We spent the whole afternoon hiking along Bontoc Road. On both sides of the road is the 34-hectare Mission Compound. It includes St. Theodore’s Hospital (established in 1926), the Rectory, the recently restored Doctor’s Residence, the Girl’s Dormitory (established in 1912) and residence of American historian William Henry Scott. Across St. Theodore’s Hospital is the DOT accredited and Episcopalian parish-operated St. Joseph’s Resthouse. Further out along Bontoc Road, on the left, is Sagada Weaving & Souvenir Shop. Established in 1978, it produces quality products hand-woven on backstrap looms and supervised by Mrs. Andrea Bondad and daughter Rhoda. Finished products sold at reasonable prices include backpacks, shoulder bags, tapis (Igorot skirts), wallets and blankets.
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| Masferre Photographs |
Further out along Bontoc Road, at the Bagaan Road Junction, is the Masferre Gallery. Here, Mrs. Nena Masferre, wife of the late photographer Eduardo Masferre, welcomed us. In the 1930s, 40s and 50s, through his pioneering skill and sensitivity as a photographer, Eduardo took photographs of the vanishing life and culture in the villages of Mountain Province. Mrs. Masferre showed us the black and white photographs taken by her husband and a few maps and artifacts.
Eduardo, a Spanish mestizo, was born on April 18, 1909, the second of eight children. He was the son of Jaime P. Masferre, a retired Spanish soldier from Cataluna, who settled in Sagada at the turn of the century, became a coffee farmer, married an Kankanai woman (Mercedes Cunyap Langkew), joined the Episcopal Church and became a minister. From 1914 to 1921, Eduardo first lived with his family in Spain where he began his education. After completing his schooling in the Philippines, he became a missionary teacher like his father and then a missionary administrator. In addition, he took up farming.
In the 1920s, he learned photography from U.S. missionaries. Returning to photography in 1934, his artistic focus were the mountain people of the Cordilleras with whom he shares part of his heritage. After World War II, he opened a photographic studio in Bontoc. In 1951, he married Nena Ogues, a nurse from Kapangan. The union produced six children.
His grainy, high contrast monochrome photos are displayed here and around the world. His first exhibit was held in Manila in 1982. After a second Manila exhibit the following year, his work traveled to Copenhagen (1984) and Tokyo (1986). In 1988, his third Manila exhibit was mounted. A book of his work, “E. Masferre: People of the Philippine Cordillera” was also produced. Mobil Philippines funded the work, provided 1,500 copies to Philippine schools, museums and libraries, and funded the touring exhibit of his works to the cities of Baguio, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Bacolod.
In 1989, Masferre exhibited his works at Les Recontres International de la Photographie in Arles (France), the only Filipino to be accorded such an honor. In 1990, again with Mobil support, the Smithsonian Institute of Washington D.C. purchased 120 of his impressive original photos and exhibited them for six months at the main rotunda of the American National Museum of Natural History. They are now carefully archived in the same museum. He died on June 24, 1995 at the age of 86.
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| Jandy with Ms. Nena Masferre |
Plodding on, we reached a bend opposite the Rocky Valley Inn. Here, a path lead down to the small Matangkib Burial Cave. However, it was closed due to the recent death of a hapless Irish tourist who slipped and broke his head. Coffins here are carefully stacked. At the lower end of the path, to the left of Matangkib burial cave, is the unmistakable mouth of the Latang Underground River. We didn’t bring along a good flashlight and weren’t prepared for a 15-min./500-m. spelunking hike through cold, knee-deep waters and a scramble over rocks. It was late in the day and we made our way back to the inn.
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| Latang Underground River |
The night was chilly and foggy. Tourists from Manila were beginning to arrive, all looking for places to stay and most without any success. Even St. Theodore’s hospital beds were rented out (barring any emergencies) for PhP45 per head. Others camped out on the Mission grounds while others just slept in their vehicles. Poor fellows. Sagada has a reputation as a meeting place for travelers and I also made a number of friends during my stay. Many were guests staying at the inn while the others I met were straying in the town’s different coffee shops.
