Balay ni Datu Lubay (House of Datu Lubay) in San Jose, Antique houses Alex de los Santos’ collection of more than 1,000 dolls and figurines, some of them made by potters in the province.
The toy museum is run by the Datu Lubay Center, chaired by de los Santos who also serves as artistic director. Organized in 2008, the Center aims to promote culture and arts education among Antiqueños as a tool for empowerment and social change.
It was named in honor of Datu Lubay, one of the 10 Bornean datus who fled tyranny in their homeland and settled in Antique eight centuries ago. Datu Lubay taught the women of Antique how to weave.
After the dolls, came other toys that were souvenir items from family members and friends. Now there are over a thousand items in the two-year-old museum.There are also a number of miniature figurines by Alan Cabalfin, a ceramic artist from Leon, Iloilo who taught the potters of barrio Bari in the nearby town of Sibalom to make figurines aside from jars and pots.
When de los Santos tells the story of Balay ni Datu Lubay, he goes back to more than 50 years ago shortly before the second World War.
De los Santos said the structure that is now “Balay ni Datu Lubay” is a remnant of the house of his great grandparents, Felicitas Esguerra and Emiliano de los Santos. The two-story structure was one of the first big houses in the province’s capital town.
Old folks recall that during typhoons, the de los Santos house served as classroom and refugee center.
When the Japanese occupying forces led by a certain Col. Okumura came to Antique, they sequestered the de los Santos house and used it as part of their headquarters.
It’s standard practice in war that soldiers had to be provided pleasure. One of the horrors inflicted by the Japanese Army on the countries they invaded was the establishment of “comfort stations,” where women sex slaves were kept for the pleasure of the soldiers.
One of those women forced into the comfort station was Tomasa Salinog, known to her province mates as “Lola Masing.” Inspired by Rosa Henson, the first Filipina to tell the world of her story as a comfort woman for the Japanese Imperial Army, Lola Masing related her own ordeal.
After the war, she became a seamstress. She kept the horror and pain of the war to herself. In 1993, she heard through the radio about a group of lawyers who were helping Filipino comfort women seek justice from the Japanese government. Lola Masing sold a blanket she had made to be able to make the trip to Iloilo to see the lawyers.
She rejected the offer of the Japanese government of financial assistance. She wrote the Japanese government: “I will not accept your money. I need your apology.”
She never got the apology. She passed away on April 6, 2007.
In honor of Lola Masing, de los Santos has marked a portion of Balay ni Datu Lubay as “Center for Culture and Peace.”
The museum has become a popular destination of visitors of San Jose, whose major landmark is the statue of the late Gov. Evelio Javier at the plaza.
Javier was assassinated while monitoring the canvassing of the results of the 1986 snap presidential election between Cory Aquino and then incumbent president Ferdinand Marcos. His death helped spark the 1986 People Power revolution.
San Jose is the capital of Antique, one of the four provinces in the island of Panay (the other three are Iloilo, Capiz and Aklan) in Western Visayas. The province is the major producer of moscuvado sugar, which is enjoying a revival with more and more people going for healthy food.
Every year, Antique re-enacts the landing of the Bornean datus in a festival called “Binirayan,” which means a fluvial parade.
Fabulous! Gosh, I envy Mr de los Santos… one of my dearest wishes is to have a museum of something! Hahaha! I’m could be such a hoarder that it would be good for me to channel my hoarding efforts at things worth hoarding. 😀
Bakit ba ayaw mag-apologize ng Japan for sex enslaving our women during the war? Bilib ako kay Lola Masing, namatay na dala ang dangal.
Chi, because Alberto Romulo, our highly esteemed secretary for foreign affairs told Gloria not to press because he got scared that such demand, i.e., apologise to women sex slaves during WWII, might endanger the balance of power in the region…
Or some similar rubbish…
Naknampuchang Romulo yan! Magnanakaw na gago pa!
Magnanakaw, gago na…duwag pa talaga ang Berto na toh! And I thought Japanese were just full of themselves, si Berto pala and kulang-kulang. Thanks, Anna.
Anna is correct. The Phil government,using the argument of the foreign secretary, refused to take up the cudgels for the Filipino comfort women. The Japanese government, I understand, apologized to the Korean comfort women.
Remember the Supreme Court plagiarism case stemmed from this. When the group of Harry Roque brought the issue to the SC to compel the PH govt to take up the cudgels for the Filipino comfort women, the SC dismissed it. The decision penned by Mariano del Castillo contained several plagiarized phrases.
Nanganak na nanganak ang incompetence and palpaks.
It is very unfortunate that pinoys always pass the blame to something else instead of accepting responsibility for their own actions. The reality of it is, dignity is sorely lacking in PI society. Everything in the Pinas is for sale. Practically everything and everyone can be bought.
Berto’s argument was simply an excuse. Advisory capacity is the foreign secs role. He did not twist anybody’s arm. The ultimate decision was not his.
And the shame continue to this day and will be so tomorrow. Actually, we are always reminded of this fact with practically every post we read on this blog. Hinde ba?
Anna, do you collect particular items?
Space can be a problem when it comes to collection. I used to collect mugs as souvenir of places I’ve been to. Problem was I didn’t have space for it when the collection grew with gifts from freinds, as what happened to Alex.
I stopped collecting and gave away much of it. I also used some of them.
Re #3, One of Romulo’s arguments for not espousing the demands of the comfort women for an apology and compensation was it has been covered by the War Reparations.
Atty. Roque refuted this.
Hi Ellen,
That pretty well sums up what’s happening today… Incompetence galore for more than a decade with no let up.
Yep! My biggest problem too.
I collect mainly hallmarked antique sterling silver objects, eg., cigarette and vesta cases, tea sets, and vanity sets (brush-mirror-comb sets); have now some 200+ antique solid silver cigarette and vesta cases alone; not exactly gigantic items but like your mugs, they occupy space. Also have a small collection of antique furniture, eg., wardrobes, sideboards, writing desks, chairs, etc — but they take so much space. Thinking in fact of flogging some furniture that have been kept in storage and not on display 🙂
It was a time of war, everything goes, even the Geneva convention. Did Germany apologize to the Jews for the holocaust?
“Yes. Germany’s response to its war crimes has been largely lauded by the former Allies. The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany until 1990) offered official apologies for Germany’s role in the Holocaust. Additionally, German leaders have continuously expressed repentance, most notably when former Chancellor Willy Brandt fell on his knees in front of a Holocaust memorial in the Warsaw Ghetto, also known as the Warschauer Kniefall in 1970. Germany has also paid extensive reparations, including nearly $70 billion to the state of Israel. It has given $15 billion to Holocaust survivors and will continue to compensate them until 2015. Additionally, the government of Germany coordinated an effort to reach a settlement with German companies that had used slave labor during the war; the companies will pay $1.7 billion to victims. Germany also established a National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Berlin for looted property.”
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_Germany_apologize_for_the_Holocaust#ixzz1BSGViSsA
The question is, do we force it out of Japan, or should the Japanese take the initiative?
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_Germany_apologize_for_the_Holocaust
Also have a small collection of antique furniture, eg., wardrobes, sideboards, writing desks, chairs, etc — but they take so much space -Anna
Wow, these really would take up so much space, I imagine.
There are houses that double as a museum with the owners’ collection on display. Nice to look at but now so warm and comfortable for guests. I imagine even for members of the household.
The residence of Amb. Jimmy Yambao (whereever he is assigned) is like that. It’s museum of items from his different postings. It’s very interesting but you wouldn’t know where to sit.
Ellen, sa dami ng palpak na anak ay hindi ko na matandaan ang iba. 🙂
My cousin in D.C. is a collector of everything. We visited her home and we didn’t know where to sit because even her sofa and throw pillows are collections. Grabe, sikip na sikip ang feeling ko nahika tuloy ako. 🙂
Ellen,
Re “There are houses that double as a museum with the owners’ collection on display.”
If I had a big house, I would do that too — a very good way to enjoy your collection and share them with friends and/or visitors. 🙂
Grabe, sikip na sikip ang feeling ko nahika tuloy ako.
Hahahah!
Chi,
My tiny townhouse was a bodega at one point, garages were a choc-a-block for a long time. There were tears at home because kiddies couldn’t invite friends to the house. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Good thing we have outbuildings in the country where we now can store many of the items (that’s why I often go to the country pulling a trailer). But they cannot stay there for long because outbuildings need to be renovated too so am being pressured to flog many of the items which is tearing me apart 🙁 🙁 🙁
Speaking of country, will be signing off in a while en route to the country with my “tren” 🙂 Will be seeing you all next week. Ciao. Have fun!!!
Ciao, ciao Anna. That’s a good life, small dwelling in the city, a chateau in an island. 🙂 Enjoy!
Anna # 10:
I wouldn’t mind if you shipped some of your antique collection to our place if place is a problem. In fact, I’ll take good care of them while in my possession and promised not to have it auctioned. 🙂
At the Atitihan affair last Saturday here in New Jersey, I was asked why the name “Antique” for our province. So I told the story of the Ten Datus who because of the cruelty of their Sultan fled Borneo and found themselves in Malandog..when they asked what the name of the place was, the natives thinking that they were asking for the name of the black ants, “hantik”..thus the name..there were ten datus, the only names I remember are Datu Puti and Datu Sumakwel..I wonder if the book “The Ten Datus of Borneo” by J. C. Orendain is still available…Antique is very rich in history…
corr. Ati-Atihan..
Mike… kind of you to volunteer to store items but believe me not worth the hassle unless the Philippine Navy lends us a boat to transport them hehehehe!
Anna, are you sure you wanted to put your precious collections on an old dilapidated ship of the PH Navy? 😛