Iloilo is a land of historic ancestral houses.
Many years back, I was in awe of the Nelly Garden in Jaro district and I didn’t stop until I used it as a concert venue with no less than Cecile Licad opening its concert series in 2018 with all-Chopin program.
The venue was just heaven-sent as it has a well-maintained 1928 New York Steinway grand.
Coming back and forth Iloilo for more concerts, I was always curious why another striking Iloilo landmark is called the Lopez Boathouse along Luna Street in La Paz district.
I got the chance to see how it looked like inside when I joined a lunch date last November 24 with no less than the daughter of Oscar Lopez (Cedie Lopez-Vargas) and great grandson of Don Eugenio Lopez (Javier Vargas).
Don Eugenio, popularly known Don Eñing, is the brother of Don Fernando Lopez, vice-president to two presidents: Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. and Elpidio Quirino.
The lunch host is Cedie Lopez-Vargas, daughter of Oscar Lopez who is one of four sons of Don Eugenio.
I told Ms. Vargas I didn’t know she is the daughter of the same Oscar Lopez who used to order Licad concert tickets from me.
Vargas was in Iloilo to grace the opening of the exhibit of the Lopez Collection, The Patrimony of All at the University of the Philippines Visayas.
With me in my first lunch date at the Lopez Boathouse were former Sen. and Mrs. Franklin Drilon, Ambeth Ocampo and Petty Benitez J who is behind the concert series at MiraNila along Mariposa St. in Cubao.
How is the owner of Nelly Garden, related to Eugenio Lopez and former Vice-President Fernando Lopez?
The famous Lopez brothers (Don Eugenio Lopez, founder of the Lopez Group of Companies and former Vice-President Fernando Lopez) are nephews of Don Vicente Lopez who built the Nelly Garden mansion in 1928.
I’ve always been curious about the late violinist Gilopez Kabayao and his relationship to the Lopez family.
While Eugenio Lopez and Vice President Fernando Lopez represented the popular achievers of the fourth generation of Iloilo Lopezes, there was another line of the Lopez family tree described as “the dreamy, poetic, and lyrical kind.”
They were represented by their first cousins — the Lopez-Hofilena ladies of Hacienda Faraon in Cadiz, Negros namely Marcela Lopez de Kabayao and Honey Lopez de Panganiban, among others.
From this lineage was born violinist Gilopez Kabayao in 1929 in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental. He grew up in a family of musicians in Hacienda Faraon.
Also referred to as a fine specimen of the chic 1930s Art Deco, the Boathouse has a facade reminiscent of a ship. The designs conjure images of portholes and decks of a ship docked in a quiet harbor.
Inside, winding stairways greet you.
In one room, the guide tells me, “This is where Mr. Oscar Lopez used to stay when he is in town.”
I posed in one study table just to have a piece of memory of the man. A music lover, Mr. Lopez used to order concert tickets from me for the Cecile Licad recitals at Philamlife Theater in the late 90s. His ticket purchase ordered by phone has these strict details, “I want tickets on the left said preferably near the stage. I want to see her hands while performing.”
While touring the rest of the house, you go to the top floor where you see a hanging stairway which is a virtual functional steel sculpture that leads to the tower.
I saw Ambeth Ocampo threatening to negotiate the swinging winding stair.
I decided doing a Tarzan act at age75 is not for me.
Lunch is served at the Boathouse living room for the visitors hosted by Cedie Lopez-Vargas, president of the Lopez Foundation.
Vargas’s grandfather, Don Eñing is also better known as the brother of Don Fernando Lopez who served as vice-president to President Elpidio Quirino and Ferdinand Marcos, Sr.
In this Boathouse one fine Sunday in November, I see the granddaughter of Don Eugenio Lopez (Cedie Lopez-Vargas) and his great grandson, Javier (Marco) Vargas and his wife, Tisha de Ocampo Vargas.
They are all in town for the opening of the Lopez Collection exhibit at the University of the Philippines Visayas November 25.
Cedie Vargas says she has very little memories of the Boathouse. “I spent more of my teenage summers at Nelly Gardens as the Boathouse was serving other purposes at that time.”
From her father Oscar Lopez came the account that it was called Boathouse as the design evoked the appearance of a battleship, complete with portholes. For indeed, the elongated veranda of the house looked like a boat’s viewing deck. The tower extends up to a fourth-floor observation area.
Built by Architect Fernando H. Ocampo in 1935, the Boathouse was inaugurated just in time for the baptism of Don Eñing’s only daughter, Presentación M. López-Psinakis.
Godparents were no less than President Quezon and Mrs. Aurora Reyes Recto.
After the baptism of Presentación M. López-Psinakis in 1935, the city itself was born in 1937 with the signing of the charter by President Quezon after the National Assembly had created the four cities of Iloilo, Cebu, Zamboanga and Davao.
For Vargas, the Lopez Collection represents her parents and grandparent’s collection which are rich in history.
Says she: “The opening of this exhibition feels like the fulfillment of something deeply meaningful and significant. I feel deeply the weight of responsibility entrusted into my hands for the care and preservation of the museum collection, guiding it with dedication and reverence, until the time comes to proudly turn it over in to the hands of the next generation of stewards.”
I ask her if her parents or grandparents had a hand in the invitation for American diva Beverly Sills who sang at the Meralco Theater in 1969. She was accompanied by the then fledgling CCP orchestra under the baton of Maestro Luis Valencia. (In 1982, this orchestral ensemble became the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.)
Vargas recalls: “Yes I remember Beverly Sills coming to Manila in 1969 and watching her perform at the Meralco Theater. She may have been a favorite of my grandfather (Eugenio Lopez Sr.) who enjoyed music and cultural performances. I was about 10 years old at that time and was tasked with entertaining her (Sills’) daughter who was about my age.”
Leaving the Boathouse for the opening of Lopez collection exhibit at UPV, she tells her listeners that it is with great pride she represent the two institutions that embody two of the passions my family: the Lopez Museum and Library, for its commitment to the preservation and promotion of Philippine arts and culture and second, the Lopez Group Foundation, for its unwavering mission to continuously build and nurture the shared history and patrimony of the Lopez family with Iloilo.
Said she: “My father, our beloved Oscar Lopez, shared his father, Don Eñing’s belief in the primacy of Philippine art and culture. The result is the now impressive collection of Filipino paintings and Filipiniana rare books, manuscripts, and maps. But what is more impressive is that with the dedication and hard work of my forebears, we and future generations of Filipino youth will still be able access these collections, not just as a celebration of cultural history and art, but of cultural preservation and an enduring spirit of nationalism.”
As audiences fill in the UPV Performance Hall and absorb portraits of times past, she remembers her father’s words on believing the importance of recognizing, appreciating and nurturing their Iloilo roots. “We have never lost our affection for the city of our childhood. So, we take every opportunity to participate in the development of the province. Projects like this are only the beginning of what we would like to be a continuing process of investing in human development in our hometown. Development in the end is about developing people, and we in the Lopez Group want to put our resources at the service of improving the quality of life, so that the next generation of Jaro children can live better, happier, more productive lives.”
As for the Lopez heritage houses, this footnote is in order.
The Lopez Boathouse in La Paz was declared a National Heritage House by the National Historical Commission on March 13, 2002.
The Nelly Garden was declared a national landmark in 2004 by the National Historical Commission.
Then I remembered again, Vargas’s grandfather Don Eñing Lopez was portrayed by actor Armando Goyena in the 1995 film Eskapo by Chito Rono. It is about what the Lopez family went through under the Marcos regime after the declaration of martial law
I interviewed Goyena during the Eskapo presscon held at the Meralco Theater.
I got a moving thank you letter from the actor after the story came out in the Philippine Star.
Finally, I see real faces who represent the fourth generation of the Lopez family in Iloilo.
Javier (Marco) Vargas, the great grandson of Don Eñing Lopez, looks good beside his young wife, Tisha de Ocampo Vargas.
His mother, Cedie Lopez-Vargas, is kept busy greeting exhibit opening guests.
I did three concerts at Nelly Garden in 2018 and 2019.
In the Licad recital at the Nelly Garden, the entire Kabayao family led by Mr. and Mrs. Gilopez Kabayao were in attendance.
For now, I have a good overview of the Lopez family in Iloilo City through the two distinct heritage houses – The Lopez Boathouse and the Nelly Garden.
I am happy to realize I share their grandparents’ love for music and the arts.