The Ancestral House of the Vicenta family is one of the last Ancestral houses in Barangay Tangke,Talisay. According to the current owner Stefa Cabanes the house was built before she was born, and considering that she was born in 1957 the house was most likely built in 1953-1955. The house is one of the last few ancestral houses in the now crowded and developed fishing Barangay of Tangke.
The house is a great example of Post war houses built across the Philippines. The memory of American period architecture and the lack of resources resulted in this style of House. The Clapboard style has been replaced by wooden sheets with Parts cut out for windows. The house has the usual Capiz windows and interestingly has some solid wood windows. Inside the house there are wooden patterns on the ceiling for ventilation and design. Some of the furniture in the house is new but there were rattan chairs supposedly used by Japanese Soldiers in World War 2 as chairs when looking at the nearby beach. Another interesting piece from inside the house was a Century old Kaban/Baul, Ida Cabanes narrated to me that the Baul was hand crafted by Talisaynon artisan from Tabunok who made the Baul at the cost of 50.00 Pesos in 1932.
After a typhoon in 1990 the roof had to be replaced resulting in the roof you see now. The house is made of Hardwood Tugas brought from the city on 2 trucks going back and forth. The date of completion is not clear according to current owner Stefa Cabanes she said that it was completed around 1955. The staircase is made of normal wooden planks with a small balcony with balustraded railings, on one of the Baluster was the date 1955.
The Person who commissioned the building of the House was Nang Ida Vicenta who was 42 years old at the time. The house was built on the ruins of a previous American Period house which was a small Nipa structure. The reason of the destruction of the old house was because Japanese mines and beach defenses were put in its place. Upon the construction of the house it was said to be one of the few structures standing in the area that was not a small nipa hut. The house despite its appearance in the picture is actually on stilts with the entire house being supported on 6 massive wooden beams. The house in the 1950s was used as a community hall where residents would gather and have parties, the reason why this is I do not know. The house has survived all manner of disaster from earthquakes to typhoons, though during typhoon Ruping in 1990 the old galvanized roof flew off and it had to be replaced with the new one. During the 2013 earthquake the house survived though barely as one of the wooden beams supporting a portion of the left side of the house had broken. In 2015 a fire had started very close by which unfortunately burned a section to the far right of the house. Though damaged the house was saved from total destruction.
My mother is Vicenta and she is not the owner of the house. It’s my grandparents house, Arnesia Mabanto Bacalso and Alfredo Rabaya Daan, my father’s parents who own the house as far as I know since I was a kid. Please let me know who is this “Nang Ida Vicenta” because I’m interested to know her story to link it to my genealogy files of my own. I would appreciate if you could give me some information about her.
Hello I apologize for the late reply. As I am one of the descendants of the Mabanto Family through Luciano Mabanto Delima, I too am trying to connect the roots of my grandfathers side as my grandmothers side is mostly complete.
Now to the query. Nang Ida Vicenta is the only name I have been given for if not the owner a person who has lived in this house for a very long time. Her name was even written in pencil on the bottom of a capis window. Im sorry if I couldn’t provide more information.
Also if you may be inclined could you share more information on genealogy? thank you