Due to their troubled marriage, Elías entrusted his six-year-old son Isabelo to the care of Don Marcelino Crisólogo, a wealthy relative who was also a writer in the vernacular. Don Mena was married to Felipa Florentino, sister to Leona. Beluco, as he was called in his youth, was enrolled in a grammar school attached to the local seminary run by Augustinians; their harsh discipline made him a lifelong critic of friars. de los Reyes was a free spirit and chafed against seminary life. Once, he led a student strike against the friars to protest the maltreatment of students. His stay in the Vigan Seminary helped him develop a fascination for legends, music, songs, and Ilocano traditions.