A Trip to Batangas

How important is mangrove planting? At first I don’t find the use of it, but when we went to Batangas I saw the Importance of it. There’s a town where they plant mangroves. Mangroves are very helpful in the place because they are near to the mouth of the sea. During high tide mangroves are the one that helps to block waves and support the soil. Some people only find mangrove as a good source of coal, that’s why they are trying to cut it just to make coals. Without it, flood might hit the place and probably it might the cause of landslide.

We go snorkeling and saw degraded corals in the near shore. Under water I saw trashes like diaper, junk food wrappers, and Yakult bottle. I think it is the reason why the corals are dying; the area is polluted with trashes.  The corals are not that colorful, they are color green and brown with Inch size fishes hiding in it.

We went for boat ride going to Binukbok Island where the marine life is preserved.  We went for snorkeling again and there the corals are huge and colorful; there are Brain corals sea anemones and other more species. We also saw a bunch of big and colorful fishes while feeding them. The Island is very clean and the water is calm. Corals are preserved and not destroyed that’s why a lot of different types of fish are present. I enjoy feeding them because you will see them around you.

I saw the difference of the two areas, I saw the beauty of the sea when we humans will clean and preserve the marine wildlife. If we will not take good care of our ecosystem this beautiful thing will not last for the next generation for them to see and appreciate it. 

~~preserve what we have for the future users ~~

Alberto and Hofileña

Alberto House and Ramon Hofileña Heritage House are similar, both of them are heritage houses but Alberto House is known because it is related to our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal while and Ramon Hofileña Heritage House is know because of the collections of paintings by famous national and local painters like Juan Luna. In addition they had the same issue of demolition however Ramon Hofileña Heritage House won the fight and prevent its demolition unlike Alberto House.   

 

Painting found in Ramon Hofileña Heritage House

Alberto House is located in Biñan Laguna it was built on 1755 during the Spanish era. The past owner of the house was Gerardo Alberto and it is now owned by a resort owner in Bataan while Ramon Hofileña Heritage House is located in Silay Bacolod and it was built on 1934. It was owned by Ramon Hofileña also known as the “Father of Heritage Conservation of Silay city”. Compared to Gerardo Alberto, Hofileña has a passion for culture, arts, history, expression and representation of a country.  

 

Ramon Hofileña Heritage House

On 2010 Alberto house started to be demolished without any government permit.  They started to dismantle the interior of the house where people won’t notice.  The government tried to negotiate with the owner but they didn’t receive any response.  The citizens and government officials of Biñan created a campaign to stop the demolition and the further destruction of the house.  Unlike Alberto House, Ramon Hofileña was able to prevent the demolition of the Ramon Hofileña Heritage House during the 70’s. Ramon Hofileña and some Silaynon (citizen of Silay) protested against the government about the road widening. Silaynon protested along the plaza because their own houses will be affected by this project, luckily they won the protest although the citizens of Biñan tried their best to preserve the house; sadly it was too late for them.  It is now collapsing because of unstable foundation of the house. 

 Alberto House

Alberto House and Ramon Hofileña Heritage House are houses that many people put an effort to. It doesn’t matter whether the other one was able to preserve and the other one doesn’t, what matter the most were the people who tried to fight to preserved the house.  Without them maybe both houses were demolish by now. 

Sources: 

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/294390/rizal-moms-house-crumbling-as-govt-inaction-lingers

http://ajpoliquit.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/hofilena-the-man-and-the-house/

http://www.dakbanwangsilay.com/content/hofile%C3%B1-heritage-house

Pictures: 

 http://thefilipinas.blogspot.com/2011/10/teodora-alonzo-house.html

 http://www.pinoytravelr.com/blog/hofilena-ancestral-house/

PRESERVE EVERYTHING WE HAVE

What is preservation? From the root word “preserve”, it is to maintain, sustain, protect, save, and to keep alive. For me, to preserve is something we do to give value to something that is very important for us, to sustain it for a long time for the people to remember.  

The Alberto house is important, not only for Biñan and the province of Laguna but also for the Philippines. The people should know the value of their heritage and the need to preserve it. Part of their memory will be gone if we won’t take part on preserving it.

Republic act no. 10066, this Act is also known as the “National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009”. Their objectives were to maintain the Filipino identity, and promote the nation’s cultural heritage.  The act states that, the demolition of structures at least fifty years old cannot proceed without the authorization of the “National Commission for culture and arts.”

The Alberto House is more than a century and they started demolishing it without any permit. On June 9, 2010 (Wednesday, 7 p.m), they held a campaign “Isang Gabi ng Dula, Awit, Sayawan, Atbp.” to save and to keep Alberto House.  It’s a cultural protest of condemning the demolition and transfer of Alberto House to Bataan. They protested in front of the house located at the plaza of Biñan. The city of Biñan stepped in and offered to purchase the house.

The “United Artist for Cultural Conservation and Development, City of Biñan, Inc.” has begun the fund raising efforts for the eventual restoration of the house and the city of Biñan Laguna pledges its full support for the restoration of the Alberto House. The local government is trying to gather 20 million pesos to revoke it in court, to give them the reputation to enter and to be able to intervene. 

Pictures from: June 9, 2009 (Before) and October 22, 2012 (After)

 

This shows how people wanted Alberto House to be preserved.  Together as a citizen of the Philippines, we should do something as a sign of support.  LET’S SAVE ALBERTO HOME!

 

Other sources: Ivan About Town. (2010, June 3). Save the historic Alberto House in Biñan, Laguna! Retrieved (2012, Oct. 23) from http://www.ivanhenares.com/2010/06/laguna-save-alberto-house-in-binan.html

Discover My Hometown

I went home to visit our house in Biñan last September 28, 2012. It’s been a month since the southwest monsoon hit the country. I saw cars were elevated only improvised boats made from water containers were used, thick and dirty mud, clogged drainage, plastics, junk food wrappers, and knee level flood. I can still remember the smell of the flood, it’s very nasty. It wasn’t like that before, I remember during this month, people who live in our subdivision used to stay outside of their houses in the afternoon because of the cold and fresh air. They even wear jackets, but now what I saw were those people wearing boots, walking in the flood just to cross the street. There were also some abandoned apartments, houses because of the flood; even my family evacuated the place for a while because we might get Leptospirosis, the illness cause by rat’s urine. I don’t know what kind of Christmas celebration the people will be experiencing this year if the flood won’t draw off.

2-3km away from our home is where the largest public market in the province of Laguna is located. It’s where most of the people had transferred during the flood. The place didn’t flood because of the large creek, near the old municipal hall of Biñan which is now the police headquarters. If you could only see of the municipal hall, it’s like an antique house with a modern twist design. In front of the old municipal hall was the Alberto – Alonso house, it is one of the historical land marks in Biñan. It wasn’t that famous, even I wasn’t aware that it was the old house where Teodora Alonso (mother of Dr. Jose Rizal) lived. The demolition of this house last year was a big mistake. The interior structure of the house was destroyed and many people protested against it, especially the students who live near that area. I was curious and intrigue by this issue and because of that I wanted to know more about it.