Lakeside Living

Some weekend homes feel like you never really left the city – cars constantly whiz by and the lawns are so overly-manicured they look like copies of landscaped gardens in Manila subdivisions. But there is a Mediterranean-inspired home in Laguna that looks out over the Caliraya Lake, which does what a weekend home should do to your spirit.

The charming get-away-from-it-all home that sits on a 633-square-meter lot is tucked in the quaint town of Cavinti, about three hours away from Manila. One enters through the Sierra Lakes Subdivision and reaches the property by driving along a well-paved road. The steel gates and façade of the house are embraced by creeping greens of the "morning glory" variety, says Aling Lina and husband Mang Dencio, the caretakers of the property for the last five years.

Gazing at the profusion of flowers in bloom that surround the house, the soul is almost instantly rejuvenated at the sight of yellow bells, star clusters, chichirica, violets, milflores, bromeliads, birds of paradise, Malaysian orchids and dahlias that attract vivid-colored butterflies. The owners also grow santol, calamansi and lukban Davao. Below, at the south end of the property, is the mouth of the Caliraya Lake where talakitok and shrimps thrive. The area is framed by lush forest trees. Every morning, misty fog descends, enveloping the entire property like a cool, hazy blanket. Inside, the house is so spacious (the high ceiling gives it a lot of breathing space) and the floors are made of German wood, rendering the place truly rustic.

But like most other homes in the country, the house has been beset by termites. And like most other homeowners, the owners relied on chemical spray solutions that shooed away termites temporarily, only to have them come back with a vengeance. A few years and structural repairs later, they came upon the pest control firm Sanitech which then offered a new anti-termite solution that promised total colony elimination. Sentricon System, developed by industry leader Dow AgroSciences, was developed around natural termite behavior and is the technology that protects the White House, the Statue of Liberty, some Philippine historical sites, properties like high-rises, hospitals and golf courses and many homes in Asia, Europe, Australia and the US.

Sentricon System and Sanitech have been protecting the Caliraya property for three years now. According to Glen de Guia and Wilson Aguila of Sanitech, their team does regular monitoring to prevent new termite colonies from attacking the house. "If you have a lot of wooden items in the house, you need to take measures to protect your home," says de Guia. "Sentricon System is good for your investment because it is both a treatment device and a preventive measure against termite attacks."

He says Sentricon System is ideal in places that have a lot of nature surrounding the property because the system is site-specific, meaning it does not affect other living things in the area (like Aling Lina’s butterflies and plant life). Sentricon System does not emit noxious fumes unlike conventional chemical sprays so it is not hazardous and does not disrupt daily household/business operations. The feeding stations are equipped with a pet and child-friendly lock to prevent accidents. Moreover, Sentricon System does not disturb the landscape because there’s no need to drill through walls and floors to go after the pesky pests. For its "green technology," Sentricon System-Dow AgroSciences was recognized by the Clinton administration with a Presidential award.

The Caliraya vacation home has many admirers, according to Aling Lina. Film production people have time and again wooed the property owners to allow them to shoot movie scenes there. The owners are flattered, yes, but they choose instead to preserve the peace and beauty of their lakeside home.