10 reasons to visit Bacolod

Over a recent weekend getaway, my traveling buddies and I  visited Bacolod for the annual celebration of the  MassKara Festival. However, we soon discovered to our delightful surprise, that Bacolod and its environs has a lot  more to offer within the  areas than just the festival itself.

For starters, the scenery is as varied as it comes. The land is where the wealth of the province originated and continues to emanate.

With the  expansion of the sugar industry in the 1850s Bacolod was deluged  with European fineries and artworks. Baroque churches and sprawling mansions dotted the landscape and Spanish culture flowered in the tropics.

The ancestral homes of the Locsins, Lizareses, Ledesmas, Aranetas, Gastons, Lacsons and other old families in Talisay, Silay and Bago are the manifestations of this opulent era.

1. The Ruins. The magnificent mansion in Talisay City was built in the early 1900s by sugar baron Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson. It was home to his first wife Maria Braga, a Portuguese from Macau, and their children.

Today it has been declared one of the 12 most-fascinating Ruins of the World.

2. Balay Ni Tana Dicang is an echo of Negrense lifestyle of the 18th century.   It served as the  home of Don Efigenio Lizares and Doña Enrica Alunan. After her husband died, Doña Enrica took over raising her brood, managed the hacienda and served as kapitana, thus her being called Tana Dicang. It authentically resonates the lifestyle of a century ago and beautifully preserves the charm and decorum that is a Talisaynon heritage to be proud of.

3. Balay Negrense was constructed in 1897 and originally the home of French businessman Yves Leopold Germaine Gaston.  By all accounts he is credited to be the pioneer behind the introduction of the sugar industry in the province. When his  children found career opportunities outside Bacolod the house was abandoned and fell into  ruins.

4. Hofileña Ancestral House is the repository of the private art collection of Ramon Hofileña, one of the living direct descendants of Manuel Severino Hofileña. The exhibit includes the work of our national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal  and a number of top artists in the country like Juan Luna, Hidalgo, H. R. Ocampo, Manansala, Joya, etc. It is the first inhabited house in Silay to be declared a national historical landmark.

5. Ancestral Home of Lourdes  Gaston is situated  in Hacienda Rosalia. She is one of the  descendants of the first Frenchman to settle in Negros- Yves Leopold Germaine Gaston. It is of early American colonial architecture.

6. The Chapel of Cartwheels. Within the Gaston farm and walking distance from the main house, this place of worship, shaped like a salakot  is made up  of farm implements such as cartwheels, plows, mortar and pestle and makes use of margaha sand and broken pieces of glass of different colors. A work of Filipino ingenuity.

7. Don Bernardino Jalandoni and Ysabel Ledesma Ancestral Home was completed in 1908. The foundation of the house is original and the hardwood used originated from Mindoro. The transoms, which were inspired by French design, allow for ventilation between  the connecting rooms.

8. Jose Corteza Locsin Ancestral House is a two-storey heritage house owned by the family of Jose Corteza Locsin, a Filipino doctor and politician. Because of its cultural, architectural and historical significance, it is one of the recognized and declared heritage houses of the Philippines by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

9. St. Joseph the Worker Parish Church was  built by the sugar baron Miguel Ossorio  to serve the spiritual needs of the employees and their family of   Victorias Milling Company. His son, Alfonso, painted  Christ’s image fronting the main altar  which took two years to finish.  The  chapel became internationally renowned through a Life Magazine article which dubbed it as the “Church of the Angry Christ” because of the mural’s sharp lines and Christ’s depiction as a frowning God.

 10. San Sebastian Cathedral. Fr. Julian  Gonzaga from Barcelona, Spain built the original church in 1825, made of wood with  galvanized iron roof. Construction in its present form began on April 1876 under the stewardship  of Fr. Mauricio Ferrero. In 1885,  the addition of the  two towers commenced. Ironically, in 1969, the City Engineer’s Office declared the bell towers a  public hazard, ordering  the removal of the bells from the belfry and structures were subsequently demolished. Soon after, the  Cathedral rector, Fr. Antonio Santes  raised funds to rebuild the towers in their present form.