looking back
One of my best friends was in town recently for some R & R and part of her agenda was to retrace her Cebuano roots. Her father is a Cebuano who settled in Manila and married a Batanguena. The siblings rarely hear from their Southern relatives and are keen on retracing their roots since they recently discovered that a branch of the family is related to a National Hero.
So that Saturday afternoon, we went to Carcar City, 45 minutes away down south from Metro Cebu and looked for her relatives. It was a pleasant experience for us as we interviewed some people about the history of the prominent families from that place. No, we were not after family controversies, though we learned some of their colorful pasts. But we don’t know who should we look for instead we went to Balay na Tisa and interviewed the caretaker. The Balay is preserved as it was 100 years ago. i think the lady of the house was fond of the romantic Victorian era which is quite obvious if you inspect the decors inside. The photo above is just one of the numerous antique curios around the Balay.
The house was declared by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines as a heritage house last September 2009. I’ll post more about the house later. Meanwhile, as the afternoon sun peeked through the window, enjoy the photo.
