Las Casas coffee table book in Tagalog

MANILA, Philippines — Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar formally launched its coffee table book titled Sa Mga Bahay Ng Ating Gunita (At the Houses of Our Memory) that showcases the great works of art representing the rich Filipino culture and heritage.

Sa Mga Bahay Ng Ating Gunita is a work of art and labor of love of New San Jose Builders, Inc. chairman and Las Casas proprietor Jose Rizalino “Jerry” Acuzar who unveiled the book during the Ninoy Aquino Day together with prominent personalities from politics, government and media, including former Speaker Sonny Belmonte, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) monetary board member Peter Favila, former BSP Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. and former Vice President Noli de Castro.

Award-winning poet Marne Kilates, who was commissioned to write, edit and design the coffee table book, shared in his speech how it became a challenging task for him to fulfill the one and only request of Jerry.

“Isulat mo sa Tagalog,” was the exact words of Jerry to Marne when they were in the initial stage of conceptualizing the coffee table book.

“Sa madaling salita, kinailangan kong magsulat sa Filipino — ang tawag sa ating wikang pambansa na nakabatay sa Tagalog at pinayayaman ng iba pang wikang katutubo. Kinasanayan kong magsulat sa Ingles, at bilang tagasalin ng panitikan — ang magsalin mula sa Filipino tungong Ingles, (isa) itong bago at hindi bagong hamon para sa akin,” said Marne.

Marne accepted the challenge, knowing fully well that the coffee table book will tell stories about Filipinos for all the Filipinos to read wherever they are in the world and be proud of “dahil pinaghusay, de kalidad at maaring iharap sa mundo.”

For his part, Jerry shared that in his visits to many countries in Europe, he noticed that their brochures or books about their cities, resorts or tourist spots are all written in their respective languages.

“I’ve been thinking about having a coffee table book in Filipino for a long time because when you go to other countries, they use their language and not English. For example, when you go to Japan, the brochures are written in Japanese. Same with Italy, Germany, France. It is seldom you can find something in English so why not make our own in Tagalog so that every Filipino can understand and learn stories of our past,” Jerry told The STAR. He, too, shared that the coffee table book was conceptualized five years ago.

“Visitors of Las Casas, especially the balikbayan, would look for a book about stories of the restored houses they’ve seen in Bataan for them to show to their friends and relatives abroad.”

Nestled at the heart of Bagac in Bataan, Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar presently has 62 restored houses from different provinces in the country that occupy 62-hectare out of the total area of 400 hectares “and still counting because owners or heirs of old houses now come to me to either sell or give to me, aiming to preserve the original pieces of their houses. In return, they can visit (Las Casas) every year for free,” shared Jerry.

Nine of the 62 restored casas that hold secret to the past are highlighted in the coffee table book including Casa San Juan from Batangas; CasaLubao, Pampanga; Casa Quiapo and Casa Byzantina, Manila; Casa Luna, La Union; and Casa Biñan, Laguna.

“The book is just the first of the five volumes that we are about to launch in the future. Marami na ang nadagdag at hindi kayang ilagay lahat sa iisang libro lang. What makes this coffee table book different is that you can see the place, learn its story and even feel like going back to the past when you visit the place. Unlike (in) other books on culture and heritage, what you can only see are pictures of destroyed places or remnants of the past.”

During the launch, Jerry expressed his thanks to former Speaker Sonny Belmonte for sharing to him his knowledge on the historical facts and art of the Philippines.