halfwhiteboy

I've long wanted to visit this place and after braving the three-hour drive to Bagac, Bataan, I was finally able to. Sitting on a vast property close to the sea, Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar is a heritage resort where 18th to early-20th century Philippine houses, or casas , from several parts across the country have been rebuilt and clustered together to resemble a colonial-era Philippine community. There are mansions, stone houses, and even wooden houses on stilts, replete with cobblestone streets, sidewalks, and even bridges. The setting sun casts a silhouette, framed beautifully by an arc from one of the casas. I must admire how the resort owners have scoured the archipelago for such decaying structures, disassembled them, and then reassembled them -- brick by brick, plank by plank, as they say. Not that this endeavor, apart from being business-driven, has been spared from criticism from some sectors who argue that they aren't actually preserving them because the ho...

I had the fun of staying at Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Bagac, Bataan over the weekend. With hordes of transplanted heritage houses all around me, the cam-whore (or cam-gigolo?) in me was unleashed. The lovely setting likewise spoke of grand haciendas of old and somehow reminded me of Doña (or Señora) Angelika Santibañez of the hit 90's Mexican telenovela Marimar. Doña Angelika was the villain, one who always looked down on Marimar and the poor in general, forever barking orders at her servant Facundo. Thanks to memes that glorify her snobbish attitude with humor, the character is currently in a resurgent mode, at least among Filipinos since the memes are in Filipino. Marimar was dubbed in Filipino when it was shown on TV here. So just for fun, I thought of channeling my inner Doña Angelika as Señor Santibañez, with an imaginary Facundo in the background.