Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar (Spanish for "Acuzar's Philippine Houses") is a beach resort, hotel, convention center and heritage destination in Bagac, Bataan,

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

History

Jose Acuzar Jose "Jerry" Rizalino Larion Acuzar (born June 19, 1955)is a Filipino business executive who is the founder of New San Jose Builders. He also serves as the current Secretary of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development since July ...

, the owner of New San Jose Builders, Inc., started to rebuild Spanish colonial-era mansions in Bagac in 2003. In March 2010, the area was opened to the public as the Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar. It was placed under the management of Genesis Hotels and Resorts Corporation. Las Casas Filipinas temporarily closed in early 2020 due to community quarantine measures imposed in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

but eventually reopened in July 2020.

Features

Las Casas Filipinas covers an area of around in

Bagac Bagac, officially the Municipality of Bagac ( tl, Bayan ng Bagac), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Bataan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 31,365 people. With an area of , Bagac is the largest mun ...

Bataan Bataan (), officially the Province of Bataan ( fil, Lalawigan ng Bataan ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the entir ...

. For its lodging facilities, Las Casas Filipinas has 128 guest rooms and 63 "elite casas" as of January 2021.

Heritage houses

The main attraction of the Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar is its heritage houses, which were transplanted from outside Bagac, Bataan. The houses are disassembled from their original location and reconstructed inside the premise of the Las Casas Filipinas. This method of

heritage conservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

has been contentious among conservationists since they believed that their original communities could have benefitted from the structures had they been restored on site. The heritage park's proponent Gerry Acuzar claimed that he went with the method in order to save the structures from decay and neglect. The heritage park was lauded by the Department of Tourism in 2021 under Secretary

Bernadette Romulo-Puyat Bernadette Fatima Tecson Romulo-Puyat (born May 14, 1971) is a Filipino government official, economist, and academic who served as the Secretary of Tourism under the Duterte administration from May 2018 to June 2022, heading the Philippines' To ...

for its preservation efforts. Houses included in the Las Casas Filipinas are evaluated for their historical, cultural and architectural value. Most structures dates back to the Spanish colonial era, but some buildings were built later such as the Casa Lubao which was built in 1920 during the American era. The heritage park also include a

torogan A torogan () is a traditional ancestral house built by the Maranao people of Lanao, Mindanao, Philippines for the nobility. A torogan was a symbol of high social status. Such a residence was once a home to a sultan or ''datu'' in the Maranao com ...

, a

Maranao The Maranao people (Maranao: mәranaw Filipino: ''Maranaw''), also spelled Meranao, Maranaw, and Mëranaw, is the term used by the Philippine government to refer to the southern indigenous people who are the "people of the lake", a predomin ...

royal clan house from Lanao in

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

. Among the notable houses transplanted to the heritage park are:

Casa Bizantina The Don Lorenzo del Rosario House, also known as ''Casa Bizantina'', is a heritage house museum originally located at San Nicolas, Manila, San Nicolas, Manila. It was transferred and reconstructed in 2009 at Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar, Bagac, B ...

Casa Hidalgo The Rafael Enriquez House, also known as ''Casa Hidalgo'', is a heritage house originally located at Quiapo, Manila, owned by Rafael Enriquez, a Spanish peninsular and painter (1850–1937). The house was built in 1867 – one of the first projec ...

Casa Jaen I The Don Hilarion Esquivel House, also known as ''Casa Jaen I'', is a heritage house museum originally located at Jaen, Nueva Ecija built during the 1900s. Being the second house of the Esquivel family at Jaen, Nueva Ecija, it served as the venue f ...

, and

Casa Unisan The Don Antonio Maxino House, also known as ''Casa Unisan'', is a heritage house museum originally located at town of Kalilayan in Tayabas province (Unisan, Quezon Unisan, officially the Municipality of Unisan ( tgl, Bayan ng Unisan), is a 4t ...

Other structures

Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar also hosts a small church known as the Sanctuario de San Jose. Other features include the Napiya Spa, a swimming pool. The ''Tulay ni Lola Basyang'' is a bridge that crosses the Umagol River and is a replica of the old

Puente de España The Puente de España, or the ''Bridge of Spain'', was a bridge that spanned the Pasig River in the Philippines, connecting the areas of Binondo and Ermita, Manila on Calle Nueva (now E.T. Yuchengco St) with central Manila. The span was the oldes ...

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

References

External links

Official website - Las Casas Filipinas
{{Central Luzon attractions Open-air museums in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Bataan Tourist attractions in Bataan