Lucena photos rekindle search for roots

A REPRODUCTION of an old photo of the Lucena main road taken in 1900 displayed at an exhibit dubbed “Lumang Larawan, Anyo ng Kasaysayan” at Pacific Mall in Lucena City. DELFIN T. MALLARI JR.

Lucena City’s young generation experienced “throwback moments” through an exhibit of black-and-white photos mirroring the rich and colorful past of this capital city of Quezon province.

On Aug. 21 at a local mall here, local historian Carlos Villariba, 49, unveiled his concept of visual history in an exhibit of more than 60 old and faded photos of Lucena City taken from 1901 to 1970.

The display dubbed “Lumang Larawan, Anyo ng Kasaysayan (Old Photo, Mirror of History),” that would run until Aug. 31, is a collection of old and never-before-seen photographs meant “to rekindle the passion to search for our roots.”

“My goal is to strengthen the ties of the present generation to the rich and colorful past of our native city through my photo collection,”said Villariba, a 1986 mass communication graduate of the Lucena-based Enverga University who serves as historical consultant of the provincial government.

The photo exhibit, which was cosponsored by Councilor Rhaetia Marie Abcede-Llaga and the Lucena Council for Culture and the Arts, coincided with the weeklong celebration of Lucena’s 53rd cityhood anniversary held from Aug. 20-27.

Llaga said they invited Villariba to make a public exhibit of his photo collection of the city and its people.

“This is my first time to have a glimpse of my city’s past,” said Joan Mendoza, a sophomore college student and native of Lucena, who cited the “very educational” event as very important to the younger generation.

Her schoolmate, Monnete Sayat, said she would take photos of the exhibit with her mobile phone and post them on their Facebook accounts to share to other Lucenahins, especially those in far places.

“The younger generation like us should learn how to look back so that we can better appreciate the future,” she told her friends around her.

Most youngsters who attended the opening of the photo exhibit recorded the displays in their mobile phone cameras.

Rizal monument

A teenage girl was overheard telling her friend she would e-mail copies of the photos to cousins in the United States to rekindle their interest in the city they left when they migrated years ago.

Villariba led a group of youngsters to a faded photo of Lucena municipal building built in 1910 with the concrete monument of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal which was erected in 1927.

One of the students could not help but quip: “OMG! (Oh my God!) I have to take a selfie with the monument on Thursday. That will be a classic throwback Thursday.”

Her friends burst into laughter.

“Throwback Thursday” is the fad of putting an old picture of oneself on social media sites on Thursdays.

Villariba told the group the monument was built because of a law in early 1900 that all municipal buildings should have a monument of the national hero to perpetually honor his heroism.

Visual historical trip

The same monument remains in front of the present City Hall along Tagarao Street.

Villariba said his photos were all faithful reproductions of the original copies which he borrowed, some of them bought, from old clans in the city.

“The only changes were the digital recopying and resizing. There was no Photoshop enhancement. I remained faithful to the original,” he said.

Villariba found most of the photos stacked in old family cabinets covered with spider webs while some were hidden in faded shoeboxes.

He also maintains a rich collection of photo memorabilia of other parts of Quezon and has rare photos of the late President Manuel L. Quezon, which were occasionally put on display at the provincial capitol.

Villariba began his passionate love affair with rare historical photos decades ago through his father Cesar Villariba, a known historian of Lucena and Quezon.

His father, a former member of the Batasang Pambasa, the legislature during the Marcos regime, involved him in a research for a book project about the province.

Villariba said he has been “more into a visual historical trip” so that when owners of the photos shared their memorabilia, he also would be transported to the past and got to know the history behind the photos, the people in the photographs and the recorded event.

He said the printed date and event in the photos also helped him put historical context in every frame.

Villariba has converted the sala of his house here into a mini exhibit area for his collection of old photos of Lucena and Quezon. Here, history teachers could bring their students without paying any fee.

He urged fellow Lucenahins to share with him their old photo collections as they could all work together to preserve and protect the city’s remaining cultural heritage.