The Ruined Mansion of Bacolod

From the Land of Smiles in my previous post to the City of Smiles in this post. This will be the very first time that someone else’s travel is featured on this blog. But she is no stranger in this blog having been featured here. She recently went to Bacolod City to witness the Masskara Festival and had side trips around the City. And here is her story:

When our plane landed in Bacolod, there was only one thing that we were looking forward to, and that is to witness the famous Masskara Festival and be part of the vibrant and lively event. Little did we know that we are going to experience more than that – we also experienced a little bit of history and a little bit of drama.

Tall weeds and grasses greeted us as we traversed our way to our destination giving us no sign of a tourist attraction but then, there it was. As ironic as it sounds, we saw the beauty of The Ruins.

I am not really fond of history but I was mesmerized as I listened to the tour guide telling us about the story of the burnt mansion while walking through what used to be the hallways and corridors of the ancestral house. The aura was nostalgic. The surroundings were scenic and everything was picturesque.

The Ruins was owned by Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson, one of the richest sugar barons in the island of Negros Occidental. According to the tour guide, it was a gift of Don Mariano to his beloved wife, Maria Braga. The mansion even had Maria Braga’s initials carved in the walls, perhaps to preserve the memory of the baron’s ultimate love for his Portuguese wife. The mansion served as the Lacson family’s safe haven for several years until the World War II. The family, along with the Filipino guerillas, chose to burn down the mansion so that it will not be used by the Japanese soldiers as headquarters.

And that was how The Ruins came about. From a family haven to a tourist site – the mansion has had a very colorful history of being a gift of love to being a sacrifice for the sake of patriotism. It was indeed a magnificent sight, and of course, we took every chance that we had to take pictures and preserve the imagery in our memories.

However, if there is one thing that I do not like about The Ruins, it is the fact that it has become commercialized. Some parts of the mansion have undergone renovation and that resulted to transformation from being a relic to just being ordinary. Some people find it nice that the burnt mansion can also be a venue for events such as weddings and birthday parties but I just thought it would have been nicer if the place was just kept as a must-see attraction and not as a venue for occasions. But nevertheless, it was a great part of our trip to the City of Smiles. Walking through the mansion and having wonderful pictures taken as souvenirs certainly brought smiles to our faces – even without a masskara.

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