Family, love and legacy
Someone once said, “We are defined by what we love.”
Imagine yourself driving down the SCTEX highway enroute to the rural town of Porac in Pampanga, a mere 2.5 hours north of Manila, passing by provincial landscapes of old and new homes that punctuate your transit. While you’re driving through rough gems, you suddenly discover a polished diamond in an impressive, one-of-a-kind boutique hotel called Casa Laguerta. What seems like a dream come true is actually a wish fulfilled. Who would ever imagine in a corner of the world, one would stumble on this haven, a prophecy of love and legacy?
For the illustrious Dizon clan of Porac, their love for family, legacy and heritage is what defines this creative creation designed and executed by architect/designer par excellence, my dear cousin Danny Dayrit Jota.
This dream for Casa Laguerta — laguerta means a small lot in a farm — did not take place without challenges. The enchanting boutique hotel came to evolve from what started as a debut venue and party place that paved the way for Roadside 9, the Japanese restaurant and bar.
After a few months, another idea emerged for the seven-hectare property: the Kapampangan restaurant and grill named Nasi Ya. Local and visiting patrons have become regulars in the back-to-back festival of complementing flavors. Fresh sashimi, sushi and a variety of ramen offerings have counterparts in native binulo, buro and lengua, among many more specialties from the cleanest kitchens in Pampanga, where home garden produce is served with exceptional courtesy and cheer. Al fresco dining in both venues is their way to adhere to most conservative protocols of the industry.
Customer-focused owner/managers are Joan Dizon Santiago of Nasi Ya and Benjun Dizon, the junior of well-respected sugar entrepreneur, the late Ruben Cuyugan Dizon, who moved on in November 2021. Lolo Ben was the one who requested that super-talented Jota design and execute the vision and dreams realizing the Dizon patriarch’s legacy.
The Dizon siblings actually built Casa Laguerta for their mom to pour her time and energy into this property left by her husband. Sixty years of love and bliss created this sanctuary of love and creativity. I remembered the love story that created the Taj Mahal Palace in India. In a similar sense, love and posterity motivated the family to build this dream project in only six months! I quipped in jest to Danny that he is Speedy Gonzales come alive.
Benjun said that without the indefatigable Danny, they would have no conductor in a symphony. Nine siblings each have a say in the building of this haven. Danny said he is experienced in creating resorts or hotels and they gave him the baton to inject his creative excellence. It’s so inspring to realize how the love for family, love of preserving their heritage, love for beauty and timelessness reigns supreme.
One saunters into the eclectic lobby with woven chandeliers that utilize egg-layering material in the center. Pass through a small, unobscured wooden and glass door and you will be astonished as you gaze at a heavenly haven of classy villas with two amazing teepees utilizing dried nipa leaves covered with nets.
A long, refreshing swimming pool delights your senses as eclectic lights illuminate the pool and the area in its vicinity. Like Alice in Wonderland, each step you take from here is made in awe and wonder. From a drone shot, it looks like an oasis in the middle of dry land. Fairy lights from the neigboring restaurants pave your way to this amazing discovery.
Color therapy is utilized in the azure-colored, rectangular pool in the middle of the villas. The light in the pool changes from blue to green to fuchsia. A jacuzzi of warm water with bubbly foam relaxes tired muscles. The pool reminds me of the eclectic and dramatic Banyan Tree Mayakoba in Mexico and W Vieques in Puerto Rico. But everything else is the signature of Danny Jota, like a gold stamp of excellence.
Everywhere you look, every nook and cranny here is Instagrammable. Each piece of furniture, each lamp, painting, chandelier has a story behind it, a distinct reason for being where it is. “Purposeful” is the word for every piece — for being in its specific place.
In the lobby, your attention will be focused on a black-and-white nostalgic photo of the illustrious patriarch and matriarch of the Dizon clan: Tito Ben and Tita Baby. The photo dates back to 1964 when the couple visited the Tokyo Olympics. The loving couple garbed in sartorial style are in front of a commercial plane. This photo of nostalgia is where it all began. Today, their love and legacy is immortalized in these creations that imbibe love and excellence.
I wiped my teary eyes as I realized how this kind of love while still on earth is already enrolled in heaven. This legacy embraced by the family is worthy of emulation.
Indeed, Danny and the Dizon clan have immortalized their dreams. It is no wonder why Danny quips, “Someday when I am long gone, people will study my work and realize it was all done with love and God.” In the end, they give veracity to the statement that we are defined not just by what we love but by who we love as well.
The Dizon patriarch Tito Ben spent a lot of time on this seven-hectare property. His family wanted to commemorate this place that he frequented. What better way than to build and utilize this favored property? What was a year ago an empty, barren land of brown soil and pebbles on the ground has been transformed into a remarkable complex of a posh boutique resort called Casa Laguerta, with the classiest furnishings, an expansive, eclectic pool and heated jacuzzi, a full spa, a farm with ducks, geese, and ostriches, plus two well-planned restaurants of Kapampangan and Japanese fare. The restaurants were built in less than two months while the resort took six months.
My friends and I alluded to this as something short of a “construction miracle,” so to speak. It’s worthy to note that the Dizon matriarch Tita Baby and her nine children have been involved in every step of the creation of Casa Laguerta, from inception to full construction. Danny, on the other hand, spearheaded this project with passion, motivation, astute competency and freedom for his creativity to flow.
What an amazing collective feat. After all. Casa Laguerta is love and legacy.
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Casa Laguerta can be reached at 09424680311 and at bblaguertaporac@gmail.com.
