An uncle of mine died this week, Tatang Emiliano “Bending” de la Cruz, who lived to the ripe age of 93 years. Tatang was married to my aunt Elsie Castro, 89, sister of my late Dad.
Both Tatang Bending and Imang Elsie were the last of their siblings, outliving all their younger ‘kapatads’, in the case of my aunt. Though longtime Manila residents, they've always remained true to their Pampanga roots, and it was in Mabalacat, their hometown, that the family chose to have Tatang’s wake.
The death of my uncle gathered our Kapampangan relatives, and the funeral wake turned into another mini-reunion, and an occasion to revisit old memories of the grand De La Cruz-Lim House, where my uncle lay in state for 3 days.
This is their family residence, an imposing structure built in 1932, by his father, Don Vicente Dizon de la Cruz (Apung Centi), a prominent businessman and sugar planter, and his wife, Dna. Felipa Tuazon Lim (Apung Pepang), whose humble beginnings belied her enterprising spirit.
As a youngster, Apung Pepang sold water to passengers of the the Manila-Dagupan railway, which passed thru the town. In later years, local people would call her the “Nora Aunor of Mabalacat”, despite the obvious anachronism.
I had written about this house in my local history book, but never got around to seeing it this close. I remember a few, short visits here—it is a town landmark because of its tall tower—when one says you have reached the “bale ng Apung Pepang” (the house of Lola Pepang), it means you have reached the town proper.
The house stands right along the corner of the Sta. Ines Expressway Exit and MacArthur Highway in a spacious prime lot. It has a distinct art deco design, right down to the iron grill fence.
The house was among the few featured in the “Pampanga Social Register” book, published in 1936, which paid tribute to Pampanga’s prominent people in business and society.
According to the write-up, the house was constructed with Rizal Cement, furnished with Puyat Furniture and finished with Bondex paint by contractor A.B. Villanueva & Sons.
Well-kept through the years, the house had only minor refurbishments, which included re-painting and a change of wallpaper. It is fronted by a garden and a small lawn featuring a grotto-like centerpiece with some figures in cement.
The covered entry features a contemporary plaque that identifies it as the De la Cruz-Lim Residence, Constructed 1932.
The names of the children are listed with along with the names of their spouses: Enrico (m. Cristina D. Antonio), Constancia, Vicente Gonzalo Jr. (died young), Emiliano (m. to Elsie M. Castro), Heindelberto (m. Clarita G. Velasquez), Ubaldo (m. Caridad G. Garcia), Felicisima (m. to Judge Noli P. Quioc) and Adelaida (m. to Francisco A. Olalia).
The spacious receiving room (where the wake was held) is richly-lined with narra wood panels while the two-toned flooring is made from long wood strips.
The tall but narrow sliding windows of clear glass are protected by beautiful art deco grills of floral design.
There are two rooms to the left, one of which is Apung Centi’s office. There is also a larger room next to the stairwell, used as a living quarter.
The second floor is accessible by a short flight of stairs with wooden steps and iron grill balusters. It leads to the commodious living room that has retained its 80 year old Ambassador style furniture made by Puyat & Sons.
The two-toned floor motif and the wooden paneling is repeated here.
An unusual portrait of the De La Cruzes hangs in the sala. It is that of the couple in their late 50s, cut-out photo oleos (painted studio pictures) and assembled to give a 3-D effect, an early and unusual example of tole art.
Going to the dining room, one sees an arch with low relief carvings representing the prosperous sugar business of the De La Cruzes. It shows a sugar mill (Apung Centi was a stockholder of the Mabalacat Sugar Mill), sugarcane crushers, a pilon and other mill appurtenances.
A matching arch is shown on the opposite side, with the initials of the owner and carvings of a vast sugarcane field, a cane crusher and the solitary figure of a farmer hauling off sugarcane stalks in a gareta (carabao cart).
The dining room also retained much of its furniture, vintage Puyat, in streamlined Ambassador deco, a favored and popular 30s style.
High windows keep the dining room cool, and an occasional bat would often stray into the house through the sliding windows.
To the left are the kitchens and other utility areas, where househelps spend most of their time preparing the food and cooking dishes using old clay ovens.
There is an old fashioned banggera here, and a modern San Miguel refrigerator.
Opposite are rooms sandwiching a short hallway that leads to a veranda. One room is used to store the antique images of St. Mary Margaret Alacocque and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which are lent to the church for viewing on the Feast of Sacred Heart.
The most famous feature of the house is the tower, which is accessible through a narrowing and a spiraling flight of stairs that lead to the top, a small space with windows, good for just a small seat.
There is a town legend that daughter Constancia used to hang out here, which has a commanding view of the town, in the hope of catching a glimpse of a beloved—a religious, so they say. The truth was, Constancia had bad lungs, so her father built the tower for her so she could take better whiff of the fresh, pure air available at high altitude.
Today, the beautiful Deco house is under the care of the children of the late Felicisima de la Cruz-Quioc, a number of whom reside here . I am privileged to have grown up with some of them-- two boys were schoolmates at Sacred Heart Seminary, while the eldest daughter is married to the culinary artist Claude Tayag, another high school classmate.
While we were once more reunited under a sad circumstance, I am somehow comforted by the thought that Tatang Bending (he is the young boy on the right, in long white pants), who spent his early teenage years living in this grand old house of many memories, is once more home in the town he loved the most, this time, for good.
