Agnes Huibonhoa Revisits Her Family's Ancestral Home in Saigon, Transformed into a Museum

"So you're a real Miss Saigon," Joji Dingcong tells Agnes Huibonhoa as we enter her family's ancestral home which is now the Bao Tang My Thuat Fine Arts Museum in Ho Chi Minh, which was Saigon's former name.

- MILLET M. MANANQUIL

The museum is a complex of four buildings in grand French-colonial style built in the 1920s, so charming and well-preserved.

"I visited this museum before, not realizing it was your home during your younger years," says Ben Chan. Miguel Pastor recalls seeing vintage as well as modern art in the museum. Agnes' assistant Lolet Relliza notes how their family photos once adorned the building occupied by Agnes and her family.

Together, Ben, Miguel, Joji, Tina Cuevas and I are all ears as Agnes tells us stories of her childhood in Vietnam. We all went to Saigon to watch the Mr. World pageant where Bench endorser Kirk Bondad represented the Philippines.

Tracing Agnes' roots in Saigon, we learn that it all started when Hui Bon Hoa moved to Vietnam from his China birthplace, and worked for a Frenchman, Antoine Ogliastro, who ran a pawnshop. Soon, Hui Bon Hoa became an expert in buying and trading antiques. Then, he became the richest man in Saigon, built 20,000 houses for the less fortunate, and founded the Tu Du Hospital and Majestic Hotel, among others.

He had three sons, Thang Chank, Thang Hung and Thang Phien, whose son Marcel was the father of Agnes. All educated in Europe, the three sons became billionaires—real estate pillars in old Saigon.

On his way to Paris, Marcel Huibonhoa passed by Manila and fell in love with Florencia "Poule" Tankeh, a young store heiress. Marcel was shopping at her family's Poulex Department Store in Ermita, and the salespeople couldn't understand him, so they called their boss Poule who understood French because she studied in Belgium. After three months, Marcel proposed and they got married, and had seven children.