World-famous artist loses artworks in Benguet blaze

ITOGON, Benguet — Artworks worth millions of pesos by internationally acclaimed artist and filmmaker Erik de Guia, more popularly known as Kidlat Tahimik (which means "quiet lightning"), went up in smoke during a fire that razed his three-story house here yesterday morning.

While firefighters battled flames eating up De Guia’s ancestral house in Barangay Tuding, his son Kawayan was too shaken to speak.

Kawayan, 24, was with other artist-friends when the fire broke out at about 8:30 a.m. Hundreds of artworks consisting of paintings, installations and the like were lost. No one was hurt.

When the fire and smoke cleared, only a charred pair of bronze gangsa (cymbals) was salvaged by neighbors.

De Guia had not been living in his residence here for years, instead opting to stay at his other house in Hapao, Ifugao.

The burned house had become a haven of Baguio-based artists such as members of the Baguio Arts Guild, which had been hosting international art exhibits in Baguio.

De Guia’s first film, Mababangong Bangungot (Perfumed Nightmare), garnered top awards at the Mannheim and Berlin Film Festivals.

His second film, Turumba, commissioned by West German television, is often shown at conferences on economic development.