329. BAGUIO'S ANTIQUE TRADE, TODAY.

The antique fever that swept Manila in the 1960s and 70s prompted the rise of numerous antique shops in such places as Vigan, Lucena, San Pablo, Iloilo, Bacolod and Zamboanga.  Though old Vigan was a primary source of antiques, what became the major antique trade center in the north was Baguio City. After all, Baguio had a ready market for these fine collectibles, home to many affluent families with large homes, and hordes of out-of-towners and international tourists looking for one-of-a-kind souvenirs.

The modern Maharlika Shopping Center and Marbay Building that rose  in the city’s famous market district became the home of popular antique dealers, known even to Manila buyers. Dealers like Felipe Estacio, Eddie Marcelo, and  Alicia Serrano set up shops there. Estacio also had a big branch along the highway leading to Benguet.

Pinky Garcia, a researcher who discovered early the marketability of ethnic antiques from the northern highlands like Kalinga furniture, weapons and bulols, set up her PNKY shop there. Daisy Gomes Locsin specialized in the black baskets of the Mountain Province that were a hit with American collectors. Soon, even Kapampangans like Francisco Lacap, trooped to Baguio to open their business in the summer capital.

When I was a student in Baguio in the mid to late 70s, the Marbay shops were all crammed with antiques and artifacts of the most bewildering and amazing variety.  Wooden and ivory antos were sold alongside bululs and anito figures. Spanish colonial trinkets and tribal heirloom beads could be easily had for the right price. There were old Ibaloi costumes, headgear, tribal wear, silver and gold jewelry pieces, primitive clay ware.

One would tire himself out just looking at thousands of Oriental plates, bowls, and jars, blue and white, Martabans, Sawankhaloks and Celadons. My interest in antiques was fired by my periodic visits to these stores, but alas, I could only afford the old gin bottles that were sold at 50 pesos each, discounted to 20 if you got more. Larger pieces like cabinets, almarios, tocadors and dining sets  could even be delivered for a small fee to Manila and any point in Luzon.

Even when I was already working in Manila, I would find time to drop by at these shops in the 1980s, during business trips. My last visit was in 2004, when I had to mount an event for a client at La Trinidad. With the antique trade dying in Manila, I knew it would not be long that Baguio’s supply would dry out too. 

Fifteen long years after, I returned to Baguio for another short visit—and of course, I was surprised at the changes the city had undergone. The mountain tops were crammed with houses, the city overpopulated. Burnham Park was one big parking lot and Session Road  teemed with pedestrians. There were overhead walkway that covered the city's landmarks, and tall structures that hid the cityscape, and for a few minutes, I could not locate Marbay, 

When I found it, I gave in to my urge to check my former haunts—and these pictures tell the sad story of Baguio’s antique trade. Less than a dozen hole-in-the-wall shops now populate the shopping center. I went there a little after 9 a.m., so many of the unites were still closed. I just peered through the glass walls and found a few genuine antiques sold side-by-side with many reproductions like furniture, Chinese ceramics and newly-woven baskets, cleverly aged with soot and wax polish.

The most popular shops—Tucucan—where I got my first antique santo for 90 pesos sometime in 1978—was still there, with a large stockroom on the upper floor, mostly reproduction antique furniture. Then, there was Globel’s Antiques, still hanging on, with an assortment of odds and ends. I looked around, but I could not feel the same skipping of my heart beat in my visits some 40 plus years ago, when the world and I were younger.

“All things must pass”,  Beatle George Harrison once sang, and I guess this is true for Baguio’s once bustling antique trade. It had its heyday, and I was glad and grateful for that vanished time, for “mine eyes have seen the glory”.

(ALL PHOTOS BY ALEX R. CASTRO)

195. Heads Up: SAN MIGUEL ARCANGEL

One of the very first santo heads that I got when I started my santo collection was this medium-sized head of San Miguel Arcangel (St. Michael Archangel). The head itself is about 10 inches tall, and seems to have been meant for a fully carved (tallado) body. San Miguel is always depicted in full battle gear as he fights the Devil, so he wears a helmet topped with a flower carved in relief.

Outfiitted with glass eyes and carved hair that sports a knot at the back, this San Miguel head has very patrician features, as evident from his straight, aquiline nose and a stern, almost emotion-less expression. I had to do a double take when I saw this head up for sale in a Baguio antique shop in the late 80s. I thought it first to be so unattractive; the thought of buying a santo fragment was rather unappealing to me back then.

I am glad though I got ut (for the princely sum of Php 350)!). San Miguels of this size are hard to come by; if complete, this would have been suitable for display in a church or for a procession. It would certainly have cut quite a fine figure, especially with its battle stance--holding down the Devil with one foot while in the act of thrusting a spear (or brandishing a sword)  into his nemesis.

While a popular and an important angel saint, only a scarce number of devotional santos of San Miguel in private homes. People are familiar with his imagery through the Ginebra San Miguel gin label, which has attained an iconic status in Philippine pop culture. The original "Markang Demonyo" label was drawn  for La Tondena Company, by no less than National Artist, Fernando Amorsolo, when he was but a fine arts student.

"Ang inumin ng tunay na lalake" was Ginebra's slogan. It could also very well apply to San Miguel Arcangel, the protector , the equalizer, the warrior angel--who always fought his very best in the battle of good versus evil--like a "tunay na lalake".

84. RETRO-SANTO: Our Lady of Atonement, Baguio City

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Atonement (Baguio Cathedral) was built thru the efforts of the CICM
(Congregacio Immaculati Cordis Marriae) missionaries who started it all when they arrived in the resort city on 16 November 1907: Rev. Fr. Oktaaf Vandelwalle, Fr. Serafin Devesse and Fr. Henry Verbeck.

Their first mission was to build a chapel on the house of a retired treasurer along Session Road, and thus, the beginnings of the Baguio Cathedral came to be in 1908.
The chapel was dedicated to St. Patrick.

By 1919, a campaign for the construction of the “Church on top of the hill”, known as Mount Mary, began. An architect-priest, Rev. Fr. Leo Valdemans, drafted the design of Cathedral plan, which were ably executed by
Fr. Adolph Cansse, a civil engineer, with the help of 25 Igorot carpenters.

In 1924, the twin towers of the Cathedral were built and 4 bells from Belgium were installed. The Cathedral has a distinctive rose-colored exterior and served as an evacuation center during the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines in World War II, having survived the carpet-bombing of Baguio in 1945.

The image of Our Lady of Atonement rests in the cathedral. In the beautiful representations of Mary under this title, she wears a red mantle, symbolizing the Precious Blood of which she was the Immaculate source, and by which she was made immaculate. It was by the shedding of this most precious blood that the redemption of the world was accomplished. She wears a blue inner tunic, and she holds the infant Jesus in her arms. The Child Jesus is depicted holding a cross, the symbol of His suffering and glory. Her Feast Day: July 9

*****

Let us pray. O God, who didst deign that we, thy children, should invoke our Mother Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Atonement; grant that through her powerful intercession we may obtain the fullness of thy blessings; through thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

52. RETRO-SANTO: Lourdes Grotto of Baguio

OUR LADY OF LOURDES. A popular tourist and pilgrim destination since the turn of the 20th century. The grotto, with the stone image of Our Lady continues to be one of Baguio's enduring landmarks. Ca. 1924.

One of Baguio’s long-standing landmark is the Lourdes Grotto at Quezon Hill in the western part of Baguio, overlooking the city. There, the painted stone image of Our Lady of Lourdes perches, reachable by 252 steps from the ground.

The popular shrine replicates the Lourdes grove where the Virgin Mary appeared to a young French woman, Bernadette Soubirous in Massabielle in the town of Lourdes, France. The devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes was approved in 1962 by the Pope and has since grown into a worldwide devotion.

The grotto was established in 1907 by the Jesuits and has since become a nationally well-known pilgrimage site, frequented by devotees and tourists, moreso during the Holy Week. Pilgrims usually negotiate the steep steps to reach the image of Our Lady, lighting candles at an altar before the image.

The grotto has undergone many facelifts through the years. Hanging milk glass lamps used to hang inside the grotto to light the image of Our Lady. This old picture, for instance, shows part of the painted inscription: 'Qué soï era immaculado councepcioũ,' a phonetic transcription of "I am the Immaculate Conception" which Our Lady declared to Bernadette in French Gascon Occitan language. Today, a metal arch frames it with the words "Tota Pulchra Es Maria" (Thou Art All Fair, Oh Mary.)