ILOILO, Philippines – Several museums opened in Iloilo city recently: the Philippine Museum of Economic History, the National Maritime Museum, the National Museum Iloilo, the UPV Office of Initiatives for Culture and the Arts (OICA) and the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art (ILOMOCA), to name the most prominent.

In addition, there is the Brandy Museum, Musee d’ Arsie, the collections at the University of San Agustin, and the John B. Lacson Maritime University. Several heritage houses are also “lifestyle museums.” The venerable Museo Iloilo opened in 1971, the first museum outside of Metro Manila. The city has seen its share of vernissages. There are artist-run and owned galleries in towns just outside the city. Public art — outdoor sculptures, murals, and the like are Instagrammable spots. Art aficionados and critics produced a magazine, the Iloilo Art Review, in 2022; and the city published an Iloilo Art Book in the same year.

Somehow, this also makes one think: art and antique collectors must abound in the city, and there is a growing market for the art pieces. Over the past few years I’ve managed to meet, or re-connect, with some of the more prominent ones.

The first one I met was back in the late ’70s, when I had a gig on the side as a tourist guide. I sometimes brought tourists to see the collections of Mrs. Lourdes Dellota in her home in Jaro. The petite, sprightly and motherly antiques collector and dealer specialized in santos, pottery, and ceramics; several pieces were later donated to the Museo Iloilo. One time I took two Chinoy ladies, very genteel looking and all coiffed, to see her collections, and they ended up buying, on sight, an ivory saint in a glass bell case (viriña), for what seemed to me to be an astronomical sum back then. Mrs. Dellota probably had second thoughts about the sale, for barely after the lady paid, she got all emotional, and begged the buyer, “please do not sell this…promise me.” 

In those days the other prominent Ilonggos who were known for their collections were Mrs. Leticia Jesena, Atty. Jose Tiongco, and Dr. Alice Saldaña, whose discoveries of old wood work from dilapidated houses or stained glass windows sourced from churches in Panay would be beautifully repurposed into the family’s residences and rest houses. Now they have all passed on, the art world and tastes have changed, and there is a new generation of collectors in the city. I managed to have a chat with some of them recently.

Mario Yang was inspired to start his collections in the early ’70s. In his last year as an architecture student, the class went on a seminar to Manila, where they visited the house of future national artist Leandro V. Locsin. From then on, he was hooked on orientalia.

“I saw the house and the Locsin collections, and something just clicked…. I’d scour the antique shops in Makati and Manila, ask around, and buy assorted stuff, things I liked, and later resold these at a profit. There was a time that I was going to Bohol twice a month to buy old santos, ceramics, and pottery from various diggings. Soon people knew that I was looking, and they would call, or bring me things they wanted to sell…. I wish I had focused on paintings, as the profit margin here is quite large, but you also need a lot of capital,” he said.

He showed me around his brutalist-inspired, unassuming home, which was literally chock-full — wood and ivory santos; bulul and anitos (ancestral spirits); celadon; blue and white Chinese plates, jars and vases; lamps and candlesticks; pre-colonial gold jewelry; semi-precious stones; seashells; and carved bauls (chests). Custom-made hardwood aparador, dozens of shelves and glass display cases, are all filled with delicately placed and spaced objects.

The variety is amazing, but Mario has lent a certain touch to the displays, so that it doesn’t look like an undisciplined heap in a curio shop. He can tell stories about the hundreds — maybe thousands — of objects in his collection, much of which he re-sells, “but there are things I will never part with, to keep something for myself and for the children,” he confides.

Generous with his time and his collections, Mario has made donations to both the Museo Iloilo and the UPV OICA. These include pre-Spanish Southeast Asian pottery from Islas de Gigantes; piña and native woven materials and pre-colonial gold adornments. Mario’s collections would easily fill up several museum galleries.

Relatively low profile and soft spoken, businessman Joebert Uygongco started about two decades ago without any particular theme or style in mind. “I visited a few galleries and they were pushing some pieces, which I also liked, so that’s how I started.” 

Joebert now favors historical pieces, social realism, and imagined figures, those that give vent to the artist’s interpretations and symbolisms. A keen observer of humanity, he has often visited Ilonggo artists working at their own homes, gets a sense of their milieu, appreciating the artistic struggle even more, as they work on pieces that he sometimes commissions. 

“I think the Iloilo art scene is really expanding. Almost every week, there is a new exhibition opening, and there are more young people now, in their 30s, who are starting to buy. They are lawyers, doctors, young professionals, BPO workers,” he said.

He has found many interesting works by just searching through the internet, and would hop quickly on a plane to see something of interest and meet the artists. Some of that love for art may have been passed on to daughter Kira who, at 15, shows great promise, and has an ongoing exhibit with her mentor, Kat Malazarte, at the Thrive Gallery.

Arsenio “Sen” Rafael, who is in the construction and interiors business, is relatively new to collecting, having started only in 2016 with abstract paintings, but has since built up a formidable collection.

“I was encouraged by Rock [Drilon]. After that, I was buying scores of artwork of Iloilo artists. Defensor, Jumayao, Drilon, Arro, Hablo, Zambarrano, Zoluaga, Kabigting; then I ‘graduated’ to buying works of Manila-based artists. I was attending auctions and shows in Manila. When abroad, I make it a point to visit galleries and museums which further fueled my passion for visual arts. I also look for exquisite pieces that appeal to me in the plazas and art districts of the cities I visit,” he said.

Why abstracts? “The colors shout out to me,” he said enthusiastically. He has since tended towards more figurative styles. For many Ilonggo artists, his patronage and the relationships he cultivated were a lifeline. 

Musee d’ Arsie is located inside the building known as the Metro Iloilo Modern Arts Park. It also houses his company’s store, Duello. This stands prominently around a relatively sparsely built part of Diversion Road, toward the north end, just after the University of San Agustin chapel. With artist-business partner Jay Pasaporte, Sen often mixes-and-matches various pieces, mounting them, modifying some, combining various styles, framing and grouping them. A businessman by nature, he also resells from time to time. 

“I know the current prices of works, and have some of the very early works of artists who are now quite well known — got them in auctions, online, or also from visiting the artists and other galleries,” he said. 

One of his favorites, a series of four small artworks, “Still Life” by Renato Habulan, was bought at an auction. “I didn’t know Habulan then…I just liked the paintings. A year after, I was in a line going up a plane for Iloilo and saw a bag with a name tag: Renato Habulan. I introduced myself to him. Upon landing in Iloilo, we immediately proceeded to the Museum and upon seeing his ‘Still Life,’ tears started forming around his eyes. ‘Those were the paintings I gave to my teacher to pay for my tuition fees. Oh my God, they still exist. And you have them,’” he shared.

At the Musee’ d’ Arsie, there is no specific gallery-like space: You start at the 7th floor of the building, and make your way down to the basement, with the pieces arranged around the stairways, hallways or in the elevator foyers. The works are grouped around specific artists, and similar themes — crucifixions, protest art, social realists, nudes, whimsy, etc. The building ingeniously combines retail spaces for interiors, offices and artworks; a 600-square-meter exterior area, and driveways also display art pieces.

Probably the best known in the city is Edwin Valencia, a former New York-based investment banker. “I first started collecting in the late 1980s, when a fellow NY-based Ilongga convinced me to buy a couple of paintings by Ang Kiukok…. Being an art mecca, NY is such a fascinating place, with all the museums and art shows, galleries and exhibitions and auctions and garage sales.” 

Frequent travels to Europe also further whetted his appetite; one sparked by his mom’s (Adoracion) teaching humanities at UPV. When the ILOMOCA opened in 2018, the third floor gallery was named after her; all the pieces on display are part of Edwin’s collections. Ed looks for works that make him contemplate — and that is a very wide range indeed. Paintings, sculptures, mixed media, assemblages from Julie Lluch to Anita Magsaysay Ho to Ofelia Gelvezon Tequi, Brenda Fajardo, Fabian de la Rosa, Manansala, local Ilonggo, Asian and European artists. 

“Contemplation means that each time I look at a piece of work, I appreciate it even more, as something new is discovered each time — a blending of colors, a specific perspective, a detail formerly unnoticed, and a different insight. It is all very personal.” One person very well versed in the contemporary art scene shares that she is constantly amazed by the works that Edwin collects — “it’s so diverse, he is such a “fearless” collector.” It is to Edwin’s credit that prints, sketches, and other work of global icons of the art world — Chagall, Miro, Dali, Picasso — can be viewed at the ILOMOCA.

Edwin’s private gallery, the Adoro, beside his residence in a quiet, spacious subdivision in the heart of the city, also boasts a state-of-the-art storage facility for the artworks. From time to time there are special exhibitions, where one can hobnob with Iloilo art aficionados, local and visiting artists whose works are often snapped up early by Edwin. Of the local collecting scene, Ed thinks that the tastes are generally conservative, with an eye towards the traditional, but there are also now emergent collectors — many of them young professionals.

Finally, there are Ilonggo collectors based in Manila who are well known in the arts circles. Jose Mari Treñas’ collections have been on display at the Ayala Museum, and in a museum in Paris. Union Bank CEO Edwin Bautista donated his extensive collection of Philippine blades and weapons to the Museo ng Kaalamang Katutubo; a coffee table book featuring his collections was published in 2021. Mayor Jerry Trenas and wife Rosalie are also art lovers and collectors — the Iloilo City Hall’s upper hallways, waiting and reception rooms of the mayor’s office look more like a gallery, with most works by local Ilonggo artists.

Which brings to mind the newly opened landmark exhibit at UPV OICA — “The Patrimony of All,” the first ever exhibition of the Lopez Museum and Library in Iloilo. The Lopez family, Ilonggo in origin, continues to be one of the most prosperous conglomerates in the country. The 16 pieces on display include works by Fernando Amorsolo, Juan Arellano, Juan Luna, and Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo. The OICA mezzanine also has works of national artists, from the collection of former UPV Chancellor Dionisia Rola. 

Uygongco appreciates other fellow Ilonggo collectors; they are open and not reluctant to share their stories and advice, which, for him, is a source of continuous learning as well as inspiration. “We joke, nabudol naman kami sang mga artist,” he said with a laugh! – Rappler.com