| MANILA, PHILIPPINES

Travel & Tourism

By Johanna D. Poblete, Reporter

Iloilo: Appreciating the past to prepare for the future

The past is still very much present in progressive Iloilo. Old
buildings have been converted into banks, restaurants or
schools (although century-old structures like the University of San Agustin from 1906 and the Colegio del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus from 1917 operate intact).

Furnishings take on antique accoutrements: the handles of coal-burning irons attached to cabinet doors, the pedal of a sewing machine as the base of a table, old railroad tracks and carriage wheels converted into a bench.

The Nelly Gardens in downtown Iloilo continue to be a popular party venue. Its Beaux Art style combines Gothic and Art Deco influences.

Well-represented is the traditional stone house (or “balay nga bato” as the Ilonggos say) as well as its fancier hybrid of “architectura mestiza.” The latter consists of Gothic revival and baroque churches, American colonial public buildings and Art Deco structures amidst malls and homegrown food establishments like the ubiquitous Mang Inasal.

You’ve even got the Casa Mariquit in Jaro, ancestral house of Mariquit Javellana Lopez (wife of former Vice-President Fernando Lopez), which by reputation is haunted and yet inhabited. While we tourists gawk at the imposing wood-and-stone structure, the inhabitants rush about on benign busywork. That’s the beauty of the Ilonggo lifestyle; they’re quite comfortable with their ghosts.

Museum and streetscape

Upon the invitation of the Iloilo Economic Development Foundation (ILED), we went to Iloilo last weekend where we were billeted at the newly-renovated Hotel del Rio (the oldest hotel in the city, built in 1965 by Manuel Loring, grandson of the former mayor of Iloilo City during the Spanish-American transition), Sarabia Manor Hotel and Convention Center, and The Grand Dame Hotel designed by architect Gerry L. Contreras.

Midpoint between the hotels is the Museo Iloilo built by Ilonggo architect Sergio Penasales, with a bas relief by Ilonggo artist Tim Jumayao. (Entrance fee is P5 for children, P15 for adults. It stays open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.)
Designs etched on stone at the entrance were donated by the family of Eugenio M. Jamerlan, local historian and member of the Heritage Council of Iloilo, who would prove an invaluable fount of information during our tour.

The permanent collection dates from the pre-colonial period (pottery and weaponry) and Spanish-era (textiles, an issue of the La Independencia, a cadaverous rebulto of Christ and a 17th-century carving of a suffering Christ by a local Panay carver) to WWII (Mickey Mouse money and a bombshell, among others).

The revolving exhibit usually features local artists. More will be added later this year, as the museum is scheduled for renovation. There are 750 small museums in the city -- managed by maritime schools, universities, churches -- and a project for the future is to create a tour linking all.

After the museum, one has several options for heritage hunting. Along Iznart Street and J.M. Basa (formerly Calle Real), buildings may date as early as 1910, designed by architect-engineers educated at the University of Rome and the University of Philadelphia. Some are commercially viable, others unkempt and merely used as storage. The old homestead of Serafin Villanueva now houses RCBC but has kept its 1920s look. Of the old theaters, the Cine Aguila is gone, and the existing Regent features bomba films.

At the Plaza Libertad, the defunct PNB building, the first bank in Iloilo built in 1916, still stands. What used to be the old Mirasol residence is now a branch of local restaurant Afrique’s. And on Rizal St., what used to be the Celso Ledesma town house designed by architect-engineer Mariano Salas is still intact and in use. And so it goes, depending on who owned the original structure and their views on heritage preservation.

Houses of repute

If one leaves the museum and moves along M.H. del Pilar St. down to San Pedro St., past Molo Church or Santa Ana Church (the oldest church in the city built in the neo-Gothic style in 1831, famous for its collection of all-female saints that gave succor to female weavers of the old Chinese district) and bypassing Panaderia de Molo which is even older than the church (incidentally, the eggwhites used to fortify wet cement used by church masons came from the panaderia, which used the egg yolks to make barquillos), one reaches Avanceña St.
Here, Avanceña House (formally the Camiña balay nga bato, home of Gerard and Luth Camiña) is the best example of an Iloilo-style bahay na bato. It was built in 1865 by Padre Anselmo Avanceña with hardwood brought in by carabao from the mountains (it took four-and-a-half years to complete, now all that wooden flooring takes P1,500 to wax).

The good padre is best known as someone who contracted cholera while aiding the sick and burying the dead during the cholera epidemic. He is also brother to Fernando Avanceña, and uncle to Ramon Avanceña, who was the legal adviser of the Philippine revolutionary government and would later be named Chief Justice -- the house still has his writing desk. Mr. Camiña would tell you, however, that he would rather memorize everything than risk sensitive information.

Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the city on the way to Jaro and its cathedral, Sta. Isabel de Ungria Cathedral circa 1874 (incidentally, the saints here are all male), is Nelly Gardens, the Beaux Art mansion built by Don Vicente Lopez (with the help of Engr. Salas) for his wife Elena Hofileña, on what is now E. Lopez St.

It’s built on two hectares of riceland that was sold for a mere P1 per square meter, and it’s a unique combination of European-influenced architecture, using local tindalo wood in a rare shade of red for the floors and narra for the walls, floral murals from the House of Puyat instead of wallpaper, and a dining room that whispers southern gentility.

The mansion is a remnant of another time, when duennas would stay on the balconies and gossip about the party-goers dancing below, and children would be circumspect in the background until their official debut into society. The mansion would have been destroyed along with other homesteads burned during WWII to keep the Japanese army out, on orders from guerilla leader Gen. Macario Peralta, but overzealous looting and the timely arrival of the occupying forces prevented it.

To this day, Elena Lopez Jison-Golez, granddaughter of Don Vicente and current resident of this “living museum,” ironically states that “The Japanese saved this house.”

You’ll find a portrait of the young Elena done by Fernando Amorsolo at the parlor, also with its own ironic tale -- they were bought for P200 from the then unknown painter in Quiapo, who offered another painting up for sale that her mother refused. The painting is now the most sought-after Amorsolo, “The Burning of Manila.”
It is these stories that give character to Iloilo city and its inhabitants and that flesh out impressions for the visitor.

These stories also remind Ilonggos of their ties to the place, and why keeping heritage structures alive is just as important as building upon that thriving commercial and entertainment district they call Smallville, or the latest SM mall on what were salt beds once upon a time.

“We’re thinking of making local heritage part of the curriculum from grade school to university... we want this program to interpret local history and make it more relevant, because otherwise people would be familiar with national history but won’t even appreciate what’s around them,” Mr. Jamerlan said.

“We have to involve the community... especially the old citizens who are the caretakers of memory. They have to understand that heritage is for everyone, not just the upper 10%; everyone is a participant,” he added.

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