Roof of the ancestral house of Rizal's mother caves in

he house where young Jose Rizal lived in Biñan, Laguna is now falling apart starting with a part of its roof which collapsed Thursday. The two-storey Alberto House, owned by the family of the father of Rizal’s mother Teodora Alonzo, is only a shell now after its parts were transferred to Bataan where it will be rebuilt by its new owner. Gerardo Alberto, heir of the Alonzos, sold the 200-year-old ancestral home of Rizal’s mother to Gerry Acuzar, owner of Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar, a heritage resort in Bagac, Bataan. The local government of Biñan tried to negotiate with Alberto to declare the mansion a heritage site but the latter declined. Once declared a heritage site, the property can no longer be transferred or put to other uses. Bimbo Sta. Maria, a resident in the area, posted a picture of the deteriorating house, calling the collapse as “the beginning of the end” of the historic house. He said the house no longer has a ceiling and floor and its foundations were dug and exposed. –KG,