Like little kids left to our own devices, we roamed around Gapan’s Delos Reyes Street snapping away with our cameras and posing against ancestral houses to our hearts content. I never knew that Gapan, a town we usually pass by en route to my mom’s hometown in Cabanatuan City, held such architectural gems from bygone eras. Like most locals, I usually dismiss Nueva Ecija as quite wanting when it comes to tourist attractions. I was proven wrong that afternoon.

GAPAN’S VIRGEN LA DIVINA PASTORA CHURCH FACADE WITH ITS CENTRAL BELFRY

Still catching my breath from a very Filipino lunch at Hapag Vicenticos, we again boarded Microtel Cabanatuan’s van and headed to the oldest town in the province—and one of the oldest in the Philippines—Gapan. The sun was hitting the stately edifice of the National Shrine of Virgen La Divina Pastora just the right way when we arrived.

On our next stop, you get to dress as a colonial-era Bigueño. Our guide from Hotel Felicidad Vigan told us as our van sped through the rain-slicked streets of Vigan City. You want to be a smashing doña? A well-respected ilustrado perhaps? A fat prayle? A simple indio? Vigan’s Arce Mansion has every costume to fit the bill.

This was the first time I heard of Arce Mansion and its gimmick of letting visitors play-act as Noli Me Tangere-esque characters. It’s like cosplay, only there are no Naruto characters to pick from. This is probably the best place to take a selfie when in Vigan City.

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For a nineties kid, the Crisologo family name still rings a bell to me. The thing that actually pops into my mind is not related to Vigan City at all, but of actor Rudy Fernandez playing Bingbong Crisologo, a former Ilocano congressman turned charismatic preacher, who’s father, Floro was gunned down inside a church.

It was only a decade later that I realized that the said church is actually the Vigan Cathedral and the museum I’m stepping into now, his actual home.

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Welcome to the Crisologo Museum, an ancestral house owned by the clan which Vigan’s famous Calle Crisologo is named after. Err, actually, there was no guide to welcome our group. That might be easily explained though, since there was no entrance fee to be paid when we arrived.

After being greeted at the door, we were left to our own devices inside the cavernous ground floor of the ancestral house where Bingbong probably once played as a kid.

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And one thing more, do you know what the sculptures of the mansion are for? So went Rusty, our very strict but very informative tour guide at one of Vigan City’s numerous museums.

Our group woke to a very wet day, the previous day’s rain hasn’t abated and it was still drizzling as we went out of Casa Caridad after a hearty breakfast. Our first stop of the day, Elpidio Quirino’s home, the Syquia Mansion.

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The mansion is typical of the many ancestral Bahay na Bato in Vigan City; thick stone walls on the ground level, painted wood on the second. It is however, quite noticeably, larger than your average ancestral house, spanning almost a whole city block.

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The weather has been less than kind to us during our recent visit to Vigan City. Rainclouds dutifully followed us like a pack of wild dogs following a hare. It wasn’t until our third night in the city, enjoying bottles of beer at Casa Caridad and blasting away at the videoke, that the clouds at last relented and the moon finally made an appearance.

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And what were we, mere commoners, doing inside Casa Caridad?

It was just our good fortune that Mr. Jose Singson invited us inside his family’s ancestral house.

Most Bigueños refer to the casa as the White House. It sits, stately and proud, a few steps away from where we were staying, Hotel Felicidad, and the famed Calle Crisologo.

I have often passed this house from my previous trips, even managing to take a few photos of its façade, totally oblivious to the fact that this is the ancestral house of one of Vigan’s most influential families.

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Along with my love for old churches is my relatively new-found passion for ancestral houses. I used to dismiss such houses, being more fascinated with European minimalism and American organic architecture. But once the travel bug hit me some years back, I started to really see why Filipinos should start to care more and appreciate these houses that once dotted the roads of pre-war Philippines.

And there’s probably no better place to rekindle that passion for bygone architecture than in Iloilo City. The city is a history buff’s dream with its numerous Spanish-era churches and grand old mansions. On my third visit to Iloilo, I finally got to enter an ancestral house within the city, the Camiña Balay Nga Bato.

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Sitting quietly at a parcel of land in Concepcion, Tarlac is a stately old mansion built during the pre-war days of the city. Painted in blinding white and striking reds, the structure stands proudly across a sprawling yard dotted with trees and carpeted in grass. Welcome to the Balé Aquino, the Aquino Ancestral House.

INSIDE THE AQUINO ANCESTRAL HOUSE IN TARLAC

Tarlac is the Aquino family’s baluarte. This is the province where Ninoy grew to prominence as a politician. The guy was a whiz when it comes to politics; being a mayor at 22, a vice governor of the province at 27, and finally, its governor at 29. His record still stands as being the youngest senator of the country at age 34.

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Everyone of course knows who GMA is. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo—former Senator of the Philippines, former Vice President, twice President of the country, and now Pampanga Congresswoman. Her political stint had left a bitter aftertaste to the Filipino people which led to her confinement to the wheelchair, neck braces and all.

But before all those political controversies, Gloria also used to be a kid—probably not as ordinary as you and me, but perhaps like the rich kid around the block. And during Iligan City’s Waterfalling Adventure Tour 1.0, I got to see a little bit of that side from the place she once played around in, the Macapagal-Macaraeg Ancestral House.

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A few puffs of clouds were sailing over the cobalt ocean of the sky. The sun was unmercifully blinding as I tilted my camera towards the centuries-old ancestral house that the First President of the Philippines once lived in. Sweat trickled down my neck as I pressed the shutter once, twice, thrice.

The Aguinaldo Shrine, built in 1845, was not as large as it is now. The roof used to be made of thatch and the now enclosed ground floor was like the houses of its period, open and used primarily as a parking space for horse carriages. The family wing on the east side of the building was still nowhere to be seen, so was the iconic veranda where the Philippine flag is annually waved from during Independence Day.

“Tambay muna tayo sa bahay ni Rizal (Let’s hang out at Rizal’s pad for a while).” I never thought I’d get to have a conversation where that phrase would actually be used.

We were chowing down mouthfuls of Chicken Joys and Jolli Spaghetti one afternoon in Calamba after doing a shoot in a Coke bottling plant. I was thinking since we’re in Canlubang already, why not check out its sights? It’s been years since I last visited the Rizal Shrine, the actual home of our National Hero, and it’s also been some time before I last read up about it on the net.

The next house we visited, just a stone throws away from the Goco House, was Glicera Marella Villavicencio’s ancestral home.

So what’s with the long name you might ask? It so happens that the owner of the said heritage house is considered to be the Matriarch-General of the Revolutionary Forces, named by none other than General Emilio Aguinaldo for her contribution in the uprising against the Spaniards and the Americans.

The house is also called the Gift House, it being a gift of husband, Eulalio Villavicencio, to his wife on their wedding.

We wandered around the town of Taal despite the intense heat of the midday sun. Having no map on hand, we walked around aimlessly; our goal was to reach Caysasay Church, the other old church, at the far end of the municipality. Passing several old houses, we were surprised that a few were open to visitors like us. One of these is the ancestral home of the Goco Clan.

We were cordially greeted by two Filipiniana-dressed guides who welcomed us to check the old house. We were more than glad to do so.

Ever since our first outing in Bacolod, the Balay Negrense Museum had been recommended again and again by the people I’ve talked to regarding the city. Though technically not really in Bacolod City, being located in Silay, it is still part of the Metro Bacolod and a staple attraction in the area.

Originally the residence of the Gaston Family, the house was built in 1897 and was left unused after Victor Gaston died in 1927. It then slowly degenerated through time until a group of concerned locals banded together to fund the house’s redevelopment into a lifestyle museum.

Since the Balay Negrense Musuem would not open until 9am, we headed to the nearby Bernardino Jalandoni Museum first which was just a minute’s walk from El Ideal Bakery. We really had no inkling as to what this museum holds, but since we’ve got time to kill, we decided to check it out anyways.
 
A guide greeted us upon entering the museum’s cool and cavernous lobby. It used to be the garage for horses and carriages back in the day. Jorge Po, as he introduced himself, was soon busy escorting us in and around the many corners of the museum.

We started at the ground floor where photographs of the historical mansions around Silay City and the family’s doll collection are displayed. Also parked inside was a caroza with a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which according to our guide is still being paraded during Holy Week around town.

Up the wooden staircase, we were introduced to the opulence of life back when sugar was still a prime commodity and Silay City the center of the trade. This was the era when the city shined like Paris every harvest season.

The floors of the Bernardino Jalandoni Museum were made of thick hardwoods shipped from Mindoro, the ceiling embossed with tin ceiling trays imported from Germany, and intricate wooden furniture dot every corner of the house.
 
This quarter is every antique collector’s wet dream; graceful rocking chairs, opulent chandeliers, intricate rugs, massive tables, elaborate dressers, old-world beds and expensive musical instruments like the wooden harp at the living area, the expensive Steinberg Piano and the rare Stradivarius Violin are all housed in it.

Huge family portraits also hang on every wall of the living area and it’s easy to see how this place might give someone the heebie-jeebies.

The tour lasted for almost an hour, with our nifty guide giving anecdotes and what-nots about the pieces around the house, the events that had unfolded in the different rooms, and the people that had once lived there.

And as tour ended and we exited out into the veranda, my mind’s eye saw how the sugar barons of Silay City’s glory days must have stood where I was standing, dressed in garbed clothing and a smoking pipe in hand, keeping watch over the never-ending fields of sugarcanes across the horizon.

Visiting the Bernardino Jalandoni Museum made me realize the rich history of Silay City and gave it a unique character that vastly distinguished it from any other cities I stayed in.

Bernardino-Ysabel Jalandoni Museum
Open Hours: Tuesdays to Sundays and Holidays 9:00AM – 5:00PM
Address: Rizal St., Silay City, Negros Occidental
Contact Number: (34) 495-5093

 

After our morning hunt for Silay City’s grand old mansions, we finally gave in to our tummies and headed to El Ideal, the oldest restaurant in Negros, for our much-delayed breakfast.

Entering the antiquated bakery, we were transported to bistros of bygone days. Similar to Bacolod’s La Corona Café, it exudes an air of eateries found in the sidestreets of Carriedo in Manila. The floors were bare concrete and the painted walls devoid of any decor. The expansive interior was lighted by vintage fixtures hanging across the ceiling (which I remember from my childhood days) and draped windows streaming in light from the outside.

One thing that makes Silay City unique from any other city in the country is the number of heritage houses located in its vicinity. The city has 31 National Historical Commission-verified houses as of last count, outgunning its more famous heritage town counterpart in the northern part of the country, Vigan.

We did an impromptu walking tour of the city right after checking the San Diego Cathedral in search of the Balay Negrense Museum. Every tricycle and pedicabs that passed offered us a ride but we declined with a smile. It would have wasted the morning that greeted us that day for it was such a grand one.

The house we stayed in at Barangay Poblacion, Abra de Ilog was as wonderful as the trips we had there.

Built during the early 1900’s, the Abeleda Zoleta Ancestral House has been around since the Spanish period. Abra de Ilog being a settlement for the Spaniards during the 17th century, it stands as a  testament of the olden village life this part of Occidental Mindoro.