For those who are planning to visit Iloilo to see their Dinagyang Festival, you might want to consider mansion-hopping. They have a lot of grand mansions, and some of them throw us back to the past. One of them reportedly suddenly appears to those with special talent. A certain signage is unnerving people who happen to pass by Guimbal, Iloilo (church bells tolling) The sign reads 'You are passing Guimbal Vanishing Mansion' But you will not see any mansion whatsoever here.
Guess it really is a 'vanishing mansion' Rather, a few steps away, you will find this statue that has a sign that reads 'White Lady Passenger' Behind the statue stands the mysterious Vanishing Mansion' Rumor has it that the mysterious mansion appears only at night and disappears at daybreak. This mystery was reported in 2016 by radio reporter Aldrin. "During interview, one driver had said that a passenger rode in his cab at Atrium, around age 40, beautiful, and wearing slippers. When they got to Guimbal, there was a big house, maybe a mansion.
The driver blew his horn, and the gate was opened by the security guard And they were able to enter. While the driver was circling the lot, He surveyed the house, and then was shocked and said, 'The house disappeared?' Instead he saw a big acacia tree." The vanishing mansion usually appears to taxi drivers. Taxi drivers like Allan Gonzales. He says he will never forget one of his passengers who asked to be brought to the actual vanishing mansion.
"She was pretty, wearing all-white. Her face, it looks like a beautiful woman. Nice nose, smooth face, and really long hair. She asked to be brought to the Plaza.
We hadn't even reached the Plaza of Guimbal and she just vanished I was just stunned, and thought to myself, 'Why is my passenger like this? She seems to be an ordinary person. I went back after that I didn't pick up anyone I didn't pick up anyone because I was stunned too at the incident." Herbalist Absalon had also seen the feared mansion. It is colored white, has three floors and even has a rooftop. It also has a big gate, and heavily guarded.
The front of the house has five doors, and the mansion sits on one hectare of property. "The height is about 8 feet." "Have you entered the mansion?" "No, no, you cannot enter it, but you can see it from afar." But the ones who live here are... "Kapres (Philippine Mythological creatures) live there. Three on the first floor, two on the second floor." "How do you know if you haven't yet entered it?" "I saw it on the door." On the other hand, the girl passenger who asks to be conveyed by taxi drivers, is named Teresa.
She is the queen of the mansion. "She won't hurt. They are friendly. Friendly.
I'm not sure if the same could be said for the Kapres. I'm not sure if they hurt or not." But if you were to ask 75-year old Ms. Chedeng about it, even if her house is right next door to where the vanishing mansion allegedly stands, not once has she ever seen the mansion. "Rumor has it that there are entities, inside." There are some that live there.
"But the mansion?" "The mansion, none yet. If you don't have a third eye, you won't be able to see it." "I have not seen anything there. I don't believe that there is a white lady, or a kapre there." "We can't say if these are true or not, but for me, if they placed it there, then we should just respect it." For us to be able to investigate, our team had set up a CCTV camera for three days at the location where people say the grandiose mansion appears. "There's nothing there.
We don't see anything unusual. It's 12 midnight, there's nothing. Everything's normal." In the meantime, we found out that the person responsible for putting the signs up in the town of Guimbal is their mayor, Mayor Oscar Garin. But Garin clarifies that his aim is not to terrify the residents.
He just wants to protect the acacia tree that has been there for a number of centuries already. "Because if you just put up a fence without mentioning anything, it will not catch the attention of the people. So once you get the inquisitiveness of people, they will read. It is there in the tree itself just something different.
"This tree is Guimbal Vanishing Mansion". Because if there is nothing unusual, it cannot call the attention. So we just took advantage of it, we ride on that opportunity." This is also a way for motorists to slow down while driving, especially because right across the tree is a school. "I think there's nothing wrong about it.
And people here don't have any apprehension about it. I am misconstrued by others that I am a superstitious mayor. Well, I don't care what... How they see me.
They just didn't think of it. If I can think of something that they haven't yet thought of." "He had a proposal to cut it down, but due to the request of the Local Government Unit to spare it, because it was a century-old acacia tree." In case you get dismayed that you can't seem to catch the Vanishing Mansion of Iloilo, do not worry, because there are some more of these so-called heritage mansions, that are visible, that do not disappear. In fact, the whole city of Iloilo has 240 heritage houses. And 30 of them are mansions.
"Because of the glorious past of Iloilo, it became a center of trade and commerce before. There was a booming industry in textile and sugarcane. The mansions belong to the sugar barons. That's how rich the Ilonggos are.
During the Dinagyang, that is part of the tourism circuit. We offer the city tour in our packages." Situated in the Molo District, a mere walking distance from the church of Molo, or the Saint Anne Parish Church, is the very white Yusay-Consing Mansion, or the Molo Mansion. Upon entering the gate, there is a rotunda with a with a fountain in the middle, surrounded by flowers. On the first floor is a souvenir shop, and the second floor has high ceilings.
The floors are made of molave and narra. But it is noticeable that there are no furnitures anymore. These were all taken by the last owner before totally abandoning the mansion. At the back of the Molo Mansion is a cafeteria, where tourists can enjoy what they call Ternate Ice Cream and the authentic Pancit Molo Soup.
Don Estanislao Yusay is the original owner of the mansion. "The Yusay Family has been living in this area here since (the) mid 1800s. But this house was finished only in 1926. Don Estanislao Yusay died in 1911, and when he died, his wife supervised the construction of this house." "This mansion is one of the lucky mansions because before, surrounding the plaza, were many big houses.
The Japanese were there, and many of them were destroyed. This is the luckiest mansion, I would say." But in the 1970s until 1980s, the mansion was abandoned. Because the condition was not as nice, it was considered for demolition. But in 2014, it was purchased and renovated by the new owner.
"Specifically, they restored the ceiling. When it was bought, the ceiling was heavily damaged. They tried to fix it. But everything you see right now is the original -- the windows, the floor, the glass was fixed.
But the original wood of the house is still restored until now. Even the ones on the stairs, the doors, are original. We are not allowing a lot of people to go up here, only during events." (Sound of drums) (unintelligible cheering) Next week, the Atis and drums will again make noise. Here in Iloilo, it will be a tribute to the Sto.
Nino, and a commemoration of the arrival of the Malays in Panay Island, and the sale of the island of the Atis. This is the annual Dinagyang Festival. (Drums rolling) (Dinagyang!) In joining the celebration of Dinagyang, take advantage of the opportunity to visit the heritage mansions of Iloilo. Like this really beautiful mansion, that is already 200 years old.
The name came from Maria Javella's nickname 'Mariquit' hence the name 'Casa Mariquit'. The current owner of this mansion is the great grandson of Mariquit, Robert Pea Puckett. Restoration of the mansion started in 1993. "At that time, in 1991, I spent around 10 to 15 million for renovation.
I had the ceilings changed to a more sturdy ceiling, and not the original ceiling because they were not that nice at the time. The floors are original, the walls are original, the outside are all original, the furnitures are not original, but they're all antique. Because Casa Mariquit used to be a bank, the first floor has a cement vault made in the 1900s. On the second floor, there are some old cameras, wall clocks, recorder player, gramophone.
On the rooftop, there are two solar panels that supply electricity to the whole house every morning. "Since I was in the solar business since 1976, every property that I own, I would put solar energy in it. Like for example in that house my electric power is only 1000 pesos a month. (Unintelligible cheering) (music playing) Next week is Dinagyang of Iloilo.
Travel some more!.
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