Regaining City of Biñan’s cultural heritage
Experience Biñan and discover the surprising abundance of the city’s culture, people, talents and products.
Few people know that the famous folkdance, Maglalatik, originated from Biñan, whose the best dancers come from Barrio Zapote. During the city fiesta held every May 15, Maglalatik dancers hop from house to house then move to the streets to join the religious procession as an offering to the city’s patron saint, San Isidro de Labrador.
To further promote the traditional dance — together with the city’s iconic steamed rice cake delicacy, Puto Biñan — the city formed the annual Puto-Latik Festival in 2011. To add color to the traditional town fiesta festivities, street dances, cultural shows, floats and costume parades will fill the old town plaza, while a trade fair will exhibit the puto and other Biñan-made products on the sides of Plaza Rizal and the Alberto Mansion from May 15 to 23. Meanwhile, the 6,500-seater Alonte Sports Arena will be filled with celebrity basketball players to kick off the annual inter-barangay basketball games. On the ninth day, Chinese residents of the city will celebrate the Pistang Intsik, a longstanding tradition of thanksgiving for a year-round of blessings, to be capped by the much-awaited Santacruzan.
This year, aside from adding inclusive and socially purposeful activities such as a special Olympics for Differently Abled Persons (DAP), cultural fora, the first animal wellness fair, and enhanced job fairs and medical and dental missions, the city government is putting the spotlight back on the Alberto Mansion, more commonly known as the house of Teodora Alonso, the mother of Dr. Jose Rizal. REVIVING THE ALBERTO MANSION
Coinciding with the National Heritage Month, the campaign is attempting to rebuild the ruins of the historical landmark and reimagine the old glory of the town plaza.
A lawyer by profession, Biñan City Mayor Walfredo “Arman” Dimaguila, Jr. is leading an expropriation case against the current owner of the 200-year-old Alberto Mansion, who preferred to sell the mansion’s original interiors to a resort in Bataan.
“Aside from highlighting trade and the people of Biñan, we will underscore heritage conservation — we will be focusing on the Alberto Mansion. We will be filing an expropriation case because they do not want us to rebuild the mansion, which has a historical connection to the city. The grandfather and father of Teodora Alonso owned the house and both became town mayors,” Mayor Arman said.
“During the time of former mayor and now Rep. Marlyn Alonte-Naguiat, we tried to convince the Alberto family to preserve the house kasi buo pa noon. If you will look at our plaza, you will notice that something is missing; the house is dilapidated, unattended, ruins na talaga. We will try to rebuild the property and we think the people of Biñan are with us in this endeavor,” he added.
The 2009 National Cultural Heritage Act states that structures at least 50 years old are to receive special protection from the government, and such buildings cannot be demolished without a permit from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCAA) or National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).
The city mayor added that this year’s Puto-Latik Festival will temporarily abandon the annual Miss Biñan beauty pageant to give way for the Alberto Mansion advocacy.
“We also want to highlight the sacrifice of the people and put more substance on this year’s celebration. We’re not saying that we don’t like beauty pageants. In fact, the winners of the 2016 pageant will be the ambassadresses of our campaign,” he said.
The restoration efforts for the Alberto Mansion shall be launched on May 21, 2017. BACK TO THE GOLDEN DAYS
Even before Dr. Jose Rizal’s era, Biñan had already been dubbed as the South’s center of commerce. This enabled business owners to build their presence in the town’s center, evidenced by several ancestral houses that still line the city’s
bayan and the 24/7 public market that resembles Divisoria. With a mandate to recreate the Spanish colonial architecture of the main plaza, the local government is working hand-in-hand with individuals who led the conservation of the famous Crisologo Street in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur.
Furthermore, the city government pledges to transform the public market into the best market in the Philippines, benchmarking on local and foreign marketplaces.
“We keep on improving our palengke, which has witnessed the zenith of trade and commerce in the Biñan River, during the time of karitela,” shared the mayor.
An executive order establishing the Biñan City Heritage District was signed in January. A proposed city ordinance of the same content was filed last week.