D
r. Warren Manilay, Goldenstate College’s main man, was never inclined to dabbling in art or antiquities or architecture (in fact he has a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness, master’s in national security administration, and a PhD in peace and security administration), but in his effort to bring to life a structure that now stands to be the foremost, if not the only ancestral house in General Santos City, he became both a designer-builder and curator-historian. The structure at the heart of his and his wife’s decades-long passion is the Manilay Ancestral House, quietly perched around tall, slender, green trees on a 5,000-square-meter property next door to their residence off Nuñez street in Purok Malakas, Barangay San Isidro.
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Originally from San Pablo City, Laguna, Warren and his wife Sara Jane, together with their children Pia, John, Deck, and Jen, relocated to Gensan in 1992 for good. This was where it all began, Sarah Jane collecting distinct antique pieces of religious statues and paraphernalia, fixtures, photographs and family memorabilla, appliances, furniture, and other trinkets, that have now all become an eclectic
treasure trove of artifacts rich in history and heritage, albeit very young and deeply personal. Back then Warren didn’t eye them as fondly, even considering the hodge-podge of old chests, telephones, transistor radios, traditional flat irons, wood carvings, candelabras, typewriters, chairs, lamps, and what-not as junk. In no time the accummulated pieces have made their home
look more like a museum than a house, something that bothered the father of the household. But instead of disposing of the assortment of curios and bric-a-bracs outright, and also out of respect for his wife’s collection, he suggested that the items be moved and housed elsewhere -- whereupon the seed of the ancestral house was born. Sara Jane broached the idea of placing her collection in a
the manilay
ancestral
house
Text and Photos by Armando Nicolas PJ
General Santos City’s Foremost Heritage Home