We got a Feb. 2 flight to SFO so we decided to go visit historical sites/shrines in nearby Cavite province on Friday, Feb. 1. Lola Isabel, Tatay's mother, was Isabel Timtiman Tirona before she was married to a Mabalon, and Tatay was very proud of his Tirona middle name. Apparently, the Tirona family is an enormous and famous clan from Kawit and Imus, Cavite. Candido Tirona was among the first Katipuneros killed in the Philippine Revolution. The elitism and strategic power play orchestrated by his brother Daniel, a lawyer and leader in the Magdalo faction of the Katipunan, led to the imprisonment and execution of Andres Bonifacio (I was very embarrassed to learn this in college, that a relative of mine killed Andres). The spouses of Emilio Aguinaldo and Emiliano Tria Tirona were sisters, making the two Katipuneros very close. In the early 20th century, Tatay was proud to talk about the fact that a relative, Francisca Tirona Benitez, founded the Philippine Women's University, where Auntie Puring Pastrana (Tatay's Manang) studied. In any case, we are the poor, provincial Tironas: our great-grandfather, Lola Isabel's father Juan, was the black sheep who left Cavite to become a provincial official in Aklan.
So I decided to hunt through Cavite to find the ancestral House of Tirona, which the internet told me was a beautiful family home located in G. Maestro Tirona Street in Imus, Cavite. After a 30 minute drive there, and several close calls (every street in Imus' town plaza is named after a Tirona, so if you stop a tricycle or jeepney driver and ask for the Tirona house, they look at you as if you were in Boston and asked the bus driver to take you to the House of Smith or some other Anglo-Saxon name), we finally got to the house, hidden behind a thick fence. The housekeeper told Jesse the owners had closed the house to the public. Sadly, we turned west and went to Kawit to the ancestral home of Emilio Aguinaldo, site of the declaration of Philippine Independence, June 12, 1898.
We had to wait 20 minutes because may the Virgin Mary help you if you interrupt a Filipino security guard on lunch break. The Aguinaldo ancestral home, which was built in 1849 and renovated continuously until the General's death in 1964. The house in enormous and situated on the Kawit river. The first floor, where Gen. Aguinaldo had built a bowling alley in the 1920s, is a nicely done mini-museum of Cavite and Katipunan history, featuring clothing, flags, and weapons owned by the General. Did you know he was only 5'3"? He would have towered over Rizal. In any case, I'm ambivalent, like many, about Aguinaldo's legacy. As the first president of the Republic and leader of the Revolution, he fought American colonialism until his death. Yet, he was willing to sacrifice the founder of the Revolution (Bonifacio) and also his own dignity (Pact of Biak-na-Bato, when he went into exile right before the Americans arrived in May, 1898) to survive. His house is quite interesting, however.
Kuya (I won't share his last name, so as to not get him in trouble) was our tour guide. When I told him that I was a history professor descended from Juan Tirona, cousin of Daniel, Candido and Emiliano, he immediately changed his formal demeanor and proceeded to show us every nook and cranny of this amazing house, which is built of beautiful narra, molave, and kamagong wood. Kuya holds Aguinaldo in extreme reverence, so I kept my Aguinaldo criticisms quiet, so not to insult him. The house itself is magnificent, but what makes it really interesting are the tiny details. Kuya explained that Aguinaldo always had to protect himself against enemies: the Spanish during the Revolution, Americans during the Philippine-American War, and then everyone else until his death in 1964. Aguinaldo designed the house to contain several secret stairways, entryways, hidden doors, escape hatches, underground tunnels, secret doors hidden in kitchen tables, and secret attic hideaways for his five children. At first he said that only dignitaries got to see these places. Then, he softened and said that I, as a distant relative of the General, could see everything off-limits to the general public. So here we go, folks: some photos of the inside of the inside of the Aguinaldo house:
Kuya: "I'm not really supposed to show you this, but this is the secret stairway that leads up to the secret bathroom and escape hatch for the three daughters..."
"And this is the General's library..."
General Aguinaldo's haven: his old bed, chairs, and a grand view of Manila and Cavite through the capiz-shell windows. Kuya made sure we specifically asked Lolo (the General) to take a picture, lest his spirit be irritated at us. We hurriedly complied.
I won't show anymore since Kuya made us promise to not share the photos. Here are some more general ones:
Students from Emiliano Tria Tirona High School were visiting the same day.
Ukoy with delicate shreds of camote and kalabasa and shrimp.
