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ARTS & CULTURE | HEALTH | EVENTS | TRAVEL & TOURISM | PEOPLE
CAGAYANLifestyle TIMES Weekly de Oro
Volume 3 | No. 27 | Cagayan de Oro City | February 6-12, 2016
Cagayan de Oro Chinese New Year Heritage Feature:
La Casa del Chino Ygua, the oldest house in CdeO
A
By Mike Baños
t the corner of Don Apolinar Velez and Archbishop Santiago Hayes streets stands an unimposing two story brick building which has withstood ravages of time, the Philippine Revolution, the FilipinoAmerican War, and World War II.
It’s perhaps unfortunate how today, despite the quantum gains made by modern communications, few of Cagayan de Oro City’s growing populace are aware it’s now the city’s oldest surviving residence and has quite a
This rep roduction of an extent photo of the Fiesta Nacional parade of January 10, 1899 which started from the Casa del Chino Ygua. (courtesy of Elson ELizaga)
history behind it. Known to local history buffs as La Casa del Chino Ygua*, it has been recognized as a historically significant structure by the National Historical Institute of the Philippines, as confirmed by the NHI marker installed there in April 7, 2000, the Centennial of the Battle of Cagayan, also known as Siete de Abril. According to local historian Antonio Julian Roa Montalvan II, the house was built by Sia Ygua, a resident of Amoy (present day Xiamen) a city in the province of Fukien (now Fujian). Ygua is recorded as the earliest Chinese to have settled in Cagayan. While Amoy was an exit port, most of the Chinese who migrated outside the region came from the Yueyang and Fujian but Ygua was really a native
A reproduction of the Casa del Chino Ygua from XU Museo de Oro. Ygua is the 4th from left.
of Amoy. (Montalvan, 2004) In a manuscript transcribed from Sia family records by Johnson L. Sia, a 4th generation descendant of Ygua, he writes how his great grandfather arrived in Cagayan de Misamis (as Cagayan de Oro was then known) in 1854 and opened his business in 1857. Named “Tong Joo” after his second son, it was a typical trading post that dealt in indigenous products like copra, tobacco,
abaca and the like. The business prospered and soon expanded to the nearby towns. In time it became one of the largest business establishments in the area (Sia, 2004) According to a short account of the house written by the late Fr. Francisco Demetrio, S.J. in his publication Cagayan (1971), Ygua became friends with the Recollect priests of the nearby San Agustin church. Due to his industry, and the help given him by the fathers, he gradually amassed a
fortune. Like most Chinese who settled in Cagayan, he took active part in civic and public life. He was known for his good heartedness. It is said that when he died, practically everyone in Cagayan wore black in mourning (Demetrio, 1971). Ygua built his residence in 1882 at a time when the running conflicts between Moros in Sulu and Cotabato and the Spanish regime in Mindanao and the feature/PAGE 7
The NHI marker installed on April 7, 2000 commemorates the Centennial of the Battle of Cagayan fought on the same date 100 yrs. before.
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