A hidden historical landmark echoes Philippine cigar

MANILA, Philippines - Only a small sign outside the three-storey office building  which says “Tabacalera Cigars” quite simply  gives passersby an idea that the place figured much in Philippine history.

The Tabacalera Building, at No. 900 Romualdez Street in Manila’s Paco district, is the headquarters of supermarket chain Puregold. In its glory days, it housed one of the world’s oldest cigar companies, which formed part of what was one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines.

But the history goes much deeper than that.

In 1780, the Spanish colonial government in the Philippines imposed a monopoly on tobacco to make the colony become more financially independent from subsidies that had to be brought in by galleon from Nueva España (present-day Mexico).

However, the monopoly sparked Filipino resentment because it barred the natives from planting tobacco and making their own cigars. Not to mention the poverty, corruption and abuses that came with it.

A century later, the Marquis of Comillas, Antonio Lopez y Lopez, founded Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas on November 26, 1881, in Barcelona, Spain, with the intention of taking over the monopoly when it was abolished that year.

Tabacalera’s flagship company, La Flor de la Isabela, was established in 1885 at No. 851 Calle Isaac Peral, known today as United Nations Avenue. It was named after the tobacco leaf variety that still grows in the northern Cagayan Valley.

The operation was huge. At its time, the factory was state-of-the-art. By 1925, the company had 5,000 employees. Old photos dating back to that period show hundreds of men and women rolling cigars by hand.

Several other cigar companies operated in Manila at the time. But the sheer size of Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas enabled it to have a near monopoly of the industry and earn the nickname Tabacalera — the cigar manufacturer in the country.

Tabacalera put up its Manila office at No. 936 Calle Marques de Comillas, named after its founder. Today the road, called Romualdez Street, is a busy route for large trucks hauling shipping containers bound for Manila’s harbors.

Tabacalera’s location can be seen on a map of Manila dated 1898 — the year General Emilio Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence — kept in the archives of the Lopez Museum.

The ornate Tabacalera Building was one of Manila’s landmarks. It was featured in postcards that were sent by travelers in the days when Manila was known as the Paris of the Orient.

Tabacalera expanded into several other businesses during the American colonial period (1898-1946) as diverse as insurance, liquor, shipping and sugar — making it one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines.

“Tabacalera is a very clear demonstration that in the second half of the 19th century, Spain was able to develop the country from an economic standpoint, promoting new techniques, the exports of tobacco and sugar, the building of infrastructures that are still in existence today,” says Ambassador Jorge Domecq of Spain, whose embassy in Manila has organized an exhibit about Tabacalera at Ayala Museum.

The Tabacalera building was destroyed in the 1945 Battle of Manila. Japanese troops used it as a citadel to hold off advancing US forces. Tabacalera rebuilt its offices on the same site after the war.

However, changes in the business landscape nudged the company into gradual decline. From the 1950s to the 1990s, it sold off its businesses and gradually returned to tobacco trading. It was bought by its present Dutch owners in 2007.

All that remains today of Tabacalera is a historical marker that was installed in 1951, located at the entrance of the present Tabacalera Building. The marker is in Spanish — a testament to a bygone era when Spanish was still spoken in the Philippines.

On the opposite wall of the building entrance is a brass seal of Tabacalera. Inside, a lovely 15-foot solid wood panel graces the lobby. On it, the name of Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas and its seal are elegantly carved.

Across a parking lot behind the Tabacalera building is a building that was once a facility of La Flor de la Isabela. The building’s facade echoes that of centuries-old Catholic churches that were built by the Spaniards.

Cigars may no longer be in fashion, but Filipinos still readily recognize their country as a cigar producer.

La Flor de la Isabela passed into Filipino hands in the 1990s when it was acquired by tycoon Roberto Ongpin. The company is known today as Tabacalera Incorporada, in tribute to Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas. It rolls out cigars in the same tradition as the Tabacalera of old.

Businesses primarily exist to make money. But some, like Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas, are set apart when they also make history.