The Aboitiz Ancestral House

CEBU, Philippines - A special tour of the ancestral home-cum-private museum of the Aboitiz family – the former home of Aboitiz Group founder Don Ramon Aboitiz – was held last week, on Wednesday, May 18.

Attended by special guests and members of the media, the tour in observance of the International Museum Day, and also served as the kickoff of the upcoming 50th anniversary celebration of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) this November.

Brothers Roberto and Jon Ramon Aboitiz, president and vice-president of RAFI, guided the tour participants through different areas of the house – along the way recalling fond memories of their grandfather, Don Ramon.

A hardwood steering hub of a ship, the work desk of Don Ramon, his attirement as Knight of St. Sylvester (a highly lauded pontifical distinction) and various family photos, heirlooms and memorabilia are among the many items in the house.

The two-storey house, acquired by Don Ramon in the 1930s, bears certain elements of American period architecture – characterized by a figure-of-eight cadastral view layout; a floor layout type that was popularly utilized in residences at the time.

At the center of the house is a stairway that leads to the second floor – a “centerpoint” which bisects the house’s first level into different spaces: the reception area, the sala and dining areas at the entrance side; the kitchen, the pantry area and a meeting room at the back.

A similar division, still centered by the stairwell, is mirrored on the house’s second level, where a spacious balcony, private rooms, the house’s main bathroom and a private sala are situated.

Located near the vicinity of the Redemptorist Church in Barangay Camputhaw, the Aboitiz ancestral house gives visitors a glimpse of what type of person Don Ramon Aboitiz  was – a man who did not dwell on needless frivolity, very much like the foundation that was named in his honor.  (FREEMAN)