Valuing heritage in our midst

What would have been just another class reunion in Pangasinan turned out to be a trip beyond expectations.  We knew that our college classmate and host, Belle Ventenilla Arcinue, was keenly interested in local history and culture, but not to the extent of her current involvement.  It almost seems incidental that she is married to Roberto “Bing” Arcinue, the incumbent mayor of Sual.

After the mandatory introduction to Pangasinan’s regular boasts — the bangus harvests in Sual (Arabic for “port”), which account for 35 percent of the produce for Manila (we learned to identify the Bonuan bangus, which feed only on a particular plankton); the stunning sunset view of the salt beds in Dasol; the Hundred Islands and the luxury of picking the least visited of them — we proceeded to visit Lingayen’s heritage buildings.

This gained special significance in the context of lamentable news from Manila (including news of the intrusive high-rise in Rizal’s Luneta) and the provinces on heritage structures going the way of commerce.  Do we really need another mall? Surely, our well-travelled authorities have witnessed how the world’s cities they frequent take pains to preserve old buildings, taking pride in them?

But we were not prepared for what Lingayen had to offer. The Capitol Building, the seat of the provincial government, was designed by Daniel Burnham and built in 1918. In the same complex is the Urduja House, the official residence of the governor, named after the legendary warrior princess who is believed to have ruled the kingdom of Tawalisi.  The Sison Auditorium built in 1926 for the students of the Pangasinan Provincial High School, then the only high school in the province, has impressive interiors and is rightly called the Cultural Center of Pangasinan.

But the most anticipated of heritage buildings is Casa Real, a 1700s structure that metamorphosed through the Spanish and American periods.

This is a restoration project to which Belle Arcinue, the impassioned heritage advocate, has devoted all her waking hours. “My love for history, for stories of the past … made me desire to preserve anything that links us to the past,” she says. “I also want the young generation to know their history.”

And why not? Belle, after all, grew up in a home that valued antiquity. Her mother, the late Remedios S. Ventenilla, revived the tradition of hand-embroidering veils, and among the prized treasures in the ancestral home is a baul filled with her signed original designs. There is also a replica of the 1892 oil portrait by Dionisio de Castro of her paternal grandmother, Soteraña Puzon y Quintos, the original now housed in Manila’s MET Museum and featured in the Kayamanan coffee-table books.

It is hardly surprising that Belle swoons over Casa Real’s remaining original tiles, woodwork and stairway, which made it a grand and elegant building in its prime. It is said that when the delegates called by the Taft Commission wanted to move the capital to Dagupan, they were silenced when the Americans reminded them of Casa Real.

The Pangasinan Heritage Society (PHS) headed by Belle lobbied for its restoration as early as in 2001 when it faced demolition. The PHS succeeded in having the National Historical Institute declare it a historical landmark. With the support of then Gov. Victor Agbayani, plans were approved for it to house a museum, but there were no funds for restoration.

In 2010, Belle was appointed commissioner of the Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission, an umbrella organization that included the PHS. She had the provincial librarian’s recommendation because she was a regular researcher there. This gave her the chance to continue to rally for Casa Real through then Gov. Amado Espino Jr. (a known heritage buff who funded the initial phase), Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil, and the Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Administration of the Department of Tourism (for the current phase).

Without these vigilant guardians of heritage, Lingayen would have had another mall, indistinguishable from all other temples of commerce.

* * *

Neni Sta. Romana Cruz ([email protected]) is chair of the National Book Development Board and a member of the Eggie Apostol Foundation.