Daily Diary: Day 2 - City Heritage Tour

Written by Chrishandra Sebastiampillai   

Pictures by Melissa Chia

     We were met by Mr. Eugene Jamerlan, who was to be our guide for the day.  He gave us a brief description of the history and geography of Iloilo, which he described as four separate towns joined together. We began where we stood, on the UPV campus grounds, which used to be the Iloilo City Hall, and was donated by the Mayor of Iloilo in the 1930s to ultimately become the city campus of UPV. The Mayor himself went on to become the Vice President of the Philippines. 

We really enjoyed ourselves

      We then boarded two jeepneys, and headed for Molo plaza. The square was originally the main trade area of Molo, and the area had a large Chinese community. Eugene brought a personal touch to the story, telling us that his great-great-grandparents were weavers from the Fujian province of China. Most inhabitants of the area have Chinese heritage. The Chinese concentrated their buildings around the plaza, with the proximity of each building to the plaza serving as an indicator of its owner’s importance in society.

    The church facing onto the square, St. Anne’s church, was commissioned by the local Chinese community. The town weavers were women who turned in times of difficulty to a variety of female saints for help and intercession. This is why the statues of the church are of women saints, and why the church itself is known to be the Feminist Church. When we arrived there, Mass was being said, and so we could not go into the church itself. 

     As we were walking towards our next destination, we passed the ruins of what must have been a beautiful house built in the 1800s. The house was a victim of the lack of heritage building conservation laws, and was largely torn down, with its wood and stone sold to private buyers. Since then, the City Heritage Board has been striving to educate families of the importance of preserving their family heritage. It was quite sad to see the abandoned shell of what was clearly once a splendid home and safe shelter of its family. 

     Walking along, we saw many examples of houses built during the sugar and weaving industry boom in Iloilo. They are made largely of wood with intricate carvings, especially at the second-storey level corners, where coconut oil lamps known as globo were hung. Weavers in particular tended to have multiple houses with looms surrounding a mother house, which controlled the operations.

And we saw these...

     We arrived next at the house of Raymundo Melliza, a friend whom Jose Rizal had visited while passing through Iloilo. It is believed that he may have been at the house to get a letter of recommendation from Raymundo to become a doctor in Cuba. We were immediately impressed by the massive posts of the house, made from entire tree trunks. Traditionally, the first floor of a house was used for storage, while the family lived on the second floor because of the frequency of flooding due to the area’s proximity to the river. The house is in its 4^th generation of family ownership. 

     Upstairs, two of our number, Jon and Lestari, had the opportunity to don clothing from the period of the Mellizas. For women, this traditionally consisted of several layers. First, a chemise, followed by a woven blouse of banana or pineapple fibre, an underskirt of silk, a decorative mantle covering the bosom and shoulders, and finally, an overskirt. Lestari commented that it felt bulky and uncomfortable. Jon wore a long sleeved shirt woven from the same material. Their costume was completed by accessories such as ornamental combs, scapulars and a rosary.

The Happy Couple

     The tour continued, with Eugene commenting on the high infant mortality rate of the time. It was common for large families of 16 to have only 5 children survive to adulthood, a fact which came as a shock to us all. Eugene explained that the chief cause of the infant deaths were water-borne diseases. Well water contaminated by river waste carrying typhoid and cholera killed many young children. On our way out of the house, we were very kindly served refreshing calamansi juice along with Sky Flakes by our hosts. 

We headed back to St. Anne’s Church to see if we could get into the church this time. When we arrived, we found that yet another Mass had started. Nevertheless, we were welcomed inside and handed song lyrics to join in. We went in, and spent a few minutes admiring the church interior and the lovely church choir.

Friendly neighborhood children waving us goodbye

     From there, we journeyed by jeepney to the Camina house, treated along the way to many smiling faces and waves. At the Camina house, we saw the looms of the weavers, as well as their products. We learnt how the shot silk method of weaving produced a two-toned effect on cloth. We also found that the intricate and lovely embroidery characteristic of the clothes made in the Philippines sometimes served a second purpose: reinforcement of the shot silk material.  We were lucky enough to meet the 5^th generation owner’s wife, who spoke with us for awhile, thanked us for our visit and explained some of the paintings on display.

    We proceeded upstairs to sit down for lunch. We were served a tasty wonton based soup called pancit molo. This lovely soup is usually made of pork, but we were served a special seafood and chicken version. This was followed by delicious hot tsokolate made with a batirol, and the Philippines’ version of biscotti. To drink, we had buko juice, or coconut water.

Pancit molo

     We then climbed aboard the jeepneys again, this time to go to the Araneta House, a lovely Hacienda which we all were very impressed by. Eugene told us that the name of the house changes from generation to generation as the house is named for the men, or the husbands of the household. Entrance to the house was originally by horse drawn carriage which would pull into the rear of the house through a pair of huge doors. Passengers would alight from the carriage and climb a grand wooden staircase to the main floor of the house.

     The house itself is decorated richly with wood carvings and patterned floor tiles. We climbed a spiral wrought-iron staircase, and then a narrow set of wooden stairs to the viewing deck of the hacienda. This deck would have provided a 360 degree view of the 150 hectare sugar cane plantation.  It provided us with much fun, and a lovely group picture!

     Eugene then took us to Casa Mariquit, which housed one of the early unofficial forms of banking. Loans were made available to people who put up their property titles as collateral. We had the opportunity to see the original vaults which were on the ground floor of the house.  The owner of the house, Don Fernando Lopez went on to become the Vice President of the Philippines. The second floor of the house is filled with photographs, awards, and other keepsakes from his time in office. 

    After that, we headed to the Plaza Libertad, which was the site of liberation from Spanish occupation. Across the plaza is the Iloilo City Hall, which houses a gallery and a rooftop view of Iloilo. Unfortunately, it was closed as it was Sunday. Nevertheless, Eugene took us behind the building and showed us three different buildings- that of a British trading company, a Spanish Colonial building that was once a hotel and was later converted into a hospital, and an Art Deco building. 

Thanks so much, Eugene!

     Eugene finally delivered us back to UPV, still smiling and pleasant as ever. He explained that his love for the city and being a guide came from his childhood. He was one of 11 children, and his parents and grandparents encouraged them all to take turns showing the city to various visiting friends and relatives. We are very thankful for his endless patience and boundless enthusiasm in teaching us about his city, and feel confident that his efforts will help preserve the wonderful historical buildings of Iloilo. 

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Chrishandra graduated from Monash University’s School of Arts and Social Sciences in November 2012, determined to go far in life.  She made it exactly three floors downstairs to the Advancement department where she is currently working till starting Honours in an office called ‘Relationship Management’.  Yes. Stop sniggering.