The caretaker at the Clarin Ancestral House led us outside of the house, to a staircase I saw earlier and opened the door. This was the way in to the house itself. The house was expectedly old and much of the stuff that is contained in this place dates back to the early 1900s. Jose Clarin, one of the first in their family to figure in Philippine politics was elected Senator of the Philippines. This began a tradition of politicians from this family. The house is now a museum and has been declared a national heritage.
As I found out, the Clarin’s a ethnic Chinese and succeeding generations of the family soon intermarried with the locals whose bloodline continues to this day. The photos on the walls of the house make it quite apparent that they really are ethnic Chinese, having hailed from the Chinese province of Fujian as do most Chinese Filipinos. The Clarins are quite a well to do family having built this impressive Spanish Filipino house which is quite large I must say. There are several rooms here but my guide showed my the rooms where the Clarin politicians would hold office.
There were a lot of things kept from the American period like bottles drinks and even and old television. The bedroom was huge with several large beds in the room. One interesting piece of furniture I noticed was a wooden chair with execessively long armrests. As the guide explained to me, this is where people would literally kick their feet and rest them on these armrests – or rather footrests. Even powerful politician needs to relax.
One of the more interesting rooms was a dining room with a long table. This room was reserved only when there are special guests like presidents, senators or congressmen. The special dishes are also used whenever these special guests are here. Just beside the table was a dish washing area. Actually, it wasn’t really much of a washing area. The washer probably just pours waters on the dishes and the water just falls to the ground below. It won’t be a good idea hanging out in this area while this is happening.
The Clarin Ancestral House gives a good idea on what kind of life the well to do Filipinos had back then. There are surely hundreds or maybe thousands of these kinds of houses all over the country. The Clarin Ancestral House although is already a heritage site, is in need of maintenance. The donation for visiting this house can go a long way to maintaining this place. I am quite fortunate to be able to visit one of these and travel back in time just for a little while.
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When you go for a tour around Bohol, you’ll notice that there’s a lot of old structures and houses around the province. That is because many portions of Bohol remains unexploited. You will definitely appeciate how the Boholanos was able to preserve their culture and heritage.