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A few years ago, a couple of friends from Manila spent a weekend in Negros Occidental, my home province, and they were brought to a place called The Ruins in Talisay City. The place definitely made an impression that they kept asking me about The Ruins. I drew a blank--it was the first time I've heard of the place. I made a note to myself to check it out the next time I'm in Bacolod.
The opportunity presented itself in late April when we were driving to Bacolod from Manapla. We were caught in a rainstorm and had an extended lunch in Victorias. I asked my cousins about The Ruins---they have heard of the place but never been there. And as luck would have it, the sky started to clear as we approached Talisay City. I would have wanted to see The Ruins at dusk, but we were thankful for the blue skies.
The Ruins is what's left of a magnificent mansion built by Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson, a sugar baron, for his Portuguese wife, Maria Braga, at the turn of the century. The story goes that after the death of Maria Braga, the widower became despondent and he decided to build a mansion in memory of his dead wife. It's unfortunate that the woman who inspired a man to erect this mansion was no longer around to see its grandeur.
In 1942, as the Japanese occupation swept through the islands during World War II, American soldiers and Filipino guerrillas burned down the mansion to deflect the Japanese forces from taking shelter and establishing a headquarters here. It's been told that the mansion burned for three days, destroying the woodwork, the floors, roof and everything combustible. Only the concrete structure survived the fire, and withstood the test of time.
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The Ruins is like a mirage in an otherwise unremarkable landscape. Built in the middle of what used to be vast tracks of sugarcane fields, it is an unexpected and delightful sight at the end of a dirt road. I love the elegance of its Italianate architecture. From the original tiles to the graceful balusters---I can only imagine how this mansion looked in its heyday. There was a belvedere on the second floor, facing west, that commanded an unobstructed view of the Guimaras Strait and sunset.
My cousins, both engineers, were discussing the structural design...I was admiring its symmetry, proportion, arches, moldings and columns.
This mansion was said to be the largest residential structure at the time when huge ancestral homes were built in Talisay and Silay. And with the finest furnishings sugar money could buy.
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A four-tiered fountain graces the garden. There was once a lily garden here maintained by one of the daughters, and a Japanese gardener took care of the whole garden until the burning of the mansion. Looming over the property is a concrete tower with a tree growing on top. I thought it was a watch-tower or a prison tower but my dark [and romantic] imaginings were incorrect. I didn't catch the details but the tower has something to do with sugar-making.
The current owner, a great grandson of Don Mariano, had the place cleaned up and opened to the public in 2008. A cafe was later added inside and there was an ongoing construction in the property when we visited.
The Ruins has become a tourist attraction and venue for weddings and parties. And it's probably a good thing---music, laughter, good conversation and clinks of wine glasses would give the dark corners of this still and lonely place some positive vibe.
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The Ruins at different angles.
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The Ruins is located in Talisay City, Negros Occidental. It can be reached by car through Octagon Village in Brgy. Bata, about 20 minutes from either Silay Airport or Bacolod City, the provincial capital.
