December - January 2010

 

The beautiful old ‘ilustrado’ houses of UNESCO World Heritage town Vigan offer a stunning insight into life in the Philippines under colonial rule. Ces Rodriguez takes a trip back in time

The historic town of Vigan, the capital of of the northern province of Ilocos Sur, was once an island surrounded by three rivers – the Mestizo River on the East, the Govantes River running from the north and emptying to the South China Sea on the west, and the mighty Abra River.

Historian Augusto Villalon said: “Originally, Vigan was a triangular-shaped island reached by a causeway connecting it to Bantay, a town in the Ilocos Sur mainland. The causeway still exists but the rivers have silted over and Vigan is no longer an island.”

What it is, however, is “the best preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Southeast Asia,” according to UNESCO, which inscribed Vigan on its World Heritage List in 1999.

The recognition put the town on the tourist map. Lying 400 kilometers northwest of Manila, it has become a favorite destination for tourists, two million of whom visited last year.

It's not hard to imagine what it was like to live in this small town, built in the style of the Spanish colonizers in the 18th century – a central plaza consisting of the municipal hall on one end, and St. Paul’s Cathedral on the other, flanked by the Archbishop’s Palace, the seminary, and the Colegio de las Niñas, which today is St. Paul College.  Plaza Burgos, a second plaza, lies next to the cathedral.

Calle Crisologo, the main tourist drag, and one of the residential side streets radiating from the central are amazingly intact, although some of the houses and shops show the wear and tear of time. A few hundred meters long, Crisologo is the picturesque face of Vigan. Calesas, or horse-drawn carriages, the only mode of transportation allowed on the narrow street, clop across the cobbles (a recent conceit I later learn as streets weren’t cobbled during the Spanish period).

Ancestral houses stand on both sides of the road, their ground levels taken over by souvenir and antique shops. There’s a hotel on the strip and a funeral home that sells coffins airbrushed with clouds, praying hands, the crucifixion and Raphael’s famous Little Angels painting.

Our guide, tourism officer Jo-Anne Guttierez, says a few of the old families still live on the upper floors of the old houses. They are also responsible for the upkeep of their heritage homes. Otherwise, as in the case of an impressive if crumbling three-story house on Crisologo, which Jo-Anne  says fell into disrepair because of an unresolved family problem, the city government is empowered by law to expropriate the property.

Vigan takes its heritage status seriously. Jo-Anne  says the city has rejected the construction of a shopping mall, and a few of the national retail chains who’ve set up shop in the city have abided by the local government’s strict architectural provisions.

There are some 200 homes identified as heritage structures in Vigan. A few of them have not just retained their bahay na bato (old brick houses) exteriors, but the grandeur of its interiors as well. Among the most impressive are the Syquia and Quema Mansions.

Both homes typify the stone houses of the ilustrados in the 19th century. Ilustrados were the educated class and were composed of indios (pure Filipinos) and mestizos (Filipinos of mixed Spanish or Chinese parentage). Their houses reflected the mores and the levels of caste snobbery at the time, some of which prevail still today.
While the ground floor was used as a garage for horse-drawn carriages, it was also a way for the master of the house to determine the stature of his guests and receive them accordingly.

From the second floor antesala or foyer, servants would peer through a peephole fitted with a one-way mirror to see if those who came calling were even worthy to be led upstairs. If they were, guests would wait in the foyer, which overlooked a second peephole in the master’s bedroom. This way, the head of the household could instruct his servants if the guests were important enough to be shown to the living room.

This social order existed among servants as well. In both the Syquia and Quema homes (and tellingly, the Archbishop’s Palace), a second corridor or boladas ringed the main living spaces. They were to be used exclusively by servants who were expected to be as invisible as possible during the course of doing their chores. Still, there was a head servant called the namamahay who had exclusive access to his masters’ private quarters.
The way the rooms were laid out spoke of how Vigan’s old rich viewed their children. Girls’ rooms had a connecting door to the master bedroom – the better, it was said, for parents to ensure their virginal daughters remained virginal. Boys’ rooms, on the other hand, were in the opposite wing beside the library because boys were expected to hit the books and excel in school.

Even today, the strict order of roles and social rules linger. The Syquias, for example, objected strongly when their home was renamed the Quirino Mansion to honor former president Elpidio Quirino. Though Quirino held the highest office in the land, he was seen as simply marrying into the family when he took Alicia Syquia as a bride in 1922. The Syquias are descended from wealthy galleon traders, while Quirino’s father worked as a prison warden. The mansion reverted to its original name, and the late President’s memorabilia was confined to a museum on the ground floor garage.

The descendants of Vigan’s other wealthy families may have sought to expand their fortunes elsewhere, but were loath to sell their ancestral homes. In the case of the still grand, but more modest Arce Mansion, upkeep has been taken over by Lito Perez, a past president and chairman of the Fashion Designers Association of the Philippines.

Perez has opened Arce Mansion as a hotel for tourists who want to experience the grandeur of living in the 1890s, while sleeping in the 21st century comfort of rooms fitted with airconditioners and cable TV. The ground floor of the mansion has been converted into a modern dorm for budget travelers, with rows of charmingly mismatched beds (including simple curtained four-posters) and Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy prints on the walls. A door leads to a room bursting with historic costumes, which, for the price of the stay, you can use to play dress up and have your photo taken on the premises.

There are, however, grisly reminders of the violence that marked Vigan’s past. At the Arce Mansion, on the whitewashed walls just off the ground floor dorm, a series of black and white photographs show a frame-by-frame account of an assassination attempt on Imelda Marcos in 1972 by a bolo-wielding man during a public government function. The man was shot dead, and Imelda, wife of former president and native Ilocano Ferdinand Marcos, survived. The photographer who captured the incident was one of Perez's relatives.
The Burgos Museum, home of Father Jose Burgos, one of the three priests sentenced to die by garrote in 1872 on trumped-up charges of sedition, also houses a series of paintings by Vigan-born painter Esteban Pichay Villanueva. Commissioned in 1821 by the Spanish government, they depict the slaughter of Ilocanos who were caught revolting against the government monopoly on basi, sugarcane wine. The paintings, done in naïve style, served to warn locals about the consequences of uprisings. Experts say they also mark a milestone in the development of painting in the Philippines, which was, until that point, dominated by religious subjects.
Over at the Crisologo Museum, a glass case holds the bloodied clothes of former Congressman Floro Crislogo who was assassinated in 1970 while attending mass at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Photographs next to his clothes show the congressman slumped between church pews.

Ironically, given the violence, it was a gesture of pure love that supposedly saved Vigan from being burned down or carpet-bombed in World War II. According to tourism guide Jo-Anne Gutierrez, the Americans were ready to bomb Vigan because it was the headquarters of the Kempeitai, the military police arm of the Japanese Imperial Army. Forced into retreat, the Japanese were set to torch the town. However, Japanese military commander Fujiro Takahashi pleaded with Father Joseph Kleikamp of the Vigan seminary to take custody of the Japanese officer’s Filipino wife and their child. The priest agreed on the condition that Takahashi spare the town. The officer agreed and fled with his troops, leaving the town intact. The following day, the townspeople spread an oversized American flag in the plaza to stop the Americans from dropping their bombs.

The fortuitous (or apocryphal) turn of events may have spared many of Ilocos Sur’s Spanish-era churches as well. One of the most impressive is St. Augustine Church, the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity, Bantay, Ilocos Sur. Built in 1590, it was damaged partly in World War II and reconstructed in 1950. According to its historical plaque, the façade of the church is of “neo-gothic design mixed with pseudo Romanesque elements.”  There is a belfry, open to tourists, a few hundred yards away. Like St. Paul’s Cathedral in Vigan town plaza, most bell towers were built separately to keep them away from people in case they collapsed during frequent earthquakes.
Exterior buttresses, like those seen in St. Paul’s Cathedral and St. Vincent Church in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, also served to prop up the structures.

Some churches – like St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish in Santa Catalina, Ilocos Sur – are rife with legend. When the Spanish forces in Vigan sought further conquest, they crossed the Govantes River to a small island where they plowed inland. They came upon a spring, from which they took turns drinking, and then saw an apparition of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The spring was said to have healing powers. 


Essentials
How to get there
 It’s a 10-hour bus ride from Manila to Vigan so best to take the deluxe buses (P680) of Partas Bus with terminals in Pasay and Cubao, Quezon City. These buses make fewer stops.

Where to stay
Vigan Plaza Hotel (www.viganplazahotel.com) is in a good location in Plaza Burgos. An ancestral home, it has been sleekly modernized while retaining the core structure of the traditional house, with an open balcony on the second floor and a wide sala-cum-lounge. Single rooms are from P2,300 per night and family dorms for six are at P7,000. The rates include breakfast. There’s cable TV, wifi and aircon. Tel: +6377/ 722 1527; Email: viganplaza@yahoo.com
Villa Angela (www.villangela.com) is well-known for being the first heritage hotel in Vigan. It has seen its share of celebrity guests, from Tom Cruise to Piolo Pascual. There are four airconditioned rooms on the second floor and two dormitories on the ground level. Rooms start at P1,800 per day (high season). If you want a good breakfast of fried eggs, rice and tapa or cured meat and the famous Vigan longganisa, make prior arrangements with the caretaker. Tel: +6377/ 722 2914; Email: info@villangela.com

Grandpa’s Inn (www.grandpasinn.com) has an airconditioned Calesa Room that’s good for a family of four and features beds fashioned like traditional carriages. The rate is P2,130 per night. Standard aircon rooms for two start at P1,680 per night, and fan rooms from P896 per night. Tel: +6377/ 722 2118; Email: grandpas_inn@yahoo.com

Getting around
Tricycles are plentiful and a single trip costs from P10. You can rent a tricycle for a whole day’s outing by paying a negotiable fee. Make sure you arrange it in advance. Calesa rides around town are P150 an hour.

Where to eat
The empanadahan stalls at the edge of the town plaza serve the famous Vigan meat pies or empanada. At P30 a pop, you get an outsize pie with a filling of Vigan’s equally famous spicy longganisa (sausage), shredded green papaya and a raw egg yolk sealed into a rice-flour dough that’s deep-fried. For added zest, drizzle cane vinegar on it.

Café Leona on Calle Crisologo serves pizzas derived from traditional Ilocano dishes. The ‘Bagnet with KBL’ (P260) has toppings of cubed twice-fried pork ribs with KBL – kamatis (tomatoes), bagoong (fermented anchovies) and lasona (onions). The Pinakbet Pizza is strewn with vegetables associated with the stewed dish: eggplant, squash, patani beans, okra and string beans. Tel: +6377/ 722 2212

Kusina Felicitas inside Grandpa’s Inn serves heirloom Ilocano dishes like poqui-poqui, an omelet of grilled eggplant with bagoong (P75 and seasonal specialties like adobo nga abuos, mountain ants from the rain forests of Abra stewed in vinegar and soy sauce (available from March to June). Tel: +6377/ 637 8299

OTHER ATTRACTIONS
Baluarte. An 80-hectare property of gradually sloping grounds that has a zoo, except that the animals are made more at home by making their dwellings as close as possible to their natural habitat. Attractions include Petting Zoo wherein guests can interact and feed certain animals, mini horse rides, and close interactions with 8-10 exotic animals, a show offered four times a week. Taking photos is allowed. Admission is free. Visit www.chavitsingson.net/baluarte

Quema Mansion. By appointment only. Contact Vigan Tourism Office (+6377/ 722 8776)

Ruby Pottery. Features burnay or earthenware jars that are handcrafted utilizing anay or fine sand and cooked in a brick and clay oven. According to National Folk Artist Fidel Go, also owner of Ruby Pottery, pagbuburnay was first introduced in Vigan in 1890 by Pedro Go, a Chinese settler from Chinkian in Fukien, China. Although now commonly used as a decorative piece, burnay jars are actually the best in fermenting and significant for its cultural value. Burnay factories are found in Barangays VII and VIII.

Mindoro Beach. Located a few kilometers west of Vigan, this beach opens out to the South China Sea. Part of a rural fishing community, the beach here is pretty basically because it’s unspoilt. The water’s clean with friendly waves, and the sand is light grey, not fine, and with occasional pebbles, but is clean and inviting. Go on a weekday when the beach is at its most serene. Day huts are available with minimal fee.

Museo Nueva Segovia. Ecclesiastical art at the Archbishop’s Palace, Nueva Segovia Street, Plaza Salcedo. Open Monday through Friday from 8am to 12 noon and from 1pm to 4pm.

St.  Dominic De Guzman Parish Church in Santo Domingo, Ilocos Sur. One of Ilocos Sur’s biggest churches, it was built in the baroque style in August 4, 1742. Diego Silang, revolutionary leader who conspired to overthrow the Spanish government, was once the bell ringer here.
 San Vicente Church in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur was built in the 1790s. It was named after a winged statue found inside a box entangled in fishing nets. Unlike most churches in Ilocos Sur, its twin belfries are connected to the church.

St. Catherine Of Alexandria Parish Church in Santa Catalina, Ilocos Sur was said to have been built near the site where an apparition of St. Catherine manifested itself to Spanish expeditionary forces. The church has a bell made of copper and gold which was brought by the Spaniards in the 15th century.