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CAGAYANLifestyle TIMES Weekly DE ORO
Volume 8 | No. 46 | Cagayan de Oro City | June 28 - July 4, 2021
Because a picture paints a thousand w ords:
Snapshots from the life of Carlos Neri Arce By MIKE BAÑOS
W
E ARE bringing back this updated story in celebration of the life and works of one of Cagayan de Oro’s foremost visual artists and photographers Nene Arce who recently passed on at the fine young age of 97. At the spry young age of 86, Carlos Neri Arce published a book about his family’s journey in Cagayan de Oro over the last 90 years. “THRESHOLD relates the story of how my father, Dr. Jose Arce of Quiapo, Manila, came to Cagayan de Oro (then known as Cagayan de Misamis, capital town of the province of Misamis) as a dental volunteer for the Red Cross, charged with the area from Oroquieta to Balingasag, and married
Catalina Neri in 1920,” said the acknowledged dean of Cagayan de Oro’s photographers. “It’s also about my life.” And what a life it’s been! Born in February 5, 1924, “Nene” as he is fondly known to his family and friends, started school at the Cugman Primary School, then moved to the St. Augustine school for his intermediate grades where he was the classmate of the late Dante Sarraga, Paking Pabayo and Renato Roa. He took his high school at Ateneo de Cagayan, but received his diploma quite recently since he his studies were interrupted by the Second World War. When he completed his B.S. Commerce at the same school in 1951, he started out as a postal
Kids playing in fish pens in Baloy Beach
THRESHOLD by Carlos Neri Arce
employee earning the princely sum of P30 a month under then postmaster Cipriano Queppet and Inspector Pablo Dael. After a short stint with
Compania Maritima, Nene was hired by Manfred Lion, a Czech national who opened the Cagayan Photo Supply along Velez Street across what is now the VIP Hotel.
When Lion left for the United States, Nene became the manager of the store selling cameras, film, photo papers and other photo supplies and accessories. It was during
Mrs Charito Arce at Baloy Beach
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Carlos Neri Nene Arce
his stint with this store when he was taught photo developing and printing by his uncle Nicanor Velez. In 1955, the Cagayan Photo Supply closed shop so Nene opened “Arce Photo Supply” at the Paterno Velez building in Yacapin-Velez streets in what is now the Metrobank-Velez branch. In 1985, he again moved his shop to the ground floor of his residence along Rizal Street. Although the store played its part in making the Arce name known around town (mostly from sponsorships of beauty pageants held in Plaza Divisoria) it was ultimately the maestro’s photography and the legacy he passed on to his students which made him known as the dean of the Cagayan de Oro photographers. SNAPSHOTS/PAGE 7 Nene’s iconic shot of the Gaston Park fountain shot from the belfy of St Augustine Cathedral