Sunday, August 31, 2008 Romance with the past By Jenara Regis Newman
VAL Sandiego, known in the community as dancer, choreographer, and dance maestro who specializes in native dances, is also deeply religious, has a special love for his heritage. So when what is known as the oldest house in the Philippines, situated at the corner of Mabini and Lopez Jaena streets, came into his hands, it was like a gift from above.
The house “fell” into his hands in portions. He got the first third of it from his uncle Tinoy Sandiego in 2002, who, without being asked, gave Val his share of the house. The second third came shortly after, when his aunt Coring Maravilla gave him her share of it. He bought out his Tia Loling so he could have the whole place and develop it to what it is today.
But first, he had to pay the back taxes! It was only after the taxes were paid and the title safely in his hands that Val began slowly, as funds permitted, to restore the house, researching the internet to help him repair or replace or strengthen the roof’s clay tiles, the flooring, the stairs, posts and cross beams and even the limestone blocks.
The house, is styled after the bahay kubo, sans ceiling and transformed to what it is today with the building materials available in that long-gone period. It is believed that it was a Yap family home. Val’s great, great grandfather, Don Mariano Sandiego, came to Cebu from Obando in the late 1800s and married Maria Yap and settled in this house. It was a time when capiz shell windows were not yet in use and so the windows are made of wood planks; no ventanillas, either, just wide, wide windows.
In restoring it, Val removed all existing partitions, like a big nipa hut, so that it would seem to be just one big sala-cum-dining room, upstairs and downstairs. It is furnished with antique wood furniture with crocheted curtains and tablecloths, santoses, ceramic ware of the Sung, Ming and Yuan period, mantavan and sukada jars. Being in the house can make one feel like living in a time warp, when households needed a banggera, and out in the garden, a well for the household water needs.
Now known as the Yap-Sandiego Heritage House, the place hosts regular activities that recall the lifestyle of yesteryears. The pasyon is read every Passion Sunday. Val has a Santo Niño exhibit in January, a celebration of the Parian fiesta (the feast of St. John the Baptist) in June and also in June, a celebration of Independence Day where Sandiego dancers stage a cultural show. And in December, it is the center for the preparation (and the props) of the dawn procession at the Metropolitan Cathedral Misa de Gallo.
Val hopes for more activities in the area, like afternoon tartanilla rides to the museums located in the downtown area, and a café-cum-souvenir shop for tourists. In the meantime, the Yap-Sandiego Heritage House is open to the public, by appointment, for tourists and for small gatherings.
