Of fires and our heritage houses

A. Paulita Roa .

THE fun that our city offers to our visitors is the eco-adventure kind of tourism and for this, we are proudly known as the “Whitewater Rafting Capital of the Philippines.” However, there is another aspect of tourism that needs to be given much focus and this is heritage tourism. It is a known fact that majority of tourists who visit any country is that after seeing and enjoying the popular tourist spots, they would like to know about the local cultural setting and lifestyle that is indicative of the place.

Here in Cagayan de Oro, we need to identify the heritage areas and structures that can be developed and promoted to tourists aside from our famous whitewater rafting or ziplining or bringing them to Camiguin and Bukidnon. For starters, let us look at the old houses in our city which many find as possessing unique architectural features that is distinctly Kagay-anon.

I am not talking here about century-old houses because we are fortunate enough to have only one — the Sia ancestral house that is over 120 years old. It is located on Hayes and Velez Sts.. A national historical marker was installed there in 2000 by the Historical Commission of the Philippines (formerly the National Historical Institute) for the important role this house played during the 1900-1901 Philippine-American War in Misamis Province. We also have the charming American style house of the Acero family that was built in the 1930s and this is along the Capistrano and Akut Sts. across the Pilgrim Christian College.

Our local history is replete with reports of big fires that happened in Cagayan. The first one was around 1624 when Cagaiang was still a new settlement by the river. Another big fire was reported in 1890, where it was written that many of the town’s big and beautiful houses were razed to the ground. The frequent fires was the reason why Don Tirso Neri, the first municipal presidente or mayor during the American colonial period, donated a strip of land known as Divisoria that will serve as a buffer or divider to prevent the fire from spreading around the town. The last big fire was on July, 1969 and true enough, the fire was contained in the area known as North Divisoria now the Tirso R. Neri St. and did not go across R.N. Abejuela St. or the South Divisoria.

Another big contributory factor to the loss of old houses and buildings was World War II. In May 1942, when the Japanese Imperial Army was finally able to break the stiff resistance of the American and Filipino soldiers, they entered Cagayan and torched it. And in September 1944, American planes repeatedly bombed the Japanese strongholds around Cagayan including the old St. Agustine Cathedral and the Bishop’s residence nearby. Teddy Bautista, renowned genealogist and member of our City’s Historical Commission, told me that when he and his family arrived in Cagayan during the liberation, they saw from the pier in Macabalan, the old water tower standing alone, and there were only around 10 houses and buildings that survived the war.

When the town was rebuilt after the war, many two story houses made of hardwood were constructed and it bore several designs that are uniquely Kagay-anon. These architectural features are something that you cannot find elsewhere in the country and even around Asia. – it consisted of wooden rounded corners and double roofings. It was Prof. Noel Alegre of the Capitol University who opened my eyes to these post war heritage houses with these distinct designs. His thesis for his Masters is all about them and only few of these have remained since he started his study. However, the Lim Ketkai ancestral house on Gomez and Burgos Sts. and the residence of Barangay 8 head Raleigh Velez on Burgos St. corner Borja St. are fine examples of this kind of architectural style.

Unfortunately, these wooden houses are privately owned and we cannot stop the owners from selling or from demolishing them. When that happens, our skyline will be similar to that of Cebu, Davao, and Manila — all tall concrete and glass buildings only. It is just a price that we all have to pay in the name of economic progress and urban development for we lose our heritage structures that is part and parcel of our cultural identity as a people.And what is left will be accounts or stories about those that we lost.

“The mere persistence of the printed word will not be sufficient to remind the younger generations of their heritage.” Dillion S. Ripley (1989)