 The house was surrounded by large gardens filled with tamarind, camachile, and duhat trees.During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, on November 23, 1944, the Geki Group of the 14th District Army under Japanese Imperial Army General Tomoyuki Yamashita attacked Mapaniqui, Pampanga.The town was suspected by the army to be a stronghold of the Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon or Hukbalahap.