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.
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