Learning from Vigan

Raul Ilogon .

MY first time in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, was in the summer of 1983. I was studying in Manila. I took a 12-hour long land trip to visit my father who was a consultant of a tomato processing plant in Paoay, Ilocos Sur. The tomato plant was owned by the Marcos family and managed by Cris Barrameda, now the owner of Abba’s Orchard School in Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon.

Back then, there was nothing much to see except century-old houses, garlics, unions, tobaccos and weaving products. Some ancestral houses were in sorry and dilapidated state. The inside were stripped clean by antique raiders and Imelda’s blue-ladies.

I was back last week after 33 long years. We were sent by Gov. Bambi Emano for a bench-marking visit for Misamis Oriental tourism and culture council headed by lawyer Jeff Saclot.

Bench marking is about comparing our performance to that of Vigan which we considered as having the best tourism practices. Lessons learned here will be used for our next task, the heritage mapping of Misamis Oriental.

Heritage mapping is a process of identifying our cultural and natural heritage. We will be evaluating tangible and intangible assets like the dances, songs of the Higaonon and other traditional practices of Misamis Oriental. Tangibles are century-old houses, churches, structures, waterfalls, scenic land forms, etc..

The product of heritage mapping will be used for the preservation and development of Misamis Oriental’s cultural heritage assets.

So much has changed since I was last there. The grandest of all changes was recognization by Unesco as the world new 7th wonder city. Vigan’s century-old ancestral houses were unique and cannot be compared anywhere else in the world because the style and architecture were not purely Spanish. It is mixed with Asian influences.

But there is more to it than century-old houses and cobble stone streets. In Vigan, anywhere and everywhere you look, hear, eat and drink is heritage — both tangible and untangible. Their tourism products are too many to mention here but let me try to list down a few:

• well-preserved century-old ancestral houses, government buildings and structures like monuments and parks; antique furnitures were in every corner and space; 200-year-old paintings and memorabilia hanging on the wall;
• five hundred-year-old churches, convents and bell towers — even the walls were century-old;
• antique furnitures, kitchen utensils, dining sets were a plenty; a wooden refrigerator was most peculiar;
• century-old animal-drawn carriages, from simple farm caromata to luxurious Cinderella carriages and vintage automobiles are displayed in museums;
• antique wooden farm equipment for tobacco, sugarcane and cloth waiving were well-preserved.

There are four official museums in less than a kilometer radius from each other and a new one which is not open to the public yet. But the city government has graciously opened for us. It has state-of-the-art interactive visuals and presentations. The artworks were extremely empressive.

Establishments, restaurants, hotels, coffeeshops and fastfood chains like Jollibee were designed and decorated like museums. It was so strange seeing a store in a hundred-year-old building selling modern gadgets.

Ilocano food and delicacies were a mouthful. After having tasted Basi, Ilocano’s alcoholic drink made from sugar cane, I too would have joined the  historic Basi rebellion against the monopolizing Spaniards.

Vigan history is rich and heroic. It was a hot bed for rebellion and dissent against the ruling Spaniards. It was the birthplace of Diego and Gabriela Silang. Fr. Burgos of Gomburza was born and raised in Vigan. When Americans invaded in 1900, the patriots fought so well that when more American troops arrived to retake the town, they spent days burying their dead and treating the wounded.

Their World War II history was a sweet love story between a Japanese officer and a local lass. Their love for each other was so great that he agreed to withdraw his troops without destroying the town. Without this love affair, there would have been no Vigan as the new 7th wonder city. Unlike Cagayan, Misamis Oriental, and other towns and cities, big houses and structures, including the cathedral, were bombed and burned to the ground.

That was my tour of Vigan. I would like to end with a statement by the young (only 35 years old) and dynamic mayor of Vigan, Juan Carlos S. Medina: “Hindi naman amin ’to. It all came from the people. We just listened and implemented what they wanted.”