Monday, September 8, 2008

Historical Structures and Places

Around Argao, other than the buildings with religious significance, are old stone and wooden structures that remain a stark reminder of Spanish and early American presence. These include hospital buildings, schools, government buildings, houses, and other structures worth mentioning. These structures worth visiting are the following: the site of the Former Maternity House, which was recently torn down so that its space could be occupied by the municipal government, where the legislative building now stands; The Municipal Building (Casa Real), which was built around the time of the foundation of the pueblo, and remains perhaps the only clay-tiled Spanish era municipal building still in use in the province of Cebu; Another historical building found inside the pueblo is the AFTA building which is being rehabilitated to serve as the Hall of Justice. Bantay Hari at Lawis, which, like those surrounding the church complex, was built to keep watch of Moro pirates.

Old houses also dot the main portion of the poblacion, as well as along the national highway. Although many of these houses are already in disrepair, most, if not all, can still be salvaged if the owners or the municipal government start to restore these venerable structures. The remaining old houses in Argao range from those built in the 1700’s up to the middle of the twentieth century. Topping the list of old houses is the “Balay na Tisa”, aptly called because of its tisa or terracotta and clay roof tiles. There seems to be some confusion as to the origin of this edifice; some say that it used to be the property of the Jesuits due to some carvings on the exterior of the house that may pinpoint to Jesuit influence. However, according to the Lucero family, the original owners of this house, it was built around the time of the building of the church of Argao, sometime in the middle eighteenth century. The Tisa House is the only remaining eighteenth century house that is still intact and being used. The other old houses include: the Socorro Villafuerte Kintanar House, which was built sometime in the middle nineteenth century as a wedding gift for Maria Lucero Cabrera and Cayetano Gumila, a Spaniard. The Calledo and the Gaudilla Regis Houses, both built in the middle nineteenth century and were known as hablonans, or where female Argawanons did their weaving; the Alacrez House, built in the 1880’s and which used to serve as a tabacallera; the Ruiz-Diaz House, built in the middle of the nineteenth century; the Alex K. Gonzales House, built in late 1800’s which played host to a gasoline company TEXACO, beer warehouse, and an ice plant before it was transformed into its present form, Alex Kafé; The other notable houses are the houses of Francisca Peña (1940’s), Alexandra Kintanar (1940’s), Atty. Kintanar (1940’s), Katalino Kintanar (1920’s), Redempta Kinatanar (1950’s), Camillo Semilla (1905), Aguilar family (1890’s), Precilla Lucero (1880’s), and the Padilla family (1900’s).

After a tour around the main pueblo, visiting these old houses and buildings, one could almost feel like being back in the Spanish era.

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