A historic house in Baliwag, Bulacan that stirred concern among heritage advocates when it was demolished in 2024 has found new life — rebuilt carefully in the neighboring town of San Luis, Pampanga, less than a kilometer from the city long known for producing fine native hats made from the midrib of the buri palm leaf.

This midrib is called buntal, and the hats and other products woven from it are described as “Balibuntal,” a term recently coined from the combination of “Baliwag” and “buntal.”

The most prominent family engaged in this industry was the Eugenio household. The enterprise was started by Dolores Maniquis Eugenio around 1909 and later continued by her son Mariano Eugenio, who built the ancestral house roughly a century ago.

The business was eventually inherited by Mariano’s daughter Ester and her husband Joaquin Villones. Under their stewardship, the enterprise flourished both locally and internationally during the 1920s and the postwar period. However, by the 1980s the industry began to decline, largely due to several factors including the smuggling of raw materials out of the country.

The Villones couple also built a large two-storey house in the 1950s across Mariano’s residence in the same village of San Jose in Baliwag. That structure still stands today, barely used.

Heritage controversy

The demolition of the Eugenio house two years ago sparked concern among members of the heritage community. Reports at the time said the demolition lacked the approval of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and supposedly it did not have a demolition permit from the local government.

It was later revealed that the buyer, engineer Domingo Robles, had acquired the house with the intention of reconstructing it on his farm in San Jose in San Luis, Pampanga. There, the house would serve as the centerpiece of his sprawling property.

The local government had also issued a demolition permit prior to the sale of the house, contradicting earlier reports that no such permit had been granted.

Piece-by-piece reconstruction

The house was systematically dismantled over a period of 18 days. The salvaged materials were transported to Robles’ farm, where they were stored before reconstruction began.

Local carpenters, drawing on years of experience and familiarity with vernacular architecture, carefully rebuilt the structure piece by piece. Reconstruction began in May 2025 and was completed on 23 December of the same year, when the house was formally inaugurated.

Robles admitted that acquiring the house was not initially an easy decision.

It was not love at first sight, he said, noting that his original vision for a dream home was a modern structure. He also acknowledged the rigorous process involved in reconstructing an old house.