Balalay na Tisa

So named by a friar after his hometown in Spain, the town of Carcar, Cebu is located more than 40 kilometers south of Cebu City. The town’s affluence in the Spanish colonial era is still, to this day, evident in the sprawling town plaza, surviving large, antique manors, as well as old, charming, smaller houses decorated with intricate woodwork.

With some older than the 1876 Graeco-Tuscanian style St. Catherine of Alexandria church still standing to this day in the town plaza, about 46 heritage structures called Balay na Bato (Stone Houses) are scattered all around the town. One of these is the Don Sarmiento’s manor which is popularly known in Cebu as the Balay na Tisa (named after the material used for its construction, limestone blocks or tisa). Built in 1859, Balay na Tisa along Sta. Catalina Street is one of the best and painstakingly restored ancestral houses. Not only is the house well-preserved, but the original pieces of furniture used by four generations of the Sarmiento family are still intact and functional. Inside the house, one can find priceless antiques from silver and ceramic dinnerware to the wooden poster beds, cabinets, tables, and chairs.

Seventeen years younger than Balay na Tisa, another ancient house that is considered as one of the town’s treasures is the Sanchez’s house. Still another Carcar heritage abode built in the same year as Balay na Tisa is that of the Noel’s which came to be known in these parts as Dakung Balay (The Big House).