The writer and Travel TV host with National Artist Ben Cabrera (right).
(Photos by JMA for Make My Trip Travel TV; special thanks to Ana Mendoza of AHMGI)
Much has been said about going on a road trip. Many say it’s a form of an escape from mundane day-to-day responsibilities. For me, it is so much learning to embrace the unpredictable, a chance to broaden my horizon. The road, after all, connotes endless possibilities.
What used to be a six-hour drive to Baguio in northern Luzon is now an hour less thanks to the North Luzon Expressway, which extends all the way up to the province of Pangasinan. We are headed to one of Baguio’s most popular tourist attractions —The BenCab Museum.
Benedicto Reyes Cabrera— or BenCab, as he is more popularly known, is widely hailed as a master of contemporary Philippine art.
What makes this trip exciting is not only the opportunity to see the renowned museum but also to meet National Artist BenCab.
The BenCab Museum is on Km. 6 Asin Road, just a 15-minute drive from the center of Baguio City. Built on a promontory, the museum commands a spectacular view of the adjacent garden, farm, hill and mini-forest, the surrounding mountains, and the South China sea in the distant west.
The property is a combination of an indoor museum and an outdoor showcase of the past and early lifestyle of the Ifugao, Kalinga and Bontoc.
The Farm & Garden below the museum showcase organic farm produce and the typical indigenous architecture of the Ifugao, Kalinga and Bontoc. A river meanders through the property, with cascading waterfalls on one end. The hill and mini forest across, which features an eco trail, is also the source of fresh spring water used in the museum and farm.
The museum is set in the midst of an organic farm with natural water features highlighting indigenous architecture.
BenCab shared to me how he tended some rice terraces in Bangaan, Ifugao several years back. The lot was offered by a friend who was helping out to set up Tam-Awan Village.
He mentioned that the idea appealed to him—there was something about tending and harvesting one’s own rice in the terraces of Ifugao.
BenCab drove up to Bangaan to have a look at the terraces and fell in love with the place. There were 13 terraces that he leased. A beautiful forest
was right above the terraces.
He hired locals to maintain the rice terraces and he traveled to Bangaan regularly, mainly to be present for the planting and the harvest.
Fueled by his love for arts and culture of this mountainous region, it’s quite possible that the seed of setting up a museum-cum-art gallery and
mini forest came to him one planting season.
The BenCab Museum is committed to the promotion of the arts, and the preservation, conservation and protection of the environment, as well as the
culture and traditions of the Cordilleras.
Posing in front of BenCab’s Bulol collection. The “bulol” or Ifugao rice god is a carved human figurine into which a certain class of “anito” is said to incorporate itself when worshipped.
