Friday, January 9, 2009

Surigaonon Heritage Center

Posting new entries these days is as hard as making out-of-town travels. Aside from the bad transition of becoming a hardworker from what must be a smart worker, I’m drowned to exploring opportunities of being a better individual. So more or less I can be seen doing worthy undertakings with my high school and college alma mater, to which i renewed stronger ties, other than in tourist places that I used to post here.

But I dont give up my passion to search the world. It still remained on top of my life-fulfilling wishlists.

So much for the acrobatic intro, since I haven’t gone for places far off Surigao, I decided to feature the local tourist points of my city once again. Aside from the fact that I haven't been to anywhere outside the town, our province is just rich with unlimited natural resources and wonders that I have not yet discovered. So posting local places is of endless possibility.

Let us take the Surigaonon Cultural Heritage and Center for Rock Study as a nice start.

Surigaonon Heritage Center
The Heritage Center is not hard to find. Visitors can either make the Hotel Tavern Surigao or the Philippine Ports Authority, both located in the city boulevard, as reference points because it is somewhere in between. I must say it is strategically located because it is facing right at the Surigao Strait where the famous naval battle between the American and Japanese fleet in the 20th century took place.

Aside from the few artifacts donated by families of early settlers in the province that are now on exhibit, the center also serves as the mini-museum of various rock samples containing minerals that can be found in the province.
Though the center prohibits taking photos of its exhibits, I managed to convince the management that promoting the center online might be good to create awareness
that the center exists. The more visitors it get, the more donations it will receive. A guaranteed experience for locals who will pay a visit there is a flashback of Surigaonon's roots. 

For example, this wooden panning plates would remind you that before Taganito Mining Company and other big mining companies in the province exist, the lumads (native locals) were already on that industry.

Wooden plates for gold panning
Another mining memorabilia that can be seen in the center are old photos showing the chromite rush in Dinagat Islands (now a separate province). 
Chromite Rush in Dinagat Islands
 Other collections that are worth the visit are the following:

A relic of the old belfry of the Surigao Cathedral
Relic of the old coffins of Mamanwas
Old sugarcane crusher
They also have collections of tools and equipments depicting the old way of living of the early settlers called Mamanwa. Here are some:

"Badjo", in tagalog "bayo". A traditional tool used to extract the rice from its husks.
I dont exactly know what are these but basing on how it looks, it might be a musical instrument. You can help me identify it, please leave a comment if you know so. Thank you.
Musical instruments.
The Surigaonon Heritage Center also houses various wares dating back to old Chinese trades.

Old porcelains.
Japanese bayonets, vintage bombs, and soldier's water container during the World War II.
 Other than the vintage memorabilias, the following are also features of the center:

Collection of different kinds of rocks that can be found in the province. Surigao is rich in minerals.
Portraits of the Former Governors of the Province of Surigao del Norte courtesy of local artist, Manuel Mendros. Surigaonons are inborn leaders.
One of the masterpieces of Ms. Ann Tiukinhoy-Pamintuan, a renowned contemporary designer who is of Surigaonon descent.

As of now, the center is privately owned and managed by Surigao’s great historian, Fernando Almeda, along with the fellow historian curator/painter, Manuel Mendros. The center is open during weekdays.



Mr. Almeda storytelling with the rare visitor, His Excellency Peter Beckingham, British Ambassador to the Philippines.

19 comments:

Raft3r said...

byahe na uli!
hehe

escape said...

wow! what's good is that they allow you take photos. karamihan kasi sa mga museum or mga cultural displays bawal.

ayos! ika nga ni raft3r! byahe na ulit!

pusangkalye said...

buti nalang me mga ganito pang places made for the preservation of art sa countryside kasi mayaman ang mga probinsya sa mga to---dilang naaalagaan---

yung bell---parang matanda na talaga.

veta said...

ang layo ng byahe mo anuh?hehehe

never pa ako nakapasok sa heritage. pila man entrance?

amping:-)

Unknown said...

wow!
i need to go there. hahaha

Allen Yuarata said...

Ang ganda ng collections! awesome!

Admin said...

Nice heritage of the tribes....


:)

Jules said...

i lov eyour ai love your blog :D

Ciela said...

That to know that this things are conserved well!

Btw, have you read my latst post yet? Please cast your vote for "beng-gee" and donate some fun!

Thanks so much and take care, friend!

Oman said...

wow. bilib ako sa convincing power mo parekoy at napapayag mo sila na kuhanan ng pic ang lugar. very informative and post na 'to.

Anonymous said...

Oy amo ba ini jaon likod nan cityhall? waya paman gud ako ka suyod did on.... kagana baja

The Islander said...

@rafter... ayun nakabyahe na nga uli. CDO last week.


@dong.. sa totoo lang alam ko na namang bawal e. pero masarap ang bawal di ba? kaya effort nalang ako baka sakaling magkachance. haha.

atat kasi akong ifeature ang museum eh.

The Islander said...

@tonyo.. matanda na nga yung bell. most of the relics dun, matatanda na. some of them contributed by concerned individuals for preservation.


@veta.. entrance i think is P20.. onga ang haba ng nilakbay ko. halos 20 meters lang. haha.


@vanny... our pleasure.

The Islander said...

@allen.. thanks. ang gaganda ka. kaya atat akong picturan. i think twice akong nadeny sa effort kong kumuha ng pics ng mga ito. pero cge pa rin...


@richard.. di ba sabi mo kabilang ka sa IP? sana meron din kayong museum para mapreserve culture at heritage ng tribe nyo.


@summer.. thank you for loving this humble blog. appreciate it.

The Islander said...

@tita beng.. i think i have casted my vote to you na when i got to read your comment here. pero sensya na, once ko lang yata nagawa. sobrang busy po talaga...


@lawstude.. parang ngayon lang ako naging informative noh? hehehe. medyo mabilisan na nga pagkagawa ko ng entry na to eh. naghahunting lang ako ng wifi that time.


@bomz.. dili boss. sa boulevard ini sija, dapit sa may IBP/San Sebastian Recolletos Law School. close to hotel tavern also.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

You wrote:the Surigao Strait where the famous naval battle between the American and Japanese fleet in the 18th century took place.
Actually, the Surigao Strait Naval
Battle took place in the 20th century, that is, on October 25, 1944. That was the decisive battle. The next year, in August 1945, Japan was defeated.
Thank you for your nice photos of
Surigao Heritage Center, which reminded me of the happy memories at the Center. I visited there in 2007. mari

The Islander said...

thanks for the correction. modified it. yeah, world war II took place in the 20th century indeed. hehe

Anonymous said...

hi .. ask ko lang kung saan ang exact address ng Surigao Heritage Center??thanks

Anonymous said...

What's the price per pax?