Anyone who travels through the barrio of Gibuangan In the outskirts of Barili cannot but be impresses by the sight of old buildings off the road. This is the unique and now largely forgotten institution called Hospicio de San Jose.

It traces its beginnings to November 27, 1925, when the Philippine Commission passed Public Act No. 3239 accepting the offer of Pedro Cui and his sister Benigna to establish a home for the care of the indigent, invalid and abandoned elders (at least 60 years old) free of charge.

Then on January 2, 1926, the Cuis executed a deed of donation, which formally endowed the Hospicio with income from the extensive Cui properties in Barili and Southern Cebu. Don Pedro and Doņa Benigna were merchant-philanthropists who built their fortune from tobacco production in the 19^{th century.}

The Hospicio is the “first and only home for the aged in the Philippines that is totally funded by a private endowment.” Doņa Benigna Cui was its first administrator.

The impressive Hospicio complex (which had assets valued at P1,028 million in 1929) consisted of dormitories, a chapel, an infirmary, an electric plant, and an administration building set on a one-hectare property. It had 11 inmates in 1929 and 88 in 1981.

Today, it is beset by problems of management and diminished assets (owing to the loss of old agricultural estates to land reform). However, it continues to function under the administration of the Cui family.

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