Zamboanga’s oldest bidet and bathtub

Ho Kong was young man from Amoy when he arrived in Cotabato in 1890 to seek his fortune there, most probably because he had Chinese relatives or friends already in town. Three years later, however, he left for Zamboanga where he would eventually rise to the heights of commerce and trade in the bustling gateway to the Sulu archipelago.

Taking on the name Francisco Barrios, he later built a wharf on a property he may have inherited from his wife’s parents, a local mestizo Spanish family surnamed Marquez. The wharf bore the name “Pantalan de Barrios” and until the government built its own port, served as the main pier of Zamboanga up until the late 1920s. On the same property fronting the wharf, he built a two story house which soon became the Aduana or Customs House on one side and the Chinese Consular Office on the other—for Barrios had by the 1900s become honorary Chinese consul. It is not clear, however, if this was bestowed on him by the last emperor of China, Pu Yi, or by the successor republican government led by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen starting in 1912.

What is known is that by 1909, the house had become the residence of Gen. John Joseph Pershing, governor of the Moro Province. Feeling the need for a financial agent that would handle the salaries of hundreds of soldiers at the Pettit Barracks, he invited the Bank of the Philippine Islands to set up a branch right below his residence. The bank agreed and on Feb. 23, 1912 BPI, on its 61st year, opened its second provincial branch there. That branch has continued to operate at the same building until its centennial finally arrived this year. To cap a long and faithful relationship with Zamboanga, BPI turned the second floor into a museum, the second to be inaugurated by this the oldest bank in the country.

It took barely five months to rehabilitate sections of the old house of Don Francisco Barrios. Stripped of recent additions—mostly plywood cabinets covering old walls—and repainted in off-white tones, the house is now Zamboanga’s latest jewel: a late Spanish colonial period house with ventanillas below capiz shell windows wrapped around the entire stretch of the building. Around 1935, BPI manager Carlos Dominguez Sr. added an azotea at the back with black and white machuca floor tiles that have survived to this day. He also moved the old toilet into a more spacious one at the rear, adding a bath tub and what is probably Zamboanga’s oldest bidet, a contraption better left to the imagination. I will venture to say that this is one part of the museum that should not be missed by the visitor.

Last Friday, Fernando Zobel de Ayala, vice chairman of the bank and Aurelio Montinola III, bank president, led BPI officials in inaugurating its first lifestyle museum, dedicated to the gentility and elegance of Zamboangueño culture and society. The museum is an appropriate complement in the current drive to save the Chavacano language. With its colonial furniture and fixtures as well as pre-war photographs lining the walls, what better way to help educate the young about Zamboanga’s colorful past than through a museum right in the heart of old Zamboanga?

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines also did its share by affording a national historical marker to the building, in ceremonies led by its new chairperson, Dr. Maris Diokno.

The highlight of the celebration was the formal turnover of the long-lost crown of the image of Our Lady of the Pillar, patroness of Zamboanga. The crown, made of gold and precious gems, was donated by a group of women from Zamboanga’s elite in the 1950s. By 1970, nobody knew where it was, not even the Archbishop of Zamboanga then who had been its sole keeper. Early this year, officers of BPI found the crown in its vault still inside its wooden case carrying the seal of the Bishop Luis del Rosario, S.J. (who reigned from 1958 to 1966).

At long last, the crown had been found. Celebrating the centennial of the BPI branch in Zamboanga had thus become more than just a simple affair, it now took on a spiritual plane as the opportunity presented itself. It is also to BPI’s credit that it is deeply cognizant of its long history as she turns 161 years old. Kudos then to BPI and to BPI Foundation for adding another jewel in Zamboanga.