Iloílo & Panay Island Heritage Watch

[habagatcentral1]

LOOKING BACK
The oldest golf course

By Ambeth Ocampo

ON a flight to Iloilo province recently, I was surprised to find former President Fidel V. Ramos in the economy section with me. Everyone wondered why Ramos was not upgraded to the business class section, which was half-full. Surely, he was more of a VIP or “VVIP” than the members of the fact-finding mission investigating the police siege of the Iloilo Capitol.

Ramos did not seem to mind. He carried his own bag, unlike the trying-hard VIPs with aides in dark glasses carrying their things. Ramos did not travel with security. He clowned around, and gamely posed for souvenir pictures. Passengers who saw him on a crummy aisle seat, two rows from the toilets, saw a man who was sure of himself, someone who by example demonstrated what true VIPs are like.

The sight of Citizen Ramos that day also showed me what it is like to be out of power. When this man was president, everyone crowded around him. Where are half of those people today?

Ramos traveled to Iloilo to play a round of golf in what has recently been acknowledged as the oldest existing golf course in the Philippines: the former Santa Barbara Golf and Country Club that has been known as the Iloilo Golf and Country Club since 1947.

Of course, there are other more famous clubs, like the Muni (short for Municipal) Golf course around Intramuros, Manila Golf (in Makati), Wack-Wack in Mandaluyong and, of course, the Baguio Country Club, which celebrated its centennial last year. All these clubs have golf courses that were set up after that in Iloilo.

It seems that in 1907, British engineers of the Philippine Railway Co. decided to play golf in Santa Barbara, a town about 15 km from Iloilo City. The American colonial government had planned a railway in Panay Island that would run from Iloilo to Capiz (now Roxas City), but what got established in the process was the golf course. One thread that requires further research is that Englishmen who worked in railroad construction in the Philippines were into golf. When Ramos told me that there was an old but underdeveloped golf course in Pangasinan, I wondered whether this could be linked to the construction of the Manila-Dagupan Railway.

The original course was a crude nine-hole field of about 2,000 yards close to the railway construction site. It is said that Scots were the first golfers there, and the other British railway engineers followed suit. We don’t know their backgrounds but three of the founding members were John Grieve, G. Alexander and a certain E. Black, who helped design Wack-Wack. A club grew out of the golf course and, of course, this was exclusive to expats in the beginning, but by 1920, Filipinos were allowed to join the club. Some prominent members were Tomas Confesor and the Lopez brothers, Eugenio and Fernando.

This club was also the first Philippine-based golf club accepted as an affiliate of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in Scotland which was established in 1754 and is now considered the mother of all golf clubs. And to further validate its position as the oldest golf club, they have managed to preserve some memorabilia like beat-up trophies, silver cups like one given out by General Motors in 1927 and six ancient golf balls found in the water hazard during dredging operations in 1980. Two of these are rubber “gutta percha” golf balls of unique design. One is a Spalding, and the other a Wright Ditson, but what makes a historian or archeologist swoon is one that is marked “Pat. April 11, [18]99.”

I gave up golf many years ago because I could not wake up early enough to play a round with my parents, particularly my mother who played at dawn to avoid sunburn. Visiting this golf club made me reconsider a return to the driving range first and the golf course later so I can try and win some research money playing with FVR.

Filipinos are a sport-loving people and I wouldn’t be surprised if there will be research to establish the beginnings of basketball, "sipa," badminton, swimming, or football. So far, golf already has its place in history and the next thing to do would be to find out if there were historical events that happened in particular golf courses. For example, there was the failed assassination attempt on Jose P. Laurel in Wack-Wack. Then there were historical people who played golf. How did they play? What was their handicap?

What about those who are remembered for playing badly? For example, I have never attempted to tee off in Baguio Country Club Hole No. 1, fearful of the spectators having breakfast or lunch at the verandah. How about incidents that can get you a prize for funny videos? A Japanese academic gifted me with an NHK video documentary on the Philippines, and from what I could make out of the pictures rather than the sound, it had something to do with Philippine society in the post-Ferdinand Marcos or the Cory Aquino period. The only part I enjoyed and understood was the part showing Fernando Zobel de Ayala doing a butterfly on film and having it recorded for posterity.

History, it seems, can be found in the most unlikely places. It may not always be about battles, massacres and the (mis)deeds of great men but also about the establishment of golf courses or even restaurants.

Source: Inquirer.net

Appeared in Inquirer 01.26.2007


Courtesy of The News Today (appeared 01.26.2007)


Courtesy of Chymera00 of ExploreIloilo

[Ratoncito]

CIUDAD DE LAS ARTES, VALENCIA, SPAIN

Os adjunto una muestra del vanguardismo en arquitectura española en la ciudad de Valencia.

Saludos

[Ratoncito]

AEROPUERTO DE MADRID BARAJAS, TERMINAL INTERNACIONAL

Espero que os gusten estas fotos de la terminal internacional del aeropuerto de Madrid Barajas

Saludos

[lewdsaint]

Ratoncito, what are the significance of your posts here?

[sugarboy]

Originally Posted by berniemacksouthcentr

LOOKING BACK
The oldest golf course

By Ambeth Ocampo

ON a flight to Iloilo province recently, I was surprised to find former President Fidel V. Ramos in the economy section with me. Everyone wondered why Ramos was not upgraded to the business class section, which was half-full. Surely, he was more of a VIP or “VVIP” than the members of the fact-finding mission investigating the police siege of the Iloilo Capitol.

Ramos did not seem to mind. He carried his own bag, unlike the trying-hard VIPs with aides in dark glasses carrying their things. Ramos did not travel with security. He clowned around, and gamely posed for souvenir pictures. Passengers who saw him on a crummy aisle seat, two rows from the toilets, saw a man who was sure of himself, someone who by example demonstrated what true VIPs are like.

The sight of Citizen Ramos that day also showed me what it is like to be out of power. When this man was president, everyone crowded around him. Where are half of those people today?

Ramos traveled to Iloilo to play a round of golf in what has recently been acknowledged as the oldest existing golf course in the Philippines: the former Santa Barbara Golf and Country Club that has been known as the Iloilo Golf and Country Club since 1947.

Of course, there are other more famous clubs, like the Muni (short for Municipal) Golf course around Intramuros, Manila Golf (in Makati), Wack-Wack in Mandaluyong and, of course, the Baguio Country Club, which celebrated its centennial last year. All these clubs have golf courses that were set up after that in Iloilo.

It seems that in 1907, British engineers of the Philippine Railway Co. decided to play golf in Santa Barbara, a town about 15 km from Iloilo City. The American colonial government had planned a railway in Panay Island that would run from Iloilo to Capiz (now Roxas City), but what got established in the process was the golf course. One thread that requires further research is that Englishmen who worked in railroad construction in the Philippines were into golf. When Ramos told me that there was an old but underdeveloped golf course in Pangasinan, I wondered whether this could be linked to the construction of the Manila-Dagupan Railway.

The original course was a crude nine-hole field of about 2,000 yards close to the railway construction site. It is said that Scots were the first golfers there, and the other British railway engineers followed suit. We don’t know their backgrounds but three of the founding members were John Grieve, G. Alexander and a certain E. Black, who helped design Wack-Wack. A club grew out of the golf course and, of course, this was exclusive to expats in the beginning, but by 1920, Filipinos were allowed to join the club. Some prominent members were Tomas Confesor and the Lopez brothers, Eugenio and Fernando.

This club was also the first Philippine-based golf club accepted as an affiliate of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in Scotland which was established in 1754 and is now considered the mother of all golf clubs. And to further validate its position as the oldest golf club, they have managed to preserve some memorabilia like beat-up trophies, silver cups like one given out by General Motors in 1927 and six ancient golf balls found in the water hazard during dredging operations in 1980. Two of these are rubber “gutta percha” golf balls of unique design. One is a Spalding, and the other a Wright Ditson, but what makes a historian or archeologist swoon is one that is marked “Pat. April 11, [18]99.”

I gave up golf many years ago because I could not wake up early enough to play a round with my parents, particularly my mother who played at dawn to avoid sunburn. Visiting this golf club made me reconsider a return to the driving range first and the golf course later so I can try and win some research money playing with FVR.

Filipinos are a sport-loving people and I wouldn’t be surprised if there will be research to establish the beginnings of basketball, "sipa," badminton, swimming, or football. So far, golf already has its place in history and the next thing to do would be to find out if there were historical events that happened in particular golf courses. For example, there was the failed assassination attempt on Jose P. Laurel in Wack-Wack. Then there were historical people who played golf. How did they play? What was their handicap?

What about those who are remembered for playing badly? For example, I have never attempted to tee off in Baguio Country Club Hole No. 1, fearful of the spectators having breakfast or lunch at the verandah. How about incidents that can get you a prize for funny videos? A Japanese academic gifted me with an NHK video documentary on the Philippines, and from what I could make out of the pictures rather than the sound, it had something to do with Philippine society in the post-Ferdinand Marcos or the Cory Aquino period. The only part I enjoyed and understood was the part showing Fernando Zobel de Ayala doing a butterfly on film and having it recorded for posterity.

History, it seems, can be found in the most unlikely places. It may not always be about battles, massacres and the (mis)deeds of great men but also about the establishment of golf courses or even restaurants.

Source: Inquirer.net

Appeared in Inquirer 01.26.2007


Courtesy of The News Today (appeared 01.26.2007)


Courtesy of Chymera00 of ExploreIloilo

nice post

pamatuod gid nga samtang naga piko kag pala ang iban, kita ya nga Ilonggo naga golf na

[Pacific_leopard]

cool...

[habagatcentral1]

image hosted on flickr

Monument of Nicholas Loney.

Known as the "Father of Modern Suagr Industry in the Philippines

[IMPRESARIO]

Yup thats typical of our Heritage sites and Monuments, they are not maintained well or are left in a decreped state, waaahhh

[habagatcentral1]

image hosted on flickr

Mansion de Lopez-Vito en Jaro

Old City Hall of Jaro (now Police Precint 3)

image hosted on flickr

Manifesting its Art-Deco Features

[overtureph]

The old Oton church interior.

[death327]

oh my gosh where did you get this?

[death327]

I have to post this... !

------------------------------------

BRIDGING THE GAP
By Henry F. Funtecha

Business establishments at Muelle Loney & other streets, 1920s

In the 1920s, based on the 1927 Iloilo Telephone Directory and other printed materials at that time, many commercial establishments at the pier and even on the shorter side streets of the city advertised themselves. In Muelle Loney, the leading firms were the Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas, Lizarraga Hermanos, Koppel Industrial Car & Equipment Co., Pacific Commercial Co., Warner Barnes & Co. Ltd., Smith Bell & Co. Ltd., Sing Joco & Co., and the Visayan General Supply Co. Inc. They were either Spanish, Chinese or European-owned.

Calle Progresso (now De la Rama St.), on the other hand, was the site of the oldest banks in the country -- Banco Las Islas Filipinas and the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank. The other business firms operating in the street were: F.E. Zuellig Inc., Lizares & Co. Inc., De la Rama Steamship Co., Strachan & McMurray, Vacuum Oil Co., Warner Barnes & Co. Ltd., and Wise & Co. Ltd. (Texas Co. P.I. agent).

Other business establishments and agencies that advertised themselves were those found at Ortiz, Arroyo, Solis and Arsenal streets. Those at Ortiz Street were the Asiatic Petroleum Co., Certeza Surveying Co., Iloilo Business Agents Inc., Iloilo Club, Ker & Co., Kuenzle & Streiff Inc., and Nestle & Anglo-Swiss Milk Co. while those at Arroyo Street were the Bio Guan & Co., Chian Sing Co., Kian Chiong Co., V.Y. Suajico & Co., and Woo Sing & Co. which were all Chinese-owned. Only one at Solis Street advertised itself and this was the Asian Lumber while two were at Arsenal Street — Kwong Wah Yuen & Co. and Teal Motor Co. On the other hand, McLeod & Co. Inc. which was engaged in machinery, shipping, and insurance, and the Visayas Printing Co. were situated at Blumentritt Street. The Singer Sewing Machine Co., on its part, was operating at General Hughes Street.

The perimeter around Plaza Libertad was the location of many business establishments. Among them was the Manuel Trading & Supply Co., distributor of Lincoln and Ford cars, as well as Fordson tractors. Then there were the Ayala Distributors, Bachrach Motor Co., Dollar Steamship Line, Centro Catolico de Iloilo, Iloilo Sheet Metal Banks, and Woelti & Habluetzel. The two prominent hotels -- Iloilo Hotel and Plaza Hotel -- were operating here, together with the Plaza Cafe. There were also two firms engaged in transportation found in the area -- the Manzano Garage and the Vidal E.B. Service Garage.

Connected to a point in Plaza Libertad is Calle Rosario. It was here that the famous exclusive club, the Casino Español, was found. Two other transportation firms were operating here, the Oriental Park Stable & Garage and the Park Livery Stable & Garage.

Meanwhile, a number of Chinese-owned establishments were doing business at Aldeguer Street. They were Hong Wo & Co., Kuan Wing & Co., Kwong Sew Wing & Co., La Manzana (owned by Guando & Co.), Tan Boon Kong & Co., and Wong Ahang & Co.

Finally, in Calle Santo Niño (now Guanco Street) can be found Cine Lux, the House of Universal Pictures. It was also where Clarkes Inc., Filma Mercantile Co. Inc., Iloilo Ice Cold & Storage Co., Menzi & Co. Inc., Panay Telephone & Telegraph Co., and Standard Oil Co. were doing business.

As gleaned from the above, there were so many business establishments operating in Iloilo during the 1920s, even in the less prominent streets of the city. These are indications that business opportunities were at their peak during this time when Iloilo was the "Queen City of the South". Many of the commercial firms were owned by foreigners -- Americans and Europeans -- an implication that, indeed, Iloilo at that time was a very attractive investment area in the Philippines.

[IMPRESARIO]

Originally Posted by overtureph

The old Oton church interior.

kanugon, naguba ini, it would've have been grand.

[IMPRESARIO]

Lines Across Time: An architectural journey


A plan for a house of a government official. Such
houses served as residences and offices.
Architects of the period made sure these structures
were spacious and airy, with large windows and
courtyards that provides breathing space and
adequate ventilation.

The streets of Vigan and Iloilo along with the archaic infrastructures and majestic century-old houses reminds us of the suffering we have endured and the glory we have won under the Spanish regime. The remarkable structures remind us not only of the Spanish colonization but of Malay, Hindus, Chinese and Japanese influences on our architectural patterns.

Lines Across Time, an exhibit of photographs depicting the Filipino lifestyle during the later years of the Spanish colonization, will be at the Museo Iloilo this coming February 12 to March 3 of this year. Heritage genius Toti Villalon has worked together with creative director Teresa Custodio and model artist Ignacio Perez to show how the Philippine life was changed by the transformation brought about by Spanish colonization. The show has three parts -- House, Infrastructure and Everyday Life.


con'd: http://www.thenewstoday.info/2007/02...l.journey.html

kanugon, i leave for manila on the 12th, hope our iloilo based forumers can check this out. wink wink

[habagatcentral1]

Originally Posted by soulmaker27

oh my gosh where did you get this?

I think there is one in Center for West Visayan Studies in UPV.
@Overturph, where did you get this?
@Animo, do you have access to some of the archives of 19th to early 20th century churches?

[Animo]

It was Overtureph. Whats the official name of the church in Oton? I might be able to find more information.

Salamat usab!

[habagatcentral1]

Originally Posted by Animo

It was Overtureph. Whats the official name of the church in Oton? I might be able to find more information.

Salamat usab!

Today, its the Parish of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception

[overtureph]

I got that from another forum like thread. I think it is also included in Trota Jose's book Simbahan.

[habagatcentral1]

Iglesia de Santa Ana
(Molo Church)

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


It was first constructed made out of wood and was replaced as a church made of nipa by P.Jose Ma.Sichon in 1863. The plan to construct a stone church was laid out in 1866 and was approved by Bishop Mariano Cuartero in 1869. The current church has a architectural style of Gothic-Rennaisance and was established immediately after it was approved and honored in the name of Saint Anne. It is also known as "Women's Church" because there are 16 statues of women saints inside the church. Dr. Jose Rizal visited the church because of the Biblical paintings in 1896. It became an evacuation center in World War II and was partially destroyed during the "Liberation". It was restored by Rep. P.Manuel Alba with the help of the community after the "Liberation".*

Ini sa una ay gintukod himo sa tabique pampango kag atup nga tisa kag gin-islan sang nipa ni P.Jose Ma.Sichon sang tuig 1863. Ang plano sang pagtukod sang simbahan nga bato ay ginhimoi sang tuig 1866 kag gin-aprubar ni Obispo Mariano Cuartero sang tuig 1869. Ang simbahan kinaron ay me ara nga istilo arkitektural sang Gothic-Rennaisance kag ginpatukod sa gilayon nga ginaprubar kag ginhalad sa ngalan ni Santa Ana. Kilala man ang simbahan sa hayu nga "Simbahan sang mga Babayi" tungod sa 16 ka mga santo nga bayi ang yara sa sulod sang simbahan. Nag-agi sa simbahan si Dr. Jose Rizal tungod sa mga Biblikal nga Pinintura sang tuig 1869. Nagin sentro sang ebakwasyon ini sang Ikaduhang Inaway sang Kalibutan kag pihakang nag-guba sang tini-on sang "Paghilway". Ini gin-kay-o sa idalum sang poder ni Rep.P.Manuel Alba kaupod sang bulig sang komunidad pagkatapos sang "Paghilway".*

-*National Historical Insitute. As indicated in the plaque. Translated in English and Hiligaynon. Please check if there are errors in translation.

[habagatcentral1]

Plaza Libertad Ciudad Iloilo

image hosted on flickr




Information in the plaque.

Monumento sang Kaisug sang mga baganihan sang Panay. Diri nag-tingub kag nagsaka sang hayahay sang pungsod Pilipinas ang Pwersang Rebolusyonaryo na ginapangunahan ni Hen. Martin Delgado. Tanda sang katapusan sang gamhan sang mga Katsila sa Panay, ika-25 sang Disyembre tuig 1898.*

Ginatawag sadto ang Plaza Libertad nga "Plaza Alfonso XII". Diri nagyanib ang Pwersa sang Katsila sa mga Rebolusyonaryong Ilonggo dason. Diri nagtapos ang gamhan sang Katsila sa Asya kag ang Dakbanwa sang Iloilo ang nagin Pangulihi nga Kabisera sang Imperyo sang mga Katsila sa Asya.

*Translated from NHI Plaque to Ilonggo/Hiligaynon.