Ship(s) of Theseus: Authenticiti(es) and Identiti(es) of Biñan's Alberto House(s)

Timothy Augustus Y. Ong; Drew Ashley Paige L. Rabadon

doi:10.35784/odk.8871

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Published: Jun 22, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35784/odk.8871

Issue Vol. 25 (2026)

Articles

Twelve Years On: A Key ICOMOS France Event for the Dissemination of the Venice Charter’s Principles
Franca Malservisi

1-13
A tough interrelation: Architectural conservation theory and electromechanical installations arrangement in late 19th and early 20th century monuments
Dimitrios Zygomalas

15-31
The function of the inventory of monuments in the heritage protection system – the informative role or the legal form of protection?
Gabriela Gruszczak

33-48
ICOMOS at 60. Surveying our Philosophical Foundations, and How They Might Be Fixed
Nigel Walter

49-65
Socialist Realist Heritage in Poland – successes in protection and challenges for the future
Lukasz Mikolaj Sadowski, Aleksandra Sumorok

67-83
Statement regarding the position of the Association of Art Historians (SHS), submitted to the conference entitled „Principles of the monument protection system – forms of protection, organisation of conservatory services, financing, and the role of stakeholders”, organised by the Polish National Committee of ICOMOS on 1–2 December 2025 in Warsaw
Malgorzata Gwiazdowska

85-90
Access to cultural heritage and democratic participation
Cecilia Antonini Lanari

91-103
Ship(s) of Theseus: Authenticiti(es) and Identiti(es) of Biñan's Alberto House(s)
Timothy Augustus Y. Ong, Drew Ashley Paige L. Rabadon

105-123

Authors

Timothy Augustus Y. Ong

timothyaugustusong@gmail.com

ICOMOS Philippines, Philippines

https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8550-5085

Drew Ashley Paige L. Rabadon

drewrabadon@hotmail.com

National Historical Commission of the Philippines, Manila, The Philippines, Philippines

https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9009-366X

Abstract

The Alberto Mansion is significant in Philippine national patrimony as an "extant" heritage structure related to the national hero, Jose Rizal, being his maternal ancestral home. Within the locality of Biñan where it originally stood, the controversy of its dismantling and eventual reconstructions has resulted in two houses, each containing fragments of its original materiality, one in situ: another within a "heritage resort" framing an idealized Philippine past. This paper argues that the notions of authenticity ascribed to both replicas cannot be analyzed on the simple dichotomy of original and copy and must be viewed as a plural system of mutually validatory structures. Through the lens of the Ship of Theseus and the transmutation of originality in Greek mimesis and Baudrillardian hyperreal, the entities simultaneously exist as authentic and reproduction, agents dynamically interacting with each other and the collective memory of their everyday contexts in the substantiation of their significance.

Keywords:

Reconstruction, Replicas, Authenticity, Collective Memory, interpretation and presentation, Mimesis, Paradox

References

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Ong, T. A. Y., & Rabadon, D. A. P. L. (2026). Ship(s) of Theseus: Authenticiti(es) and Identiti(es) of Biñan’s Alberto House(s). Protection of Cultural Heritage, 25, 105–123. https://doi.org/10.35784/odk.8871

Author Biographies

Timothy Augustus Y. Ong, ICOMOS Philippines

Member, ICOMOS Philippines

Timo is an architect, researcher, and cultural heritage specialist focusing on the conservation of the built environment in hot-humid climates. His research and practice explore the intricacies of tropicality and tropical architecture, negotiating their persistence within physical space and collective memory. He received his B.S. in Architecture from the University of the Philippines, (2016) and an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree (EMJMD) in Architecture, Landscape, and Archaeology conferred by Sapienza University of Rome (2023). He was a Graduate Intern at the Getty Conservation Institute, where he worked with the Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative (2024).

Drew Ashley Paige L. Rabadon, National Historical Commission of the Philippines, Manila, The Philippines

Museum Researcher, National Historical Commission of the Philippines

Drew Rabadon is a cultural worker—currently a Museum Researcher at the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) with previous engagements with art galleries and other cultural institutions. While developing curatorial and research projects and programs at the NHCP, she also balances her time studying law with an advocacy geared towards the protection of heritage and the rights of artists and cultural workers alike.

Ship(s) of Theseus: Authenticiti(es) and Identiti(es) of Biñan's Alberto House(s)

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