What to do and see in Zambales Province, Luzon: The Best Sights & Landmarks

Reviewed By NODINE - Quezon City, Philippines

HOSPITABLE, POLITE AND INTELLIGENT STAFF - If only all government/public places will have these 2 kind people! Thanks to the ancestral house's Noel and Gelo - for the helpful assistance via our numerous text inquiries on the schedule, operational hours, how to commute and guided tour and valuable historical information, respectively. OPERATIONAL HOURS - Arrived an hour before the 4PM closing hours, (opens Mondays-Sundays from 8AM to 4PM only) we were cheerfully greeted by the house's guard on duty who instructed us to log down our names in the visitors list and were reminded of the voluntary donation should we wish to because the ancestral house does not charge a single penny! There is a wooden enclosed box beside the visitors list where one can safely entrust his donation to the maintenance and upkeep of the place. ANCESTRAL HOUSE MAINTENANCE AND CLEANLINESS - the staff or management observe cleanliness and proper maintenance of the place. Lights, aircon and televisions are opened only if there are visitors in a particular area. Comfort rooms for both males and females are strategically located downstairs, clean, no foul smell and complete with bidet, tissue, liquid soap and water. How is that for a place which charges zero amount. ANCESTRAL ITEMS ON DISPLAY - not too grand nor too many that you would need to spend a day to look upon to but just enough to walk each and every visitor to the life and times of the country's former President Ramon Magsaysay. The ground floor speaks of Magsaysay's humble beginnings from birth, to school, to work, to being a public official. The second floor houses his family's reading and meal time activities with the displays of their dining table and bronze life size replica of Magsaysay with his wife reading before his 3 children. To the extended part of the second floor shows one of the most painful tragedies that ever hit the country with the narration of Magsaysay's last few days and hours leading to his death via plane crash in 1957. Though almost 2 hours away from Harbor Point where we first stop from Manila going to Castillejos, Zambales where the house is situated, amidst the traffic and the construction along the highway and the sudden downpour of rain, the trip to Ramon Magsaysay's Ancestral House is indeed worth every Filipino's time!