05/05/2026
May is National Heritage Month and here’s a quick History of Hofileña Heritage House in 🇵🇭.
The Hofileña Ancestral House is the residence of Manuel Severino Hofileña and his family located in Cinco de Noviembre Street, Silay, in the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. The home was built by Hofileña for his wife Gilda Ledesma Hojilla, a former Miss Silay, and their nine children.
[History]
Silay's stone houses, or bahay na bato—most of which are owned by landed farmers and sugar barons—are material reminders of the life of the affluent in the late 19th century to the early 20th century, the golden age of Silay and the peak of the sugar industry in the province. One of these houses, the Hofileña Ancestral House, was built in 1934.
During World War II, when the family fled to the mountains, the house was used by Japanese commanders who had meetings here. The house was later occupied by the Americans.
In 1962 the house was opened to the public. It was the first ancestral house to be opened in the city. The next house to do so was 30 years later.
The Hofileña Ancestral House has a historical marker installed by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) on April 6, 1993.
In 1989, the BBC television series "Far Eastern Cookery" shot some of its scenes in the Hofileña Ancestral House when it featured Ilonggo delicacies. The house was also used as a setting by a Canadian movie company for a documentary on the sugar industry in Negros, which was shown at the Toronto Film Festival in 2011.
***Source: Wikipedia
