Gabriel Gene Regojos was only five years old when he picked up his first musical instrument, the violin. His grandmother had enrolled him in a music class, little knowing that he would discover his purpose in life there. 

But as a young boy, Regojos considered music as simply a hobby. He and his cousins being descendants of musicians, it was customary for them to attend music classes at the start of their education. 

At 11, he switched to playing the viola, which finally led him to find the missing piece of himself. “Because you already learned it, it is no longer just an instrument but a part of your body,” he says now. 

It wasn’t until a personal problem arose that Regojos realized how music had become a best friend, a lifetime partner that would never abandon him. He found his passion in the four strings. 

“It became concrete,” he says in Filipino. “It provided a reason for me to say why I love music. It helps me in life.”

His artistic passion brought him to Casa San Miguel, a community center in coastal San Antonio in Zambales, which celebrates arts and culture by honing the talents of young people in the fishing communities.

When you’re young… 

Casa San Miguel was established in 1993 by Filipino violinist, teacher, and writer Alfonso “Coke” Bolipata, who vowed to evoke and nurture the youth’s love for classical music. “When you’re young and you learn how to listen, you learn how to move, then it becomes really a part of you,” Bolipata says.

The center deviates from the notion that classical music is only for the affluent. Through sponsorships from foundations, it strives to provide education for children with financial needs. 

Its present workplace is a prewar family house that was destroyed by fire. Bolipata restored the structure and renovated it into a community center where children learn to play classical instruments. His classes started in the 1990s, with 12 students, under a tree. 

In a promotional video, Bolipata says that the center almost closed in its early years due to lack of resources. Yet the students kept coming, to continue learning music. 

Three decades later, Casa San Miguel’s student population has ballooned to more than 200. They are being nurtured at the center in San Antonio and in its satellite schools in Tondo, Manila, and in Batangas. The center has become a safe haven for young people looking for their identity in music and other arts. 

Violinist Angelo Miguel “Miggy” delos Santos recalls how his mentor Bolipata gave him confidence when he was doubting his capability. “Someone believes that I can do it,” he says.

But Bolipata explains: “It’s not just me. When you have a lot of people doing it, you establish a culture of learning classical music. It’s the whole ethos of classical music that I’m proud to have been able to create in Zambales.”

The passion burning in Casa San Miguel birthed its official chamber orchestra, Pundaquit Virtuosi, which first rose to fame in the 2010s when it performed in China, along with musicians from France, India and other countries. 

Pundaquit Virtuosi’s name was carved in the stone of international classical music in 2018, when its members performed on concert halls in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Belgium, eliciting standing ovations and gasps of surprise from the mainly European audiences. 

Says Bolipata: “That’s the validation that we are at par with the global standard.” 

 Early-evening performance

Bolipata recently presented Pundaquit Virtuosi’s 11th batch of young musicians in an early-evening performance before a small crowd at the residence of independent filmmaker Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil and her husband Martin in Timberland Heights.

The musicians played excerpts from Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” “Cinema Paradiso,” “Jocelyn ng Baliwag,” “Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas,” “Sa Kabukiran,” “Minamahal Kita,” “Buwan,” and “Kalesa,” as well as a medley of Philippine folk songs.

But first, Bolipata proudly introduced each of his young talents:

• Miggy delos Santos started when he was five years old, and is now a student at the University of the Philippines’ College of Music. He hopes to begin studies in Michigan in the United States this year. 

• Eko Tobias is from Casa San Miguel Foundation’s satellite school in Tondo. He started attending Bolipata’s class when he was in the second grade and is now a freshman at the University of Santo Tomas’ Conservatory of Music. 

• Miko Lorca, a batchmate of Eko in Tondo, attended the Philippine School for the Arts in Los Baños, Laguna, for a year. He is now in his senior year at the Ramon Magsaysay High School in Manila and will be going to college at UST next year. 

• Igi Achuela was eight years old when he joined the Tondo satellite school. Now 13, he is enrolled at the Philippine School for the Arts.

• Yohan Harabata, a viola musician from Zambales, came to Casa San Miguel when he was 11. He hopes to study composition and viola at UST and is bound for Anchorage, Alaska, for study. 

• Gabriel Regojos is now a junior student at the UP College of Music, and hopes to fly later this year to Illinois for study. 

• Dirk Abainza, 12, took the violin when he joined Bolipata’s class in Tondo. Last year, he shifted to cello and is now in the seventh grade at UST High School.  

• Kjian Ladringan, 14, also from Zambales, plays the violin. A sponsor bought him the instrument last year for P200,000.

Financial constraints

Bolipata still finds difficulty in keeping the center going despite the sponsorships. Currently, the Casa San Miguel Foundation partners with the Department of Education, the Ayala Foundation, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines for its projects, such as the Cuerdas Cuadros Music and Arts Program which aims to train students from poor families. 

In the field of visual arts, the center has the Anita Magsaysay-Ho Community Arts Program which preserves and showcases culture, talent, and art through exhibits, workshops, mentorships, and residences for local artists. 

But financial constraints have not diminished Casa San Miguel’s identity. It has taken big steps to nourish classical music in the Philippines and constantly strives to preserve the learning environment that nurtures its students and helps them attain their dreams. 

The students are unanimous in their plans: to study abroad and return home to teach others. 

“Someone told me: ‘I cannot give back to the person who gave it to me, I can only pass it to the next generation,” says Miggy delos Santos. 

Gabriel Regojos recognizes the need for better teaching in classical music, especially in his instrument, the viola. “There are only a few who receive good pedagogy, which is frustrating,” he says. “I plan to study outside, gain experience, and come back. I will surely come back, and maybe be the next Sir Coke.”

Donations may be sent to Casa San Miguel (Center for the Arts of Zambales) Foundation, Security Bank checking account No. 0000058989210.

Read more: Once more on Good Friday: Casa San Miguel’s Lenten tradition