Living in history: Baclayon residents in Bohol band together to save the town’s ancestral houses

Written by Marianne Tocmo

Saturday, 19 June 2010 17:30

Baclayon, in the eastern part of Bohol, is the first municipality established by the Spaniards where one can find the historic Baclayon Church, as well as many ancestral houses. Originally called Bacayan—because travelers used to detour (bacay) around a rocky cliff along the shore to avoid going over the top of the cliff—the town was founded in 1595 by two Jesuit priests, Fr. Juan de Torres and Fr. Gabriel Sanchez, who also built a stone church, which is considered the oldest stone church in the country. This sense of history isn’t lost on the town’s residents, who have formed a neighborhood organization, the Baclayon Ancestral Homes Association (Bahandi), which organizes various cultural events advocating the preservation of historical buildings in Baclayon. The group has found a supporter in philanthropist Bea Zobel de Ayala Jr. through the Ayala Foundation, which has helped mount these cultural events from traditional singing contests to fiestas. The association’s name, which means “treasure” in the local dialect, is composed of homeowners of Spanish colonial houses in Baclayon, who banded together to save their homes from demolition when the province embarked on a road-widening project in 2002. “Bahandi is more of an advocacy. We are focused on the homes. Ownership may change, but it is the home that we are protecting,” says Stelita Gonzaga Ocampo, the owner of the Villamor ancestral house. “The organization started with a struggle,” she recalled. “When there were already heavy equipment in front of us, that’s when we jolted. That’s the time we realized we cannot live knowing that the ancestral houses would not be there. This was not built overnight; it is a legacy, and we must preserve this legacy,” she recalls. “You could not claim Baclayon as an old town if there are no ancestral houses.” These ancestral houses, some constructed as early as 1853, are within walking distance of each other and the Baclayon Church. Bahandi has created a “home-stay” program that provides tourists not just with board and lodging but, more important, by working and living with a Boholano family, they get to know firsthand the Boholano lifestyle and culture. “Iba talaga mga bahay dito compared to Pampanga or Bacolod. Mansion kasi ’yung sa kanila. What we have here are vernacular houses, the working man house,” Ocampo points out. Built by a trader, Ciriaco Villamor, and his wife, Agrifina Buhion, the Villamor house in Bali-aut, Poblacion, Baclayon, Bohol, is one of the oldest ancestral houses in the town, having been built in 1895. With a rectangular geometric style, the two-story house was changed from nipa to galvanized iron because of a strong typhoon in 1986. “The ground floor before was a store, a garage and a bodega. But when one of the couple had a stroke, he had to be transferred down, that’s why downstairs there’s a room and a kitchen. The sisters of the Workers for Christ are occupying the area today,” Ocampo says. The entrance to the house is through a middle doorway and a wide wooden stairway—with steps, handrails and balusters all made of hardwood and top-floor rails with geometric designs—leads to the upper floor. The spacious living room is highlighted with wide windows with shutters that are made of wood and traditional capiz shells that allow light to come in even if closed. On one side of the room is a framed painting of the original couple, showing the matriarch donning a Maria Clara gown and the husband in barong Tagalog. On a far corner and above an old plain cabinet is a large laminated picture of the couple in their younger days. Another piece that grabs your attention upon entering the living room is a six-sitter antique table with carved armchairs. “The artifacts were preserved. As long as I can remember it’s already there except for the upholstered chair,” Ocampo says. The house has three bedrooms; one has two single wooden beds minus the mattresses with carved bedposts that are designed for mosquito nets. Two big wooden cabinets—one with a full-length mirror—are on one side of the room with a wooden table in between. Another bedroom has a metal bed with a mattress and metal bedpost for the nets. The metal holders are intricately designed, while the headboard is decorated with rose etchings. The dining room has a plain rectangular table and a side table with wooden trays and serving dishes. An open built-in cabinet displays the family’s white china collection. From the dining room, a doorway leads to the kitchen, with a beautiful floor of hardwood planks. “Old wood has really its own glow. Local artisans ang gumawa ng mga bahay before. Most of these carpenters came from Loon and Dauis [in Bohol]. No read, no write; just pure talent. That’s what we call vernacular architecture,” Ocampo explains. Indeed, Baclayon’s ancestral houses are living proofs of the Bol-anon ingenuity. The houses aren’t only witnesses of history but of Filipino talent. For Ocampo, the houses provide the opportunity not just to look back on the good old days, but to also get to know one’s roots. “With a fast-paced life, there will come a time that you would have to slow down. What is your story? This is my story. The ancestral home is my story,” she says.

Avida Land: Forever is where we’re meant to be

Written by Ramil Digal Gulle / Contributor

Saturday, 26 June 2010 17:56

I AM essentially a storyteller. And storytellers are, in a real way, keepers of our collective memories—hopefully, the memories that matter most and are most meaningful. And what are these memories, but threads that make up the tapestry, the story of our race? One story that I actually enjoy watching on TV is the story presented in, of all things, a commercial for a residential development. That Avida Land commercial just gets to me—it is, when you think about it, a distillation of the story of humankind and our collective aspirations for forever. I can only wish the wife and I would stay as happy, as radiant with love and companionship as the elderly couple in the commercial—who are shown reminiscing about how they built their life and their future together. Whoever invented marriage and family had the right idea. What better way to ensure the survival of our culture and civilization, our very species? Without marriage and family, we’d all be too busy with conquest, competition and instant gratification—all of which would end in futility. If we lived our lives without considering the impact on our children, who represent the next generation—then humanity is doomed. The philosopher Plato gave this advice: “There are four things, before he dies, that a man must do: build a house, father a son, write a book and plant a tree.” These four essential goals are meant to continue the story of humanity: providing a safe, secure home for the family; producing and nurturing offspring; preserving the sum of human knowledge; and preparing an ecologically sound future. Building a house, for instance, makes a home possible. And with a home, we begin a life-giving journey that launches us toward forever with our spouses and children, as shown in the Avida Land TVC. There are also other things I wish we could have forever, as I plod through middle age in the 21st century, amid blissful domesticity. Music, for example, is one thing I definitely wish would stay around. We can all probably survive and stay sane without television, without movies, and even without the Internet. But a life devoid of music—that would not be worth living. Imagine watching a film like Titanic or Avatar or even The Ten Commandments and 300 without music. Imagine going to a KTV place where people recited the words on the screen instead of singing them. I also hope that greeting cards do not disappear completely. It’s the same case for actual, handwritten letters that you send through the post office. There’s just something very heartening and solid about greeting cards and letters—in a way, they actually freeze a moment in time. Sometimes, these frozen memories include embarrassing moments, like all the love letters I sent to my girlfriend (now my wife). She reads those letters back to me—for fun—and of course, the words make my skin crawl; so I just cover my ears and scream. But I can’t just push a button and delete them. I have to physically destroy those letters if I want to get rid of them. Now, consider printed photographs: you may have a fancy smart phone, or a web-site that displays “photo albums” but a low battery charge and lack of Internet access will get rid of those albums fast. Anything that you can’t get rid of by pressing the “Delete” button just might be worth preserving. Then there’s Romance. When you’re middle aged, you might be slightly appalled at how youthful romance can happen through text messaging, chat, e-mail and social-networking sites. Does any young man still bother to actually visit the young woman’s house, meet her parents, etc.? I have high hopes that Romance will last—primarily because Filipinos are incurably romantic. And while our popular romantic figures have shifted from ordinary mortals to vampires that sparkle in the sun (this still bewilders me), I believe Filipinos, deep down, still expect to get into the whole courtship bit, which is the wiser course. I also pray that Honesty sticks around. Some say that honesty is a rare commodity these days—but I think most people still prefer to be honest than otherwise. The mistrust, cynicism and chaos that result from too much dishonesty will simply tear society apart. Think about it: if more people practiced honesty more often, so many of our problems would be solved. I’m happy to note that I’ve followed most of Plato’s advice, except the one about planting trees. I’m glad that I’m just one goal short of contributing to humanity’s quest for forever. By the way, if you ever get a chance to watch that Avida Land commercial, and feel a distinct, emotional tug—don’t ignore it. It’s likely your instincts telling you to continue the story of the human race by making your own journey toward forever—a forever spent with your loved ones and the things you should treasure the most. In Photo: Avida Towers Alabang was recently launched amid fireworks and glasses of wine at the Alabang Town Center in Muntinlupa. Ayala Land’s Bobby Dy (left), head of the Residential Buildings Group, and Antonino Aquino (third from left), president, were joined at the event by Avida officials Divine Lopez, president Leo Montenegro and Dez Cruz.

Cebu SMEs go green

Tuesday, 29 June 2010 23:58

SMALL and medium enterprises (SMEs) based in Cebu are now upgrading to green processes and products as the province bids to become a major source of eco-friendly home and lifestyle goods for the global market. Through a P75-million funding support from the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) and the German organization Sequa gGmbH, 450 Cebu-based SMEs are now getting free advisory services on sustainable consumption and production under the SMEs for Environmental Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency (SMART) Cebu project. The project officially started on Monday with the deployment of 15 energy-efficiency “counsellors” and 10 clean-production experts to guide the SMEs on how they can make their manufacturing processes cleaner and more efficient. “The P75-million SMART Cebu fund is a first-of-a-kind project in the Philippines that is aimed at launching Cebu in the global market as an upcoming source of green home and lifestyle products,” the ECCP said. The ECCP expects the project to provide a new foundation for Cebu’s future industrial growth and secure a new image for Cebu as the green export capital of the country. Direct beneficiaries of the project are SMEs in the furniture and furnishing business; fashion accessories; and gifts, toys and houseware. The project is expected to help Cebu industries enter new and fast-growing markets in Europe focused on green and sustainable-living products.

Nursing review’s entry in Cebu to bolster profession abroad

Written by Wilfredo Rodolfo III / Reporter

Wednesday, 30 June 2010 00:02

THE position of Cebu as a center for nursing education in southern Philippines is getting a boost with the continued entry of National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) review providers in the region. The issue on declining nursing graduate quality provided by some colleges and universities in the Philippines is making the role of these providers more vital, according to All Generation (Allgen) reviewer and chief executive officer Bella Portia Ross. Ross said although there are several outstanding universities and colleges offering nursing courses in Cebu, they should be supported by an equally good review center that will pave the way for the graduates’ landing promising jobs abroad, especially in the United States. “Cebu is the center of trade and industry for the southern part of the Philippines. The province has the highest standards in commerce and education. It also offers affordable university rates and produces quality graduates,” Ross said. She said Allgen can adequately and inexpensively house the nursing students across the southern Philippine region, as its facility in Cebu City in uptown Banilad area is within a secured environment, surrounded with numerous food and shopping outlets. Ross underscored that review centers are vital for aspiring nurses. “We need to challenge and inspire them. The students need to be offered the right curriculum, developed and properly reviewed with the highest standard.” Last year the American Hospital Association said more than 5,000 community hospitals in the US need 116,000 registered nurses. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics also projected a shortage of more than 1 million registered nurses by 2010. The demand for Filipino nurses abroad, especially in the US, is expected to surge in the coming years with US President Barack Obama’s signing into law the US health reform bill. According to Ross, Allgen will continue to make efforts to improve its award winning NCLEX review program that will maintain Cebu as a center for nursing licensure review and other overseas employment requirements such as IELTS, or the International English Language Testing System. The continuing demand for Filipino nurses abroad, specifically in the US, will underscore the need for nursing students and newly graduates to seriously study and review to pass any international licensure requirement such as NCLEX.

Government, groups create road map to make Cebu top BPO hub

Written by Wilfredo Rodolfo III / Reporter

Wednesday, 30 June 2010 19:50

THOLONS advisory group and the Cebu City government recently inked an agreement to create a road map for the city’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry as the region tries to position itself as one of the world’s biggest players in the sector. Tholons managing director for Southeast Asia Jonathan de Luzuriaga said the study has already commenced and should be completed by September this year. “The story of Cebu must be told to the world in such a way as to encourage investors,” de Luzuriaga said. “The study will tell what Cebu is capable of doing.” He said there is also a marketing component in the study where Tholons will assist Cebu in finding its niche and announcing it to the $50-billion worldwide industry. The study will also look at the talent pipeline in the city, the infrastructure available, and the marketing promotions of the city and the industry stakeholders. The UK-based company has named Cebu City as the number-one emerging BPO destination of the world for the second time since 2009. The P3-million project will be funded by the city and through contributions from BPO locators in Cebu, as well as telecommunications companies. This is the first time a study of such magnitude is done in the country. Metro Cebu takes some 20 percent of the total BPO industry in the Philippines, with some 40,000 employees working from call centers to software engineers to animators. Joel Mari Yu, director of the Cebu Investments and Promotions Center, which represents the city in the deal, said the study is essential for the city to grow as an investment location. “On our own, we know our strengths and weaknesses, but we need to see the needs of the world and what our competition is doing, that is what this study will tell us,” Yu said. “We want to know where Cebu is strong at, as we know we cannot be masters of everything. We will need to know why we’re doing what.” BPO stakeholders are excited about the study, especially as they push Cebu more on the higher-value services. Jerry Rapes, chairman of the ICT Congress held in Cebu last week, said Cebu has the capacity to focus on services that need fewer people but generate more revenues—like company backroom services to more technical works like software engineering. “We want to know where we are right now so we will know what to do to become a fully emerged BPO destination,” Rapes said. In Photo: With properties like the newly declared information-technology zone shown here, the Cebu Business Park in Cebu City is primed to become an international business-process outsourcing investments destination. This effort will be given more push with the upcoming study by advisory group Tholons, which will create a road map for the industry in Cebu. (Photo courtesy of Cebu Holdings Inc.)