By Joseph L. Garcia, Reporter

LIKE LOVERS who have made themselves too available, it’s easy to take the province of Rizal for granted. It’s too near the city, and it doesn’t boast of Tagaytay’s views and chilly mountain breezes. It does, however, have a character and beauty of its own: so much of it, in fact, to make artists want to work, live, and as in the case of National Artist Carlos “Botong” Francisco, to want to die there.

A trip around Rizal was organized by the Pure Foods Culinary Center of food conglomerate San Miguel. “We’re here to promote local and regional cuisine. By doing so, we’ll be growing the businesses of the local restaurant owners,” said Llena Tan-Arcenas, San Miguel Pure Foods Culinary Services Manager. Of course, they’re also there to promote their products, but then she points out that establishments using traditional methods don’t use their products. “It’s not just our vested interest to promote our products… it’s not just for us, but how can we grow local businesses here? We offer good food tourism and experience.” Since San Miguel pulls guests on these trips at least once every quarter, why not make it a paid service by San Miguel, to ferry people to the culinary unknown? “No! It’s an advocacy!,” said Ms. Tan-Arcenas. “We’re big business. Why would we? We’re here for sustainable development.”

POTTERY AND PORK BELLY
The first stop was Aling Kika’s Food Products in Cainta, known for its sticky bibingka (rice cakes) made of glutinous rice. After a quick snack, we all trooped to Antipolo’s Crescent Moon Café and Studio Pottery, to meet our first artist.

Lanelle Abueva-Fernando, a niece of National Artist Napoleon Abueva, had her daughters and staff show us around the small ceramic factory on the property. The small factory’s offerings can be found atop tables, and under the buffet tables in some of the more famous hotels in the capital. After the short tour where we saw stoneware in its different phases of production, we were led to Ms. Abueva-Fernando, who was sitting under a tree. Inside her small factory, liquid clay was poured into molds to set and dry, but here, under her tree, Ms. Abueva-Fernando took a lump of clay, and spun a story at the same, steady pace as her wheel.

She began making pottery in the 1970s, after graduating from the University of the Philippines. She followed her father to Japan, where he was assigned, and learned Japanese techniques in ceramics. She remarks, however, that her pieces aren’t Japanese — at least to Japanese eyes, who see her works as having the touch of the West. Western observers said however, that her pieces looked Asian, giving them a quality of being neither here nor there, perhaps reflective of the Filipino experience.

Either way, in a quiet voice (by now she had finished a bowl), she said that she opened an art studio here in 1981. The gardens are enhanced by a large pond, where koi as big as a man’s arms thrive. The pond, in the peculiar shape of the numeral 8, was apparently created from craters caused by bombs during the Second World War. Cheering up a bit, she talked about the restaurant. Her daughters liked playing pretend growing up, and had an imaginary restaurant called the Crescent Moon Café. The dream turned to reality due to necessity, as Ms. Abueva-Fernando’s husband, Bey, had to give up his law practice due to an illness. “His next-best love was cooking, after lawyering,” said Ms. Abueva-Fernando. He eventually passed away, but her daughters persuaded her to keep the restaurant open. It worked: the restaurant is still open after 21 years.

There we were served grilled pork belly with green mango, using Monterey pork belly, and salted egg chicken tenders, using Magnolia chicken breast fillets. Both meals tasted exotic yet familiar — maybe just like Rizal when you view it the first time with new eyes.

ROCKS AND BOTONG
The next stop was the Angono Petroglyphs site, declared a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines in 1973. It features 127 crude rock carvings, believed to have been made as far back as 3000 BC. The rock carvings were discovered by one of Rizal Province’s most famous sons, the aforementioned Botong Francisco, who was taking a break underneath a rock face while out camping with Boy Scouts.

To get there, one passes through a man-made cave (the result of a pipeline dig), and take a 20-minute hike up a hill. A guide from the National Museum will explain the drawings (believed to be depictions of rituals) and will gladly answer questions, for example: the site is included in the World Inventory of Rock Art under the endorsement of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Center for the Study of Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and years and years of study since their discovery in 1965 makes them categorically genuine.

Since we’ve mentioned Botong Francisco so much, it’s only appropriate that we visited his house along Doña Aurora St. in Angono. We were welcomed by his grandson Carlos “Totong” Francisco II, who followed in his grandfather’s footsteps as an artist. His grandfather’s historical pieces are different from his work, which veer into abstract expressionism. The younger Mr. Francisco took us down to his grandfather’s studio, kept intact despite the extensive renovations in the family home. A battered stool used by his grandfather stands by an easel bearing a portrait of his grandmother, while glass cases display his grandfather’s memorabilia. Sketches by his grandfather (for the bigger, important pieces that are hung in museums and such) line the walls.

In Mr. Francisco’s count, there are about 300 visual artists in Angono alone. Maybe it’s in the wind, or how the sun shines there. Mr. Francisco remarked that his grandfather found no reason to leave Angono. “Sa Angono pa lang daw, umaapaw na ang inspirasyon” (Just within Angono, inspiration overflows).

VOCALAN AND FAIRIES
Our next artist had an interesting theory about the prevalence of art and artists in his home province. But first, the food: Balaw-Balaw Restaurant was named after a local condiment, akin to buro (fermented rice and shrimp). Andre Pedrigon Vocalan made a fried rice dish out of this, called Minaluto, made of steamed rice with Star Margarine, squid, mussels, prawn, crab, kangkong (water spinach), fried pork, chicken adobo using Magnolia Chicken 3-way, salted red egg, tomato, eggplant, and okra. The impressive dish accompanied fried duck, shrimps, and freshwater crabs.

His father was also an artist, with whom he shares a name: Perdigon Vocalan. The younger Mr. Vocalan said that his father, an orphan, stowed away to Manila, where he apprenticed with painters of signboards and old-fashioned movie posters. Perdigon was eventually contracted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to create public sculptures to promote Makiling in Laguna.

His sculptures and paintings dominate the art gallery-cum-restaurant, but also dozens of clippings about the senior Vocalan. One of them said that he was an artist who saw a “lambana” (in the local dialect, a fairy). That’s where the magic of Rizal comes from, Mr. Vocalan argues. Apparently, Angono was named so from the many “nuno sa punso” (anthills) believed to house dwarves. He said his father often painted what he imagined, and dabbled in surrealism later in life, painting only after midnight. He also cites that the oldest artworks in the country, the aforementioned Angono petroglyphs can be found in the province. “Maybe that’s the influence,” he said in a mixture of Tagalog and English.

On the drive back to the hotel, we noticed how much art pervaded the province: streetside tailors had copies of paintings on their walls, while sculptures of all sorts of disciplines loitered near homes.

MUSIC AND PIZZA
And in the middle of nowhere, Strauss and a taste of Tuscany. On our final stop, we meandered through tiny one-lane roads in Tanay, and found ourselves in the Italian restaurant named Lutong Pugon. It’s owned by artist Jun Tiongco who makes pizza and pasta with his wife, Aya.

The silence of the lonely road where the restaurant is situated is reflective of some of the artist’s works: quiet, pastoral scenes and emotive impressions in oil. While the “Treasure Waltz” by Strauss played in the background, he served us Gambaretto pizza made with Great Food Solutions Chicken in Brine, and Gourmet Pepperoni pizza made with Purefoods Pulled Pork BBQ. His pizzas are tantalizing, tossed in an oven for a short time, to make the crust crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. This he achieved with painstaking work on his oven, which he made himself. Originally, the oven was supposed to fire his ceramics, but they figured that they could use it for something else.

An earlier mud oven resulted in cracks, so he researched on techniques used by Italians using cement, sand, and clay, and made his own oven. So far, the new oven stands strong: it’s as red as wine and could fit about three children.

His first pizzas were topped with simple supermarket fare, but a more glamorous neighbor urged him to make something more gourmet. Mr. Tiongco now concedes that his favorite pizza is the one he topped with prosciutto. After lunch, Mr. Tiongco brought out a glass of tempranillo and his sketchbook, and sketched one lucky guest.

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