Giant armchair finds a new home

ILAGAN, Isabela — The giant butaka (armchair) unveiled here last year as an entry to the Guinness Book of Records has finally found a permanent home where it would be protected from excessive heat, moist and other destructive elements.

Visitors can now view the giant butaka at its new home at the San Andres Park in Barangay Baligatan here, the province’s historic capital town.

Ilagan Mayor Delfinito Albano said the municipal government spent at least P300,000 for the construction of the building that now houses the giant armchair, which measures 11.6 feet high, 20.8 feet long and 9.8 inches wide.

The giant armchair used to be displayed in open air on an elevated area here. However, after a year, some of its parts were found to have shrunk because it was exposed to moist.

Volunteer furniture makers in Barangay Alinguigan here crafted the giant butaka for over a month in time for the province’s 147th founding anniversary in June last year.

The armchair, exhibited last year in Intramuros, Manila as one of the attractions during the WOW Philippines tourism campaign, is made of first-class hardwood narra and woven rattan splits. More than 1,500 board feet of narra went into its making.

"This is not just a mere or ordinary item. This is a masterpiece for us for it depicts the Ilagueños ingenuity, manual dexterity and passion for art and excellence. So we have to protect and save it," Albano said.

He said the new and elevated building for the giant butaka, which weighs about 1,000 kilograms, can easily be noticed by motorists along the national highway.