’s office, and with Diaz’s children they would browse through the shops in the city.
Teddy had such high expectations of himself that he became bitterly disappointed when he did poorly in one subject, recalls Diaz. ‘I don’t think he could take any failure, he wanted to go back [to Baguio] and give up on Australia.’
Ultimately, Teddy weathered the difficulties and decided to stay. He graduated from his law course and qualified to practise in Australia.
Towards the end of 1992, Teddy, Loiva and their two children went back to Baguio, where they would stay at least six months as Teddy prepared the paperwork for his skilled migrant application. Unlike a refugee applicant, a skilled migrant applicant has to make the application from their country of origin.
Freddie recalls that at that time it was necessary to give up Filipino citizenship when you became a resident of another country. ‘It was discussed with my father and me because before, you had to relinquish your citizenship, so that was a big thing for him.’
To Teddy and Loiva, the sacrifice was worth it. They had fallen in love with the Australian lifestyle and the Australian people.
WHEN THE GONZALES family successfully migrated to Australia in mid-1993, they returned to the duplex at Lane Cove Road, Ryde. Yet Teddy and Loiva were keen to establish their own roots in their new country.
Teddy, ever the planner, saw an opportunity at Blacktown. The area had a large Filipino population, and Teddy saw it as a good place to set up an immigration practice.
The family bought a modest single-storey brick home at 6 Ashgrove Crescent, Blacktown. Around June 1995, that was where Teddy opened his sole practice, T Gonzales & Associates. Later, he purchased a commercial space at 15–17 Kildare Road, Blacktown, where he moved his practice.
Freddie remembers Teddy complaining he felt discriminated against in his practice. He felt judges would give him a more ‘difficult time’ than they gave Caucasian lawyers.
‘From the outset everything was okay, but when he got to be a little successful, when he was doing well with his profession, that was the time he felt discriminated [against] . . . but I told him that’s something you have to live with, it’s part of a cultural system,’ Freddie says.
The Gonzales family lived in the Blacktown house until early 2000. Loiva kept it spotless, neighbours recall. The Gonzales were friendly neighbours, and Sef and Clodine played with the other young children in the street.
The house was located just around the corner from St Michael’s Catholic church. The Gonzales family quickly became members of the Catholic community. St Michael’s had about 2000 regular parishioners, many of whom were Filipino, Maltese or Croatian.
Parish priest Father Kevin Dadswell recalls Teddy Gonzales coming to the 8 am Mass almost every day on his way to work, and Loiva would sometimes accompany him. So would Sef and Clodine.
‘Not too many people come to Mass that regularly — devout, devoted people with a very strong faith. They were very pleasant people, very nice people, but fairly private,’ he says.
Teddy and Loiva forged a few close friendships. They were very choosy with their friends, but once you were friends with Teddy and Loiva, there was nothing they would not do for you. They were caring and generous, and Teddy would refuse to accept payment for conveyancing work he did as a favour for his close friends.