Heritage Watch - Compiled Threads

[Lili]

But what if those houses are privately owned and used? What can the community do to prevent its sale? They may be accused of grave threats and unjust vexation if they try to get in the way of the transaction.

[ivanhenares]

^^ Well, that was the case of the chapel since it is community property. The bolo thing was just to add some humor. Hehe! On the old houses, local governments have a big say. Let him try doing that in San Fernando, Pampanga for example which has already declared all its old structures locally. Even the house owners might bark back at him if he tried.

My point is, if we educate a community, like what we did in San Fernando, and what we're trying to do in the entire province of Pampanga, they become a potent force in averting the loss of heritage in their place.

[Lili]

^^ That is so true. Carry on the mission. I am glad that there are avid guardians and protectors of our heritage like you and @Wonderboy doing these daunting tasks and advocacy. :)

[ivanhenares]

With the campaign and the pending bill for heritage conservation, there should be financial backing. With all the campaign and even with an enabling law I don't think much will come out of it if there is no money or financial sustainability in maintaining and conserving heritage structures. We could all talk and blog about heritage conservation to death but financing will play a very important role if we are to conserve our heritage. There must be a budget and a source of fund other than the government.


Heritage Conservation Society Position Paper
12 December 2006
Hearing of Sub-Committee on Education, Arts and Culture


Thank you for inviting the Heritage Conservation Society (HCS) to the hearing of these committees. As president and chairperson, it is my privilege to be representing the HCS this morning.

Since 1994, the HCS has promoted the protection and restoration heritage structures, sites and settings and their adaptive re-use. The HCS is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and with the Philippine Commission for NGO registration.

Before going into the specifics of each Senate Bill, allow me to bring to the attention of these honorable Committees the following points.

1. There is an urgent need to review and revise existing presidential decress, executive orders and other legislation about heritage protection and conservation, to avoid redundance and duplication.
2. Meanwhile, there is an urgent need for the effective enforcement of these existing laws and legislation because a lot of our heritage structures are being demolished and destroyed with impunity.
3. Institutions mandated to conserve heritage (NCCA, NHI. National Museum) need a supplementary budget for that specific purpose. Moreover, they need police power and/or police assistance to enforce their mandates
4. Involve the Departments of Local Government, Public Works and Highways, Finance, Education , Environment and Defense in the conservation of heritage and historical sites and settings.

Now for the details. I visited your website but could not get copies of these bills.

HBN 5577-“An Act Declaring the Municipality of Carcar, in the Province of Cebu as a Cultural Heritage Zone (by Reps. Gullas and Noel)
• It is assumed that this House Bill was drafted in accordance with existing laws and jurisprudence on built heritage, sites and settings (Please refer to LAWS and JURISPRUDENCE ON BUILT HERITAGE, published by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts and the Public Information Office of the Supreme Court)
• This HB should indicate responsibilities. Ordinances with rules and regulations will have to be passed; ordinances; an official registry list and detailed architectural documentation of all heritage structures, sites and settings have to be accomplished.
• HB should indicate that other government agencies like the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), Departments Local Government, Public Works and Highways, Education, Finance (for tax rebates), the Solicitor General should be informed about this declaration and should act accordingly.
• This HB is significant as it encourages other provinces, municipalities, and cities to preserve and protect their cultural and historical heritage for the benefit of future generations of Filipinos.

SBN 54- “An Act Providing for the Protection and Preservation of Philippine Cultural Heritage and for Other Purposes” ( by Sens. J. Flavier and E. Angara)
SBN 1089-“An Act to Promote the Protection and Conservation of the National Heritage. The Creation of a National Heritage Commission, and providing penalties and for other Purposes” (by Sen. E. Angara)
• As earlier mentioned, what we need is a thorough review of all existing presidential decrees, executive orders, administrative orders and other acts, laws, etc, at the national and local levels to determine how effective or ineffective these have been in protecting and preserving Philippine cultural and historical heritage.
• We also need a thorough review of all the international treaties, protocols and agreements that the Philippine Government has signed; which of these have formed part of our national laws; and how these have been implemented.
• The Heritage Conservation Society (HCS) humbly proposes that the honorable SENATE assign the appropriate committees to take care of the two above-mentioned points.
• The HCS believes that the creation of a “National Heritage Commission” is REDUNDANT. The National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the National Historical Institute (NHI), and National Museum of the Filipino People (NMFP) have existing committees and offices which are supposed to identify, protect and conserve our heritage, historical sites and settings. It will be more effective to appropriate an additional “heritage budget” to said government institutions.
• It is not clear WHO or WHAT GOVERNMENT AGENCY has the power to enforce existing laws on heritage protection. Neither the NCCA, NHI, NMFP has the police power to enforce any of the existing laws and jurisprudence that protect Philippine heritage.
• There are no effective measures for enforcement and compliance especially when the Church, and private property owners and wayward bureaucrats are concerned. Local government officials have also ignored national legislation. (Pls. refer to privilege speech of Sen. Alfredo Lim “Lust for Silver over Filipino Heritage”)

SBN 913-“An Act to Provide for the Preservation and Cultivation of the Filipino Heritage Among Filipinos Overseas through the Teaching of Filipino Language and History. Assistance in the Establishment and Operation of Philippine Schools and Filipiniana Resource Center Abroad and a creation of a Committee on Heritage and Culture for Overseas Filipinos and Appropriating Funds therefore” (Sen. J. Estrada)
SBN 2386 has a similar purpose (by Sen. M. Villar)
• At present, the Department of Education is aggressively pushing English seemingly at the expense of Filipino and other main vernacular languages like Cebuano. Yet, these SBs aim to propagate the Filipino language among our overseas workers. Isn’t that a contradiction?
• The objectives of these SBs are laudable but, if we allow the wanton demolition and neglect of our heritage structures, landmarks, sites and settings, the overseas Filipino workers will have nothing to go back home to. (Please refer to “Where is my plaza” by this writer)

Some questions to the Committees:
1. Whatever happened to the SB introduced by then Sen. Noli de Castro about the preservation of the heritage lighthouses in the Philippines? The Heritage Conservation Society commended him for that senate bill and would like to remind the Committees conducting this hearing about the importance of that SB.
2. Next year will be the centennial of the 1907 Philippine Assembly. May we know how Congress plans to commemorate that event? One of the Acts passed by the Philippine Assembly was the Gabaldon Act which appropriated Php 1 million for the construction of public schools all over the country. The HCS and DepEd have been restoring Gabaldon schoolhouses by virtue of the “Heritage Schoolhouses Restoration Program”.
3. In 2008, the Teachers Camp in Baguio City will celebrate its centennial. The HCS is involved in the restoration of five structures in that complex. The area needs protection because it is being eaten up and subdivided in such a way that it might soon lose its heritage quality. Can the Senate draft a bill protecting Teachers Camp from further “gerrymandering’?

In behalf of the Heritage Conservation Society, I would like to thank the honorable Senators for inviting us to this hearing to present our comments and animadversions. Please be assured that the HCS is your staunchest ally in the conservation of Filipino heritage.

Good day to you all.

Gemma Cruz Araneta
President/Chairperson

[Lili]

^^ Good for the more active presence of Gemma Cruz Araneta. :)

[portludlow]

Ivan, I really admire you for your tireless efforts in trying to preserve what little we have left in on our heritage particularly old churches and schools. The City of San Fernando was a success by passing a heritage bill which is now being copied by others, but how about the other towns without the financial resources? Does the government has a consistent and sustained policy to preserve this old structures? Who pays for all of this?

[ivanhenares]

^^ Hi there portludlow. You don't need funds to pass a heritage ordinance. The most you'd spend for is maybe food for the meetings and public hearings, and small markers for each structure. I remember spending less than P2,000 for each 8x10 inch marker I installed in the San Fernando Heritage District so that each structure has an available history the public could read.

We started the campaign by doing a cultural map of the city. When I joined the city government as a volunteer in 2001, the heritage structures were ordinary old houses to the community. We then came up with a new tourist map featuring the heritage district and the point-of-view of the city changed overnight. From mere old houses, they now regarded them as heritage structures.

The restoration comes in later when the community itself realizes the need for it. In San Fernando, when civic leaders realized the importance of heritage, we saw hundreds of thousands being raised in a matter of days. But while you are still in the education stage, what's important is to keep them intact so that when the community understands their value, the structures are still there to restore.

[ivanhenares]

With the campaign and the pending bill for heritage conservation, there should be financial backing. With all the campaign and even with an enabling law I don't think much will come out of it if there is no money or financial sustainability in maintaining and conserving heritage structures. We could all talk and blog about heritage conservation to death but financing will play a very important role if we are to conserve our heritage. There must be a budget and a source of fund other than the government.

Bogs, sorry for the late reply to your comment in my blog. I just kept on approving the comments while in Guam but couldn't keep up with them. I went through all the comments again just now. Anyway, on American Express, I checked that na before since I was trying to find funding for San Fernando. The Philippines isn't covered by the American Express Grants Program. Sayang nga eh!

The only one which is within reach is the World Monuments Fund. And the deadline for application is just one month away. Next cycle will be two years from now.

[ivanhenares]

SPECIAL REPORT
‘Old town’ for posterity, says developer

By Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon
Inquirer
Last updated 04:45am (Mla time) 12/12/2006

Published on page A1 of the December 12, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

BAGAC, BATAAN -- Real estate developer Jerry Acuzar’s vision of creating a pueblo (old town) on his 50-hectare seaside property here is not hinged on commercialism.

For the 50-year-old Acuzar, the project goes beyond collecting old houses. Neither is he building a nouveau riche village or starting a moneymaking resort.

“This is not a commercial project. This is for the country, for the children now and future children. Yung may makita silang ganito sa ngayong walang pagmamahal sa heritage. (They have to see this now that there’s no appreciation for heritage.) They have to see the physical culture, hindi kwento lang (not only through stories), use it for education, learn the past from this,” Acuzar said.

Although his project may be viewed for its potential national impact or implications on cultural preservation and promotion, Acuzar said this has not been regulated or backed by the National Historical Institute or similar agencies.

Laws
The Local Government Code of 1991 lacks explicit provisions pertaining to heritage and only a few local governments are known to protect local heritage through ordinances. However, several laws exist to identify cultural heritage and property.

The Civil Code of the Philippines’ Article 415 defines built or immovable property while Republic Act No. 4846 (Cultural Properties Preservation and Protection Act) defines cultural property, which include old buildings.

Mayor Armando Ramos said the municipal government has declared Acuzar’s property a tourism site.

Acuzar works with a team of architects, researchers, consultants, art dealers, historians, carpenters and craftsmen. He declined to name all the members of his team, which he calls “grupo ng magluluma” (junk hunters).

He was also silent about the cost of his project.

He said he got the concept during foreign trips, especially in Scandinavia, where the culture is preserved in structures.

Not on NHI list
To him, the bahay na bato (stone houses) reflect the best of Philippine architectural heritage, which explains why he has acquired several of these.

Acuzar said he had broken no laws.

None of the structures standing now at the pueblo is in the list of properties or landmarks declared historical by the National Historical Institute.

But two structures, which he did not want to name, are historically important even as these are not on the NHI list.

No government or private group was known to have undertaken an evaluation of the relocation, restoration and preservation processes and techniques used by Acuzar’s team.

Negotiations
The chief architect, Joel Rico, said the team had developed an acceptable system, one that strives for authenticity.

“As is” was Acuzar’s plain term for that rule.

Acuzar said he had left it to his agents to deal with the owners of the structures. When the purchase is done after research, he said he sent out word to the families to promise no alterations and to guarantee them access to the houses in the new site.

He said he consulted local officials, but that had not been the case though with the 145-year-old Catholic chapel in the village of Pio in Porac, Pampanga, some 60 kilometers from Bagac. The villagers have vowed to protect the chapel from antique dealers and demolition crew.

Ivan Henares, a Pampanga historian and trustee of the Heritage Conservation Society, said the houses might not be safe in Acuzar’s property.

For one, the Mount Natib area sits on a fault zone, which was why the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant that is near the property was mothballed. For another, saltwater can undermine the integrity of the houses and other materials.

Rico said old houses were much more earthquake-resistant. There should be no worry for saltwater because, he said, a new technology is used to deal with that. He gave no details.

Not foe
Acuzar claimed having found allies among heritage conservationists.

“Tama naman na i-maintain sa community pero hindi kayang i-maintain ng gobyerno o ng mga nagmana. Kaya naisip ko na pagsama-samahin (I agree that it is correct to maintain the structures right in the communities, but neither the government nor the heirs have the funds to maintain those. So I decided to gather them here),” said Acuzar.

Owners of ancestral houses are tempted to sell lots, especially those in commercial areas because there is no law compensating opportunity losses, he said. The trend also is that most of the heirs have left for abroad, neglecting the houses.

But Acuzar said he would not be selfish at all.

“I could give this to the government when it finds value for this a heritage site. Parang art, dino-donate (It’s like art, you can donate it),” he said.

The problem, said Rico, is that most of the heritage laws in the Philippines only ensure protection, not funding.

At the same time, there is yet no group of heritage building owners, quite like Britain’s Historic Houses Association, who guard the properties while they earn through tourism and commercial activities.

[Rence]

:nuts: Jerry Acuzar’s is quite insane ! in his ambitious projects!!!!

The next time you will notice is that all the old houses and chapels will be carted away ............

His projects seems to be nice but at an expense of other historical site.

I remember that the ultimate lost of our hetitage lies on the collectors themselves since i saw a lot of historical documents just being bought and sold in auctions in many of clubs .

an example is a 1995 UN Philippine error (Bengson was supposed to be featured) which was supposed to be kept in the Philpost Museum and Library but somehow someone managed to sneak out the erro stamp in another local auction bourse held in Quezon City Sports Club ( E . Rodriguez) Luckily the head lead by Ms. Cuevas was able to halt the auction and the stamps were pulled-off . This incident happened just a few years ago.

[ivanhenares]

I would agree with Acuzar on the point that he is not breaking the law since the structures are not NHI-declared. That simply means that the NHI is slow and is not doing its job since Acuzar himself admitted that two of the structures he is currently transferring are historically important! Which is why he wants to keep quiet about it first so that it doesn't raise any howls until the transfer is completed. I also agree with his chief architect Joel Rico that most of the heritage laws in the Philippines only ensure protection, not funding. Which is why Congress better enact the heritage bills fast!

But sad to say, Rico is not a trained restoration architect. Even if Acuzar says houses are transferred "as is," visitors to his project have commented that the houses were not assembled properly.

The main issue here is not simply the transfer but the fact that Acuzar is actively shopping for old houses, trying to woo the owners into selling their properties to him! How ironic that he mentions Scandanavia where "culture is preserved in structures." If he was indeed to follow the example he cited, structures should remain where they are, preserved together with the environment they were built in!

As I always say, the best way to preserve a structure is to educate the local community about its importance to the history and heritage of the place, as well as its economic potential if preserved properly.

I would have more respect for Acuzar if instead of uprooting all these structures from communities where they form an inherent part of the historical and cultural fabric; since he has all the money to spend anyway, he should instead build replicas! In that manner, communities get to keep their heritage.

[Rence]

:ohno: Expect more old houses to be carted away!!!!!

Even with all those laws and bills filed in our Senate and House of Representatives without enforcement these laws will still be useless !!!!

Looked at what Mayor Lito Atienza has done with the Jai Alai, Old Paco Rail Station , Mehan Garden and those ugly stucture around Plaza Miranda >......

Pati yung Arroceros Forest Park ???? aside from silly reforestation projects in Manila ( He is planting all those exotic tree saplings) ( He should plant the endemic narra or native trees in our parks instead!)

[Lili]

^^ Yeah, I can site the replanting and reforestation efforts in the ravine and woodland area in Prospect Park here in Brooklyn. They are replanting it with saplings or trees that are natural or endemic in the area and not the 'exotic' ones that were introduced before. It was deemed that these non-native or exotic species have become invasive and often out-compete native trees, reproducing aggressively and causing a breakdown of the ecological interdependence between naturally occurring plant species and indigenous wildlife. They have studied the ecosystem there and decided to replant saplings, trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants, selecting species that are endemic in the land and reflects its natural diversity, in hopes that the ecosystem will become more self-sustaining.

[Hawayano]

Pati yung Arroceros Forest Park ???? aside from silly reforestation projects in Manila ( He is planting all those exotic tree saplings) ( He should plant the endemic narra or native trees in our parks instead!)

I agree w/Rence...the mayor is going the opposite direction of progressive metropolitan areas on the rest of the planet. Endemic species--especially those that occur naturally and can thrive in the geographic/environmental confines of Manila--are what that Arroceros Forest Park needed. We have so many indigenous trees that would do well w/out excessive pampering in the Manila ecosystem.

I'm also wondering what happens when the next mayor has a different agenda and decides to cut back on the maintenance of all those trees. They seem kinda too close together...gonna cause big problems in the future as they grow. That's exactly what happened here in Honolulu when the present mayor spent big bucks ripping out acacias and Palawan cherrry trees planted along city streets by his predecessor just a few years ago.

[overtureph]

:nuts: Jerry Acuzar’s is quite insane ! in his ambitious projects!!!!

The next time you will notice is that all the old houses and chapels will be carted away ............

His projects seems to be nice but at an expense of other historical site.

I remember that the ultimate lost of our hetitage lies on the collectors themselves since i saw a lot of historical documents just being bought and sold in auctions in many of clubs .

an example is a 1995 UN Philippine error (Bengson was supposed to be featured) which was supposed to be kept in the Philpost Museum and Library but somehow someone managed to sneak out the erro stamp in another local auction bourse held in Quezon City Sports Club ( E . Rodriguez) Luckily the head lead by Ms. Cuevas was able to halt the auction and the stamps were pulled-off . This incident happened just a few years ago.


Are you a collector? I've heard also about this incident, about the 1995 UN Philippine Bengson error. I believe it was the specimen error that was stolen from the vault. And if I recall the story right, it showed up in some dealers or something like that. I have a copy of this error in my possesion (without the specimen marking), the First Day Covers and even the specimen.

I think Filipino collectors play a special role in preserving a part of our heritage. Instead being bought or carted away by foreigners into another country, at least with Filipino collectors (unless they're based abroad) they remain in our country. The down side is only a few can see or view them. One of the best collectors for me is Jaime Laya. He helped build up the Bangko Sentral collection and probably he was the best Intramuros Administration head. There where several publications by the IA during his term. And if I'm not mistaken, those where the last ones if not the most significant as compared to the years after his term ended. He has also authored and edited several books.

[Pinoy_ako]

^^^^^

One more problem with exotic plants is that they also carry with them insects and animals which might wreak havoc on the native ecosystem, particularly when they have no natural enemies.


Foreign beetle attacking coco industry


By Daxim Lucas
Inquirer

Posted date: November 16, 2006


A PEST that arrived on local shores last year through imported ornamental plants is threatening the $760-million Philippine coconut industry, according to agriculture officials.

More importantly, the coconut hispine beetle (scientific name: Brontispa longissima Gestro) has spread so rapidly, that it is now found in some areas in Mindanao, after first being spotted preying on palm trees along the Baywalk strip of Roxas Boulevard in Manila.

“It is cause for alarm if it keeps on spreading,” Agriculture Undersecretary Jesus Emmanuel M. Paras said in an interview.

While stressing that the pest has not yet affected local coconut production, he said that it has the potential to reduce output if the infestation becomes more widespread.

“The Brontispa beetle attacks the leaves of the coconut or palm tree, especially the part where the young leaves grow [from]” Paras said, describing the pest’s methods. “Eventually, the whole tree dies.”

The infestation has local officials and farmers worried, especially since the brontispa beetle is not a natural Philippine inhabitant, but an insect that has ridden the globalization wave.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the brontispa beetle first came into prominence attacking coconut and palm trees in Indochina, specifically the countries of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand.

Infestations were also discovered later on the Chinese mainland, specifically on Hainan and Guangdong provinces, and soon on the island of Taiwan.

Later, the beetle was found in Indonesia, Malaysia—a major palm oil producer—Myanmar, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

In all these countries, coconut and palm tree output were severely affected by the outbreak.

“It was especially severe in Vietnam where whole plantations turned brown,” Philippine Coconut Authority deputy administrator Carlos B. Carpio said in an interview.

How then did the pest traverse the South China Sea, which has so far successfully protected the country from other outbreaks like the Avian flu, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, and even mad cow disease?

“We think it came here through the importation of ornamental palms,” Carpio said.

More importantly, he pointed out that it is the distribution and sale of these ornamental palm trees around the country that is helping the brontispa beetle move around, rather than a tree-to-tree infestation experienced in other pest outbreaks.

“They can’t go very far [on their own],” he said. “But the landscaping industry is helping them move around.”

Once they latch onto a coconut or palm tree, the pests make their presence felt—and seen—immediately.

“The beetle feeds on young leaves, which then appear burned or scorched,” a statement from the PCA said. “The pest may cause the death of young palms and those situated in poor growing conditions.”

The beetle also damages seedlings and mature coconut palms, killing young spears and eventually the whole palm. “Ornamental palms suffer the same fate,” the statement added.



©Copyright 2001-2006 INQ7 Interactive, Inc. An INQUIRER and GMA Network Company

[Rence]

Are you a collector? I've heard also about this incident, about the 1995 UN Philippine Bengson error. I believe it was the specimen error that was stolen from the vault. And if I recall the story right, it showed up in some dealers or something like that. I have a copy of this error in my possesion (without the specimen marking), the First Day Covers and even the specimen.

I think Filipino collectors play a special role in preserving a part of our heritage. Instead being bought or carted away by foreigners into another country, at least with Filipino collectors (unless they're based abroad) they remain in our country. The down side is only a few can see or view them. One of the best collectors for me is Jaime Laya. He helped build up the Bangko Sentral collection and probably he was the best Intramuros Administration head. There where several publications by the IA during his term. And if I'm not mistaken, those where the last ones if not the most significant as compared to the years after his term ended. He has also authored and edited several books.
:ohno: Hi, That is just one side of the story because the stamps should have been destroyed since the man being featured in the local stamps is not Bengson but his brother. There are stamps which are kept in the Philpost vault but a lot of them were lost during the 1945 war , the fire in the 1990's

This story is different , The stamps were part of the Philpost Museum and Philatelic division . Tapos nawala at meron nag-tip na pina auctioned sa isang club (Was it BNSP or PNAS ?) then the head Miss Cuevas went to the auction proper and witheld the item for sale. Kasi kasabay ng stamp club namin yung auction ng numistmatic club in Quezon City while we always held our stamp auction during the 3rd sunday of the month.

I am the P.R.O. of the Filipinas Stamp Collector's Club, Before there were auction/ meetings and lectures almost every sunday but as of year 2000 only 2 clubs remains the APO Philatelic club and Filipinas Stamp Collector's Club , YPS ( I am also one of the member ) discontinued after year 2000 most of the officers either migrated or had been doing something.

[Hawayano]

Who could tell back then that the phoenix rising out from the ashes of 1945 would look like it does today?

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/SantaCruzdistrictaerialdamage-1.jpg

[ivanhenares]

Di natuloy ang Senate hearings dahil sa cha-cha na yan!!! The senators attended the Bicam in Batasan and had to cancel at the last minute. It's been reset to next Monday.

[ivanhenares]

I forgot to post the good news from San Fernando... the NHI has approved in principle the declaration of four more heritage houses which would bring the tally of San Fernando to eight nationally declared heritage houses. San Fernando is second to Silay City which has over 20 declared houses. But again, our structures are also declared locally.

Also approved in principle is the declaration of the Pampanga High School and Metropolitan Cathedral of San Fernando. We were lobbying for designation as National Historical Landmark because of their historical importance to the entire nation. I hope they do. Other markers already installed are the San Fernando Train Station, Death March and Province of Pampanga bringing markers for structures, sites and events up to five.

A marker for Vivencio Cuyugan was also approved. So with three already installed... Jose Abad Santos, Zoilo Hilario and Nicolasa Dayrit; and two in the works, Pedro Abad Santos and Tiburcio Hilario; that would bring the markers for personages up to six.

[ivanhenares]

All our ASEAN neighbors take pride in their old markets. In fact, they go out of their way to preserve and even restore them. As a result, they are popular destinations among locals and tourists alike.

Kuala Lumpur still has its Central Market (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Market,_Malaysia), an Art Deco building which is very popular with tourists. It is in fact a declared heritage site of Malaysia and even has its own website (http://www.centralmarket.com.my/), complete with the story of its near demise. The website notes that "it became the first case for large scale adaptive re-use of a building by the private sector after plans to demolish it were scrapped following public protest." It adds that the market "is unlike any other soul-less modem shopping complex in the city."

Singapore has the Telok Ayer Market (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lau_Pa_Sat). Just like its counterpart in KL, this is a declared national monument (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Monuments_of_Singapore) of Singapore. When tunneling work for the MRT began in 1986, instead of demolishing the market, realizing the historical and architectural value of the market, Singapore dismantled it and put this heritage treasure in storage. It was rebuilt as soon as the MRT tunnel was completed.

Now for Manila. We got this message from Archt. Richard Tuason-Sanchez Bautista of the NCCA: "I happen to pass by three Markets in Manila: Central Market, Quinta, and Paco. All have sign boards that mention about a new market that will be erected in the same site. Quinta is already partially demolished, and demolition is on going. Paco market, which is among the loveliest market will go the same way."

Mayor Lito Atienza, for the love of Philippine culture, please stop destroying the architectural heritage of Manila! Please stop killing the city's soul!

[Hawayano]

^^ ^^ @ ivan: open air markets are inevitably part of visitor itineraries in the great Asian cities. They do not have to be unsanitary, unsafe, and unappealing. Manila needs to look to other nations as models for preserving heritage while remaining pragmatic. It's always an adventure to wander through a local market, and in there lies a key selling point to la Quinta, Central, and Paco.

@ Mayor Lito: clean up, install proper plumbing/drainage and lighting, then reopen a rehabilitated historic and functional structure! (jeesh--the man wears those aloha shirts--you call them "Hawaiian"--and lived in Honolulu so many years--he should know how we cleaned up and restored the one in our Chinatown)...selective memory???

[ThisFire]

About the new bill and laws, what laws! They make all these pang-arte laws just to make things look tight, strict and professional. ARTE!!! The problem with them is in enforcing it and enforcing action if any laws were broken.

[ivanhenares]

^^ ^^ @ ivan: open air markets are inevitably part of visitor itineraries in the great Asian cities. They do not have to be unsanitary, unsafe, and unappealing. Manila needs to look to other nations as models for preserving heritage while remaining pragmatic. It's always an adventure to wander through a local market, and in there lies a key selling point to la Quinta, Central, and Paco.

Too late for Quinta. It's almost gone as we speak! As an aside, I'm impressed with the List of Singapore National Monuments in Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Monuments_of_Singapore Each building even has its own Wikipedia entry. Ironically, Manila has more heritage structures but Singapore has all of theirs declared!

I also just got a text message from Archt. Bautista who immediately called an engineer from the Manila City Hall. According to him, they will repair parts of the markets and re-layout the place, but not demolish. Let's hope and pray that this is true and that they will not modify the exteriors of these markets.

[ivanhenares]

About the new bill and laws, what laws! They make all these pang-arte laws just to make things look tight, strict and professional. ARTE!!! The problem with them is in enforcing it and enforcing action if any laws were broken.

There is nothing to enforce because most of our heritage structures are not declared. Which is why we need to streamline the old laws with newer ones to correct some mistakes and address current issues.

We always protest and go to court when a declared site is violated. The Pila issue which was carried by John Silva is the best example of how laws were implemented simply because Pila was declared and there was a law to back advocates up.

[Wonderboy]

What do you think?

The City of Manila is painting the town “white.” I suppose this is part of the Mayor’s Inner City Rehabilitation Project:

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/8979/thurs1km9.jpg
Manila City Hall

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/7696/thurs2ui5.jpg
Sta. Cruz Church

[ivanhenares]

^^ We have to give credit to Mayor Atienza for taking out his tarpaulin from the main entrance. You can now see the sculptures and balcony. But I have mixed reactions on the white color since the three color mix of cream, with white and burgundy highlights works well. I wonder what hues/shades will be used to replace the white highlights. But if the original color of the structure was all white, I guess it's the right thing to do. With the pollution in the area though, I don't expect that clean facade to last long.

[Hawayano]

^^ exactly: in the filthy air of Manila, that white is sure to look white for only so long...it'll be just a matter of time before the grime build-up, tropical mildew/mold, etc. will require a repainting!

[manileño]

what do i think of white? i don't mind. in fact i like white. :)

and yea i like the fact that they are putting the neoclassical buildings back to their original colour. If my Alma Mater (DLSU) can maintain its white facades in the heavily polluted Taft Ave. all year round then so can the rest of Manila. hehe

But, IMO those churches like Santa Cruz could look more attractive if they paint some parts of it like the dome of the bell tower and that thing that serves as a cover for the religious figure/statue on top of the facade with like grey or any dark colour. :)

[OtAkAw]

White is fantastic!

[Rence]

Most of the market places like Tabaho, Quinta, Paco, Arranque were already demolished to pay way to the new market (example ) Sampaloc give way to the LRT line 2 way back.....

[markab]

to rence: u are an absolute idiot, firstly ur grammar needs to be checked. and secondly, u seem to misunderstand the point. i have actually seen the state of some of these houses first hand, prior to Mr. Acuzar's restoration, and i must say that they were about to deteriorate and seemed very unsafe to live in. it may not exactly be open for the public now but who knows, it might be. i guess only time will tell of his plans in the future. and he did mention giving back to the country what's rightfully ours so i see no point worrying because as for now, i feel that it is better that these houses are on the hands of a more professional person who will be able to take care of what's left of our heritage. it's not like the government's doing anything about it! and id hate to see something like that go to waste. i understand that u are afraid that these will go to another private collection, and honestly speaking, i'd prefer it to be that way than what it was. the people who used to live in some of those houses didnt treasure the value of that house or let alone know its worth the same way jerry acuzar does.

[Rence]

^^ We have to give credit to Mayor Atienza for taking out his tarpaulin from the main entrance. You can now see the sculptures and balcony. But I have mixed reactions on the white color since the three color mix of cream, with white and burgundy highlights works well. I wonder what hues/shades will be used to replace the white highlights. But if the original color of the structure was all white, I guess it's the right thing to do. With the pollution in the area though, I don't expect that clean facade to last long.


Puro si Ali Atienza ang kasama niya sa tarpaulin !!! Election fever is on

[ivanhenares]

^^ Exactly! He is using government funds for father and son tarpaulins to bolster his son's bid!

[surfsam]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1973766,00.html

History lessons from the 'splendid little war'

Daniel Whitaker
Sunday December 17, 2006
The Observer



The Republican President, William McKinley, stated he had prayed for guidance, and the divine advice was to 'uplift and civilise' the Philippines. The Americans expected a welcome from the Filipinos, and indeed the US was seen as a liberator by many - initially. But US occupation became increasingly unpopular and a protracted guerrilla war developed. During the conflict, more than 4,000 US troops died and several hundred thousand Filipinos lost their lives during the occupation.
An outcry swelled over civilian deaths and over US treatment of Filipino prisoners, including a torture used known as 'the water cure' (a technique similar to the 'water boarding' Vice President Dick Cheney defended as a practice in Guantanamo). Some GIs were reprimanded. Military morale fell. When a leader of the insurrection was captured and executed, some thought this would end the violence - it did not.

The Americans enjoyed an overwhelming advantage in military technology, but Filipinos fought using what they had to hand. Muslim islanders, called to jihad, launched suicide sword attacks in crowded streets. Christian islanders also resisted, but there was conflict between the faiths. Those co-operating with the US were often threatened or assassinated.

The US war with the Spanish had been planned for months, with a media campaign focusing on the barbarism of Spanish rule. But the Americans had not done their research on the people, nor did they have any detailed plans of how to administer the country. The US organised elections, but was disappointed with the politicians who emerged. It spent millions of dollars improving infrastructure, but won over few hearts and minds. Back home, enthusiasm for the war eroded. Celebrities and intellectuals voiced opposition. The media began to turn, despite the US military offering preferential treatment to journalists who gave favourable coverage. Even big US businesses that were close to the White House started to lose faith in the supposed commercial opportunities the occupation might offer. Eventually this was reflected in the polls and by 1912 the Democrats won control of both houses of Congress, ending years of Republican domination.

The US decided to leave the Philippines in 1916, granting the islands independence as soon as a stable government could be formed. This proved harder to achieve than expected, for fear the country would descend into chaos. The Second World War intervened and sovereignty was handed back to the Filipinos only in 1946. The years since then have brought the islands mixed fortunes, a long dictatorship under Marcos, economic underachievement and continued strife between Christians and Muslims.

There are important differences between Iraq and the Philippines a century before. But also surely there's been a wasted opportunity to learn lessons, by an America that, for all its virtues, does not enjoy examining the past. Mark Twain, who stood up against the Philippine occupation, wrote that, if the past does not repeat itself, it at least rhymes. Sadly it seems the more influential view was Henry Ford's, who declared history 'more or less bunk'.

[Wonderboy]

Below is a letter I received c/o Ms Bambi Harper. I hope we can help the Corregidor folks regarding this new problem:

URGENT: Appeal for help to save Corregidor Island

Greetings!

Recent disturbing events have spurred me to intervene in what
I think are senseless projects which will accomplish nothing but
ruin the beauty and significance of Corregidor Island.

I am talking about an ongoing project of the Philippine
National Historic Commission to renovate or give a makeover
to Middleside Barracks.

I happen to be the son of a Corregidor veteran, and so I feel very
strongly about how Corregidor is preserved for future generations.
We need to keep the memory of the men and women who fought
in World War II, fresh in the collective memory of our people.

Please check out this link so you'll see what I mean:

http://www.geocities.com/savecorregidor

I am quite sure that you will be outraged at how they are
handling this project.

I am trying to drum up support from conservation and veteran groups
so that this project can be stopped before it is too late. I hear that Mile
Long Barracks is next!

Your support would really go a long way in preserving Corregidor
Island - The Fortress of Freedom.

Your help, comments and suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.

Please forward this message to those whom you know
share our sentiments.

Sincerely yours,

Jay Ramos

If you want to help us with our campaign to preserve Corregidor Island, please email us and we'll get in touch with you. Our email address: savecorregidor@yahoo.com.

Likewise, send an email to the National Historic Commission and give them your opinion about this project. Their email address can be obtained from their website at:
http://www.nhi.gov.ph

Or, voice your support and write the Corregidor Foundation, Inc.:
agm@compass.com.ph

[ivanhenares]

^^ Jay Ramos sent the same letter to the HCS about a week ago. We already forwarded it to Ambeth. I also asked Leslie Murray of the Filipino American Memorial Endowment to forward it to Col. Art Matibag, the chair of the Corregidor Foundation. Maybe you could try calling Art to know first hand what the plans are.

[Lili]

^^ Maybe this should get some press coverage, too. It is appalling that this so-called restoration/renovation is being done haphazardly without proper documentation and experts' assistance.

[Wonderboy]

Graham Brooks
Chairman
ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Committee
Sydney, Australia

Dear Mr. Brooks:

I thank you for your very timely reply regarding this Middleside Barracks "renovation" or makeover issue. It is indeed fortunate that you have had the opportunity to see Corregidor Island in 1998 prior to all this.

Truly, the international heritage significance of the Barracks as well as other buildings like it needs to be reiterated to those who are involved in this ongoing project. I am currently on a campaign to help stop this project and have it reassesed before more damage takes place.

We shall keep you posted as new developments come in.

Yours truly,
JOSE MARIA N. RAMOS


G & C Brooks <brooks@bigpond.net.au> wrote:As a recipient of the Philippines Heritage Society Chat-Line, I have been made aware of the concerns expressed by Ms Bambi Harper regarding the excessive level of tree removal around and within the Middleside Barracks on Corregidor Island in Manila Bay.

I visited the Barracks as part of an Island tour in 1998 and fully understand both the heritage significance of the place and the need to preserve the Barracks in their heavily war damaged (WW2) state. The collection of war damaged buildings within this section of the Island speaks volumes about the ferocity of the fighting during this criucial period of Filipino history.

I am concerned about the way that the vegetation is being removed from the building and about the apparent project to gut the building for some form of tourism experience.

I accept that there needs to be a constant process of vegetation maintenance to prevent damage from this source and it appears that the trees etc have been left unpruned for far too long. I do not accept that the place should have the romantic tree covered ruin imagery, as does the Ta Prohm Temple at Ankor Wat in Cambodia. It is the starkness of the damaged buildings that is the most evocative, not the out of control vegetation.

I do support the calls for the current adaptive re-use or tourism project to be stopped and re-eva;uated. It appears to have been poorly considered and poses the risk of destroying the very significance and character of the place that are so highly regarded.

Corrigedor Island is a place of international heritage significance. Tourism activities and projects must be well managed or the place will be adversely impacted upon and ultimately degraded in both heritage and tourism terms.

I call for a re-evaluation of the project and greate consultation among concerned people before any further work on the place is undertaken.

I have attached a copy of the ICOMOS International Tourism Charter, which establishes best practice principles and guidelines for the management of tourism at heritage sites.

Kind regards

Graham Brooks
Chairman
ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Committee
Sydney, Australia

[Hawayano]

I think it may be helpful to also notify the US Veterans of Foriegn Wars...a pretty urgent task, too, since so many of those who would've experienced life and death on Corregidor are quickly passing on.

http://www.vfw.org

[Pinoy_ako]

This happens when the wrong person lands in crucial government offices.

[ivanhenares]

^^ News discussed on the sidelines in yesterday morning's Senate hearings: someone wants custody of Intramuros. And that someone wants to build a shopping mall in it. Need we say who? :bash:

[ivanhenares]

Has Lito Atienza seen the light? Or is this another political gimmick? What do you think?

---

Atienza orders artifacts secured
The Philippine Star 12/19/2006

Manila Mayor Lito Atienza has ordered Plaza Cervantes in Binondo secured following the discovery of what appeared to be centuries-old artifacts dating back to the Spanish era.

A pipe-laying crew of Maynilad Water dug up a portion of what appeared to be a cobblestone street several days ago.

Atienza instructed City Engineer Armand Andres and Museo ng Maynila officer-in-charge Monina Santiago to coordinate with the National Historical Institute "to ensure that not a single piece of what would be a precious legacy is damaged or pilfered."

Binondo was Manila’s main business district during the Spanish colonial era.

[Lili]

^^ Maybe, Atienza had realized that preservation of heritage structures and artifacts is a popular thing to do, hence, he has become more conscious of it. Political gimmick or not, as long as the end goal is met -- that is the protection and preservation of our heritage, then it is a step towards the right direction.

This is why, we have to be vigilant, concerned and active in these endeavors.

[Lili]

^^ News discussed on the sidelines in yesterday morning's Senate hearings: someone wants custody of Intramuros. And that someone wants to build a shopping mall in it. Need we say who? :bash:

Yes, please spell it out. We abroad are not so keyed in on the goings-on and the political actors there unless we get the information. We can't afford to read between the lines or make assumptions.

[Hawayano]

Yes, please spell it out. We abroad are not so keyed in on the goings-on and the political actors there unless we get the information. We can't afford to read between the lines or make assumptions.


Yes, please clarify...as Lili wrote, we are in the dark as to the latest machinations of the politicos back home...

[overtureph]

That proposal wouldn't be surprising really, with the tract record of our politicians even the clergy.

Is this the politician father of a councilor or a former councilor who has his own newspaper column and now appears on tv. This councilor once extolled the fountain built in front of Malate church, on how it looks or where copied from the Belagio in Las Vegas. Quite tacky really.

Or is this the self-styled Don kuno (Chinese-Filipino) who owns a very historic hotel in Manila and renovated it to look like a panciteria. And a few years ago, managed thru connections to violate the height restrictions of Intramuros to build another building in the walled city.

These two historically and aesthetically challenged individual would be my best guess.

So who is it really Ivan?

[ishtefh_03]

need help... as our project for our planning subject which is community planning, we were given a task to have a walk from San Sebastian- Quiapo- Escolta- Binondo and a rough sketches of structure that we think gives historical importance. Can someone post here, structures that we will pass by, i know some... pero para mas maganda alam ko naman mas madaming alam ang mga taga ssc... (paging jeff... :D)

so parang itenerary na rin namin yun... we're planning on doing this on the 21st of december...

thanks!!!

-ishtef

[ivanhenares]

Binondo artifacts safe

By Tina Santos
Inquirer
Last updated 00:49am (Mla time) 12/19/2006

Published on Page A18 of the December 19, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE Manila government yesterday directed city officials to immediately secure Plaza Cervantes in Binondo following the discovery in the area of what appeared to be centuries-old artifacts from the Spanish era.

Mayor Lito Atienza said a pipe-laying crew of water concessionaire Maynilad Water Services found portions of a cobblestone street beneath the plaza a few days ago.

He said cobblestones are considered rare and considered to have priceless historical value.

Atienza immediately instructed city engineer Armand Andres and Museo ng Maynila officer in charge Monina Santiago to coordinate with the National Historical Institute “to ensure that not a single piece of what would be a precious legacy is damaged or pilfered.”

He noted that the City of Manila is one of the country’s most important seats of the pre-Hispanic and Spanish eras.

It hosts the Walled City of Intramuros, a Parian gate and several old churches, including the Manila Cathedral and San Agustin Church.

[ivanhenares]

Yes, please spell it out. We abroad are not so keyed in on the goings-on and the political actors there unless we get the information. We can't afford to read between the lines or make assumptions.

According to the DOT, the Manila City Government is making moves to regain jurisdiction over Intramuros. And that becomes a big problem since if that happens, the Lord Mayor can do what he wants with it, a shopping mall included. I was told the Lord Mayor was not secretive about this new project.

[ivanhenares]

need help... as our project for our planning subject which is community planning, we were given a task to have a walk from San Sebastian- Quiapo- Escolta- Binondo and a rough sketches of structure that we think gives historical importance. Can someone post here, structures that we will pass by, i know some... pero para mas maganda alam ko naman mas madaming alam ang mga taga ssc... (paging jeff... :D)

so parang itenerary na rin namin yun... we're planning on doing this on the 21st of december...

thanks!!!

-ishtef

Ivan ManDy does walking tours in San Sebastian, Escolta and Binondo. His e-mail is ihud78@hotmail.com.

Butch Zialcita is the heritage czar of Quiapo. His e-mail is fzialcita@ateneo.edu.

[Pinoy_ako]

Preliminary list of what to expect

San Sebastian-Quiapo-Escolta-Binondo


Wow, I presume that any structure that is over 50 years, would already have some sense of history associated with it.

San Sebastian Church and cluster of ancestral houses along Bilibid Viejo St

Hidlago St.
Chapel of the Holy Face ( including the adjacent ancestral house )
Paterno House and the adjacent ancestral houses )
on a side street, the Ocampo Mansion ( quite far from Hidalgo St )
Nakpil-Bautista House ( actually on a side street )
Main Theater ( International Style )
PSBank (?) Building ( International Style )

Along Carriedo
Rows of International Style Buildings ( including Concio's egg-case building )

Plaza Lacson
Don Roman Santos Building ( the former Prudential Bank )
Sta Cruz Church

Plaza Sta Cruz
former Monte Piedad Building
An Art Deco building facing an American period building ( not sure what style )

Escolta
Regina Building ( Art Deco )
Perez Samanillo Building
Burke Building ( I think it still has its old Otis elevator )
Villa(something ) Building
Madrigal Building ( International Style )
former PNB Building ( Carlos Arguelles )
Calvo Building ( with Art Nouveau decorations )
Capitol Theater ( Art Deco )
BPI Building ( Zaragoza? )

Plaza Cervantes
Uy Chaco Building ( Art Nouveau )
Insular ( formerly Classical, redone in International Style )
El Hogar-former HSBC Building Cluster ( Classical - Beaux Arts )

former Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank ( classic ) ( Dasmarinas corner Juan Luna)
Uy something building ( Dasmarinas St )

Binondo Church and Plaza ( with Tomas Pinpin monument )
Ancestral houses in nearby San Nicolas district

[ishtefh_03]

thanks!!! kuya jun that would be helpful!!

@ivan- thanks for the emails, magkano ba magpatour??

[Wonderboy]

^^ You may check the tour rates on his site below:

http://www.oldmanilawalks.com

need help... as our project for our planning subject which is community planning, we were given a task to have a walk from San Sebastian- Quiapo- Escolta- Binondo and a rough sketches of structure that we think gives historical importance. Can someone post here, structures that we will pass by, i know some... pero para mas maganda alam ko naman mas madaming alam ang mga taga ssc... (paging jeff... :D)

^^ Looks like your "kuyas" have already helped you out. Enjoy the tour!

[ishtefh_03]

^^ You may check the tour rates on his site below:

http://www.oldmanilawalks.com



^^ Looks like your "kuyas" have already helped you out. Enjoy the tour!

thanks for the site!! i already check it. medyo mabigat nga lang sa bulsa. i think we could just explore it by ourselves. tutal na tour mo naman kame dati, i still remember that. :D

[Wonderboy]

^^ Yeah, it's kinda pricey but I believe there's a student discount. You can text him.

Or you may just bring a map with you for reference. Take a lot of photos and post them here!

[ishtefh_03]

^^im still considering that tour if i could ask the whole class for it kung sinong gustong sumama. kaso baka malabo kase xmas break and yung pasahan ng project namin is first meet ng pasukan.

sure, i'll post the pics here... btw, do you still have the photos you took when we had our ssc heritage walk last may?? can i have some copies?? thanks!!!

[Wonderboy]

^^ Unfortunately, I lost all those photos when my Kodak gallery got messed up.

Good luck again.

[Lili]

^^im still considering that tour if i could ask the whole class for it kung sinong gustong sumama. kaso baka malabo kase xmas break and yung pasahan ng project namin is first meet ng pasukan.

sure, i'll post the pics here... btw, do you still have the photos you took when we had our ssc heritage walk last may?? can i have some copies?? thanks!!!

Go to the SSC Philippine Meets 2 first page. There is a link there on SSC Philippine Meets 1. Some of your pictures during the SSC Heritage Walk are there. :)

[Lili]

Preliminary list of what to expect

San Sebastian-Quiapo-Escolta-Binondo


Wow, I presume that any structure that is over 50 years, would already have some sense of history associated with it.

San Sebastian Church and cluster of ancestral houses along Bilibid Viejo St

Hidlago St.
Chapel of the Holy Face ( including the adjacent ancestral house )
Paterno House and the adjacent ancestral houses )
on a side street, the Ocampo Mansion ( quite far from Hidalgo St )
Nakpil-Bautista House ( actually on a side street )
Main Theater ( International Style )
PSBank (?) Building ( International Style )

Along Carriedo
Rows of International Style Buildings ( including Concio's egg-case building )

Plaza Lacson
Don Roman Santos Building ( the former Prudential Bank )
Sta Cruz Church

Plaza Sta Cruz
former Monte Piedad Building
An Art Deco building facing an American period building ( not sure what style )

Escolta
Regina Building ( Art Deco )
Perez Samanillo Building
Burke Building ( I think it still has its old Otis elevator )
Villa(something ) Building
Madrigal Building ( International Style )
former PNB Building ( Carlos Arguelles )
Calvo Building ( with Art Nouveau decorations )
Capitol Theater ( Art Deco )
BPI Building ( Zaragoza? )

Plaza Cervantes
Uy Chaco Building ( Art Nouveau )
Insular ( formerly Classical, redone in International Style )
El Hogar-former HSBC Building Cluster ( Classical - Beaux Arts )

former Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank ( classic ) ( Dasmarinas corner Juan Luna)
Uy something building ( Dasmarinas St )

Binondo Church and Plaza ( with Tomas Pinpin monument )
Ancestral houses in nearby San Nicolas district

Wow. I really like this itinerary. I will try to follow this when I get a chance to gallivant the streets of Manila. I don't know if I can hack it in one shot. I wonder how many hours this is going to take?

[ivanhenares]

I just received a call for nominations for the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation. The awards were established "to recognize the achievement of individuals and organizations within the private sector, and the public-private initiatives, in successfully restoring structures of heritage value in the region."

To be nominated, the restored structure must be at least 50 years old; privately owned or leased; restoration must be the result of private initiative or a public-private partnership; and restoration must have been undertaken within the last ten years and put into viable use for at least one year prior to the award.

We were thinking of nominating the restored Gabaldon buildings under the Heritage Schoolhouse Restoration Program of the DepEd and HCS but since it is financed and owned wholly by government, they are not eligible for nomination. You might know of conservation on other structures which deserve to be recognized. Deadline for nomination in March 31, 2007. Visit http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=480 for more details.

Previous nominees include:

2000
none

2001
The Balay Negrense Lifestyle Museum - Don Victor Gaston Y Fernandez Ancestral Home, Silay City, Negros Occidental
Fule-Malvar Mansion, San Pablo City
The Nielson Tower, The Filipinas Heritage Library, Makati City, Manila (Honourable Mention)
Orchid Garden Suites, Manila
Zaragoza Mansion, Vigan

2002
General Emilio Aguinaldo Shrine, Kawit, Cavite
Syquia Mansion, Vigan, IIocos Sur

2003
Gota de Leche Building, Manila (Honourable Mention)

2004
Far-Eastern University, Manila
Santos-Andres House, Antipolo City

2005
Far Eastern University Manila Campus, Manila (Honourable Mention)

2006
none

[Lili]

^^ Should it just be one structure or can it be a community or neighborhood?

[ivanhenares]

^^ Should it just be one structure or can it be a community or neighborhood?

Although most nominees are a single structure, it can also be a group of structures within a complex as in the case of the Far Eastern University Campus or a community or neighborhood such as this year's winner Leh Old Town in Ladakh, India.

[Culiat]

Kababasa ko lang sa dyaryo share ko lang dito.

From the Los Angeles Asian Journal (www.asianjournal.com)

Manuscript an Authentic Piece of Philippine History?
Amee Enriquez/Asianjournal.com

Chinese American Wang Chi-Suing is a collector of sorts. A chef by profession (he owns China Chef Wang in North Hollywood in California), he started out collecting fossils before moving on to collecting money and other rare documents.

Last November, he dropped by the Asian Journal office in Los Angeles, bringing with him a document that might have significance to Filipinos, if authentic. Through interpreters who translated from Chinese to English, Wang explained that he bought the old manuscript from a collector but he couldn’t reveal for how much. At the time of the interview, he showed letters he sent to the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles, who in turn referred him to the National Museum in Manila in the Philippines to have the document authenticated.

“We have no authority nor expertise to authenticate historical documents,” Myrna Valero, a cultural officer with whom Wang spoke with at the consulate, told the Asian Journal. She said that in Wang’s particular case, they have to refer him to an expert in Manila. She explained that old manuscripts and artifacts have to be physically brought to Manila for authentication purposes.

When asked about the frequency of cases similar to Wang’s, Valero said that in her four years as a cultural officer in L.A., this was the first of its kind that she handled. Prior to her assignment in L.A., Valero also has not come across a similar request when she was at the Philippine consulate in Honolulu.

During his visit to the Asian Journal, Wang revealed that he was planning to take a trip to the Philippines in December to have the manuscript authenticated. He said that should the manuscript be authentic, then it will be like he and the Philippine government “won the lottery,” with everything that this statement implies.

Wang said that his visit to the Asian Journal office was the first time that he brought the original manuscript for inspection. The manuscript, with text written in Spanish, has illustrations rendered in charcoal pencil on thin brown paper. It has a triangle as the centerpiece. The triangle has a sun in the middle, with a furrowed face, close-knit eyes, thick eyebrows and a thick, upturned mouth. The sun has eight rays. On the right and left sides of the triangle are four cascading flags each resembling the current Philippine flag. A triangle bisects the flag and divides it into an upper and lower division. Inside the triangle is a sun with a face and eight rays and three stars. The pinnacle of the triangle points to the words, “VIVA LA LIBERTAD.” Below the triangle are two criss-crossing barrel-like images, with the words, “XI FEBRERO MCMI,” dating the document on February 11, 1901.

There are signatories inscribed in scrolls on the perimeter of the triangle and the flags, five of them with the surname Rojas: Buenaventura, Luis, Jacinto, Mariano and Francisco. Also mentioned in the document are Eulalio and Celesforo Yboa, Ariston L. Mendiola, Jorge Saba and a name that reads like Eliseo Catapa. None of them is someone that rings a familiar bell, at least to the normal ordinary person who has studied Philippine history from grade school to university.

On a scroll above “VIVA LA LIBERTAD,” this is inscribed in Spanish: “Catbaloganos leales patrioticos y amantes de la Independencia que so dedican estos humildes renglones tienen el honor de filicitar a su dignisimo General y Gobernador P.M. de esta provincia de Samar. Soz Vicente Lukban por su feliz natalicio que este dia conmemora demostrando sus constantes e inquebrancables adheciones como verdaderos filipinos cuyos nombres aparecen suscritos los cuadroz.”

Loosely translated, it means “Loyal, patriotic Catbaloganos, lovers of independence to whom these humble lines are dedicated, have the privilege of congratulating the dignified General and Governor of this province of Samar. You are Vicente Lukban by your happy birth which this day commemorates demonstrating your constant and unbreakable adhesions (adhesion, with an “s,” is defined by the Royal Spanish Academy as “a public declaration of support of someone or something”) as true Filipinos whose names appear inscribed here.”


If the manuscript is real, the first question to ask is, how important is it? The manuscript indicates a connection with a province in the Philippines, Samar, refers to the signatories and looks like a proclamation of sorts that honors an important political figure by making his birthday a publicly celebrated day.

The second question is, how will the experts at the National Museum authenticate the manuscript? It would be interesting to see how Philippine historians, who do not have the same resources as their American counterparts, authenticate a unique artifact. T

The third question is, what will happen to the manuscript? It is improbable that the Philippine government has the economic means to purchase it. Even well-loved national treasures like Juan Luna’s classic Spoliarium are barely well-taken cared of. Maybe it will remain in Wang’s collection. Maybe it will change hands.

Of the 7,100 Philippine islands, Samar Province, the place referred to in the document, has a prominent place in the country’s history. Located in the Visayas region, it has since been divided into Northern, Eastern and Western Samar.

The Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan first set foot on Philippine soil in the island of Homonhon in 1521, the start of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. Homonhon is now part of Eastern Samar. Pigafetta, Magellan’s scribe aboard the ship, chronicled their landing on the island.

If the document is dated right, then the manuscript was issued in the middle of the Philippine-American War, pegged by historians to have happened between 1899 to 1902.
The year 1901 when the document was issued was a significant year for the province of Samar. In September of that year, an encounter happened between the American troops stationed in the island and the Filipinos. The incident, which Filipino historians refer to as the “The Balangiga Massacre,” while American historians refer to as the “Philippine Insurrection,” is still controversial until now.

According to some accounts, the conflict stemmed from food seizures ordered by the American garrison commander for fear that the supplies were going to the Filipino insurgents. On the other hand, the townspeople fearing starvation, the townspeople decided to attack the U.S. army garrison. Around 200 men armed with bolos and axes, some dressed as women, took the Americans by surprise, killing 54 out of the 78 Americans and wounding the rest except for 4.

In retaliation, the U.S. army sent reinforcements by setting fire to the town, killing anyone over the age of 10. Food and trade to Samar was also cut off.

British historian Bob Couttie, who wrote “Hang the Dogs, the True and Tragic History of the Balangiga Massacre,” calls the incident a tragedy, saying that it was caused by cultural misunderstanding and miscommunication.

Until now, the church bells seized by the American troops as war booty during the conflict is still under American jurisdiction. Two of the three bells is in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The third is reportedly is a U.S. camp in South Korea. There has been an ongoing campaign to return the bells to the church from where they were seized.

Should the document be authentic, then maybe it holds some unexplored historical chapter for us Filipinos and might be another window to provide clarity in history. On the other hand, even if it isn’t, the experience serves as a reminder that we should take a more active part in the search for our history as a people.

(Editor’s note: The writer wishes to thank Maryl Celiz for making the translation of the Spanish text possible.)

[ishtefh_03]

Go to the SSC Philippine Meets 2 first page. There is a link there on SSC Philippine Meets 1. Some of your pictures during the SSC Heritage Walk are there. :)

thanks, i already checked it... :D

[overtureph]

Iloilo plaza can’t be altered without NHI green light

By David Israel Sinay
Visayas Bureau
Last updated 07:46pm (Mla time) 12/21/2006

ILOILO CITY -- The National Historical Institute (NHI) reminded city officials here that they could not alter the use or modify historical landmarks without a go-ahead signal from the institute.

The NHI issued the statement after the Iloilo city council approved a plan of the city's Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) to build an advocacy center in Plaza Libertad, one of the historic landmarks here.

NHI Executive Director Ludovico Badoy said the institute should first study any proposal to modify or improve historical landmarks.

He said the NHI would present a counter-proposal to any party if the proposed improvements or alterations would not be suitable for the area.

"For as long as it is declared a landmark… everything must pass through our office," stressed Badoy, who was here Monday for the rites commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of Filipino propagandist Graciano Lopez-Jaena.

The city council, in a resolution it passed in August, allowed the ABC in the City Proper District to construct a multi-purpose building, which it would call an "advocacy center" in Plaza Libertad.

The resolution approving the ABC City Proper District's plan was authored by Councilor Merci Garcia, chair of the committee on tourism, culture and historical affairs, and seconded by Councilors Jose Espinosa III and Armand Parcon.

Badoy explained the requirement for NHI approval for projects in areas declared as historical landmarks was covered by Presidential Decree 1545.

It was in Plaza Libertad where the flag of the First Philippine Republic was raised in triumph after Spain surrendered Iloilo, her last capital in the islands, to the revolutionaries led by General Martin Delgado on December 25, 1898, according to records obtained from the official website of Iloilo province.

The square and the surrounding 18th century edifices were declared a historical landmark on November 17, 2003, through NHI Resolution No. 12.

The ABC City Proper plans to construct a two-story advocacy center in the area but this would mean the demolition of some structures that exemplify the ingenuity and artistry dating back to the Spanish era at Plaza Libertad.

Iloilo City Representative Raul Gonzalez Jr. has already set aside an initial P1 million to fund the project that is meant to house the offices, meetings and gatherings of village officials.


Copyright 2006 Visayas Bureau. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view_article.php?article_id=39554

[ivanhenares]

^^ It's good the NHI is asserting its role. Pero sino kaya nagkamali, the PDI or Badoy? Since it's PD 1505 and not 1545 -- PD 1505 - Amending Presidential Decree No. 260, As Amended, By Prohibiting the Unauthorized Modification, Alteration, Repair and Destruction of Original Features of All National Shrines, Monuments, Landmarks and Other Important Historic Edifices.

[ivanhenares]

The Sub-committee on Education, Arts and Culture of the Philippine Senate created a Technical Working Group (TWG) tasked to do the following:

1. Prepare a draft bill that will integrate and harmonize the essential elements of a National Heritage Protection measure from pending bills before the Committee on National Heritage;

2. Request additional position papers from various stakeholders, including but not limited to, artists and conservation architects, archaeologists and biologists, conservationists, historians and Muslim and ethnography scholars;

3. Review all the existing laws, presidential decrees and treaties with regard to protection and conservation of Historical, Natural and Cultural Heritage in order to have a systematic body of conservation laws.

The Heritage Conservation Society is among the members of the TWG. It is in this regard that we would like to ask for position papers on the said Heritage Bill. Please send them to hcs_secretariat@yahoo.com ASAP. Thanks!

[ivanhenares]

The Sub-committee on Education, Arts and Culture of the Philippine Senate created a Technical Working Group (TWG) tasked to do the following:

1. Prepare a draft bill that will integrate and harmonize the essential elements of a National Heritage Protection measure from pending bills before the Committee on National Heritage;

2. Request additional position papers from various stakeholders, including but not limited to, artists and conservation architects, archaeologists and biologists, conservationists, historians and Muslim and ethnography scholars;

3. Review all the existing laws, presidential decrees and treaties with regard to protection and conservation of Historical, Natural and Cultural Heritage in order to have a systematic body of conservation laws.

The Heritage Conservation Society is among the members of the TWG. It is in this regard that we would like to ask for position papers on the said Heritage Bill. Please send them to hcs_secretariat@yahoo.com ASAP. Thanks!

[Animo]

By Michael Tan
Inquirer
Last updated 00:36am (Mla time) 12/08/2006

Published on Page A15 of the December 8, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

WHAT a delight, and a relief, it was that the Pope’s trip to Turkey helped to advance Muslim-Catholic (and Christian) dialogue. There was much tension before he left, with many Muslims still hurting from a lecture he delivered in Germany last September, which was interpreted as being anti-Islam. The Pope later expressed regrets but insisted he had been interpreted out of context.

The Pope visited two major mosques in Turkey, considered significant because he was only the second pope, after John Paul II, to have entered Muslim places of worship. Those visits were not without risk, considering that more dogmatic Muslims might have interpreted it as blasphemous intrusion. When John Paul II visited the Hagia Sophia in 1967, he caused some controversy because he had knelt and prayed. Pope Benedict was more cautious.

Educational

The papal trip was well covered by Al Jazeera, the Arabic cable TV network, which could help to project a more benign image of Christian leaders to Muslims. Conversely, I hope the coverage on CNN and BBC helped to educate non-Muslims on Islam.

Even CNN’s anchor persons audibly gasped in awe as their cameras panned the grand interiors of the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. The Hagia Sophia still has an image of the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus, amid inscriptions praising Allah, all reflecting its colorful history. First built in the 6th century as a Byzantine church, it was converted into a mosque when Muslims took over, and finally transformed into a museum in 1935 after Turkey became a secular state.

CNN also featured the Pope’s visit to a stone house near the city of Ephesus, supposedly where the Virgin Mary spent her last years. It is a popular pilgrimage site for Catholic Marian devotees as well as Muslims. Jesus Christ is, after all, considered a great prophet by Muslims, and his mother is particularly loved.

There’s so much more that needs to be done to educate Christians and Muslims about each other’s religions, including the legacies we share. Writers sometimes refer to Jews, Muslims and Christians as the “three religions of the Book,” referring to our sharing of the Old Testament.

‘Mabuhay’

Much has been said about the prejudice Christians in the West have for Muslims, fueled in part by stereotypes such as Hollywood portrayal of “Arabs” as sinister-looking characters. Islamophobia, the irrational fear of Islam, is often mixed with this Arabophobia, with few people realizing that “Arab” refers to people living in several countries, and of different faiths, including Christianity.

Filipino Christians have picked up much of this fear of Muslims and of Arabs partly because of our turbulent history of conflicts in Mindanao. Now, with large communities of Muslims in most major urban centers of the country, Christians are learning to live with Muslims but the relationship is still one of uneasy co-existence.

We could defuse some of the suspicions we have of each other if we could just look for our common heritage. Christians, in particular, need to give more attention to how “Filipino” -- as a language, a people, a nation -- is itself infused with an Islamic heritage without many of us knowing about it.

Last October, I wrote a column about how important the word “mabuhay” is for Filipinos. I wasn’t able to trace the origins of this use, so I’m grateful that professor Julkipli M. Wadi of the University of the Philippines’ Institute of Islamic Studies wrote to remind me that “mabuhay” is derived from Arabic.

The professor points out that “hay” in Arabic means life, and “ma” connotes “presence,” a way of saying “there is” or “it is.” Thus, as “maganda” means “there is beauty,” “mabuhay” would mean “there is life.”

And what about “bu”? Wadi isn’t sure here, but notes that the Tausug word for life is “buhi.” He proposes that “hi” or “hih” is an indigenization of the Arabic “hay,” while “bu” could have been added for emphasis, like English has “indeed.” So “buhi” (the word for life not just in Tausug but many other Philippine languages) and “mabuhay” could mean “there is, indeed, life.”

Wadi notes, too, that our words for death -- “patay,” “nakapatay,” “mamatay” -- are derived from the Arabic “mawt.”

I’ve already mentioned that “Arab” isn’t synonymous with Muslim, but in our context, the entry of Arabic words into the Philippines happened because of Muslim missionaries who reached our shores several centuries ago. So the Arabic loan words come in as part of an Islamic legacy.

The borrowing of such basic words as those for life and death most probably occurred in the context of religious and philosophical exchanges. Wadi points out that the Islamic perspective of life has at least five stages, as described in the Koran (II:28): nothingness, life, death, resurrection and Final Return. He writes: “Life in Islam must be celebrated and death is not necessarily an end but the beginning of a more pure, blissful, eternal life.”

He mentions other Filipino words of Arabic origin, including “kaluluwa” (soul, from the Arabic “ruh”) and “hukom” (judge from the Arabic “hukm” for judgment) and notes how so many of the loan words are in the realm of psychology and spirituality. Even the expression “ala e,” particularly popular in the Southern Tagalog region, is from “Allah,” the Islamic and Semitic name for God.

Our Islamic expert also mentions “simbahan” as coming from the Tausug “sumba,” which in turn is derived from the Arabic “subha” or praise. So, we owe the Muslims this important word, and concept, of worship as praise.

When the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines, Islam had already reached different parts of the islands, including Manila. Catholicism eventually became the dominant religion but, ironically, became another channel for Islamic influences. Spain, after all, was once occupied by the Muslims or Moors, who left a strong influence in the arts, from architecture to music. Alicia Coseteng writes in “Spanish Churches in the Philippines” about the Muslim influence in churches in the provinces of Bohol and Cebu. One church in Carcar, Cebu, even has those onion-shaped domes or cupolas and four-cornered hat roofs that we usually associate with Islamic architecture.

Coseteng also refers to “Moorish” influences in the churches’ interiors, mainly the elaborate floral and geometric patterns. Islam discourages graven images in places of worship, so it’s not surprising that mosques seem so bare—until you notice the walls, floors and roofs, covered with the most intricate of ornamentation.

Ornate design is sometimes described in English as “arabesque,” its root word telling you where it all started. Who knows? The Filipino penchant for "borloloy" -- the almost excessive side decorations on everything, from our clothes to our jeepneys -- may have similar arabesque origins. (“Borloloy,” if you’re wondering, comes from the Spanish “borla,” or tassel, so a "borloloy" person looks like someone with a lot of tassels and accessories.)

Beyond “ala e” and “mabuhay” and Pinoy arabesque, there’s much more to our Islamic heritage waiting to be rediscovered.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=37026

[ThisFire]

Philippine Heritage... anyone? :)
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h129/rajah_soliman/9999%20DAVAO%20PIX/philheritage01.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h129/rajah_soliman/9999%20DAVAO%20PIX/philheritage02.jpg

It's so true and I'm proud of it. Our history is so rich, it's something people would really get into. Dramatic. I'd say it's a first-world history that we have! And many Koreanos and Japon said that they didn't know anything about Pilpinas, but when they learned about our history, they fell in love with it and they developed a soft spot for the country. This would lead some to visit the country or they learn while visiting. Then they began to explore our cultural things after the history, and they love these as well. The Japanese really appreciate history and beautiful, cute things, and they end up liking Filipino cultural things, besides our history.

[ivanhenares]

Artifacts' preservation sought in city ordinance

By DJ Yap
Inquirer
Last updated 00:03am (Mla time) 12/22/2006

ARTIFACTS that lie buried in archeological sites in Quezon City may soon be protected from the indiscriminate digging of construction crews working on road and waterworks projects.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view_article.php?article_id=39622

[Rence]

thanks!!! kuya jun that would be helpful!!

@ivan- thanks for the emails, magkano ba magpatour??


Hi, There are some free tours that I sometimes give !!!! Within Metro Manila.

Plus there will be the 31st Philippine Horticulture Show this coming February and 61st Philippine Orchid Society Show March 2- March 15 There is a minimal entrance fee in both shows but if you wanted to have a complimentary tickets in both shows you can try to PM me as early as this year!

What can you expect in these two shows:
1. Landscaping theme (Asian Gardens) in Philippine settings (PHS show)
2. Daily lectures on landscaping, gardening, plant propagation. Hoyas and carnivorous plants like pitcher plants topics will be discussed during the show.
3. Orchid for business and other practical uses (Both POS and PHS shows)

Note: If you are interested just try to PM me as early as this year !
If you know the name of your respective college deans and even school academic councellors you can tell me the name and designation ( We will try to send them formal invitation to go to show) You can bring cameras but take note that you must come within the first fews days of the show as flowers and plants gradually loose their vigor ...

Show site:
Philippine Horticulture Society Show:
Tentative : February 1-15
Location: Manila Seedling Bank
Duration: 2 weeks
Lectures: Starting 2 pm but during weekeneds there are 2 topics

Philippine Orchid Society Show:
Date: March 1 (for members only) March 2-15 public
Location: Not yet announced either Quezon City Hall grounds, Ninoy Aquino Wildlife
Duration: 14 days

What to expect: For architecture students , you can see what plants and style do the landscaper is using (materials , plants style , color, contrasts etc)
For biology , ecology students etc.. - You can encounter rare plants and beautiful flowers on display during the exhibits.

For Retirees and Hobbyists : Learn the art of business potentials, art of gardening .

Conservation and Preservation: Learn how to conserve the local endemic plants and learn more about our vanishing endemic and native plants!!!!! How to spot those plants in the wild.

So far the last time I have posted a complimentary ticket last September for the 60th POS show no one had dared to PM me or asked a free tickets !!!!

Maybe nobody wants to know our vanishing wildlife !!!!

[Rence]

According to the DOT, the Manila City Government is making moves to regain jurisdiction over Intramuros. And that becomes a big problem since if that happens, the Lord Mayor can do what he wants with it, a shopping mall included. I was told the Lord Mayor was not secretive about this new project.

Jurisdiction over Intramuros would create another disaster for the City!!!!! This mayor is making a final bid for his "Sirain ang Maynila" and " Patayin ang Maynila project"

He is pitting his son Alli for the mayoralty posts!!!!! I would rather vote for Danilo Lacuna or even Rose Bud for the mayoralty posts at least baka may magawa sila sa Binondo ( Ugly tall buildings are all over the Chinatown area ) and all those historical building in Manila.....

Watch out guys for the Postal and Philatelic Museum near the historic Post Office as these may become the next target fot the rennovation ......

[Rence]

The Sub-committee on Education, Arts and Culture of the Philippine Senate created a Technical Working Group (TWG) tasked to do the following:

1. Prepare a draft bill that will integrate and harmonize the essential elements of a National Heritage Protection measure from pending bills before the Committee on National Heritage;

2. Request additional position papers from various stakeholders, including but not limited to, artists and conservation architects, archaeologists and biologists, conservationists, historians and Muslim and ethnography scholars;

3. Review all the existing laws, presidential decrees and treaties with regard to protection and conservation of Historical, Natural and Cultural Heritage in order to have a systematic body of conservation laws.

The Heritage Conservation Society
is among the members of the TWG. It is in this regard that we would like to ask for position papers on the said Heritage Bill. Please send them to hcs_secretariat@yahoo.com ASAP. Thanks!


:bash: :ohno: :bash: Our group was totally left out in this Heritage Conservation Bill etc.....

The representative of various governmnet agencies like NHI, National Museum, Heritage Conservation Society, National Commission on Culture and the Arts, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino , PAGCOR, National Library , CCP . DENR, Philippine Cost Guard.

But they forgot those people in the Philatelic, Numismatic and other groups....

Mabuti dumalo ako sa Senate public hearings.... or else our rich numismatic, philatelic history will also end up in the hands of foreign collectors

[ivanhenares]

^^ Here's another one...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Noel Rivera <ntrivera@email.com>
Date: Dec 23, 2006 1:31 AM
Subject: Intramuros Construction

I had a meeting yesterday with the Philippine Association of Museums, Inc. at the Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago and noticed an ongoing construction at the former golf driving range on the side of Roxas Blvd. I learned that this construction by the PTA(Philippine Tourism Authority)has been ongoing even without permit from the (IA)Intramuros Administration for the IA is opposed to the project - a badminton court, according to my source of information.

I feel that the badminton court project of the PTA is not appropriate on the site for it will obstruct the view of the portion of the historic fortification. Considering that many badminton courts have been closing this year in Metro Manila.

Noel

[Lili]

:bash: :ohno: :bash: Our group was totally left out in this Heritage Conservation Bill etc.....

The representative of various governmnet agencies like NHI, National Museum, Heritage Conservation Society, National Commission on Culture and the Arts, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino , PAGCOR, National Library , CCP . DENR, Philippine Cost Guard.

But they forgot those people in the Philatelic, Numismatic and other groups....

Mabuti dumalo ako sa Senate public hearings.... or else our rich numismatic, philatelic history will also end up in the hands of foreign collectors

Yes, it's a good thing that you attended the hearings. They do overlook this important part of historical preservation thinking that this specialized field is subsumed under some other group. Thanks for being vigilant about these things. Please carry on. Let's keep this interest alive and burning. :)

When we become rich in pride as a nation, we will take greater and bigger strides to enriching not only our culture, but our drive to become economically stronger in the world arena.

[Askal82]

to rence: u are an absolute idiot, firstly ur grammar needs to be checked. and secondly, u seem to misunderstand the point. i have actually seen the state of some of these houses first hand, prior to Mr. Acuzar's restoration, and i must say that they were about to deteriorate and seemed very unsafe to live in. it may not exactly be open for the public now but who knows, it might be. i guess only time will tell of his plans in the future. and he did mention giving back to the country what's rightfully ours so i see no point worrying because as for now, i feel that it is better that these houses are on the hands of a more professional person who will be able to take care of what's left of our heritage. it's not like the government's doing anything about it! and id hate to see something like that go to waste. i understand that u are afraid that these will go to another private collection, and honestly speaking, i'd prefer it to be that way than what it was. the people who used to live in some of those houses didnt treasure the value of that house or let alone know its worth the same way jerry acuzar does.

OT: I have detected a grammar nazi in this thread. :lol:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar_nazi

[overtureph]

Jurisdiction over Intramuros would create another disaster for the City!!!!! This mayor is making a final bid for his "Sirain ang Maynila" and " Patayin ang Maynila project"

He is pitting his son Alli for the mayoralty posts!!!!! I would rather vote for Danilo Lacuna or even Rose Bud for the mayoralty posts at least baka may magawa sila sa Binondo ( Ugly tall buildings are all over the Chinatown area ) and all those historical building in Manila.....

Watch out guys for the Postal and Philatelic Museum near the historic Post Office as these may become the next target fot the rennovation ......

Is this the same building where the APO Philatelic conduct there auction? The building beside the Central Post Offic? If this is the same structure, the interior of this building is filthy.

[ivanhenares]

Yes, thorughly inappropriate just like the giant metal frames of the golf
course that dawrfs the silhouette of Ft. Santiago itself.

But then, who among our officials are concerned with "visual dignity"?

1. Manila allowed SM to rise two floors higher than the nearby City Hall.
The back entrance faces City Hall!

2. Right beside the Cultural Center of the Philippines, supposedly the
pinnacle of the performing arts, is a giant clown of Star City. It's
there the whole year, thanks to Freddie Elizalde. Lisa Macuja, wife of
Freddie and star ballerina, should realize that this demeans the image
not only of CCP, but of the Philippines as a whole.

3. The supposedly largest billboard in the world stands right in front of
a church tower whose image of Our Lady used to be a landmark clearly seen
from EDSA. Yes, the billboard brings in revenues to the Church. But it
also sends out the message that commerce matters more than the Divine.

Our problems with preserving heritage are far deeper than we assume. A
major problem has to do with the LACK OF AESTHETICS. Aesthetics has been
marginalized in the curriculum, in the public sphere. The result is an
ever-intensifying urban ugliness. And yet because of Filipino prowess in
designing furniture and home accessories, the government keeps bragging
that we are the "MILAN OF ASIA"!

A contradiction!

Regards,
Butch Zialcita

[ivanhenares]

OT: I have detected a grammar nazi in this thread. :lol:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar_nazi

Originally Posted by markab View Post
to rence: u are an absolute idiot, firstly ur grammar needs to be checked. and secondly, u seem to misunderstand the point. i have actually seen the state of some of these houses first hand, prior to Mr. Acuzar's restoration, and i must say that they were about to deteriorate and seemed very unsafe to live in. it may not exactly be open for the public now but who knows, it might be. i guess only time will tell of his plans in the future. and he did mention giving back to the country what's rightfully ours so i see no point worrying because as for now, i feel that it is better that these houses are on the hands of a more professional person who will be able to take care of what's left of our heritage. it's not like the government's doing anything about it! and id hate to see something like that go to waste. i understand that u are afraid that these will go to another private collection, and honestly speaking, i'd prefer it to be that way than what it was. the people who used to live in some of those houses didnt treasure the value of that house or let alone know its worth the same way jerry acuzar does.

OT: Not just a grammar nazi. If you notice, it's his first post. So call him an internet troll (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll) as well! :lol:

[Lili]

Yes, thorughly inappropriate just like the giant metal frames of the golf
course that dawrfs the silhouette of Ft. Santiago itself.

But then, who among our officials are concerned with "visual dignity"?

1. Manila allowed SM to rise two floors higher than the nearby City Hall.
The back entrance faces City Hall!

2. Right beside the Cultural Center of the Philippines, supposedly the
pinnacle of the performing arts, is a giant clown of Star City. It's
there the whole year, thanks to Freddie Elizalde. Lisa Macuja, wife of
Freddie and star ballerina, should realize that this demeans the image
not only of CCP, but of the Philippines as a whole.

3. The supposedly largest billboard in the world stands right in front of
a church tower whose image of Our Lady used to be a landmark clearly seen
from EDSA. Yes, the billboard brings in revenues to the Church. But it
also sends out the message that commerce matters more than the Divine.

Our problems with preserving heritage are far deeper than we assume. A
major problem has to do with the LACK OF AESTHETICS. Aesthetics has been
marginalized in the curriculum, in the public sphere. The result is an
ever-intensifying urban ugliness. And yet because of Filipino prowess in
designing furniture and home accessories, the government keeps bragging
that we are the "MILAN OF ASIA"!

A contradiction!

Regards,
Butch Zialcita

Mr. Zialcita really has a point! I totally agree with him. Has this letter been published in any major Philippine newspaper? How can this be expressed to those who may be able to take action on the matter?

[overtureph]

^^ As I've mentioned before, we are aesthetically and historically challenged.

[ivanhenares]

INQUIRER VISAYAS
Samar historical monument now a ‘big flower vase’

By Ven S. Labro
Inquirer
Last updated 01:49am (Mla time) 12/23/2006

Published on Page A17 of the December 23, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

A MONUMENT designed to show Samar’s history has become a “big flower vase.”

Local historian Rosario Cabardo, a former head of a nongovernment organization based in Catbalogan town, says this happened to the 14-meter obelisk depicting heroic episodes of Samar’s past when the provincial government undertook the rehabilitation of the Capitol in Catbalogan.

Cabardo laments that nothing has been done to restore the damaged obelisk a month after she wrote provincial officials to complain about the defacement of the historical site.

The four sides of the obelisk depict four major events in Samar’s history:
• The Balangiga Encounter in 1901 that saw local revolutionaries inflicting the “worst single defeat” of the Americans during the Philippine-American War.
• The Sumuroy Rebellion in Palapag in 1649 against the Spaniards.
• Arrival of the first Jesuit missionaries in Samar in 1596.
• Queen Isabella III carrying a Royal Decree of Aug. 11, 1841 declaring Samar a province.

The monument stands in front of the Capitol in Catbalogan, the present capital of Samar province and the former capital of the island-province of Samar before it was divided into Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar provinces.

Although the scenes on the obelisk are still intact, the brass plaques in each of them are missing, Cabardo says.

Also missing from the lower base are the brass sculptures of early Samarnons depicted as “pintados” or tattooed people.

According to Cabardo, the missing items “have been replaced by a grotesque outcropping punctuated by flower vases in every corner.”

In her letter dated Nov. 23 and addressed to Gov. Milagrosa Tan, who initiated the Capitol grounds rehabilitation project, Vice Gov. Jesus Redaja and members of the provincial board, Cabardo says the obelisk has become “a big flower vase.”

“This constitutes a defacement of an artwork and a mutilation of a historical landmark. Historical landmarks are not subjects to the whims and fancy of elected leaders to place a décor here and there. In fact, such historical landmarks have become part of our heritage and elected officials are supposed to protect its heritage from any vandalism, mutilation or damage,” she adds.

The obelisk was constructed in 1997 when then Gov. Jose Roño declared August 11 Samar Day after careful deliberations of the Samar Historical Committee.

Cabardo, a member of the committee, said Roño commissioned artist Juan Sajid Imao to design and construct the monument to “remember the legacy of courage and determination left to us by men who fought for their beliefs and took their stand in the name of freedom.”

[Lili]

^^ I think I am going to forward that to some Samar site organizations. Anything else we can do to bring attention to this matter?

[overtureph]

Fund lack hampers bid to restore Ifugao terraces

By Delmar Cariño
Inquirer
Last updated 03:46am (Mla time) 12/26/2006

LAGAWE, Ifugao--Provincial officials have stepped up efforts to rehabilitate the Ifugao rice terraces in a bid to finally remove their inclusion from the list of endangered heritage sites in the world.

But Gov. Glenn Prudenciano said fund lack had greatly contributed to the difficulty of the province to comply with the standards of restoration set by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

A monitoring team sent in April by Unesco's World Heritage Center and the International Union for Conservation of Nature to inspect the rice terraces welcomed the efforts of local officials to restore the irrigation system of the terraces, he said.

But the team "noted with concern" that little progress was made to implement the recommendation of two teams that visited the terraces in September 2001 and June 2005 that called for the preparation of a comprehensive conservation and management plan for the terraces.

The teams also asked for the allocation of steady funds to address the challenges, to be drawn from the conservation plan.

Unesco said the "corrective" measures on the rice terraces must be ready by the end of 2007 as a condition for the removal of the terraces from the list of endangered world heritage sites.

"We had been doing our best to implement the corrective measures by way of focusing the funds only for the repair of rice terraces that are included in the heritage list," Prudenciano said.

The last release from the P50 million given by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCAA) for the terraces' restoration will now be concentrated on the irrigation and restoration of the terraces in four towns, he said.

These are Banaue (Batad and Bangaan rice terraces cluster), Mayoyao (Mayoyao central rice terraces), Kiangan (Nagacadan rice terraces cluster) and the Hungduan-Hapao rice terraces cluster.

Unesco earlier included these terraces in the endangered list after its inspection teams found out that the terraces have deteriorated due to uncontrolled construction of houses, erosion induced by climate and abandonment of the terraces by the farmers.

Unesco also noted that the terraces have started to decay due to the rapid depletion of their watershed cover.

To solve the problem, the international agency wanted a reforestation program to be launched for the planting of endemic tree species to protect the watershed system of the rice terraces.

Prudenciano said Malacañang's abolition of two agencies formed to supervise the repair of the terraces, the Ifugao Terraces Commission (ITC) and the Banaue Rice Terraces Task Force (BRTTF), created a gap that left the local government isolated from national government support.

The provincial board formed in July this year the Ifugao Cultural Heritage Office (ICHO) to oversee and document the progress of the rice terraces' rehabilitation.

Glenda Dumangeng of the ICHO said meager funds were allocated from the province's development fund to finance the stonewalling of the rice paddies.

She said 40 terraces were restored at Batad at the cost of P300,000 while P450,000 was spent for the Mayoyao and Bangaan rice terraces this year.

An additional P300,000 was also allotted from next year's budget, she said.


Copyright 2006 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metroregions/view_article.php?article_id=40185

[ivanhenares]

^^ Imagine, the government is proposing a PHP1.29 trillion budget and yet it spent less than PHP1 million for the Ifugao Rice Terraces, a national cultural treasure and UNESCO World Heritage Site. I hope the NCCA speeds up the release of the PHP50 million rehabilitation fund. And even better, I hope Congress increases the budget for the restoration of our heritage!

[portludlow]

Old town’ for posterity, says developer
By Tonette Orejas

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/propertyfocus/propertyfocus/view_article.php?article_id=38262

Inquirer
Last updated 12:25pm (Mla time) 12/14/2006


BAGAC, BATAAN -- Real estate developer Jerry Acuzar’s vision of creating a pueblo (old town) on his 50-hectare seaside property here is not hinged on commercialism.

For 50-year-old Acuzar, the project goes beyond collecting old houses. Neither is he building a nouveau riche village or starting a moneymaking resort.

“This is not a commercial project. This is for the country, for the children now and future children. Yung may makita silang ganito sa ngayong walang pagmamahal sa heritage. (They have to see this now that there’s no appreciation for heritage.) They have to see the physical culture, hindi kwento lang (not only through stories), use it for education, learn the past from this,” Acuzar said.

Although his project may be viewed for its potential national impact or implications on cultural preservation and promotion, Acuzar said this has not been regulated or backed by the National Historical Institute or similar agencies.

Laws

The Local Government Code of 1991 lacks explicit provisions pertaining to heritage and only a few local governments are known to protect local heritage through ordinances. However, several laws exist to identify cultural heritage and property.

The Civil Code of the Philippines’ Article 415 defines built or immovable property while Republic Act No. 4846 (Cultural Properties Preservation and Protection Act) defines “cultural property,” which includes old buildings.

Mayor Armando Ramos said the municipal government has declared Acuzar’s property a tourism site.

Acuzar works with a team of architects, researchers, consultants, art dealers, historians, carpenters, and craftsmen, but declined to name all the members of his team, which he calls “grupo ng magluluma” (junk hunters).

He was also silent about the cost of his project, but said he got the concept in trips abroad, especially in Scandinavia, where the culture is preserved in structures.

Not on NHI list

To him, the bahay na bato (stone houses) reflect the best of Philippine architectural heritage, which explains why he has acquired several of these.

Acuzar said he had broken no laws. None of the structures standing now at the pueblo is in the list of properties or landmarks declared historical by the National Historical Institute.

But two structures, which he did not want to name, are historically important even as these are not on the NHI list.

No government or private group was known to have undertaken an evaluation of the relocation, restoration and preservation processes and techniques used by Acuzar’s team.

Negotiations

The chief architect, Joel Rico, said the team had developed an acceptable system, one that strives for authenticity. “As is” was Acuzar’s plain term for that rule.

Acuzar said he had left it to his agents to deal with the owners of the structures. When the purchase was made after research, he said he sent word to the families, promising no alterations and guaranteeing them access to the old houses in the new site.

He said he had consulted local officials, but that had not been the case with the 145-year-old Catholic chapel in the village of Pio in Porac, Pampanga, some 60 kilometers from Bagac. The villagers have vowed to protect the chapel from antique dealers and demolition crew.

Ivan Henares, a Pampanga historian and trustee of the Heritage Conservation Society, said the houses might not be safe in Acuzar’s property.

For one, the Mount Natib area sits on a fault zone, which was why the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant that is near the property was mothballed. For another, saltwater can undermine the integrity of the houses and other materials.

But Acuzar’s architect, Rico, said old houses were much more earthquake-resistant. Nor should there be worry about saltwater because a new technology can deal with that. He gave no details, however.

Not a foe

Acuzar claims to have found allies among heritage conservationists.

“Tama naman na i-maintain sa community pero hindi kayang i-maintain ng gobyerno o ng mga nagmana. Kaya naisip kong pagsama-samahin (I agree that it is correct to maintain the structures right in the communities, but neither the government nor the heirs have the funds to maintain those. So I decided to gather them here),” he said.

Owners of ancestral houses are tempted to sell lots, especially those in commercial areas, because there is no law compensating opportunity losses, he said. The trend is also that most of the heirs have left for abroad, neglecting the houses.

But Acuzar said he would not be selfish at all. “I could give this to the government when it finds value for this a heritage site. Parang art, dino-donate (It’s like art, you can donate it),” he said.

The problem is that most of the heritage laws in the Philippines only ensure protection, not funding, said architect Rico.

At the same time, there is yet no group of Filipino heritage building owners quite like Britain’s Historic Houses Association, who guard the properties while earning from them with tourism and commercial activities.

[ivanhenares]

^^ I would agree with Acuzar on the point that he is not breaking the law since the structures are not NHI-declared. That simply means that the NHI is slow and is not doing its job since Acuzar himself admitted that two of the structures he is currently transferring are historically important! Which is why he wants to keep quiet about it first so that it doesn't raise any howls until the transfer is completed. I also agree with his chief architect Joel Rico that most of the heritage laws in the Philippines only ensure protection, not funding. Which is why Congress better enact the heritage bills fast!

But sad to say, Rico is not a trained restoration architect. Even if Acuzar says houses are transferred "as is," visitors to his project have commented that the houses were not assembled properly.

The main issue here is not simply the transfer but the fact that Acuzar is actively shopping for old houses, trying to woo the owners into selling their properties to him! How ironic that he mentions Scandanavia where "culture is preserved in structures." If he was indeed to follow the example he cited, structures should remain where they are, preserved together with the environment they were built in!

As I always say, the best way to preserve a structure is to educate the local community about its importance to the history and heritage of the place, as well as its economic potential if preserved properly.

I would have more respect for Acuzar if instead of uprooting all these structures from the communities where they form an inherent part of the historical and cultural fabric; since he has all the money to spend anyway, he should instead build replicas! In that manner, communities get to keep their heritage.

[ivanhenares]

Baguio City starts 1,000-day countdown to 2009 centennial


Inquirer
Last updated 00:04am (Mla time) 12/27/2006

Published on Page A16 of the December 27, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

BAGUIO CITY—Teenagers in feathered headbands and G-strings raised the flag at City Hall recently to mark Day One of a thousand-day countdown to the summer capital’s centennial in September 2009.

The American colonial government raised Baguio from the ground up out of pastureland used by Ibaloi herdsmen, using an urban design of Chicago architect Daniel Burnham.

Baguio old-timers honored the city’s forefathers with the simultaneous launching of freshly painted markers, a boat parade at Burnham Lake and the planting of centennial trees at Burnham Park.

But people must read much more into that symbolism.

Retired city architect Joseph Alabanza, chair of the 10-man centennial commission, said they have decided to celebrate Baguio’s centennial as a three-year continuing advocacy for policies that would protect its American and Ibaloi heritage.

To do this, the city government has reopened talks to convince four neighboring Benguet towns to join a metropolitan tieup.

Alabanza announced at a recent press conference that the city government was reviving the proposed fusion of Baguio and La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan and Tuba, all Benguet towns, into a BLIST metropolis.

Alabanza, a former Cordillera director of the National Economic and Development Authority, has been pushing for the project since the term of former President Fidel Ramos.

Dwindling water

The Americans designed Baguio as a sophisticated community for 30,000 residents, but the city now no longer has the carrying capacity to host future investments as evidenced by its dwindling water reserves, Alabanza said.

The city’s neighbors could benefit from investments Baguio would turn away, he said.

European, American and Asian experts translated BLIST into actual development plans. They undertook the Baguio-Dagupan urban development project to rebuild the city after it was damaged by a killer earthquake in July 1990.

The centennial commission will also serve as a sounding board for plans and policies to improve downtown Baguio. These include the conversion of downtown streets into pedestrian parks as well as the ban on giant billboards from the central business district “because they become (sources of) visual pollution,” Alabanza said.

[ivanhenares]

Facelift for Taguig lakeshore

By Jocelyn Uy
Inquirer
Last updated 04:13am (Mla time) 12/27/2006

Published on Page A20 of the December 27, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE lakeshore towns in Taguig City will soon be restored to their old glory as preparations for their launching as one of the premier tourist destinations in the metropolis are now underway.

The local government has signed a memorandum of agreement with the Laguna Lake Development Authority for the joint development of the historic Laguna de Bay shoreline running from Barangay Napindan—home of the legendary lighthouse—to Barangay Bagumbayan.

The MOA calls for the establishment, ownership and operation of a joint venture corporation which would declare, promote and develop Taguig’s lakeshore as a business, commercial and tourism development zone to boost the city economy and provide employment and business opportunities to residents.

The city’s public information office said the “Lakeshore District” would be patterned after a resort—featuring a marina, a boardwalk, a floating grandstand, ferry terminal, a fish port and a multi-modal transit, among others.

Back in the early ’70s, Barangay Napindan’s shoreline was the favorite destination of many locals, among them celebrities, for picnics. They swam in the once clear waters of Laguna de Bay or played around the 17th-century lighthouse which stands guard at the lake, near the mouth of the Pasig River and the Napindan Channel.

In a previous interview with Lilia Mozo, an old resident of Napindan who is the barangay secretary, she told the Inquirer that many residents have been waiting for the local government to act on its plans to restore the beauty of their hometown.

But the wait is over. Ana Santos, chief of the public information office, told the Inquirer yesterday that residents could expect work on the project to begin early next year.

Mayor Freddie Tinga had come up with the idea of reviving the “Old Town” district of Taguig after he won the mayoralty race in 2004. Santos added that the local government would be spending a “huge amount of money” to finance the project.

[overtureph]

Baguio City starts 1,000-day countdown to 2009 centennial


Inquirer
Last updated 00:04am (Mla time) 12/27/2006

Published on Page A16 of the December 27, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

BAGUIO CITY—Teenagers in feathered headbands and G-strings raised the flag at City Hall recently to mark Day One of a thousand-day countdown to the summer capital’s centennial in September 2009.

The American colonial government raised Baguio from the ground up out of pastureland used by Ibaloi herdsmen, using an urban design of Chicago architect Daniel Burnham.

Baguio old-timers honored the city’s forefathers with the simultaneous launching of freshly painted markers, a boat parade at Burnham Lake and the planting of centennial trees at Burnham Park.

But people must read much more into that symbolism.

Retired city architect Joseph Alabanza, chair of the 10-man centennial commission, said they have decided to celebrate Baguio’s centennial as a three-year continuing advocacy for policies that would protect its American and Ibaloi heritage.

To do this, the city government has reopened talks to convince four neighboring Benguet towns to join a metropolitan tieup.

Alabanza announced at a recent press conference that the city government was reviving the proposed fusion of Baguio and La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan and Tuba, all Benguet towns, into a BLIST metropolis.

Alabanza, a former Cordillera director of the National Economic and Development Authority, has been pushing for the project since the term of former President Fidel Ramos.

Dwindling water

The Americans designed Baguio as a sophisticated community for 30,000 residents, but the city now no longer has the carrying capacity to host future investments as evidenced by its dwindling water reserves, Alabanza said.

The city’s neighbors could benefit from investments Baguio would turn away, he said.

European, American and Asian experts translated BLIST into actual development plans. They undertook the Baguio-Dagupan urban development project to rebuild the city after it was damaged by a killer earthquake in July 1990.

The centennial commission will also serve as a sounding board for plans and policies to improve downtown Baguio. These include the conversion of downtown streets into pedestrian parks as well as the ban on giant billboards from the central business district “because they become (sources of) visual pollution,” Alabanza said.


Did they proceed with the building of that ugly fly over?

[Hawayano]

^^
Baguio, Daniel Burnham's well-planned "summer capital" of the American Empire, is yet another Philippine example of environmental degradation brought about by uncontrolled urban expansion in the name of GREED! :ohno:

Sayang--the whole area looks more like an eyesore today, and its visitor appeal is on rapid decline. When will we learn?

[overtureph]

^^
Baguio, Daniel Burnham's well-planned "summer capital" of the American Empire, is yet another Philippine example of environmental degradation brought about by uncontrolled urban expansion in the name of GREED! :ohno:

Sayang--the whole area looks more like an eyesore today, and its visitor appeal is on rapid decline. When will we learn?

I don't think Filipino's really understand proper urban planning. As an example, where can you find a fast food restaurant on church grounds.

[ivanhenares]

Sharing this message...

hello ivan,

Regarding the World Monument Watch, can I suggest to nominate the Linapacan Spanish Fort in the remote Calamian islands of Palawan . It was built during the 17th century to protect the local community from intruders. Apparently, no one knew of it's exact location since it was so hidden, until a foreigner living in the Philippines "discovered" it. It;s greatest threat is neglect, natural aging, and as you can see from the website, overgrown plants and trees that endanger the structure of the site.

To see more info and photos, just google the name "islomaniac" and click on his photo albums. It's under Linapacan Spanish Fort.

thanks and let me know what you think :-)

and the photo link...

http://travel.webshots.com/album/214623945uqomvu (http://travel.webshots.com/album/214623945uqomvu)

[ivanhenares]

Got this in my blog. Help needed...

good day!.... i was wondering if you have an old pictures of plaza hugo?... it is beside the sta ana church in manila, or maybe some background data about the plaza.

[portludlow]

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/12282006/images/life-pic03.jpg

THE windswept rolling terrain of Naidi Hills and its stately lighthouse.

BOON OR BANE?
WINDS OF CHANGE IN BATANES
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/12282006/life01.html
Text and photos by Benjamin Layug

Breathtaking Batanes is unlike anything I have been used to in a sprawling metropolis. Crime, like the traffic and its dust and pollution, is almost nonexistent. No drugs, no smuggling, no kidnapping. Here, they leave the doors of houses open all day (and even at night). Here, I can sleep overnight in the park or along the shore without fear of mugging. Bikes, scooters and occasional jeepneys and tricycles are the only means of transportation. There are no rich or poor; no squatters or beggars. The brilliance of the moon, the stars and even some of the planets are not blocked by smog or glaring neon lights. The air I inhaled, as well as the fish, fruits, vegetables and meat I ate were fresh, with no preservatives added. I can also drink directly from the faucet without fear. The “ordinary” food fare I ate consisted of spiny lobster (payi), coconut crabs (tatus), flying fish (dibang) and Spanish mackerel (tanigi), complemented by delicious yellow rice (supas), all served on leaves of a local bread fruit tree called kabaya.

Everybody is likely to know everybody and youngsters here are respectful. Ivatans take hospitality to its highest level, welcoming the ipula (outsider) with open doors and a Sumdep kamu (“Please come in”) or greet him with a Kapian ka nu Dios (“May God be with you”). The traditional community spirit or bayanihan (locally called yaru) remains high here. There are no moviehouses, no bars or beer joints, no markets (food is sold door-to-door) or shopping centers. After sunset, the streets are unlit and practically empty. This 10-island miniarchipelago is also a study in contrast. It is the smallest province in terms of area and population yet the literacy rate and professional education index among Ivatans is a high 95 percent. Truly like the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, or the Shangri-La in The Lost Horizon. However, change came in the form of a 24-hour power source, cable TV, cell sites and Internet access.

Such a province, with its landscape of unsurpassed beauty, needs to be preserved. On January 5, 2001, by virtue of RA 8991, the islands were proclaimed a protected area by the DENR. Recently, the Unesco listed Batanes as the country’s sixth World Heritage site due to its mix of unique and ancient archeology and architecture. The listing could help raise awareness about the preservation of the heritage sites and local authorities may receive financial assistance or expert advice from Unesco on ways to maintain the site.

As a result of the listing, Batanes’ reputation as a new frontier tourist destination has grown but this has been greeted with mixed feelings by the local government. The number of local and foreign tourist arrivals has increased, providing additional revenues as professional employment opportunities here are scarce. However, these same tourists may overwhelm preservation sites such as pre-Hispanic burial sites and idjangs and the traditional houses. Gov. Vicente Gato hopes that from this listing, the national government, as well as other groups, will provide more assistance and endowments or grants to preserve these fragile Ivatan sites. If the governor would have his way, he prefers quality tourists who appreciate Ivatan culture or those who would help preserve this heritage. Besides, Batanes’ existing tourism infrastructure simply can’t support and accommodate too many tourists.

What has made Batanes so deserving of such an honor? For one, Batanes is unique among Philippine provinces. The people (the honest, hardy and inscrutable Ivatans trace their roots to prehistoric Formosan immigrants with their almond eyes and latter-day Spaniards with their aquiline noses), the language (the Ivatan dialect is peppered with pidgin Spanish and spoken with the tonal musicality of the Chinese language), the weather (generally cooler, balmier and quite windy with practically 4 seasons including a “winter”), the crafts, and even the boats used (the wide, round-bottomed, bathtub-shaped and plank-built boat called falowa and not the banca is used) are all different.

The Ivatan’s ingeniously designed, typhoon-resistant houses (locally called sinandumparan) are found all over the province and nowhere else (the lowland bahay kubo simply will not survive here). These squat, low, solid stone-and-lime cottages, not unlike those in the Scottish Highlands or France’s Provencal region, have meter-thick walls, are built directly to the ground and are laid out on narrow, cobbled streets that follow the contour of the land. They are cool during the warm season and warm in the cold months.
The gabled roofs have foot-thick cogon tightly bound and woven together to make it waterproof and fastened with reeds to sturdy wooden rafters. The roof is held down by a panpet (a thick rope roof net) fastened to strong pegs on large, half-buried stones. The small, narrow door faces the east or northeast, away from the worst typhoon winds. Tiny, square windows are located on three walls only. The wall that doesn’t have it faces the direction of the strongest winds during typhoons.

One such house, the House of Dakay, the oldest in Batanes, is included on the Unesco list and expected for grading. Now resided in by octogenarian Florestida Estrella, it was built in 1887 by Jose Dacay (Florestida’s grandfather). The friendly Florestida, with her easy smile and weather-beaten face, was formerly only used to a quiet village existence. Now, her tiny world has been opened to many foreign and local tourists who take her picture, making her the subject of many articles, postcards and promotional calendars. Florestida keeps a blue logbook containing the names of visitors over the past years.

Like Florestida, the Ivatan’s tiny world may soon be open to tourism. Let’s just hope it doesn’t destroy the very character that made it known in the first place.

[Lili]

^^ Oh yes, Batanes is beautiful. I've been to Basco and it was really idyllic. The native houses are really sturdy and can withstand the elements there. The sight of rolling hills amidst the seascape was such a beauty to behold. I had stayed in the monastery compoun ran by the Monsignor there. He was very strict with keeping the peace inside the surroundings so no late night revelry. The people were very friendly and serene. It was wonderful experience.

[Hawayano]

^^ Oh yes, Batanes is beautiful. I've been to Basco and it was really idyllic. The native houses are really sturdy and can withstand the elements there. The sight of rolling hills amidst the seascape was such a beauty to behold. I had stayed in the monastery compoun ran by the Monsignor there. He was very strict with keeping the peace inside the surroundings so no late night revelry. The people were very friendly and serene. It was wonderful experience.

@ Lili: Ooooh...nakakaselos ako! I've always wanted to venture up there--so historic and so bucolic! Did you get to see the "idjangs" (ancient fortifications of the Ivatan people) during your stay?


Nervously, here's another piece of Philippine treasure requiring protection from becoming another Boracay...I know that's an inaccurate comparison, but what I'm trying to say is that the outside world must be made to respect and not disrupt the harmonious stability that has kept Batanes beautiful.

There's a whole complex Ivatan culture up there, and it'll be fast endangered if tourism is allowed to run rampant! Thankfully, God has situated the Batanes isles amid treacherous sea currents and nasty typhoons to protect them from alien encroachment. Education is the key, and the Ivatans will hopefully take an active role in seeing that their islands remain uniquely beautiful for future generations to appreciate as well.

Peace and Diyos mamagus! (spelling?)

[overtureph]

Las Piñas for armchair tourist

By Jocelyn Uy
Inquirer
Last updated 11:00pm (Mla time) 12/25/2006

DISCOVER the rich cultural past of Las Piñas City in the comfort of your home.

"Las Pinas: A City of Heritage," a comprehensive hardbound book funded by Sen. Manny Villar and his wife, Rep. Cynthia Villar, was launched recently to help stir among Filipinos interest and cultural pride in the city.

Visitacion de la Torre, one of the authors, said the city "has been shaped by the marriage of faith and romance."

In the book's prologue, she said, "Faith here refers to the kind of spirituality that Fr. Diego Cera made palpable when he spent 37 years of his life improving the town, building the St. Joseph Church and the one-of-a-kind bamboo organ famous the world over.

"As to romance, it works around the concept of the freedom of the creative spirit to produce a masterpiece, like the bamboo organ, the jeepney, the parol, the St. Joseph Church … this is the romance that empowers the people of Las Piñas to rise beyond poverty, unemployment or mediocrity."

The 220-page book has two parts. The first part tells of the city's beginnings as a nondescript barrio of Parañaque when the Spaniards set foot in Manila in the 16th century and how it labored to achieve its own identity and preserve its culture.

The second part, written by Joyce Crisanto, is an account of the city's transformation from a town into a thriving, urban metropolis "with strong egalitarian and environment leanings."

Graphs, charts, and photographs from ancient structures and old townsfolk to today's modern buildings and leaders contribute to the vivid account of Las Piñas' development.

"It is a colorful book about [unforgettable] characters walking the stage that is called Las Piñas...one of the top 10 cities in the country and a very historical one. We hope that (the book) would also strengthen and deepen the residents' love for the city," Crisanto told the Inquirer in an interview.

The publication also features the city's little treasures: A few surviving salt beds in an old district; a bamboo museum with 28 of 32 species growing along the Las Piñas River and the parol center, which has produced three generations of Christmas lantern makers whose products continue to brighten up many homes in Metro Manila during the holiday season.

Commercial establishments like malls, factories and livelihood centers are also highlighted.

Crisanto hoped that the book--"a handy reference"--would lead to more comprehensive volumes containing residents' personal memories of the city.

"Leafing through the pages of the book is the best way to discover our city," said Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar during the book launching two weeks ago.

The book will be available in bookstores early next year, Crisanto said.


Copyright 2006 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view_article.php?article_id=40165

[ivanhenares]

Below is a letter I received c/o Ms Bambi Harper. I hope we can help the Corregidor folks regarding this new problem:

URGENT: Appeal for help to save Corregidor Island

Greetings!

Recent disturbing events have spurred me to intervene in what
I think are senseless projects which will accomplish nothing but
ruin the beauty and significance of Corregidor Island.

I am talking about an ongoing project of the Philippine
National Historic Commission to renovate or give a makeover
to Middleside Barracks.

I happen to be the son of a Corregidor veteran, and so I feel very
strongly about how Corregidor is preserved for future generations.
We need to keep the memory of the men and women who fought
in World War II, fresh in the collective memory of our people.

Please check out this link so you'll see what I mean:

http://www.geocities.com/savecorregidor

I am quite sure that you will be outraged at how they are
handling this project.

I am trying to drum up support from conservation and veteran groups
so that this project can be stopped before it is too late. I hear that Mile
Long Barracks is next!

Your support would really go a long way in preserving Corregidor
Island - The Fortress of Freedom.

Your help, comments and suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.

Please forward this message to those whom you know
share our sentiments.

Sincerely yours,

Jay Ramos

If you want to help us with our campaign to preserve Corregidor Island, please email us and we'll get in touch with you. Our email address: savecorregidor@yahoo.com.

Likewise, send an email to the National Historic Commission and give them your opinion about this project. Their email address can be obtained from their website at:
http://www.nhi.gov.ph

Or, voice your support and write the Corregidor Foundation, Inc.:
agm@compass.com.ph


I knew something was just not right when I received that e-mail which is why I didn't do shout-outs in my blog like I usually do when I receive things like these. I guess it was because I knew the people involved and know how consultative they are.

Only saw the reply today. I agree that WWII history is not quite noticed in the Philippines. The A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I think the World War II Sites in Bataan and Corregidor should be nominated to the list.

Anyway, here is the reply...


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Leslie Ann Murray
Date: Dec 18, 2006 6:43 AM
Subject: Re: On-going "clean-up" at Middleside Barracks threatens to destroy Corregidor

Hi Ivan...Thanks for sending this....Art and Corregidor Foundation, Inc. - (CFI) and F.A.M.E. are already "on" this...and think we have managed to dispel some of the "negatives" Jay has circulated. The NHI and the Dept of Budget and Management are the agencies which have provided the finances and the plan...and as I explained to Jay - we have (since 1998) been pursueing funds and techinal help for this project to "save Corregidor) - spoken directly with some UNESCO reps, followed up with them, applied to other such agencies, Mrs. Romulo even made pleas through personal contacts with influential people abroad, Toti Villalon has been out the the island...the list is considerable...Jay even sat in on some of our FAME meetings when the plea and need for preservation and funds for same was discussed....

BUT --- no positive reaction from any quarter for years - all has fallen on deaf ears (you know the story when it comes to funding for heritage!) ...finally we were able to get some minimal (in relation to the actual scope of the work that needs to be done) support for the work.....and now we have critics and "brickbats" from people who claim to be "concerned" ...well, I am glad if it awakens the public to the need (where was the "support" in the past!!???) ...well, you know how it is....

Anyway - Jay is now ready to help us out by doing a video and this may help to get the considerable amounts we need --- amazing how UNESCO can save the terraces and the churches --- and here we have vestiges of one of the most famous chapters in recent history on the doorstep that could bring in a whole niche market of visiors (WWII survivor - and fatality - families; historians, etc.) to a site that really turned the tide of that war - and no body (until now) has seemed to care. I can fill you in properly on all we have been trying to do and why the work in progress is so necessary - but am up to my ears in just getting our AmCham publication to press before the holidays - so after that will pass on all...We have photos of the deterioration - and also of all the "positive" things we have accomplished on CI that seem to have escaped attention...isn't it always the way???

Many thanks again and hope the "other side of the coin" is seen too.

No - I did not make it to the festival - as I wrote the mayors office, we had a long-standing personal commitment for that night...I enquired if there was a chance to see the lanterns on display afterwards - like this week? - but did not get a reply. If you have any news on this please let me know....???

Many thanks for keeping in touch - and all best for a Merry Christmas - and to success in heritage endeavors in the new year!!!!

Leslie

[Wonderboy]

I knew something was just not right when I received that e-mail which is why I didn't do shout-outs in my blog like I usually do when I receive things like these. I guess it was because I knew the people involved and know how consultative they are.

You should have informed me earlier then. That was forwarded to me by Ms Bambi Harper.

[Lili]

^^ Well something positive still came out of it if only to raise awareness and support from the concerned readers. That also gave them an opportunity to keep this issue at the forefront and to explain what are the things being done to protect the Corregidor heritage.

[Wonderboy]

That's right, Lili. Thank you. That was my intention, hence, I forwarded the e-mail to some people I know.

[ivanhenares]

You should have informed me earlier then. That was forwarded to me by Ms Bambi Harper.

I found out only today. I check the HCS e-mail address once a week. Which is why I replied that it's been forwarded to the concerned people and I was just waiting for their reply. Plus I didn't want to hamper your enthusiasm by halting it without getting information first. Who knows, it could have been true. Anyway, as Leslie said, at least it increased the awareness of people on the plight of Corregidor. No harm done.

I hope they nominate it to the UNESCO World Heritage List. And the tourism potential is really great. Imagine all those American and Japanese tourists coming over like they do in Saipan!

[Pinoy_ako]

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/12282006/images/life-pic03.jpg

THE windswept rolling terrain of Naidi Hills and its stately lighthouse.

BOON OR BANE?
WINDS OF CHANGE IN BATANES
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/12282006/life01.html
Text and photos by Benjamin Layug

Recently, the Unesco listed Batanes as the country’s sixth World Heritage site due to its mix of unique and ancient archeology and architecture. The listing could help raise awareness about the preservation of the heritage sites and local authorities may receive financial assistance or expert advice from Unesco on ways to maintain the site.

One such house, the House of Dakay, the oldest in Batanes, is included on the Unesco list and expected for grading.

I don't think Batanes was proclaimed as a World Heritage Site. It might have been nominated, or it might have been included in the list for the next nomination, but the latest list does not include it.

[portludlow]

http://images.cafepress.com/product/66259237v5_150x150_Front.JPGhttp://images.cafepress.com/product/66259248v5_150x150_Front.JPGhttp://images.cafepress.com/product/66259265v5_150x150_Front.JPGhttp://images.cafepress.com/product/66259268v7_150x150_Front_Color-Khaki.JPGhttp://images.cafepress.com/product/66259316v5_150x150_Front_Color-BlueWhite.JPGhttp://images.cafepress.com/product/66259330v5_150x150_Front.JPG
http://www.cafepress.com/shop/politics/browse/store/stickem2/1636515

Hi! I found this being sold over the net.

[overtureph]

Finding the past in Alegria

By Joeber Bersales
Cebu Daily News
Last updated 03:44pm (Mla time) 12/28/2006

IT was a different kind of holiday fun that I spent Thursday last week in Alegria, southern Cebu. Under the auspices of the Cebu Provincial Committee on Sites, Relics and Structures, I was there to spend a full day exploring its hills and mountains, together with Dr. John Peterson, an archaeologist from Hawaii, who has been coming in and out of Cebu and the University of San Carlos since 1999.

John is also my doctoral dissertation adviser who, during his third year of doing fieldwork here, challenged what was then a much-touted theoretical position that chiefdoms existed in late pre-Hispanic Philippines. That work woke Philippine archaeology from a deep theoretical slumber and made a name for John in the small circle of archaeologists in the country and abroad who work on Philippine sites.

John and I were in Alegria on the invitation of his local research assistant, Archie Tiauzon, a resident of the town currently finishing his master’s degree in archaeology at the Archaeological Studies Program of University of the Philippines Diliman. This was John’s and Archie’s second or third foray in the town’s hills; it was my first.

Alegria used to be the only town in Cebu that had two bridges figuratively spanning the colonial period. One was the remnant of the only Spanish-era arched stone bridge in Cebu, the other a 1913 bridge built probably built by the famous American colonial engineer Eusebius J. Halsema when he was public works chief in Cebu.

Both are long gone now as they were torn down without much ceremony by a conservation-deficit contractor three months ago. Vice-Mayor Verna Magallon, chair of the local Tourism and Heritage Council, fired off protest letters as a result but these were for naught. When we met her for lunch last week, she told us that the Sangguaning Bayan invited the contractor twice in order to learn about its plans. But the contractor never showed up and the bridges are now nowhere to be found.

Beyond Alegria’s lost heritage bridges are its hills dotted with countless evidence of the past. After a brief meeting with Eric Nipas, the local tourism officer, we immediately climbed nearby hills and mountains for grueling two hours that brought us to a probable habitation site of the Neolithic period. The Neolithic or New Stone Age is dated in the Philippines to between 5,000 and 1,000 B.C. and is marked as the beginnings of permanent settlements owing to the domestication of plant and animal species. Its most distinct archaeological evidences are, among others, earthenware and stone adzes, which look like chisels and axes but which are made of stone.

After climbing down a shortcut of very steep slopes that gave me muscle cramps for days, we had lunch tendered by the vice-mayor. We then proceeded to another coastal site: a late pre-Hispanic burial site (probably A.D. 13th to 14th centuries), which was heavily looted for ceramics and gold jewelry around 1971-72. We also took note of the reported looting of cave near the national highway where, instead of finding Yamashita’s gold, the looter found evidences of the Metal Age (ca. 1,000 B.C. to A.D. 900) in the form of decorated and incised earthenware pottery and large Arca shells clearly cut to size.

One day we will return to Alegria to explore more of its hills, which were reported by archaeologists Carl E. Guthe (in 1925) and H. Otley Beyer (in 1949) to contain evidence of all the three Philippine archaeological time periods. For now, this will suffice as my way of spending one meaningful day out of the much-welcomed holidays.

To subscribe to the Cebu Daily News newspaper, call +63 2 (032) 233-6046 for Metro Manila and Metro Cebu or email your subscription request here.


Copyright 2006 Cebu Daily News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/opinion/view_article.php?article_id=40580

[ivanhenares]

I don't think Batanes was proclaimed as a World Heritage Site. It might have been nominated, or it might have been included in the list for the next nomination, but the latest list does not include it.

Yes, that is correct. It should have been declared in 2005 if I'm not mistaken, a shoe-in in fact. But some public officials wanted to claim sole credit and left out the scholars who had prepared all the documentation and research. So the submission was rejected simply because it lacked some papers which could easily have been produced if they consulted the scholars.

[ivanhenares]

[B]Alegria used to be the only town in Cebu that had two bridges figuratively spanning the colonial period. One was the remnant of the only Spanish-era arched stone bridge in Cebu, the other a 1913 bridge built probably built by the famous American colonial engineer Eusebius J. Halsema when he was public works chief in Cebu.

Both are long gone now as they were torn down without much ceremony by a conservation-deficit contractor three months ago. Vice-Mayor Verna Magallon, chair of the local Tourism and Heritage Council, fired off protest letters as a result but these were for naught. When we met her for lunch last week, she told us that the Sangguaning Bayan invited the contractor twice in order to learn about its plans. But the contractor never showed up and the bridges are now nowhere to be found.

That is totally sick! I'm surprised the LGU wasn't able to demand from contractor. Does anyone have photos of those bridges?

[LordCarnal]

^^

I have lots of photos to contribute for the database Ivan.. Unfortunately, I've already resized most of them to either 500 or 600 pixels on the longest side. :bash:

But I'll try to take the photos again. :okay:




.:.

[ivanhenares]

^^ That's perfect! To make it easy, we could use photo sharing via YM. I'll do the resizing. Thanks!

[Rajah_Soliman]

MLQ's limo

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/102/297270796_adca202eec.jpg?v=0

[Lili]

^^ Where is that exhibited?

[ivanhenares]

^^ I think that's the one in Corregidor.

[Lili]

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/ECdoesit2/RizalShrineDapitan.jpg

[Pinoy_ako]

MLQ's Limo and MacArthur's Cadillac are on the QC Hall grounds.

[ivanhenares]

http://bp0.blogger.com/_-fGx2wDrdVc/RZVnY7JCRNI/AAAAAAAAADo/XUxco_WjRLs/s400/rizal2006.jpg

Happy Rizal Day to all!

[Rajah_Soliman]

MLQ's Limo and MacArthur's Cadillac are on the QC Hall grounds.

is that the same one I saw in Fort Santiago in the late 80's (that time it was encased in a glass / and was displayed alongside Aguinaldo's Carajuaje?)

[Pinoy_ako]

Yes. MLQ's limo was restored during that time and was exhibited for sometime in the museum in the elliptical circle. The old car of Aguinaldo was also restored and was used during the centennial celebration in Malolos, where it is now on exhibit. MacArthur's cadillac was also restored and is on exhibit alongside MLQ's limo. I still don't know the whereabouts of the other cars which used to be on display at the Fort Santiago bomb proof shelters. I am still looking forward to a transpo museum which will finally house these cars and hopefully, the train which used to be at the Fort Santiago grounds. We still have a lot of vintage cars around, enough to fill an exhibit space. Suntok sa buwan!

[Lili]

^^Maybe not. I hope that comes into fruition.

@Wonderboy also posted before pictures of the Meralco tranvia.

[Hawayano]

^^ I thought one of MacArthur's limos is displayed at Corregidor, and in fact was posted in here sometime earlier this year. It was the legendary 12- or 16-cylinder Cadillac, believe it or not.

Does anyone know whatever happened to the bullet-holed limo that was the one ambushed in 1949 in Nueva Ecija, killing Doña Aurora Quezon, her daughter Baby, and son-in-law Philip Buencamino? I recall seeing it on display ages ago (when Makoy was still king of the land)...

[Pinoy_ako]

I hope it will be in the very near future, when the vintage cars in he backyards have not yet turned into rust. There was one article in 1979 which pointed out that one of the iron dinosaurs of Negros, the old steam locomotives, had been bought by Japan and displayed in one of their museums. I hope no one outbid us in the remaining iron dinosaurs in Negros, which are still being used!

[Pinoy_ako]

MLQ's limo

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/102/297270796_adca202eec.jpg?v=0

I just saw these two cars, MLQ's Chrysler (left ) and MacArthur's Caddy ( right ) at the Quezon City Hall grounds, two months ago. The caddy could have been moved from Corregidor recently.

[Lili]

^^ I thought one of MacArthur's limos is displayed at Corregidor, and in fact was posted in here sometime earlier this year. It was the legendary 12- or 16-cylinder Cadillac, believe it or not.

Does anyone know whatever happened to the bullet-holed limo that was the one ambushed in 1949 in Nueva Ecija, killing Doña Aurora Quezon, her daughter Baby, and son-in-law Philip Buencamino? I recall seeing it on display ages ago (when Makoy was still king of the land)...

I didn't even know that snippet of history.

[ivanhenares]

There are one or two presidential cars that are unceremoniously parked in the NHI if I remember correctly. I forgot who owned them.

[ivanhenares]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Augusto Villalon
Date: Dec 30, 2006 10:57 AM
Subject: Corregidor
To: Leslie Ann MURRAY
Cc: Ivan HENARES

Dear Leslie

I suggest that FAME officially write Ambassador Precious Soliven at
the UNESCO National Commission (Dept Foreign Affairs, Roxas Blvd,
Pasay, fax 8318873) and cc Atty Trixie Angeles at NCCA (Gen Luna St,
Intramuros, fax 5272191) and me representing ICOMOS National
Committee requesting that Corregidor be added to the Tentative List
of monuments to be nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Please include the justifications for its worthiness for inscription
in the WH List, specially its global importance and significance as a
singular WW2 monument (it is only within the past few years that
UNESCO World Heritage has been looking at WW2), how the authentic
building still stand in their authentic condition (even if in
desperate need of repair).

After hearing from them, you could follow their positive response
with a financial grant request from NCCA to prepare the
justifications, etc etc needed and required for inclusion in the
Tentative List. Once on the list, then the property can be nominated
by the Philippines. However there are some properties to be
nominated ahead of Corregidor on the tentative list and each country
is allowed to nominate only one property a year so there may be a
wait before nomination actually happens.

I am no longer with UNESCO either in Manila or Paris but may be able
to help out (at the least put in a super good supporting
recommendation) since i am chair of ICOMOS Philippines and V-P of
ICOMOS International in Paris, so keep me posted.

Please forward this to Beth Romulo, I've lost her email address.

Happiest 2007 to all!!! Toti

[Hawayano]

I didn't even know that snippet of history.

Yeah--a very sad and tragic end to prominent members of a gracious family! I had heard somewhere it was actually a case of mistaken identity, but the Hukbalahap waylaid the car, and sprayed the family with bullets while being driven on a remote road from Bongabong, Nueva Ecija en route to the former President's--and Doña Aurora's as well--hometown of Baler. Such was the treacherous state of the nation in the corruption-fraught Quirino years. Manolito Quezon III--the grandson-journalist--touched upon this multiple assassination in one of his essay compilation published several years ago, but I have a hard time finding any archival info online. I think it happened in April 1949.

[Rence]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Augusto Villalon
Date: Dec 30, 2006 10:57 AM
Subject: Corregidor
To: Leslie Ann MURRAY
Cc: Ivan HENARES

Dear Leslie

I suggest that FAME officially write Ambassador Precious Soliven at
the UNESCO National Commission (Dept Foreign Affairs, Roxas Blvd,
Pasay, fax 8318873) and cc Atty Trixie Angeles at NCCA (Gen Luna St,
Intramuros, fax 5272191) and me representing ICOMOS National
Committee requesting that Corregidor be added to the Tentative List
of monuments to be nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Please include the justifications for its worthiness for inscription
in the WH List, specially its global importance and significance as a
singular WW2 monument (it is only within the past few years that
UNESCO World Heritage has been looking at WW2), how the authentic
building still stand in their authentic condition (even if in
desperate need of repair).

After hearing from them, you could follow their positive response
with a financial grant request from NCCA to prepare the
justifications, etc etc needed and required for inclusion in the
Tentative List. Once on the list, then the property can be nominated
by the Philippines. However there are some properties to be
nominated ahead of Corregidor on the tentative list and each country
is allowed to nominate only one property a year so there may be a
wait before nomination actually happens.

I am no longer with UNESCO either in Manila or Paris but may be able
to help out (at the least put in a super good supporting
recommendation) since i am chair of ICOMOS Philippines and V-P of
ICOMOS International in Paris, so keep me posted.

Please forward this to Beth Romulo, I've lost her email address.

Happiest 2007 to all!!! Toti

I hope Corregidor will be listed in the UNESCO World Heritage site

[ivanhenares]

Here is a link... http://artephilia.blogspot.com/2006/11/enriquez-antique-mansion-goes-kaput.html

[Pinoy_ako]

I didn't even know that snippet of history.

It was reported that since the family car's airconditioning system failed ( airconditioning at that time? ) they had to go ahead of the security car to avoid the dust being stirred. Another theory was that they lost their way the the lead car had to wait for them. In the end, the ambusher's fired upon the wrong car! One of the saddest events in history since Dona Aurora was renowned for her kindness.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Augusto Villalon
Date: Dec 30, 2006 10:57 AM
Subject: Corregidor
To: Leslie Ann MURRAY
Cc: Ivan HENARES

Dear Leslie

I suggest that FAME officially write Ambassador Precious Soliven at
the UNESCO National Commission (Dept Foreign Affairs, Roxas Blvd,
Pasay, fax 8318873) and cc Atty Trixie Angeles at NCCA (Gen Luna St,
Intramuros, fax 5272191) and me representing ICOMOS National
Committee requesting that Corregidor be added to the Tentative List
of monuments to be nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Please include the justifications for its worthiness for inscription
in the WH List, specially its global importance and significance as a
singular WW2 monument (it is only within the past few years that
UNESCO World Heritage has been looking at WW2), how the authentic
building still stand in their authentic condition (even if in
desperate need of repair).

Please forward this to Beth Romulo, I've lost her email address.

Happiest 2007 to all!!! Toti

I think WW2 monuments encountered some problems, specifically those relating to intangible aspects, as a result of the debate related to the inscription of Genbaku Dome ( Hiroshima ).

It is hightime that Corregidor and the associated sites ( there were 5 fortified islands at the mouth of Manila Bay, Corregidor included ) be nominated as a singular WW2 monument and also as an example of early 20th century fortification.

[Hawayano]

Heritage technology and architecture: can they ever be returned to Manila?

If you take a close look at these early 20th century cascos, you can see some unique folk art designs. In fact, the cascos themselves were a very Filipino piece of nautical technology. I bet they were one way of alleviating what could've been a 19th century parallel to today's squatter problem. I would love to see the day when Manila's esteros are cleaned (!) and dredged in a massive urban renewal collaboration, and replicas of these cascos are used to ferry commuters and tourists along the waterways.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/Cascos.jpg

...oh, yes--that's the Quinta Market in the background, right next to the Puente Colgante.

[Lili]

^^ Ah yeah, it seems the cascos were the estero shanties of yesteryears? But then, they were better looking and blend better with the environment. And the owner/residents can easily ply their trade and move their cascos along the river. The nipa huts, too, blend better with the environs.

What made the shanties shabby looking was the use of left-over lawanit wood, rusting galvanized roofs that were secured with rubber tires against the wind. The residents have become lazy for lack of materials (coconut fronds) and skills to build the natural Filipino house for the simple people.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/ECdoesit2/PasigRivercascos.jpg
"The American troops are shown here in the inferior of Luzon. They are conveyed up the streams in armored launches and in "casos" where they destroy intrenchments and break up hostile settlements. Little resitance was ever offered."

The caption is an the original one and shows the American point of view (1899)

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k60/ECdoesit2/oldPasigRiver.jpg
Nipa huts dotting the riverbanks then.

Source: http://www.univie.ac.at/Voelkerkunde/apsis/aufi/pop/pop-rive.htm

[ivanhenares]

Heritage technology and architecture: can they ever be returned to Manila?

If you take a close look at these early 20th century cascos, you can see some unique folk art designs. In fact, the cascos themselves were a very Filipino piece of nautical technology. I bet they were one way of alleviating what could've been a 19th century parallel to today's squatter problem. I would love to see the day when Manila's esteros are cleaned (!) and dredged in a massive urban renewal collaboration, and replicas of these cascos are used to ferry commuters and tourists along the waterways.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/Cascos.jpg

...oh, yes--that's the Quinta Market in the background, right next to the Puente Colgante.


That's a good idea Hawayano. We were thinking of doing that in San Fernando since we had cascos from Manila which docked there. But we no longer have a river, full of silt from Mt. Pinatubo. Sigh! Maybe after we dredge it, I'll revive the idea. But for Manila, that would be great! If they clean the esteros of Binondo and all. I'll shout-out this idea in my blog next year.

[ivanhenares]

I think WW2 monuments encountered some problems, specifically those relating to intangible aspects, as a result of the debate related to the inscription of Genbaku Dome ( Hiroshima ).

It is hightime that Corregidor and the associated sites ( there were 5 fortified islands at the mouth of Manila Bay, Corregidor included ) be nominated as a singular WW2 monument and also as an example of early 20th century fortification.

Yes, we could even try to include the Death March structures with the associated sites such as Mt. Samat, San Fernando Train Station and Camp O'Donnell in Capas.

[Pinoy_ako]

Heritage technology and architecture: can they ever be returned to Manila?

If you take a close look at these early 20th century cascos, you can see some unique folk art designs. In fact, the cascos themselves were a very Filipino piece of nautical technology.

I didn't notice those artworks until now. The cascos were the jeepneys of the waterways! My relatives from Malabon talks fondly of how these cascos ferry products from Laguna de Bay down to Malabon, how they caulked the cascos with gala-gala.

[Rence]

Heritage technology and architecture: can they ever be returned to Manila?

If you take a close look at these early 20th century cascos, you can see some unique folk art designs. In fact, the cascos themselves were a very Filipino piece of nautical technology. I bet they were one way of alleviating what could've been a 19th century parallel to today's squatter problem. I would love to see the day when Manila's esteros are cleaned (!) and dredged in a massive urban renewal collaboration, and replicas of these cascos are used to ferry commuters and tourists along the waterways.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/Cascos.jpg

...oh, yes--that's the Quinta Market in the background, right next to the Puente Colgante.

Those cascos were similar with other Southeast Asian countries form of river transportation , sadly very few are exsisting (or almost none at all)

[JAMAICUS]

^^ I think that's the one in Corregidor.

That's the one showcased in Quezon City Hall...

[Hawayano]

I didn't notice those artworks until now. The cascos were the jeepneys of the waterways! My relatives from Malabon talks fondly of how these cascos ferry products from Laguna de Bay down to Malabon, how they caulked the cascos with gala-gala.

@ Pinoy_ako: what's gala-gala? That's a local slang here in Hawaii meaning phlegm or mucus.

[Pinoy_ako]

Hawayano,

Gala-gala is a whitish resin. I think the nearest term related to your gala-gala here is halak.

[Hawayano]

@ Pinoy_ako: thanks for that, and a happy new year to you.
I wonder if the local slang term originated from Filipino migrants who started coming to the Territory of Hawaii in large numbers starting in 1906. It's all part of the local vernacular--or pidgin English--that evolved from the many different cultural groups' need for a common medium of communication. For example, almost every local kid today knows the Visayan or Ilokano derogatory terms...:)

[ThisFire]

^^ If that term is not Polynesian in origin, then most likely it has to come from Ilocano roots.

[Rence]

Yes, it's a good thing that you attended the hearings. They do overlook this important part of historical preservation thinking that this specialized field is subsumed under some other group. Thanks for being vigilant about these things. Please carry on. Let's keep this interest alive and burning. :)

When we become rich in pride as a nation, we will take greater and bigger strides to enriching not only our culture, but our drive to become economically stronger in the world arena.

I am planning to join the HCS or Heritage Conservation Society this year. The people might not be aware that it is the collector's in various area of specialization were the first ones who usually finds an archelogical sites all over the country. Like the ones in Palawan, Laguna , Mindanao and of course the first one to collect ! Long before the staff from the National Museum can even survey the site!

During the past few years , archelogical sites and sometimes demolition of old houses are source of rich materials like potteries, old coins etc......

Unfortunately (especially in coins , stamps , pictograph, books, potteries) our coins from Pre-hispanic , Hispanic, USPI (US Philippine Commonwealth era) were in the hands of foreign collectors or just being sold in E-bay !

[ivanhenares]

^^ Glad to hear that @rence. I'll update everyone on results of the TWG meetings which will begin this week. The TWG was given until January 15 to come up with a draft bill.

[Rence]

^^ Glad to hear that @rence. I'll update everyone on results of the TWG meetings which will begin this week. The TWG was given until January 15 to come up with a draft bill.

:banana: Thanks , I might sign up as a member by Friday !
I will try to come in the office of the HCS to know what do they need ?

[Pinoy_ako]

There are also many Capampangan words in Hawaii since King Kamehameha had Pampango blood.

[Lili]

^^ Oh wow. One learns something new everyday. King Kamehameha has Pampanggo blood? So that means Queen Liliouikalani has Pampanggo link.

[tigidig14]

madaming salita ang mga indonesian na kapareha ay bisaya rin

[ivanhenares]

Just updated my blog with some great heritage conservation/adaptive reuse examples in Singapore... http://ivanhenares.blogspot.com/2007/01/little-trip-around-singapore-town.html

and Penang, Malaysia...
http://ivanhenares.blogspot.com/2007/01/following-heritage-trail-in-penang.html

[ivanhenares]

I don't know if this has already been shared so I'll mention it anyway...

Remember how Don Emilio Yap won rights to the Manila Hotel by a Supreme Court declaration that its part of national patrimony? The hotel is actually declared by the NHI as a national historical landmark. And since many people have been complaining that Don Emilio has been slowly converting it from an elegant hotel to a panciteria, I mentioned to Gemma that we could give him a dose of his own medicine and file a case in court for the renovations on this heritage landmark without the permission of the NHI. Gemma mentioned that Bambi Harper had already filed a case.

Jeff, would you have any idea on the status of the case? This serves Don Emilio Yap right. He won hotel rights through a declaration that it is national patrimony. So he better treat it as national patrimony!

His awful Manila Bulletin buildings in Intramuros are another problem. But that's a different issue.

[Hawayano]

Aw, no!! We can't let the myopic desires of a wealthy old man destroy a significant piece of our national heritage. How would the Singaporeans deal with some tasteless taipan taking over their historic Raffles Hotel and doing the same as what's happened to the Manila? :ohno: :ohno: :ohno: :ohno:


Old man Yap must be stopped (although much of the physical damage has been done--not to even mention the now sordid reputation of a once-prestigious hostelry landmark in Asia!)


For posterity's sake: ang tunay na Manila Hotel lobby (circa 1912)

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/ManilaHotellobby.jpg

[Wonderboy]

Jeff, would you have any idea on the status of the case? This serves Don Emilio Yap right. He won hotel rights through a declaration that it is national patrimony. So he better treat it as national patrimony!

I will ask Ms Harper tomorrow regarding the matter.

I will also ask some of my relatives if we are indeed, related to the old man. Perhaps a little intimidation will do the trick.

[ThisFire]

I'm sick of situations like this and i'm sick of people who ruin important sites. They have to do their homework! But first of all, these projects or sites must be placed in the right hands.

[ivanhenares]

I just came from the Technical Working Group meeting today. Points for inclusion in the bill were discussed including the need for more teeth for implemeting agencies, funding, and tax incentives for owners of heritage structures.

Also discussed was the empowerment of the various LGUs to declare sites locally with the concurrence of pertinent national government agencies such as the National Museum and NHI; the prohibition of the renaming of streets with historic names as well as granting the NHI the power to reverse renamings done by LGUs; the prohibition of the erection of statues and monuments without NHI approval, moreso the erection of statues of living persons; and of course, the problems with the CBCP re: heritage churches, the separation of church and state, and where we draw the line since churches are cultural landmarks also protected by the constitution.

I'll keep everyone updated.

[Lili]

^^ Thanks for the updates @Ivan. Those are important keypoints.

[overtureph]

Yes indeed, very important keypoints. Thanks Ivan.

[Wonderboy]

^^ Good update. This is reminiscent of the minutes that I used to report on the previous page.

The technical committee will meet again next week to further discuss the drafting of the bill, among other issues.

I guess my work is done here.

Special thanks again to those people overseas as well as the "locales" who have supported the revival of the heritage bill since its "reborn" late last year. This has been a joint effort really of several people from various sectors who are concerned about protecting and preserving our Philippine heritage.

Thank you...

Ms Bambi Harper for believing in me
Mrs. Ezperanza Gatbonton for providing technical inputs that I really need to learn since my background is in the arts
Dr. Fernando Nakpil Zialcita for backing me up each time I'd air out my concerns regarding protection and preservation of built heritage

Fellow SSCers namely...

TCR --- the venerable TCR who inspired me to get serious about my advocacy through his photo comparisons.
Hawayano --- for "being there."
Lili --- she walks the talk and helped me out when I was all alone in my so-called fight.
Overtureph --- for your inputs when I requested for them.
Animo --- for keeping the heritage threads alive.
Pinoy_ako --- for providing useful info about built heritage.
Steph, XP and Otakaw --- the three young SSCers I know who are really concerned about heritage conservation.

To my detractors (He he)...

Though you have attacked me in so many ways, I always kept my bearings and set aside personal issues all for conservation and preservation of our heritage.

I don't need media exposure or top position. I just wanted to help in any way I could.

-----

I'll be gone for a while, as I have to finish pending work and deal with some personal problems.

In the meantime, keep 'em coming guys! Heritage thread rocks!

Bye for now.

WonderJeff

[ivanhenares]

^^ Good update. This is reminiscent of the minutes that I used to report on the previous page.

The technical committee will meet again next week to further discuss the drafting of the bill, among other issues.

I guess my work is done here.

Special thanks again to those people overseas as well as the "locales" who have supported the revival of the heritage bill since its "reborn" late last year. This has been a joint effort really of several people from various sectors who are concerned about protecting and preserving our Philippine heritage.

Thank you...

Ms Bambi Harper for believing in me
Mrs. Ezperanza Gatbonton for providing technical inputs that I really need to learn since my background is in the arts
Dr. Fernando Nakpil Zialcita for backing me up each time I'd air out my concerns regarding protection and preservation of built heritage

Fellow SSCers namely...

TCR --- the venerable TCR who inspired me to get serious about my advocacy through his photo comparisons.
Hawayano --- for "being there."
Lili --- she walks the talk and helped me out when I was all alone in my so-called fight.
Overtureph --- for your inputs when I requested for them.
Animo --- for keeping the heritage threads alive.
Pinoy_ako --- for providing useful info about built heritage.
Steph, XP and Otakaw --- the three young SSCers I know who are really concerned about heritage conservation.

To my detractors (He he)...

Though you have attacked me in so many ways, I always kept my bearings and set aside personal issues all for conservation and preservation of our heritage.

I don't need media exposure or top position. I just wanted to help in any way I could.

-----

I'll be gone for a while, as I have to finish pending work and deal with some personal problems.

In the meantime, keep 'em coming guys! Heritage thread rocks!

Bye for now.

WonderJeff


Thanks Jeff. We should also make special mention of Senator Angara who has supported this initiative by getting together all the advocates who have been clamoring for the passage of the bill.

Of course, Gemma Cruz-Araneta, HCS President, whose impressive network with the higher-ups of Philippine government, thanks to her brief stint as DOT secretary, helped a lot in introducing heritage conservation to the vocabulary of the various national and local government units.

We actually have been in constant communication with the HLURB for the inclusion of heritage zones in the HLURB guidebooks, an endeavor which was was temporarily put on hold with the untimely death of Commissioner Francis Dagnalan in 2004.

There is Archt. Richard Bautista who regularly updates everyone on Manila heritage sites in peril despite the fact that he gets into hot water with his bosses in the NCCA as a result.

Yes, Dr. Butch Zialcita is one person you could discuss heritage issues with. We had several lunch and merienda discussions at the Alma Mater especially at the height of the Acuzar issue re: Pio Chapel, Porac which we were able to protect for now.

Prof. Jojo Mata and other HCS members' inputs helped shape local ordinances we were able to get enacted in San Fernando, Pampanga and Dagupan City; as well as the pending ordinance in Baguio City. Atty. Trixie Angeles also mentioned to me that she reshaped the heritage ordinance of Pangasinan. These local ordinances will be very important resources as we draft the heritage bill which will empower LGUs to declare and protect their own local heritage.

And let's not forget Archt. Toti Villalon, our heritage conservation guru and ICOMOS Philippines chair whose columns we've missed no thanks to his hand injuries during Milenyo. I hope he starts writing again soon.

There are just too many names to mention. Indeed, the revival of the Heritage Bill and hopefully its speedy passage is a result of the concerted efforts of so many people and not just of one group or clique. Many voices led to this reawakening. Not one can say they were alone.

Indeed, this is good news for Philippine heritage as the nation starts to realize the importance of protecting it for national development.

[ivanhenares]

What is Filipino? What is being Filipino? Are you proud to be Filipino? These are apt self-reflections that are most relevant at this juncture as the Filipino nation remembers the assertion of its freedom. Indeed, these are fundamental questions Juan de la Cruz must answer if he is to progress as a nation.

The identity of any nation is always dictated by its culture, the way of life its society adheres to. Specifically, it is a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that fuse a society together. This system is what members of society utilize to cope with everyday life.

That however is just one definition of culture. American anthropologists, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn, published a list of 160 different definitions of culture in 1952, indicative of the diversity of the anthropological concept of culture. John H. Bodley, Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Washington State University summarized their list under eight general definitions namely: topical (culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or categories, such as social organization, religion, or economy), historical (culture is social heritage, or tradition, that is passed on to future generations), behavioral (culture is shared, learned human behavior, a way of life), normative (culture is ideals, values, or rules for living), functional (culture is the way humans solve problems of adapting to the environment or living together), mental (culture is a complex of ideas, or learned habits, that inhibit impulses and distinguish people from animals), structural (culture consists of patterned and interelated ideas, symbols, or behaviors) and symbolic (culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are shared by a society).

Bodley mentions that a minimum of three components are needed to form what we call culture. These are “what people think, what they do, and the material products they produce.” He adds that “culture also has several properties: it is shared, learned, symbolic, transmitted cross-generationally, adaptive, and integrated.”

Despite the broad coverage of cultural definitions, focus will be on culture as social heritage. In particular, concentration is on tangible cultural properties that transcend generations and their inherent potential to become symbolic and serve as fervent unifying symbols that would guide the Filipino nation in its search for an enduring national identity.

In her book A Cultural Worker’s First Manual, Felice P. Sta. Maria defines cultural heritage as “the totality of cultural properties preserved and developed over time and passed on for posterity. A people’s cultural heritage is their national memory.”

A cultural property, according to Sta. Maria, includes all forms of human creativity by which a nation can reveal its identity. Tangible ones form the physical expression of the national memory or the cultural heritage. Among these material symbols mentioned by Sta. Maria are historic sites and structures such as the numerous baroque churches, mosques, and elaborate ancestral houses, as well as buildings and groups of architectural and engineering works that include gardens, plazas, parks, forts and fortifications and historical ruins.

An old formula
One part of our Philippine cultural heritage, albeit intangible, are proverbs which are commonly called salawikain. In fact, one is so overused, it has become cliché: “Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makakarating sa paroroonan.” But despite the repeated mention of these lines, do Filipinos actually listen to the wisdom the lines try to impart?

It must be stressed over and over again, to such a stubborn Filipino nation which places foreign cultures on pedestals higher than its own, that it will not progress as a nation if the development is superficial. If Juan de la Cruz embraces urbanization and modernization by getting rid of what makes him or her Filipino, moving forward would be pointless. The nation may look perfect on the outside; but inside it is empty. Its soul is dead.

Architectural heritage forms a large and visible part of tangible Filipino culture and identity. However, these historical structures are constantly faced with development pressures. And as a result, they are sacrificed in the name of progress.

The country is proud for example, that Vigan is a UNESCO World Heritage site and yet the remains of a grand centuries-old seminary was demolished in the said city, replaced by fast food chains such as McDonald’s and Jollibee. It appears McDonald’s was not content when it prominently positioned their golden arches on the grounds of the Balayan Church in Batangas, one of the 26 churches declared by the National Museum in 2001 as National Cultural Treasures. The stewards of church property simply could not resist the allure of extra income.

In Banaue, one would see concrete buildings and shanties on the rice terraces instead of the traditional Ifugao houses. Another site inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List, the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras (known as payo to the Ifugao) are also included in the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger.

The charming Pines Hotel at the top of Session Road, a remnant of Baguio City’s hill station legacy, as well as the pre-war YMCA Building beside Manila City Hall were both replaced by gargantuan SM malls that could have been placed in some other location. They not only clutter the historic skylines, but contribute as well to the traffic and pollution problems both areas are experiencing.

Imagine how many pine trees had to be cut to build that mall in Baguio City, which according to a World Bank study, was said to have the worst air quality among key Philippine cities! The deterioration of the quality of life of these areas is just too much a price to pay for the greed of a few individuals.

Built heritage resources, according to Prof. Rene Luis Mata of the UP College of Architecture, also includes what is called industrial heritage, a category which includes train stations, lighthouses, sugar and rice mills, ice plants, factories and bodegas, bridges, irrigation systems and canals. “We are unfortunately unaware of this heritage category,” says Mata, “and they are often the first to go. The technical advances of a period in our history are worth saving, too."

Indeed, if Filipinos do not learn to look back and value the past, the nation will never reach its destination. In fact, it can be noticed, more often than not, that countries which fight hard to preserve their culture and architectural heritage are those which progress more completely. Just take a look at other ASEAN countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and even Vietnam, where in their key cities, architectural heritage is very much protected. When Vietnam and China were actively desecrating their heritage in the name of a new cultural revolution, their economies were in shambles. Today, the world is witnessing a complete turnaround.

These Asian countries may be spending millions of dollars to restore their old buildings and heritage sites but are able to cash in on their investments with millions of tourists arriving at their doorsteps annually. But more than the returns on investment, these cultures are able to strengthen their national identities. And despite the influx of tourists, they are still able to maintain the original settings and cultural landscapes that tourists flock to visit.

In the Philippines however, tourism is becoming a curse mainly because we have yet to understand why tourists come to our country in the first place. When going abroad, Filipinos look for shopping areas and malls most of the time. That is why by building shopping malls, the country in general thinks that tourists will start arriving as well. That is not at all the case! Tourists visit a country more so to experience its culture, savor the food, visit cultural and historical sites, and not to simply shop in malls! And yet Filipinos destroy these unique aspects of Philippine culture in the name of progress, in the hope that tourists will come and visit. If the Philippines will not change that mentality, it should not be surprised why it gets the crumbs of the tourism industry, one which according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), is regarded as the biggest in the world ahead of automobiles and chemicals.

As UNESCO puts it, “It is a well-known fact that tourism can be a deadly foe as much as a firm friend in the matter of development.” The institution adds, “Considering the economic might of the tourist industry, careful attention should be paid to this many-sided phenomenon with its global repercussions. The impact of tourism is such that progressive strategies are vitally needed in order to prepare the ground for genuinely progressive international, regional and local strategies.”

Juan de la Cruz can find his identity only when he can truly declare himself culturally independent. “A group, society or nation achieves cultural independence,” Sta. Maria writes, “when its own culture remains as secure and intact as it wishes it to be. It achieves cultural independence when its people have the strength and maturity to select what they want or need from the past, the present and the projected future.” She adds, “Every generation will have to decide how to manage change, how it will alter its culture. Everything changes. Cultural development is concerned with the quality of change people make for themselves.” And heritage conservation plays a big part in the selection of what Filipinos need from their past.

Why conserve heritage?
The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) defines conservation as “a multi-disciplinary means of safeguarding the country's historico-cultural heritage to suitably adapt it to the needs of the society.” Specifically, heritage conservation, according to Sta. Maria, “is action taken to protect cultural resources especially those from the past.”

Heritage conservation continuously connects us to our past by keeping significant structures, historical and cultural sites and settings intact. According to the Heritage Conservation Society (HCS), a non-stock, non-profit organization advocating the protection and preservation of our architectural heritage, “our built heritage is evidence of our political history and socioeconomic development; it reflects our shared values, and is tangible proof of Filipino excellence and creativity.”

Our architectural heritage thus becomes a catalyst for a strong “pride of place” Filipinos must have within ourselves, by “arousing cultural and historical awareness, which often advances cultural tourism.” According to the group “Built heritage can be recycled for contemporary, adaptive re-use, thereby preserving the cultural charm and traditional character of our cities and towns. Heritage conservation enhances progress and modernization: from urban revitalization and community housing, to the revival of traditional crafts and the stimulation of entrepreneurial activities.”

By advocating the protection and preservation of our built heritage, cultural and historical sites and settings according to the HCS, the nation would be upholding the Philippine Constitution which states that heritage and culture should be developed and preserved for national identity.

The mission of the HCS is to “be the prime mover and advocate for the preservation of Philippine built heritage resources in order to contribute towards the establishment of a Society that preserves and values its cultural heritage through advocacy and volunteerism, project implementation, education and information.” It envisions “a Filipino society that values and preserves its cultural heritage in order to instill pride of place and strengthen Philippine national identity.”

Cultural advocacy according to Sta, Maria “is the act of calling attention to cultural concerns.” She adds that in the Philippines, cultural advocacy is in its early stages. But it is however vital for communities, local and national organizations and other concerned groups and individuals to engage in such an advocacy if the right to culture and the proper directing of support to cultural development is to be protected.

Heritage can be something ordinary
Architect Augusto F. Villalon, an HCS member who writes a regular Monday column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, mentions that “high level of achievement does not equate to only what is grand and monumental. The ordinary and the everyday equal, and many times surpass, the grand and monumental in level of achievement.” Villalon continues, “The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordillera cannot be the grand monument they are recognized to be without the support of the farmers who live, plant, harvest and maintain the site. Unrecognized for being the true heroes of the rice terraces, their lives revolve around the site.

“It is their ordinary, everyday environment, taken so much for granted, that many fail to realize it is an internationally recognized UNESCO World Heritage site. For the residents, it is just their home. Like our Ifugao brothers, we are surrounded with so much of what we consider ordinary and everyday that we fail to realize their value.”

If Juan de la Cruz is indeed to progress as a nation, he should stop being cynical about the country and put his money where his mouths is. Juan de la Cruz must cease the unnecessary and incessant complaining and start doing his or her share, tangible efforts, to uplift the standard of living of the entire Filipino nation. But before such concrete results could be achieved, the country rid itself of the habit of simply complaining which is so rampant even in this campus, and rebuild a society with “pride of place” as it is called. In other words, Juan de la Cruz should start being proud of his country if he or she wants it to move forward. And being proud is not just saying that one is proud of the country, but sincerely making sacrifices for it.

A Filipino nation grounded on its identity is the only hope Juan de la Cruz has.

[By Ivan Anthony S. Henares, edited version adopted from Philippine Collegian, Vol. 83, No.1, 14 June 2005]

[LordCarnal]

Sandiego-Yap House here in Cebu.


Before the rehabilitation of the exteriors
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/14sandiegohome.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/16sandiegohome.jpg

During the rehabilitation
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/cebu_heritage16.jpg

After
http://cebuheritage.wordpress.com/files/2007/01/sandiegoyap.jpg



...Much better cguro if they apply varnish or wood stain sa wood..or maybe di pa tapos ang rehabilitation. Hehehe.. :D

[ishtefh_03]

just wanna share some photos we took on our walk last dec. 30 with my barkada... (not familiar with the names of the structures and streets, basta lakad lang kame ng lakad kya kung saan saan kame lumulusot... :lol:)


San Senastian Church
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00363.jpg


http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00362.jpg


http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00360.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00359.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00357.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00356.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00347.jpg


other pics soon... di ko pa na upload eh... :D

[Lili]

^^ Great pictures @Arnold and @Ishtefh. I'm enjoying those. :applause:

[ishtefh_03]

here's the other photos...

san lorenzo ruiz basilica
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00323.jpg

interior
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00320.jpg

sta. cruz church
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00316.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00315.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00313.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00312.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00309.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00308.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00307.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00306.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00305.jpg

Calvo building
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00295.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00296.jpg

el hogar
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00293.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/ishtefh_03/heritage%20walk%20for%20planning/DSC00290.jpg

[mhe-ann]

galing ng pagkakakuha mo @ishtefh.

[ishtefh_03]

galing ng pagkakakuha mo @ishtefh.

madaliang kuha lang ang mga yan, kase nakakatakot mag labas ng cam eh... tska dec. 30 yan, wala gaanong tao kame lang naglalakad lalo na sa may escolta... :D

[Animo]

^^ Alam mo iyong distrito na ito ay parang sa Lima, Peru. Sigurado maganda sya tingnan kung maayos lang iyong mga establisemento sa mga estructura and iyong mga cable sa mga poste rin.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k284/friendlimaa1/Scan00091.jpg?t=1168132600

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k284/friendlimaa1/Dscn1804.jpg?t=1168132759

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k284/friendlimaa1/Rscn1348-1.jpg?t=1168136508

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k284/friendlimaa1/Dscn2538.jpg?t=1168137989

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k284/friendlimaa1/Dscn0509.jpg?t=1168138109

[Lili]

^^ Does Peru have underground cables? I don't see any electrical wires obstructing the view. Oh, there is. But it's very neat.

[LordCarnal]

^^

Are underground cables the responsibility of the electric company itself or by the city gov't.?

[ivanhenares]

I just updated the List of Declared Structures on my blog at...
http://ivanhenares.blogspot.com/2005/04/index-of-declared-structures-and-sites.html

[ivanhenares]

Response of Gemma Cruz-Araneta to the latest column of Paulo Alcazaren...

Makati, 11 Jan 2007

Dear Paolo,

One of the reasons why architects are invisible in the
national scene is because "architectural" is not
included in the vocabulary of national laws and local
legislation.

The Heritage Conservation Society (HCS)has finally
succeeded in including "heritage" in the vocabulary
of local government units, the Housing Land Use and
Regulatory Board and other government agencies that
are related to heritage concerns (whether they know it
or not).

At the moment, Senate Bills 54 (introduced by Juan
Flavier ) and 1089 (by E. Angara) and a few others are
being discussed by a senate technical working
committee where the HCS and goverment institutions are
represented.

In existing legislation, heritage is either
historical or cultural, or built and artistic. We are
including "ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE" , meaning, that a
building or structure can be significant (even if no
hero lived and died there) simply because of its
architectural features.

Perhaps we should also introduce "Engineering" ( for
heritage bridges, waterworks, ports and the rice
terraces), as well as "Industrial".

Best regards.
Sincerely,
Gemma (Cruz Araneta)
pres, HCS

gcaranenta

[ivanhenares]

Response of Gemma Cruz-Araneta to the latest column of Paulo Alcazaren...

Makati, 11 Jan 2007

Dear Paolo,

One of the reasons why architects are invisible in the
national scene is because "architectural" is not
included in the vocabulary of national laws and local
legislation.

The Heritage Conservation Society (HCS)has finally
succeeded in including "heritage" in the vocabulary
of local government units, the Housing Land Use and
Regulatory Board and other government agencies that
are related to heritage concerns (whether they know it
or not).

At the moment, Senate Bills 54 (introduced by Juan
Flavier ) and 1089 (by E. Angara) and a few others are
being discussed by a senate technical working
committee where the HCS and goverment institutions are
represented.

In existing legislation, heritage is either
historical or cultural, or built and artistic. We are
including "ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE" , meaning, that a
building or structure can be significant (even if no
hero lived and died there) simply because of its
architectural features.

Perhaps we should also introduce "Engineering" ( for
heritage bridges, waterworks, ports and the rice
terraces), as well as "Industrial".

Best regards.
Sincerely,
Gemma (Cruz Araneta)
pres, HCS

gcaranenta

[Animo]

How about Recreational heritage? I remember they have a place for Toros in Batangas if I remember it correctly.

Cagayan De Oro\'s Square Garden


Did you know our pre-Spanish Kagay-anon ancestors once had their own version of the famous Madison Square Garden?

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g283/boju4289/img_0022_gaston_park1.jpg

Present-day Kagay-anons will be proud of the fact that they share a common bond with their 15th century forefathers-they all have, at one time or another, taken a stroll along our local square. Our square was once one of these things: an arena similar to Blasco Ibañez's Blood and Sand epic, a baseball park, a military camp, a place of Catholic worship, a battlefield, and a dreaded execution site. It is now a lovers lane, a place for evening meditation, a jogger's delight, and a place where a royal prince fell in love with a Moro princess-thus giving the town its name, Cagayan.

If a tape recorder were available during these different eras, we would be able to hear the different events that transpired at the Square. The "hisses", the "boos", the thunderous ovations, the sobs, the laughter, the "vivas!", the groans of deep pain, the religious hymns. What a delight it would have been to be able to "hear" history in the making! During the pre-Spanish era, the Square was a fortified place where the royal family of Cagayan lived.

It was here where the Higaonon chieftain, Bagani, and the Maranaw princess, Bai Lawanen, met and fell in love at first sight. The legend dwells on the shame the loving pair brought on their tribes-a shame, locally translated as kagayha-an. Voila! The settlement finally had a name! Then the Spaniards came. As usual, the fair-skinned colonizers started bastardizing the local names of places. Finding "Kagayha-an" a tongue-twister, the kastilaloys chose the sexy-sounding "Cagayan." The name has stuck to this day.

Now when you think Spanish, you usually think matador. The Spaniards, naturally, influenced our fashion, manners, our religious beliefs, our culture, and our hobbies. The most popular sport during that era was the Juego de Toro. Not the toro-toro some present Pinoys enjoy but the real thing! A bullfight during those days drew in the crowds from far and wide. The Square was the arena. A local, Bernardino Daang, was acclaimed the best Pinoy matador. He was said to be agile in his movements, swift in his passes. What a glorious sight the Square was then! Oles! and Bravos! literally filled the air. During our first encounter with the American forces, the fight for freedom saw Filipino bolos and spears matching the American rifles. The Pinoys lost the fight but the gallant defenders won the respect of the enemy.

The Square witnessed the clash of weapons and the cries of the dying. There were no gas chambers or "hot seat" during the early American occupation. Criminals, mostly bandits, were executed by public hanging. The Square saw hundreds die. The crowd-drawer was the execution of the notorious Balodong, the outlaw. His life and exploits were as savage as America's infamous Dillinger. Just before World War I (i.e., 1914-1918), the Square became the local afficionados' diamond - much like the World Series playing field. Winning teams included: Smith Bell, Constabulary, Government Employees, Central and High School. They played real baseball then, not kid stuff. A familiar sight during such games was the famous "Cracker Jack", a junk food similar to the present-day popcorn. Kagay-anon volunteers for overseas duty -the National Guard- trained at the Square during World War I, prior to their assignment to the Middle East. The 1918 Epidemic of influenza claimed a heavy toll among the volunteers.

Nevertheless, the survivors were able to embark on the USS Liscom with their American officers for Camp Claudio at Baclaran. During the pre-war years, on the evening of the Feast of Corpus Christi, altars were built around the Square. Believers visited each altar with deep reverence. Hymn-singing devotees were a common sight during these festivities. Before the Second World War, the Square was transformed into an aesthetically landscaped park. It served as the town's playground. The estate belonged to the provincial government, but after the war, it was deeded to the municipal government.

Now, the Square- locally known as Gaston Park- stands proudly as a mute witness to Cagayan de Oro's colorful past and glorious heritage. Lover's lane, jogger's delight, snatcher's paradise, or haven for the homeless... Gaston Park may be all these today but what park isn't? Gaston Park may have lost its past glamour just as the once-famous Luneta has, but both landmarks have HISTORY written all over them. Well can other parks beat that?


www.kagay-an.com

[ivanhenares]

We discussed a lot today but what I feel is most significant is the proposal to unify all the lists of declared cultural properties into a single registry. The categories and subcategories are as follows:

National Registry of Cultural Properties

1. World Heritage Site [UNESCO]

2. National Cultural Treasure [various agencies]

3. Important Cultural Property
-a. National Geological Monument [MGB-DENR]
-b. National Historical Monuments [NHI]
-c. National Historical Shrine [NHI]
-d. National Historical Landmark [NHI]
-e. National Historical Site [NHI]
-f. Built Heritage Resources
--i. Heritage House [NHI]
--ii. Architectural Heritage [NHI]
--iii. Industrial Heritage [NHI]
--vi. Classified Structures [NHI]
-g. Military Shrine [MSS-DND]
-h. National Register Holdings
--i. Archaeological Site [NM]
--ii. Anthropological Site [NM]
--iii. Artifact [NM] [NHI]
--vi. Type Specimen [NM]
--v. Records, Documents and Archival Materials [RMAO]
--vi. Rare Books [TNL]
-i. Forms of Intangible Heritage [NM] [CCP]

4. Works by a Manlilikha ng Bayan/National Artist

5. Autonomous Region Cultural Property

6. Provincial Cultural Property

7. City of Municipal Cultural Property

8. Barangay Cultural Property

[portludlow]

Manansala mural sold by Press Club
By Katrice Jalbuena, Reporter
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/jan/13/yehey/top_stories/20070113top5.html
Sentiments could not pay for the upkeep of the National Press Club’s famed mural by National Artist Vicente Manansala so the organization’s board has sold it for P10 million.

The wall that hosted the mural on the third floor restaurant since 1955, is now covered an anemic peach. The smell of paint still lingers in the air. According to the waiters, the area was painted over just two weeks ago.

National Press Club president Roy Mabasa told The Manila Times the sale of the mural, which depicts the Philippine Press’ relationship with politics, was approved by a general assembly vote during the club’s anniversary on October 27.

The buyer is Heritage Arts and Antiques, the gallery owned by environmentalist Odette Alcantara.

Mabasa said Mario Alcantara represented the gallery in the Manansala purchase.

Mabasa, who settled into his post after a legal feud with the party of former NPC president Antonio Antonio, said the club’s board unanimously approved the sale.

He said the decision to sell came after two respected restorers examined the mural and gave a P2.5-million figure for its rehabilitation.

“The mural was already torn in spots; it was warping and some portions threatened to fall dawn,” Mabasa said in a telephone interview.

The mural was damaged by fire a few decades. It was partially restored in 1980 but the years took their toll, reduced the painting to a dark and grimy shadow of the original, Mabasa said.

When the Heritage staff came to pry off the lawanit (plywood) boards, the back surface was full of termites, he added.

Mabasa said the previous board, headed by Antonio, had initiated the sale of the mural.

“It was then done discreetly,” said Mabasa who was also an officer at that time. “We were not consulted and we felt it was untimely, coming so close to the election.”

He said the initial sale price was P5 million.

A new committee headed by one of the NPC directors, Jerry Yap, negotiated anew with Heritage when the board felt it could no longer afford to keep the mural.

“We had no capacity to maintain the painting and we feared members would blame us if the mural continued on its state of deterioration,” Mabasa said, insisting the proceedings were transparent.

“I even ordered a video filming of the entire process of getting down the mural,” he said.

The process, he said, took two weeks, starting from the second week of December.

Heritage gave the NPC an ultimatum last October, according to Mabasa. The buyer was concerned further delay could just lower the value of the mural.

The NPC president most of the questions raised during the club’s general assembly involved the mural’s sentimental value.

Mabasa said he also felt the loss of the mural, which was already a legend when he started out in journalism and began visiting the NPC restaurant.

An art dealer interviewed by The Times said the mural, oil on plywood, could have fetched between P20 million to P25 million had it been in better condition.

[ivanhenares]

^ Heritage really knows how to get the juicy pieces. I just hope it doesn't leave the country. The passage of the Heritage Bill will prevent that.

[Lili]

^^ How come they always overlook philately (stamps) and numesmatics (coins, money, currency) as @Rence pointed out?

Please don't forget to add those. Those are heritage instruments/artififacts, too. A lot can be learned from those instruments of exchange.

[portludlow]

^^ ^ Heritage really knows how to get the juicy pieces. I just hope it doesn't leave the country. The passage of the Heritage Bill will prevent that.

...the person who bought it was described as an environmentalist but also own a gallery....does she do this for profit?

[Pinoy_ako]

^^^

Piso - piso lang! If Filipinos can only contribute funds whenever such cultural heritage comes up for sale so we can purchase them for the National Museum. Once such pieces are taken by private collectors, they would no longer be open to public viewing and our artists will no longer have a wide range of works to serve as models.

[overtureph]

^^ How come they always overlook philately (stamps) and numesmatics (coins, money, currency) as @Rence pointed out?

Please don't forget to add those. Those are heritage instruments/artififacts, too. A lot can be learned from those instruments of exchange.

I highly agree.

[ivanhenares]

^^ As Lili mentioned, they are artifacts. So they fall under the category artifacts. You can't be too specific when creating categories. If you put stamps and coins, you have to list down every single type of item you could think of like paintings, sculptures, pottery, jewelry, furniture, cars and other vehicles, etc. And that isn't practical now is it especially when all of them fall under one category which is artifacts.

Once they are declared artifacts by the agencies tasked to do such, they become Important Cultural Properties. Therefore, the declarations are item specific and rarely blanket declarations. So we have to be careful what items become Important Cultural Properties or else it dilutes the prestige that comes with it.

[ivanhenares]

^^

...the person who bought it was described as an environmentalist but also own a gallery....does she do this for profit?

Yes, it's most definitely for profit. Heritage Arts owns that Old Manila shop in SM Megamall and have several warehouses of books, antiques and paintings near Santolan.

[Pinoy_ako]

Would it be worthwhile to include the ecclesiastical sector in addition to the government agencies? I think the reason San Sebastian's funding for the World Monument Fund was not used ( ! ! ! ! ) was related to this - failure to thresh-out the various institution's or group's responsibility and domain. In addition, some government agencies barely know their respective holdings and would not exert any effort to take care of related properties outside the confines of their holdings. Take the case of the RMAO. During the initial registry of pertinent archival materials of the world, they may not have passed on the documentation papers to other institutions with archival holdings, so our country only lists the RMAO or the Philippine National Archives. Whereas, had it been sent to other reinstitution, other SIGNIFICANT archival holdings could have been included, like the Archdiocesan Archives of Manila, the Nueva Segovia Archdiocesan Archival holdings, other Archdiocesan archival holdings, the UST Archives, the Augustinian Archives ( Cebu and Manila ), and the various parochial archives ( which is equal to the number of towns at the end of the Spanish period, >1000? parochial records ( canonical books that document the people of these towns ). This oversight may be an indication of the failure of the various agencies to recognize what they are meant to protect, monitor or document.

[ivanhenares]

^^ Fr. Pedro Galende, OSA is part of the TWG meetings. Again, the issue here is the separation of Church and State. Only government agencies can declare.

We could specify in the definition of terms that Records, Documents and Archival Materials include those kept outside the RMAO such as in religious as well as educational institutions.

[ivanhenares]

Today was quite tiring since we decided to have a whole-day TWG meeting to finish the bill. We discussed among others funding, incentives, as well as penal provisions for violations. If the bill passes, public officials who violate the bill are barred from running for public office for life. There is one last Public Hearing with Senator Angara before he sends the bill to the plenary next week.

Also got to speak with Chairman Ambeth Ocampo after the meeting. We had a nice discussion over the phone about how to rationalize the process of declaration. Anyway, let's all hope and pray the senators or congressmen do not touch it too much when it reaches the bicam.

[Pinoy_ako]

^^ Fr. Pedro Galende, OSA is part of the TWG meetings. Again, the issue here is the separation of Church and State. Only government agencies can declare.

We could specify in the definition of terms that Records, Documents and Archival Materials include those kept outside the RMAO such as in religious as well as educational institutions.

The issue of separation of the Church and State is to protect the Church from State interference, since the rationale behind it lies in the absolute power of the State that can easily undermine or control the Church. So, the church sitting in the meeting, as in this case, is not an issue related to the separation of the Church and the State. In this case, the ecclesiastical authorities are the state's citizens who have jurisdiction over a number of structures that will have bearing on both state and the state's citizens ( ecclesiastical authorities = church ) and where the the state's declarations will need the cooperation of the church, who needs to be informed during the deliberation and not just be on the receiving end.

Only government agencies can declare - yes this is true for the state-declared categories like National Historical Landmarks, National Shrines etc., which are also labeled differently in some countries. The church also has its own categories, like declaration of shrines, which follows a different way of choosing, mostly spiritual. However, when these ecclesiastical declaration happens to choose structures which, though still undeclared, have national significance, that's where problems arise. The Church may alter these structures to suit liturgical needs. Although at present, since the church is sitting in the meetings, these alterations may be prevented to a certain degree - in theory :).

A type specimen becomes such since it is the first specimen of the particular plant or animal. It will not cease being a type specimen even if it were not included in the National Registry since it is the scientific community that confers such labels. Of all the categories, this is the only one that does not need declaration. Although, certain type specimen would cease being such when older ones would be proven to exist.

Are there provisions to drop declared properties from the National Registry? What about the World Heritage Sites? Would they automatically be included in the Important cultural properties if ever they are dropped from the list ( huwag sanang mangyari )? What about Important Cultural Properties being declared as World Heritage Sites? Would they be just transferred from one category to another or is that category ( World Heritage Site ) just redundant since only government agencies can declare?

Just pondering on the system . . . .

[ivanhenares]

The issue of separation of the Church and State is to protect the Church from State interference, since the rationale behind it lies in the absolute power of the State that can easily undermine or control the Church. So, the church sitting in the meeting, as in this case, is not an issue related to the separation of the Church and the State.

Although in one paragraph, the sentences were three different answers to your question: "Would it be worthwhile to include the ecclesiastical sector in addition to the government agencies?" I never meant that Fr. Galende's presence was an issue on separation of Church and State. My mention of Fr. Galende's presence simply meant that the church, although not the CBCP, was at least there during the TWG.

With the second sentence, I was saying that the inclusion of the ecclesiastical sector may become a problem as seen from the reactions of everyone in the meeting, particularly the lawyers.

The third sentence says that even if you include the church there, only the agencies have the mandate to declare.


In this case, the ecclesiastical authorities are the state's citizens who have jurisdiction over a number of structures that will have bearing on both state and the state's citizens ( ecclesiastical authorities = church ) and where the the state's declarations will need the cooperation of the church, who needs to be informed during the deliberation and not just be on the receiving end.
In many cases, the Church simply says they don't want declarations period. So what do you do when they do that?

Only government agencies can declare - yes this is true for the state-declared categories like National Historical Landmarks, National Shrines etc., which are also labeled differently in some countries. The church also has its own categories, like declaration of shrines, which follows a different way of choosing, mostly spiritual. However, when these ecclesiastical declaration happens to choose structures which, though still undeclared, have national significance, that's where problems arise. The Church may alter these structures to suit liturgical needs. Although at present, since the church is sitting in the meetings, these alterations may be prevented to a certain degree - in theory :).
Again, in many cases, the Church simply says they don't want declarations period.


A type specimen becomes such since it is the first specimen of the particular plant or animal. It will not cease being a type specimen even if it were not included in the National Registry since it is the scientific community that confers such labels. Of all the categories, this is the only one that does not need declaration. Although, certain type specimen would cease being such when older ones would be proven to exist.
First, the National Museum had the word "type" removed in the last meeting.

Second, I think you misunderstood the list. It doesn't mean the NM will declare a specimen as a type specimen. "Type specimens" in the list simply meant that the NM may declare certain type specimens as Important Cultural Properties (ICP). Please don't confuse yourself there. Type specimens need an NM declaration to be considered an ICP. So it's not right to say it does not need a declaration to become an ICP.

Are there provisions to drop declared properties from the National Registry? What about the World Heritage Sites? Would they automatically be included in the Important cultural properties if ever they are dropped from the list ( huwag sanang mangyari )? What about Important Cultural Properties being declared as World Heritage Sites? Would they be just transferred from one category to another or is that category ( World Heritage Site ) just redundant since only government agencies can declare?
Yes there is a provision for delisting of cultural items in the registry.

I raised the question of double listing when a declared cultural item is "promoted" to the next level. An ICP is removed from the list of ICPs when it becomes an NCT.

On UNESCO, I proposed that all UNESCO sites automatically become NCTs but Atty. Trixie Angeles didn't want it and said it should be a separate listing. She didn't get my point that UNESCO should not be in our registry since it's not part of the Philippine government and the way it should be done is that UNESCO sites are automatically declared NCTs. Anyway, I will raise that again. I just kept quiet so that we could move on.

[Pinoy_ako]

First, the National Museum had the word "type" removed in the last meeting.

Second, I think you misunderstood the list. It doesn't mean the NM will declare a specimen as a type specimen. "Type specimens" in the list simply meant that the NM may declare certain type specimens as Important Cultural Properties (ICP). Please don't confuse yourself there. Type specimens need an NM declaration to be considered an ICP. So it's not right to say it does not need a declaration to become an ICP.



No problem here. I was following the arguments about "type specimen" relative to your second comment here, and before they remove the word "type". It is now clear. It may have been the reason why the National Museum removed the word "type" as you mentioned in the first comment.

[portludlow]

Manansala mural sale sparks furor in NPC

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=63529
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/images/news/newspics/01-17-2007/manansala.jpg
By KATRICE R. JALBUENA, The Manila Times Reporter

National Press Club “elders” or lifetime members are planning to file a lawsuit against officers of the organization for what they describe as the “clandestine” sale of the Vicente Manansala mural that once graced the dining room of the historic NPC building by the Pasig River.

One of the opponents of the sale, Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Neal Cruz, also claimed the defunct Manila Chronicle, owned by the powerful Lopez clan, had donated the mural in the 1950s with a proviso that it remained as the NPC’s property.

Cruz quoted Manansala’s friend, columnist I.P. Soliongco, as saying the Lopez clan had asked the NPC to return the mural if the club did not want it anymore.

“I relayed this information to some NPC officers and members, but apparently the present board disregarded it,” Cruz said in his column As I See It.

However, former NPC president and current secretary, Louie Logarta, told The Manila Times there is no documentary evidence on the alleged sale ban.

Neither do the club’s bylaws forbid the mural’s sale, Logarta added.

“One of the argument used by critics of the sale is the supposed provision of the Lopez’” Logarta said. “This was brought up during the General Assembly on October 27, 2006, when the decision was made to sell the mural. Several lawyers were consulted. However, they could not find such a provision in the bylaws.”

Hard decision

“We are in a damned if we do, damned if we don’t position,” Logarta acknowledged. “We are being criticized for selling the mural, but if we didn’t sell the mural, if we let it rot till it fell down, we would still have been criticized.”

Logarta said sale was not clandestine as it was approved during a general assembly in October.

The NPC lifetime member and former Manila Times editor in chief, Cip Roxas, said officers talked with some elders, including Cruz late last year.

“His only proviso was, that the money not be touched,” Roxas said in a telephone interview.

He said the board resolution approve the sale came after the October assembly.

Few members then had complained, Roxas noted. Those that did, he said, were “people who haven’t been to the NPC for 25 years.”

Roxas said some National Museum experts had inspected the mural.

“They said, ‘this is easily worth P50 million,’” Roxas recalled. “But they couldn’t afford to buy it.”

Asked if the NPC officers had gotten in touch with the Lopez family, Roxas replied, “I was under the impression that they did.”

Conditions

Logarta said the NPC sold the Manansala to the Heritage Galleries of Odette and Mario Alcandara after they promised to restore the badly damaged mural.

Logarta said another condition was a ban on the export of the mural.

The mural was partially damaged by a fire and then restored with the help of other artists like Ang Kiukok, Malang, Cris Cruz, Gig de Pio and several others.

The mural’s location, on a wall the dining hall shared with the restaurant’s kitchen—and generations of smoking journalists—also increased the wear and tear on the Manansala.

“We could not afford to restore it,” admitted Logarta. “We were not in position to take care of such an important piece of art. It’s a national treasure that should be taken care of and preserved.”

According to Logarta, the money from the sale has been deposited in a time deposit with the PNB. The receipt is with the NPC office, he added.

The money will be used to pay the club's various outstanding debts to MERALCO, PLDT and Maynilad.

[ivanhenares]

Pila townsfolk preserve heritage town
By Niña Catherine Calleja
Inquirer
Last updated 03:27am (Mla time) 01/18/2007

EVIDENCE of Hispanic influence in the small Laguna town of Pila, 90 km south of Manila, have remained intact for centuries in spite of wars and recurrent typhoons.

Ask the residents how they have preserved the 35 ancestral houses and an old church in their town, and they would answer: “Our town is blessed.”

Stories passed on by the elderly say that a miracle happened during World War II when Japanese forces bombed towns and cities, including churches across the country.

“When the Japanese were about to hit the town and the church, what they saw was a vast body of water,” 86-year-old Dr. Eden Relova said. “Why and how that happened has remained a mystery until now so the people have called the town Bayang Pinagpala (Blessed Town).”

Relova is a member of the Pila Historical Society Foundation and owns an ancestral house. The foundation consists of residents who have taken the task of preserving the town’s cultural, historical and environmental heritage.

Established in 1993, the foundation organized the repair of the structures and led the research on Pila’s history. Its efforts bore fruit when the National Historical Institute (NHI) on May 17, 2000 declared the town center a national historical landmark.
Since then, the town has attracted curious foreigners and scholars.

Oldest resident

Relova, whom the parish office secretary said is the oldest resident alive, maintains their family’s 80-year-old house.

A 1958 graduate of Medicine from the Manila Central University, Relova can vividly recall the names of her ancestors and the memories behind their home.

She is the second to the youngest of 12 children of Arcadio Diaz Relova, the mayor (then Presidente de Municipales) of Pila who ordered the construction of the still existing municipal building in 1937, and Benita Dimaculangan, the first woman to wear a wedding gown in their town.

During her mother’s time, brides commonly wore the “saya” (Filipina dress during the Spanish era), Relova said.

Their grandfather’s surname used to be San Antonio, but the Spanish government issued an order prohibiting the use of the names of saints.

Thus, her grandparents changed it to Relova, from the word “relyebo,” which means “change.”

Hers is a family of politicians, Relova said. Her grandfather was a cabeza de barangay (barangay head) while several cousins became mayor and officials of the government.

A brother of her grandfather joined the Katipunan, a revolutionary organization during the Spanish regime.

Unlike her brothers and sisters who eventually moved to Manila, Relova chose to remain single and stay in Pila. Her adopted child and two caretakers accompany her now.

After graduating from the university, Relova worked as a doctor at the Laguna Provincial Hospital in Sta. Cruz town, a 30-minute travel from Pila. She also practiced in her hometown, she said.

“I was also known here as a midwife,” she recounted. “All of the infants I helped to be born became my godchildren; my services for them were for free.”

She could no longer remember the names of her godchildren, however.

Relova became active in politics, serving as councilor in 1956 and provincial board member in 1976.

Memoirs

Relova said she maintained the house as it was before.

“We cannot easily remodel and transform our house because there are so many things to recollect here. And besides, this is communal to family members and we only inherited the house from our parents,” she said in Filipino.

Relova can still remember her elder sister, Luz, practicing ballroom dancing in their house.

“She was one of the most beautiful women in town; I can no longer count the suitors who visited her,” she said, pointing to a huge photo of her sister in a white gown.

But Luz died early of pneumonia, she said.

During World War II, the Relova house was transformed into a hospital for wounded Filipino guerrillas.

Back then, Relova was only a college freshman. She said her family temporarily moved to Manila, except for her father who chose to help in the hospital.

Relova preserves family memories by collecting pictures and organizing them in albums with labels of date and occasion.

Even the photos of actor Dominic Ochoa, who, she said, is her first cousin’s grandson, are displayed in the house.

Indeed, Pila’s heritage never degenerated because its residents have been enthusiastic in preserving the old houses.

Lalaine Noceda, granddaughter of the owner of a century-old house, is among those who want to retain the old look.

“As much as possible, we (the family) will maintain the house. This house is very important because our ancestors had lived here,” Noceda said.

Old church

The town’s pride, its church under its titular saint, Anthony de Padua, has existed for almost two centuries.

Parish records show that it took 18 years to finish the church which was established after the pastoral work of the Franciscan friars in 1578.

The church was then made of bamboo before it was rebuilt using stones.

In 1880, the people were forced to move from Sitio Pagalangan (now Victoria, Laguna) to its present site because of frequent flooding.

Parish office secretary Yolly Abello said the bricks and stones of the church from the previous site were also used to build the existing church. She said the foundation of the old church can still be seen in nearby Victoria town.

On July 9, 2002, the parish church was declared the Diocesan Shrine of St. Anthony of Padua.

Treasures

The NHI has also recognized the town as the most important archaeological site in the country. Apart from the historical structures, the town has a museum, the only one in Laguna that contains artifacts dating back to the 12th to 18th centuries.

An archaeological excavation in the 1960s led by architect Leandro Locsin in Pinagbayanan, Pila’s former site, yielded rare glass beads, gold jewelry and porcelain potteries with both Philippine designs and Chinese trademarks.

Pila Museum curator Eduardo Monteza said that during the excavation, tools used in calligraphy and Chinese ceramics dating back to the 11th century were found.

A paper written by researchers and historians led by Dr. Luciano Santiago, titled “Treasures of Pila,” claimed that cremation was a burial practice based on the kinds of vessels found. These include small, brown, four-eared jars and large brown stoneware jars.

“Students from various schools and even foreigners visit this place just to have a glimpse of the artifacts,” said Monteza.

Municipal tourism officer Lerma Torres said the officials had ensured that no establishment would be put up at the heritage site.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view_article.php?article_id=44104

[ivanhenares]

^^ The reason they removed "type" was because they wanted to expand their declarations of ICPs to non-type specimens as well.

Even if they kept the word "type," it would still be correct. However, non-type specimens would then be ineligible for declaration as ICPs.

[Pinoy_ako]

^^^
Precisely. I was just thinking that "type" is limiting but inclusive as well. The inclusve implication is what I have said. The limiting is the reason why they removed it. I was thinking of this case:

The Rizal collection, if it were here. Draco rizali will be a type specimen, including three others during one of the packages sent abroad. However, the rest would be just range indicators for the species. However, the collection, if it were here, would be culturally significant since it was collected by the hero. If type were used, it would only include the 4 types. If it were removed, the whole batch would be included. This would apply as well to other collections, like the Rabor collection.

[overtureph]

Historic church, houses fill Laguna town’s coffers

By Niña Catherine Calleja
Inquirer
Last updated 06:46am (Mla time) 01/21/2007

PILA, Laguna—This town’s 35 heritage houses, along with its centuries-old church, have contributed a lot to the growth of its businesses and tourism industry, according to the Pila Historical Society Foundation.

Dr. Eden Relova, 86, a member of the PHSF and owner of one of the landmark houses, said this small town, 90 kilometers from Manila, became a popular tourist destination after the National Historical Institute declared its 35 old houses and a 200-year-old church as national historical landmarks on May 17, 2000.

The PHSF was formed in 1993 to assist tourists and visitors to the town.

The NHI also recognized the town as one of the most important archaeological sites in the country.

Pila has a museum—the only one in Laguna—that contains artifacts dating back to the 12th century.

Rice and coconut farming are the main livelihood here. Other residents are engaged in making and trading rice cakes, rice mallows (espasol), and coconut jam.


Copyright 2007 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=44665

[overtureph]

INQUIRER MINDANAO
The ghosts of Bud Daho return to Jolo, Sulu


Inquirer
Last updated 03:29am (Mla time) 01/21/2007

WHOEVER made or put the mysterious white “agong” in the small cave at the foot of Bud Daho remains a mystery to this day.

The “agong” is a musical instrument which produces a single note when pounded with a mallet or a large drumstick. It is commonly used by many Asian tribes along with other native brass instruments and is largely associated with religious rituals or festivities.

The people living near Bud Daho even believe that the silver gong is enchanted and that nobody has dared take it away from its nesting place.

IN villages near Bud Daho (Mt. Daho) in Jolo, Sulu, where over a thousand people died in a massacre by American forces over a hundred years ago, the sound of the puting agong has often been heard as a warning.

“When the weather is bad, the agong plays and different voices seem to come out of it,” said Normina Hadi, a Tausug artist.

“Usually, it comes when something is about to happen, as when there is a calamity or a really big storm is brewing. When people hear the sound, they would stop on their tracks and pray,” Hadi added.

So, when playwright Arnel Marduquio came up with the idea of the antigong agong (ancient agong) after a two-month research and immersion in the communities of Bud Daho, he was surprised to discover that one already existed in the people’s mind.

“I was amazed when they told me that such an agong existed,” Marduquio said.

Community people, equally surprised, had asked him how he came to know about it. Not everyone could go to that cave where the agong, (white because it is made of silver), would make itself appear at certain times, Marduquio was told.

The place where it is found is sacred ground among the Tausug and anyone who goes there has to go through a certain ritual, lest something bad will happen.

Musical

“Antigong Agong,” the musical, recounts the killing of over a thousand Tausug on Bud Daho by American forces over a hundred years ago. The story starts with the quest for an ancient agong to raise dowry for a traditional Tausug wedding, but which eventually leads to the discovery of the March 8, 1906 carnage at the foot of the mountain.

With Popong Landero as musical director and Mario Leofer Lim as assistant director and choreographer, Marduquio directed the show with a cast of 20 young Tausug artists who desire lasting peace in their homeland.

The show was mounted on Dec. 2 last year and presented in Sulu, Zamboanga and Davao, in time for the massacre’s centennial and as part of the group’s peace advocacy in Mindanao.

This year, it will be brought to the rest of Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon to culminate at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City.

The group aims to bring the show to Filipino-American communities in the United States, said Marduquio, who was earlier involved in another musical performance tour of Salima.

He talked about a community in Barangay Danag in Patikul, Sulu, near Bud Daho, where 80 percent of those who lived are descendants of a massacre survivor. The tragedy was never written in history books.

“But their (the Tausug) oral history is still very much alive in the form of a lugo (chant), kissa (historical account chanted with the accompaniment of gabbang and viola) and istorya (storytelling),” said Marduquio.

“That was how the story of the massacre survived to this day,” he said.

Mission

Unlike other theaters, however, Antigong Agong is not meant just to entertain. It wants to bring about the message of peace, to turn Sulu from a war zone into a land of peace.

“This show has a mission,” Marduquio said. “The play may not be able to change the situation of Jolo but a good story can be the start of the long process of resolving the conflict.”

It is ironic, though, that a hundred years after the Bud Daho massacre, the American forces are back in Jolo for the Balikatan military exercises.

“They have never left the place,” said Marduquio.

Through telling and retelling of the tragic event, the people of Sulu seek a formal closure of the incident. But up to now, the US government has never admitted its own mistake or openly gave public apology to the aggrieved, Marduquio said.

“At this point, history needs closure but that closure should include the healing of the wounds of war,” he said. “Justice should be delivered.” Germelina Lacorte


Copyright 2007 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquire...ticle_id=44634

[overtureph]

Restoring Dagupan’s most treasured heritage

By Gabriel Cardinoza
Inquirer
Last updated 03:32am (Mla time) 01/10/2007

After years of neglect, Dagupan’s most treasured heritage site – the Home Economics building at the West Central Elementary School – will soon be restored to its old glory.

The building was used as headquarters by American Gen. Douglas MacArthur after he landed in Pangasinan with Allied Forces on Jan. 9, 1945, to eventually liberate the Philippines from Japanese occupation during World War II.

Now its wooden beams are termite-eaten, and the building itself has sunk several inches into ground because of the July 1990 earthquake. Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin Lim said the need to restore the building has become urgent and necessary. “This is an important heritage site so we are making sure that this is protected,” he said.

The building—a modified American colonial house—has three bedrooms, large windows, a high-pitched roof and a terrace.

Gabaldon building

It was built as part of the Gabaldon school buildings, which were constructed after Act No. 1801, authored by Assemblyman Isauro Gabaldon of Nueva Ecija, was passed by the Philippine Assembly in 1907.

The Gabaldon Act appropriated P1 million between 1907 and 1915 for the “construction of schoolhouses of strong materials in barrios with guaranteed daily attendance of not less than 60 pupils.”

A team of architects from the local chapter of the United Architects of the Philippines has agreed to undertake the restoration work for free.

Lim said an initial fund of P1.5 million from the National Historical Institute (NHI) had been appropriated for the project, which he expected to be finished next month.

Emmanuel Palaganas, second lead architect of the project, said his group was in constant consultation with architect Luisa Valero, NHI restoration expert, to ensure that the structure is restored to its original form.

Eaten by termites

“We are now replacing its weak structural membranes, such as those eaten by termites,” Palaganas said.

Under the restoration plan, the look and the façade will be exactly the same as those of the original building. The only difference is that the ground floor, which used to be open, will be converted into an office of the Dagupan City Heritage Commission headed by Carmen Prieto.

Once the rotten parts are replaced and the building becomes sturdy enough, it will be jacked up to its original height, Palaganas said.

“The restoration is really a painstaking process,” he said. “The original materials used, especially hardwood like narra and tanguile, are no longer available.”

He said his team would be employing highly skilled craftsmen to execute the finishing aspect of the restoration.

Palaganas also said the fixtures, such as enamel water closets and slop sinks, would have to be restored.


Copyright 2007 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view_article.php?article_id=42555

[ivanhenares]

Historic church, houses fill Laguna town’s coffers
By Niña Catherine Calleja
Inquirer
Last updated 06:46am (Mla time) 01/21/2007

PILA, Laguna—This town’s 35 heritage houses, along with its centuries-old church, have contributed a lot to the growth of its businesses and tourism industry, according to the Pila Historical Society Foundation.

Dr. Eden Relova, 86, a member of the PHSF and owner of one of the landmark houses, said this small town, 90 kilometers from Manila, became a popular tourist destination after the National Historical Institute declared its 35 old houses and a 200-year-old church as national historical landmarks on May 17, 2000.

The PHSF was formed in 1993 to assist tourists and visitors to the town.

The NHI also recognized the town as one of the most important archaeological sites in the country.

Pila has a museum—the only one in Laguna—that contains artifacts dating back to the 12th century.

Rice and coconut farming are the main livelihood here. Other residents are engaged in making and trading rice cakes, rice mallows (espasol), and coconut jam.

http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=44665

[Rence]

^^ The reason they removed "type" was because they wanted to expand their declarations of ICPs to non-type specimens as well.

Even if they kept the word "type," it would still be correct. However, non-type specimens would then be ineligible for declaration as ICPs.

:nuts: I think they should be more open to science and botanist who explore the wilderness (Like Philippine Orchid Society )

[Rence]

^ Heritage really knows how to get the juicy pieces. I just hope it doesn't leave the country. The passage of the Heritage Bill will prevent that.

:nuts: In an auction a while ago in the Postal Museum a papel sellado dated early 19th century was being sold fro just P2,000 !:ohno:

[ivanhenares]

:nuts: I think they should be more open to science and botanist who explore the wilderness (Like Philippine Orchid Society )

Just like the HCS, the POS will have to course its proposed declarations through the pertinent government agencies, in the case of orchid specimens, the National Museum.

[Pinoy_ako]

:nuts: I think they should be more open to science and botanist who explore the wilderness (Like Philippine Orchid Society )

Rence,

As I see it, the problem with the list is the confusion regarding the Natural Heritage, which may be problematic later. The task of the TWG is for a comprehensive listing, quoted from above as follows:


1. Prepare a draft bill that will integrate and harmonize the essential elements of a National Heritage Protection measure from pending bills before the Committee on National Heritage;

2. Request additional position papers from various stakeholders, including but not limited to, artists and conservation architects, archaeologists and biologists, conservationists, historians and Muslim and ethnography scholars;

3. Review all the existing laws, presidential decrees and treaties with regard to protection and conservation of Historical, Natural and Cultural Heritage in order to have a systematic body of conservation laws.

However, the list only refers to the "National Registry of Cultural Properties", which also have elements of Natural History in it, like the World Heritage Site, National Geologic Monuments and the item on specimens. On the other hand, important sites or properties on natural history do not have categories. The headings become misleading because, National Geologic Monuments should fall under the Natural Sciences, not under the important cultural properties, as in the list below.


National Registry of Cultural Properties

1. World Heritage Site [UNESCO]

2. National Cultural Treasure [various agencies]

3. Important Cultural Property
-a. National Geological Monument [MGB-DENR]
-b. National Historical Monuments [NHI]
-c. National Historical Shrine [NHI]
-d. National Historical Landmark [NHI]
-e. National Historical Site [NHI]
-f. Built Heritage Resources
--i. Heritage House [NHI]
--ii. Architectural Heritage [NHI]
--iii. Industrial Heritage [NHI]
--vi. Classified Structures [NHI]
-g. Military Shrine [MSS-DND]
-h. National Register Holdings
--i. Archaeological Site [NM]
--ii. Anthropological Site [NM]
--iii. Artifact [NM] [NHI]
--vi. Type Specimen [NM]
--v. Records, Documents and Archival Materials [RMAO]
--vi. Rare Books [TNL]
-i. Forms of Intangible Heritage [NM] [CCP]

4. Works by a Manlilikha ng Bayan/National Artist

5. Autonomous Region Cultural Property

6. Provincial Cultural Property

7. City of Municipal Cultural Property

8. Barangay Cultural Property

One of the main strength or shortcoming of the list lies in the categories which serves as its basis, which shows us that it is a master list of all of our cultural [and naural] sites. Later however, due to the categories on which it is based, there will be redundant sites.

Anyway, if they are "more open to science and botanist who explore the wilderness", then they will create categories or headings for other properties, particularly those related to Natural History which are not yet in the list.

[ivanhenares]

^^ The National Museum is the authority for botany. And Natural History Specimens, according to them, will suffice.

[Pinoy_ako]

^^^
I mean, the list itself does not provide for a comprehensive listing for the Natural Sciences. The title "National Registry of Cultural Properties" is an indication of this. A provision - "and Natural" - seems to be lacking, if another list for the Natural Sciences is not on the making. However, the clause "and Natural" may be more logical since biologists are already part of the TWG.

Specimens are not the only concern for Natural History. Sites of great scientific value that shows evolution and protects biodiversity are also part of Natual Heritage, like Game Refuge and Bird Sanctuary, and Natural Parks. Specific sites like Turtle Island Protected Area, for protecting sea turtles, Mt Iglit-Baco National Park for the Tamaraw and the Mt Apo Natural Park for the Philippine Eagle, will thus fall under these categories. However, there are no provisions for these.

As a whole, the list may have to be streamlined for to accommodate Natural history.

[ivanhenares]

^^ We have to remember that there is already a National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) (http://sunsite.nus.edu.sg/apcel/dbase/filipino/primary/phanip.html) in place for national parks and other protected wildlife areas. And we don't want to touch that anymore else we create more problems. For more information, check the DENR website.

The following categories of protected areas are already created under RA 7586:
1. Strict nature reserve;
2. Natural park;
3. Natural monument;
4. Wildlife sanctuary;
5. Protected landscapes and seascapes;
6. Resource reserve;
7. Natural biotic areas; and,
8. Other categories established by law, conventions or international agreements which the Philippine Government is a signatory.

The items considered in the Heritage Bill are of "cultural value." Well, the NCCA and National Museum argued that National Geological Monuments are of cultural value so I leave that to the experts. At the same time, they are not covered by the NIPAS.

[Animo]

The sight of racing thoroughbreds. Valiant jockeys aiming for the win. An overwhelming roar from the crowd. On the race tracks, “horse power” takes on a whole new meaning, as it brings with it one’s passion for winning and an inspired commitment to preserve a treasured heritage.

Long before horses dominated hippodromes and such similarly constructed racetracks, they have already been racing for nobility. Dubbed as “the sport of kings,” horse racing brandished the brawn and vitality of royals in such glorious conquests as chariot races of Roman times. Even in mythology, the sport found its rightful place as steeds of the gods. Today, horse racing has evolved into a national pastime, but nevertheless kept its glory alive for racers and racing enthusiasts alike.

Here in the Philippines, the love for the sport gave rise to the first racing club in Southeast Asia—The Manila Jockey Club, founded in 1867 by Spanish General Jose de la Gandara y Navarro, along with the 100 socio fondadores, or elite sportsmen, who were mostly descendants of distinguished Filipino, Spanish, and English families. With over a century of horse racing heritage to its name, the Manila Jockey Club remains at par with the world’s horse racing community, as it continues to adapt industry-leading facilities in its newfound home—the San Lazaro Leisure Park.

Envisioned as the new Mecca of Philippine racing, the San Lazaro Leisure Park is the Philippines’ most modern horse racing complex, spanning 77 hectares of prime property in Carmona, Cavite. Poised to usher in both tourists and racing enthusiasts, the San Lazaro Leisure Park expands to integrate a commercial complex, a casino, a luxury hotel, and an equestrian field. As the industry of horse racing continues to flourish in the south, Century Properties offers Filipinos a premium investment inspired by this unique heritage.

Canyon Ranch, the country’s first Wi-Fi integrated, first-class master-planned community, boasts of an ideal location with exceptional terrain, refreshing climate, and breathtaking views of Laguna de Bay, Mount Makiling, and Mount Banahaw. Canyon Ranch is a 17-hectare, California Ranch Style gated residential community, located within the progressive area of Carmona, Cavite, just 25 minutes away from Makati, 15 minutes from the International Airport, 10 minutes from Alabang, and premier educational, recreational, shopping, sports and leisure facilities. Integrated within the sprawling 77-hectare San Lazaro Leisure Park, homeowners at Canyon Ranch have access to an array of sports, leisure, and entertainment activities. See thoroughbreds race from your own backyard, or enjoy the delightful range of amenities at the exclusive Canyon Ranch Clubhouse, complete with basketball and badminton courts, fully-equipped gym, a luxurious swimming pool, and a modern game room. Convenience is paramount to this inviting community, where virtually everything is just within reach at The Village Center, which offers a fine selection of dining, shopping, and entertainment establishments.

Recently voted Most Outstanding Private Residential Community of the Year, Canyon Ranch is the fastest-selling community in the south.

For inquiries, log on to www.canyonranch.com.ph or call 818-9025, 893-7050 and 0915-700-2000

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/jan/28/yehey/property/20070128prop1.html

[overtureph]

STREET SMART
Majestic Batanes

By Mandy Navasero
Inquirer
Last updated 00:03am (Mla time) 01/20/2007

FEAST YOUR eyes on undulating emerald hills, boulder-strewn beaches, the changing colors of the seas, and pasture lands as vast as your eyes can see. Moreover, the historic Ivatan stone houses in Sabtang, Batanes are magnificent to behold.

I am smitten by the charms of Batanes, and so are my photography students. We are bound together by our love for photography and adventure.

For this year’s safari, three trips are scheduled: From April 3 to 7, from 14 to 17, and then from 27 to 30 (in cooperation with Asian Spirit and Batanes Seaside Lodging and Restaurant).

Thoughts

Here are thoughts and recollections from our students: Bernarte shares, “The photo safari took us to the heart of Batanes’ quaint villages.”

Atty. Noel Liok: “The beauty of the magnificent sea resonated in me!”

Roxane Matsuda sums it up best: “I thought I had already seen the best places in the country -- until I saw Batanes.”

It’s your turn to experience the majesty of Batanes. The trip is unforgettable. Call 899-1767 or, email mandynavasero@yahoo.com, or drop by at Rm. 227, LRI Business Plaza, 210 Nicanor Garcia st., Bel Air II, Makati City.

Restoration

From the auction of pictures, the safari contributes to the restoration of Ivatan stone houses through the Batanes Heritage Foundation.

If you want to help, email bhfi_pi@yahoo.com.

Contact us at 899-1767, or 0916 706-0130.

E-mail mandynavasero@yahoo.com.ph, or call 899-1767.

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view_article.php?article_id=44502

[Animo]

By Augusto F. Villalon (Old article)

THIS is really about how modern reality collides with turn-of-the-century Vigan. It is also about how the town must strictly protect its historic heritage of old houses from the unnecessary modern encroachments that threaten them.

Collisions with houses really happen. I have seen scars. Large soft-drink delivery trucks (okay, they are Coca-Cola trucks) rumble through the narrow Vigan streets to the warehouse situated among the old houses that form the core of the Vigan heritage zone. There has not yet been a serious accident between a house and a truck. If there had been one, it may have gone unreported. But delivery trucks periodically nick the facades of the houses on their route, inflicting what could be serious structural damage to the historic structures. The strong engine vibrations further loosen up the powdery cracks in the old structures. Those trucks are truly a serious threat.

I am told Coca-Cola is now constructing a new warehouse in its original location within the Vigan heritage zone where warehouse constructions are not allowed. It must be stopped.

Vigan enjoys an image of turn-of-the-century romance. That is what the postcards show. However, there are still so many little things to refine that could further improve the quality of life in Vigan.

On one visit to Vigan, I was awakened from deep travel-weary sleep by the noise of LPG gas bottles being unloaded (or thrown off) from a truck to the depot next door. I was billeted at Villa Angela, a majestic Vigan mansion converted into a charming bed-and-breakfast establishment.

The racket continued for what I thought was an interminable stretch of time. It did not do much for my quality of life that night, but it made me thankful I was not a Vigan resident who has to suffer the noise every night.

Tricycles continue to threaten pedestrians, polluting the town with their noise and emissions, making touristic walks in the streets a deafening and life-threatening experience.

These are small details a host attends to before guests come to make things perfect. This is the time to attend to details because guests are beginning to trickle in.

House lesson

More and more Pinoys are embracing the historic and artistic value of the Spanish colonial heritage. They are leading the momentum that brings attention and support for Vigan.

Former Vigan residents are also returning. A hardy bunch of Manileños, enamored with reestablishing a connection to their roots, is setting up their second homes there.

One of these people is my friend Ramon, a true Manileño with family roots in Quiapo. After buying a ''fixer-upper'' house in Vigan, he spent the past months with Ilocano construction craftsmen he has trained in the traditional skills necessary to conserving his ''new'' old house.

The house has been transformed into something that suits Ilocano colonial, folk and modern traditions, a mix of the new and the old. As a result, the house has developed a wonderful texture and a delightful personality of its own.

More important, the house is a lesson for most of us. It shows how conservation is really a mix of things. It demands exacting scientific treatment such as using original lime mortar to cover the peeling walls and not cement which damages the original bricks.

What you do after taking care of the scientific details is strictly to your own liking, as well as your budget. Conservation is also combining plain walls under high ceilings with huge modern art murals, combining heirloom furniture with the latest Italian designs, installing really functional plumbing that flushes into a septic tank. It is positioning your state-of-the art computer, modem and scanner on a narra table inherited from an ancestor.

The house shows that conservation is not making a museum out of old houses to replicate an uncomfortable and unaffordable lifestyle of a century past. Rather conservation should make a house that is totally livable in today's context complete with the amenities we have become used to.

There are more people like Ramon who are investing their energies and personal finances in restoring Vigan. However, they have more to consider than just construction issues.

I found out about the Coca-Cola collision course when I noticed a patchwork of plastering on Ramon's street facade. Then I saw a truck loaded with cases and bottles swinging down the road to negotiate a corner to turn from one narrow street to another. The width of the street could in no way accommodate the size of the truck.

I did not have to ask how the facade got nicked. Enlightened, I wondered how many more facades were seriously damaged by the trucks, and how many those trucks further deteriorate with their rumblings just a few feet away from the wooden front doors of the structures. We are we still so cavalier about our heritage.

The events of the past few months were not encouraging. The conservation efforts for Intramuros went down the drain with the illegal construction of houses on top of the wall that appear to have been left to decay into ruins on top of the walls instead of being removed. The Bulletin building, for instance, continues its defiant rise high above the prescribed three-story Intramuros height restriction.

The threats and the threatened

Taking care that our old towns do not disappear requires much more than simply conserving the individual structures. In fact, conserving the structures, time-consuming and expensive at it may be, is actually the easier and simpler thing to do in the chain of requirements that it takes to undertake successful urban conservation.

Urban conservation, what Intramuros and Vigan are set on doing, requires a broad overview that the historic structures are protected from the complex network of threats that endanger them: collisions from delivery trucks, vehicular vibrations, inefficient street drainage.

People are both the threats and the threatened. In the case of being threatened, residents and visitors cough from dust, choke from tricycle emissions, suffer the noise of unloading gas bottles in the middle of the night, trip on broken sidewalks, and grope through dark streets at night.

As Ramon has shown in his house, undertaking conservation aims to produce pleasant surroundings to live in. However, there still is a lot of work to be done by all sectors to make our heritage towns really pleasant to live in. Actually, it's not just our heritage towns but practically each city in the country that needs an upgrade.

http://www.travelsmart.net/ph/inquirer/issues/jan99/jan25/lifestyle/lif_10.htm

[overtureph]

By Augusto F. Villalon (Old article)

THIS is really about how modern reality collides with turn-of-the-century Vigan. It is also about how the town must strictly protect its historic heritage of old houses from the unnecessary modern encroachments that threaten them.

Collisions with houses really happen. I have seen scars. Large soft-drink delivery trucks (okay, they are Coca-Cola trucks) rumble through the narrow Vigan streets to the warehouse situated among the old houses that form the core of the Vigan heritage zone. There has not yet been a serious accident between a house and a truck. If there had been one, it may have gone unreported. But delivery trucks periodically nick the facades of the houses on their route, inflicting what could be serious structural damage to the historic structures. The strong engine vibrations further loosen up the powdery cracks in the old structures. Those trucks are truly a serious threat.

I am told Coca-Cola is now constructing a new warehouse in its original location within the Vigan heritage zone where warehouse constructions are not allowed. It must be stopped.

Vigan enjoys an image of turn-of-the-century romance. That is what the postcards show. However, there are still so many little things to refine that could further improve the quality of life in Vigan.

On one visit to Vigan, I was awakened from deep travel-weary sleep by the noise of LPG gas bottles being unloaded (or thrown off) from a truck to the depot next door. I was billeted at Villa Angela, a majestic Vigan mansion converted into a charming bed-and-breakfast establishment.

The racket continued for what I thought was an interminable stretch of time. It did not do much for my quality of life that night, but it made me thankful I was not a Vigan resident who has to suffer the noise every night.

Tricycles continue to threaten pedestrians, polluting the town with their noise and emissions, making touristic walks in the streets a deafening and life-threatening experience.

These are small details a host attends to before guests come to make things perfect. This is the time to attend to details because guests are beginning to trickle in.

House lesson

More and more Pinoys are embracing the historic and artistic value of the Spanish colonial heritage. They are leading the momentum that brings attention and support for Vigan.

Former Vigan residents are also returning. A hardy bunch of Manileños, enamored with reestablishing a connection to their roots, is setting up their second homes there.

One of these people is my friend Ramon, a true Manileño with family roots in Quiapo. After buying a ''fixer-upper'' house in Vigan, he spent the past months with Ilocano construction craftsmen he has trained in the traditional skills necessary to conserving his ''new'' old house.

The house has been transformed into something that suits Ilocano colonial, folk and modern traditions, a mix of the new and the old. As a result, the house has developed a wonderful texture and a delightful personality of its own.

More important, the house is a lesson for most of us. It shows how conservation is really a mix of things. It demands exacting scientific treatment such as using original lime mortar to cover the peeling walls and not cement which damages the original bricks.

What you do after taking care of the scientific details is strictly to your own liking, as well as your budget. Conservation is also combining plain walls under high ceilings with huge modern art murals, combining heirloom furniture with the latest Italian designs, installing really functional plumbing that flushes into a septic tank. It is positioning your state-of-the art computer, modem and scanner on a narra table inherited from an ancestor.

The house shows that conservation is not making a museum out of old houses to replicate an uncomfortable and unaffordable lifestyle of a century past. Rather conservation should make a house that is totally livable in today's context complete with the amenities we have become used to.

There are more people like Ramon who are investing their energies and personal finances in restoring Vigan. However, they have more to consider than just construction issues.

I found out about the Coca-Cola collision course when I noticed a patchwork of plastering on Ramon's street facade. Then I saw a truck loaded with cases and bottles swinging down the road to negotiate a corner to turn from one narrow street to another. The width of the street could in no way accommodate the size of the truck.

I did not have to ask how the facade got nicked. Enlightened, I wondered how many more facades were seriously damaged by the trucks, and how many those trucks further deteriorate with their rumblings just a few feet away from the wooden front doors of the structures. We are we still so cavalier about our heritage.

The events of the past few months were not encouraging. The conservation efforts for Intramuros went down the drain with the illegal construction of houses on top of the wall that appear to have been left to decay into ruins on top of the walls instead of being removed. The Bulletin building, for instance, continues its defiant rise high above the prescribed three-story Intramuros height restriction.

The threats and the threatened

Taking care that our old towns do not disappear requires much more than simply conserving the individual structures. In fact, conserving the structures, time-consuming and expensive at it may be, is actually the easier and simpler thing to do in the chain of requirements that it takes to undertake successful urban conservation.

Urban conservation, what Intramuros and Vigan are set on doing, requires a broad overview that the historic structures are protected from the complex network of threats that endanger them: collisions from delivery trucks, vehicular vibrations, inefficient street drainage.

People are both the threats and the threatened. In the case of being threatened, residents and visitors cough from dust, choke from tricycle emissions, suffer the noise of unloading gas bottles in the middle of the night, trip on broken sidewalks, and grope through dark streets at night.

As Ramon has shown in his house, undertaking conservation aims to produce pleasant surroundings to live in. However, there still is a lot of work to be done by all sectors to make our heritage towns really pleasant to live in. Actually, it's not just our heritage towns but practically each city in the country that needs an upgrade.

http://www.travelsmart.net/ph/inquirer/issues/jan99/jan25/lifestyle/lif_10.htm


This is also a problem in Taal, Batangas where buses still passes through the street with old houses.

[overtureph]

For Ivan and Jeff, and for forum members who are members of HCS or other groups or association who advocates for heritage conservation and the like. I read this and it was posted on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/groups/santos_images_of_faith/discuss/72157594495376387/#comment72157594511634350


Maleldo Pro User says:

Obviously, the santo was meant for an international market as it was posted on an international auction site. I actually called the attention of some members of the Heritage Conservation Society, as well as the office of Bishop Torralba who heads the church' heritage group, and even tried calling acquaintance from NCCA, but the response was the same: report the crime to the police. Do you actually think that an ordinary police will put my complaint--supported with just 2 computer print outs as proofs of the church theft--on top of his priority list?

This is with regards to the stolen Santo/santa from a Bohol church ending up on ebay. How true is it, that this was the response that he got?

[ivanhenares]

^ Hay naku, si Alex Castro talaga. Hehe! He's a good friend of mine. No, that was not the exact response of HCS and I contacted him about his comment. In fact, we informed Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles of NCCA and Fr. Ted Torralba immediately. On a personal capacity, I forwarded his message to every cultural worker in my phone book. She advised us to tell Alex to approach a certain police officer/desk who was an expert in recovering stolen relics/artifacts because of Interpol links.

Yes, he is part of the police. But to say police in general is simplistic since we specified the desk. And according to Trixie, this guy had solved a lot of relic thefts.

HCS focuses on built heritage resources (architectural). But that does not mean we leave other heritage items out. We are also limited by our pool of volunteers. So when we receive info like that, we try our best to link the people involved with the right network.

Baclayon is a national historical landmark. So the agency which should be held responsible for this theft is the NHI. At the same time, Fr. Torralba, who is from Tagbilaran, should have done something about it since it was their (CBCP) property.

That's why the heritage bill has to pass ASAP. Anyway, Alex is scanning his print-outs now and I will forward to the agencies mandated to protect them. It's very difficult talking to government verbally/via text. It all has to be on paper for them to understand.

[overtureph]

Well I guess, it got us nowhere then.

[ivanhenares]

Historian’s granddaughter fights for Legazpi’s heritage
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer
Last updated 02:59am (Mla time) 02/01/2007

PEOPLE are usually nonchalant about preserving their heritage, but for Dr. Erlinda Gonzales-Belleza, 63, taking care of Legazpi City’s relics and book collection is a basic task.

Belleza’s love for culture could have been inherited from her grandfather, Don Mariano Goyena del Prado, a Spaniard who was then a capitan de municipal (equivalent to city mayor) of Legazpi and historian known as the “Grand Old Man of Bicol Culture.”

Del Prado wrote the Bicol history book “Ibalon” in Spanish, now one of the rare books in the National Library.

He was also responsible for the identification of local and historical spots, and the public observance of important historical dates.

But beyond tending the Legazpi City Museum and Library every day, Belleza also carries out a mission to enlighten people about the value of preserving their waning heritage, which, she would say, is the primary key to the city’s progress.

Bothered

Belleza, the museum curator since 2003, was instrumental in the museum’s establishment in 1993. She said she was bothered by the people’s lack of awareness of the significance of the city’s artifacts and records, and of keeping intact the culture that made them unique.

In the midst of infrastructure facilities that have sprung up in Legazpi to beef up tourist arrivals and improve the local economy, Belleza maintained that any form of tourism was essentially “cultural.”

She said the Bicolanos should shy away from the “4-S” of popular tourism—sun, sea, sand and sex—and should first focus on keeping what made their place unique in terms of its history and culture.

“Our visitors should experience who we really are and what we eat and drink. Instead of bringing them to restaurants offering foreign delicacies, why not let them eat our own pinangat or drink our own tinutong na bagas (rice coffee)? Our primary motivation should not be to please them but to earnestly impart to them our real own,” Belleza said.

Not many establishments in the city promote the unique Bicol culture. Instead, they are but imitations with traces of outside influence, she noted.

Relics ruined

Belleza could only lament that some people were misguided by wrong development mindsets.

“I’ve long been accused of being ‘antidevelopment’ for fighting the destruction of old historical landmarks in the city,” she said.

When the Peñaranda Park at the center of City Hall, the Capitol and St. Gregory the Great Parish in Old Albay District was renovated by the provincial government in 2001, three of the city’s historical landmarks were affected.

First was the Liberty Bell, a gift given by the Americans to the Albayanos on April 1, 1945. Inscribed on it were the words of the Americans to the people of Albay: “Individually or collectively, if oppression ever knocks at your door, feel free to ring this bell.”

Belleza said the Liberty Bell, which was a replica of the American Liberty Bell at the Independence Hall in Philadelphia, was not just the symbol of Albay’s liberation from the Japanese but that of the whole Bicol.

Albay was the starting point of the region’s liberation through the Albay Gulf in Barangay Rawis on April 1, 1945.

The bell was replaced with a fake. The real one is now in the protective custody of the museum.

Monuments

Another case is the Peñaranda Monument, an obelisk erected in 1854 in honor of Albay Gov. Jose Ma. Peñaranda, who served from 1834-40. Through Peñaranda’s encouragement of agriculture and industry, Albay was transformed into one of the most progressive provinces.

After his term, the government structures of bamboo and thatch were replaced with sturdy rubble and lime. New roads were laid out and rubble bridges built.

Belleza said Peñaranda was also responsible for the opening of public highways and postal routes in northern and southern Luzon.

The concrete marker, placed on Dec. 15, 1948 and containing the names of the early city officials, was destroyed.

On Jan. 11, 2002, Belleza wrote a letter to the National Historical Institute, asking for comment, recommendation and intervention on the redevelopment of the park.

“Despite warnings of the National Historical Institute to our local officials after I wrote the letter, they did not listen and still did what they wanted,” Belleza said.

Lastly, the Headless Monument, which was originally built near the port, was transferred to the Post Office compound because it was being desecrated by slum dwellers, who would tie ropes on it to hang their laundry.

The monument was built by Don Buenaventura de Erquiaga, the philanthropist founder of Legazpi College, in memory of the Bicolanos who suffered atrocities during the Japanese occupation.

Belleza said that according to urban tales, the Headless Monument was a man who carried sacks of copra unloaded from the ships at the port. He was beheaded by the Japanese soldiers when he was found to be “stealing.”

Kapuntukan Hill

Now, Belleza is still closely watching the developments that could lead to the destruction of historical and cultural sites. One of them is the ongoing reconstruction of the boulevard area that might destroy the rustic structure of the Kapuntukan Hill rising above the central business district.

The structure, strategically located at the coast of Albay Gulf, had served as lookout post against invaders.

“I have nothing against building new facilities and structures. They can build anything they want for as long as the original historical and cultural elements of the place remain untouched and preserved,” Belleza said.

She said she felt glad that, finally, the city included in its 2007 priority plans the putting up of a separate building to house the new Bicol Museum. She hoped it would be given funding and realized.

At present, the museum and library occupies a 339-square-meter hall at the back of City Hall. Last year, 9,192 people visited the museum and 1,383 went to the library.

The existence of a good museum and a library implies that the place is progressive, Belleza said.

She also saw the need to rewrite and reorganize Bicol history, this time, from the point of view of a Bicolano.

She called on people to give facts and donate antiques and memorabilia about Bicol’s heroes to the museum.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view_article.php?article_id=46821

[ivanhenares]

Well I guess, it got us nowhere then.

I agree. That's why there is a need to evaluate the performance of our cultural agencies: NCAA, NHI, National Museum, etc. If only the HCS had the mandate to do it.

As a volunteer/advocacy group, we we're able to stop a lot of heritage catastrophes from happening. The latest was the Pio Chapel in Porac, Pampanga. But without the mandate, how can you stop people like Atienza for example, or order around the police and military to protect heritage. The Heritage Bill stresses the roles of these government agencies and even stipulates penalties for not doing such.

[overtureph]

I agree. That's why there is a need to evaluate the performance of our cultural agencies: NCAA, NHI, National Museum, etc. If only the HCS had the mandate to do it.

I agree too with what you said. One thing these agencies lack is coordination and I guess a central database. I guess thats why finger pointing happens. But I guess it would also be difficult to get the support of the church hierarchy on such issues.

[ivanhenares]

^^ You hit it right on the dot. I've been ranting about a central database for the longest time. Imagine, if I didn't compile a list of declared sites in my blog (http://ivanhenares.blogspot.com/2005/04/index-of-declared-structures-and-sites.html), there wouldn't even be one to speak of since each agency had its own list and I had to ask from each.

[portludlow]

http://www.thenewstoday.info/2007/02/02/museo.iloilo1.jpg
A plan for a house of a government official. Such
houses served as residences and offices.
Architects of the period made sure these structures
were spacious and airy, with large windows and
courtyards that provides breathing space and
adequate ventilation

Lines Across Time: An architectural journey
http://www.thenewstoday.info/2007/02/02/lines.across.time.an.architectural.journey.html
The streets of Vigan and Iloilo along with the archaic infrastructures and majestic century-old houses reminds us of the suffering we have endured and the glory we have won under the Spanish regime. The remarkable structures remind us not only of the Spanish colonization but of Malay, Hindus, Chinese and Japanese influences on our architectural patterns.

Lines Across Time, an exhibit of photographs depicting the Filipino lifestyle during the later years of the Spanish colonization, will be at the Museo Iloilo this coming February 12 to March 3 of this year. Heritage genius Toti Villalon has worked together with creative director Teresa Custodio and model artist Ignacio Perez to show how the Philippine life was changed by the transformation brought about by Spanish colonization. The show has three parts -- House, Infrastructure and Everyday Life.

This will be the 9th traveling exhibition of the Fundacion Santiago, a foundation which has been existing since 1903 whose main objective was to attend the needs of the indigent Spanish citizens stranded in the country during the change of regimes. Fundacion Santiago was originally known as Hospital Español de Santiago but the name was changed during the tutelage of its president Pedro Roxas. It was Roxas who reinvented the foundation. He saw the essence of civic work as a way of returning to the Philippines the kindness and the support that the country have given them.

Today, the foundation supports lot of projects ranging from assisting cooperatives to sponsoring workshops. Another interesting program of the foundation is the promotion of the heritage preservation. It was due to the observation made by Chaco Molina, executive director of Fundacion Santiago, that many Filipinos had forgotten their past.

Line Across Time is just one of the many heritage-related project of the foundation. It is an interactive exhibit that narrates how the Filipino culture and lifestyle has been enriched by different cultural influences. The show also provides images and layouts of towns in a grid of straight streets that branches from the centrally-located plaza. This can be considered as one of the major contributions of the Spanish colonization to the Filipino way of living. In fact, the town layouts were patterned with that of the towns all over the Spanish Empire during the 17th century based on a decree made by King Philip of Spain.

It was also during that time that Philippine houses were transformed from the usual bahay kubo to the more popular bahay na bato. It was when Filipinos learned to make use of bricks and slanted eaves, which was first introduced by the Chinese, and kapis window slid that signifies the Japanese paper shoji.

Also included in the exhibit are photos that vividly describes the development of dusty city streets to the roads paved in piedra china and later railroads and shipping lanes.

Likewise, images of Chinese shop houses, where the upper floor serves as a residence while the lower portion was utilized for business purposes, will be featured. More importantly, the exhibit will illustrate the Spanish colonial planning and the type of architecture that was born during the era which played a very crucial role in nation-building.

Lines Across Time will highlight the relevance of old Filipino lifestyle to the modern way of living as well as the different ways that we can do to preserve these historical treasures.

[overtureph]

The Way We Build
By Sid Gomez Hildawa
The Philippine Star 02/04/2007

The building of an architectural edifice does not end with the opening of its doors to users and visitors. Accor-ding to recent art theory, the act of building conti-nues in our conscious-ness as we experience a particular structure: as we perceive it, use it, and think about it.

For instance, although the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) was inaugurated way back in 1969, its image as a prominent landmark along Roxas Boulevard has changed through the years, from a monument to the Marcos’ "New Society," to a bourgeois monolith, then an exemplar of Philippine architecture, and currently a more accessible haven for the arts. And the memory of its previous transfigurations somehow bear on whatever is its present image.

So how do we continue the act of building even after physical construction is accomplished? One way is through discourse. As architecture shapes the living and working environment of modern times, we lodge various edifices into the language of our lives. For instance, the term "grandstanding" wouldn’t have made sense during earlier centuries, because its meaning comes from a shared notion of something like the modern Quirino Grandstand at Rizal Park where people rally around an impassioned speaker. More recently, we talk about "malling," a term which didn’t exist in the dictionary of our grandparents during their youth.

A more direct way of talking about buildings is to refer to them in our conversations with friends. That is what happens when we explain why we would like to get married, say, at the San Agustin Church with its ornate interiors, or to be caught in prayer inside the U.P. Chapel while rain is pouring all around, literally. Or wonder aloud why a lot of graduation ceremonies are held at the Philippine International Convention Center, while we watch a pop concert or boxing match at the Araneta Colesium, or listen to news reports about the physical conditions that made a fire or deadly stampede in a disco or stadium an accident waiting to happen.

We could also do well to think about the labels we attach to buildings. For instance, when we say that the Philippine General Hospital building along Taft Avenue is "modern," does it mean that it is less Filipino than an "ancestral" house in Vigan?

In as much as language is an embodiment of thought, we need to re-examine the way we think and talk about the architecture that surrounds us. Like most other objects, buildings and places can have several meanings attached to them, ranging from the private and personal to the public and communal. And these meanings collectively become the basis for the implicit valuation of structures and sites.

For meanings to impart values to buildings, at least two things are necessary: first, the meanings have to go deeper than personal "sentimentalist" attachments, and second, these deeper meanings have to be shared by a community. Thus, we need to promote and popularize a deeper understanding of our architectural legacies so that our society will think and talk about them in more sophisticated terms, and will therefore value them with the accumulated weight of the many meanings they carry.

To help answer this need, the Committee on Architecture and the Allied Arts of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA), together with the National Museum of the Philippines, is mounting an exhibition entitled, "Building Modernity: A Century of Architecture and Allied Arts," which traces the evolution of 20th-century Philippine architecture and the designed environment, featuring structures created within the framework of Modernism in its plural expressions.

The exhibit showcases archival photographs, paintings, vintage graphics, blueprints, building components and ornaments, and related artifacts to underscore the larger stylistic tendencies, movements, ideologies, and technologies that have shaped the complex Filipino architectural culture of the last century.

Originating from Europe and America in the late 19th century, Modernism is a global movement that involved all the arts, including architecture, as a result of capitalist industrialization. The manufacturing industry produced cast iron, steel, reinforced concrete, and glass–the new construction materials. Electricity and mechanical ventilation provided alternatives to natural light and air circulation. Innovative architects explored the use of new technologies and new materials in industrial, utilitarian, and public buildings.

Curated by U.P. professor and architect Gerard Lico, "Building Modernity" underscores how the Philippine conditions negotiated and contended with the forces of modernity, transforming its progressive aesthetics in accordance with local culture, tropical ecology, and the politics of identity.

Perhaps similar to the way our forefathers adapted and transformed Spanish colonial influences in order to arrive at Philippine art and architecture during the Spanish period, builders of the 20th century had to mediate between an ideal concept of Modernism and the local conditions that had to be considered for modernism to be applied here.

Such mediation produced plural expressions of Modernity, which the exhibition expounds in six "loosely chronological themes: 1. Modern as Civilizing Project; 2. Modern as Vernacular; 3. Modern as Tropical; 4. Modern as Technological Progress; 5. Modern as State Craft; and, 6. Modern as Global Enterprise." By linking 20th century Philippine architecture to earlier traditions and the socio-political fabric of our country, the exhibit also asserts that modern examples of Philippine architecture should be treasured as we do our ancestral edifices.

Finally, the way we build is also the way we destroy: An edifice is first taken for granted in our collective consciousness and dismantled there long before it is actually demolished by some wrecking crew blindly following the orders of a city mayor who has his own agenda. For our architectural legacies to be preserved, barring wars and natural calamities, clearly we need to invoke shared values anchored in scholarship and informed appreciation.

The author is associate artistic director for the CCP Visual, Literary, and Media Arts. The "Building Modernity" exhibit is part of the "Ani ng Sining: Philippine Arts Festival 2007," organized by the NCCA and will run from February 7 to May, 2007 at the National Museum of the Filipino People.


http://philstar.com/philstar/SPECIALSECTIONS200702054606.htm

[Pinoy_ako]

For Ivan and Jeff, and for forum members who are members of HCS or other groups or association who advocates for heritage conservation and the like. I read this and it was posted on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/groups/santos_images_of_faith/discuss/72157594495376387/#comment72157594511634350




This is with regards to the stolen Santo/santa from a Bohol church ending up on ebay. How true is it, that this was the response that he got?

There is a certain branch in Camp Crame which looks into this.

PSINSP Faustino Ramos
Chief
Cultural Heritage Protection Branch
Directorate for Research
Philippine Center on Transnational Crime

They define Transnational Crime as an offense that has an international dimension and involves crossing of at least one border. I just don't know if the artifact involved has already been taken out of the country.

[ivanhenares]

There is a certain branch in Camp Crame which looks into this.

PSINSP Faustino Ramos
Chief
Cultural Heritage Protection Branch
Directorate for Research
Philippine Center on Transnational Crime

They define Transnational Crime as an offense that has an international dimension and involves crossing of at least one border. I just don't know if the artifact involved has already been taken out of the country.

Yes, Trixie was saying Ramos. That's the guy who tracks down stolen artifacts.

[LordCarnal]

Fortress for Boljoon Church

By Joeber Bersales
Cebu Daily News
Last updated 12:25pm (Mla time) 02/08/2007

ON my second day of excavations here at the plaza fronting Boljoon Church, wonders never cease as I glance once in a while at the many structures that remind me of the work of Fray Julian Bermejo. It is amazing how the mists of time have left us so little about who this Augustinian priest-builder was and what legacy he left in the southern part of the island of Cebu.

Fortunately, Ruel Rigor, teacher, heritage planner and connoisseur of things old and forgotten, emailed me last October an article in Spanish that chronicled the life and times of Fray Julian. Written by Fr. Policarpo Hernandez, OSA, and published in 2002 in the journal Archivo Augustiniano (Vol. 86, No. 204), Ruel had asked me to translate the document in the hope that it might help shed light on the watchtowers and defensive structures lining towns under a project he helped run, called the Cebu Heritage Frontier (which covers the towns of Sibonga to Santander, if I remember right).

From the 19 letters he wrote to Governor General Pascual Enrile which are reproduced in the article, we not only see a friar eager to protect and promote the welfare of his parishioners but also equally eager to promote himself and show that his selfless dedication was unique in Cebu, which at this time was almost empty of Spanish residents, save for churchmen or colonial government employees.

Who was Fray Julian Bermejo?

Bermejo was born in the town of Pardillo, Ciudad Real, in Spain in 1777. He entered the College of Augustinian Friars in Valladolid and made his first vows on July 25, 1793. He left for Manila on Dec. 3 or 4, 1795, arriving aboard the ship San Andrés at the end of November 1796. After finishing his ecclesiastical studies in the Monastery of San Pablo (today called San Agustin), he left for the Church (now Basilica) del Santo Niño in Cebu where he learned the Cebuano language. In Oct. 3, 1802, he assumed as parish priest of Boljóon, which he administered, with some intervals, from 1802 to 1842, and from 1846 until Jan. 1, 1848. He died in the Monasterio del Santo Niño on April 30, 1851.

The first thing he did upon becoming parish priest of Boljoon tells much of Fray Julian’s motivations and missionary zeal, which was not so much aimed at merely celebrating Masses but building a formidable defense system to protect his parishioners and those from other nearby towns from the incessant and very devastating Moro raids. Finding Boljoon Church unfinished (rebuilding began in 1783, a year after the early one was burned by a marauding band of Moros from Mindanao), he decided instead to build a fortress around the church with a bulwark at each corner. The walls are still intact as I write, except for the one that abuts the highway. But only one of the bulwarks survives to this day and stands proudly facing the Municipal Hall.

After finishing the fortress, Bermejo rallied other towns (from Sibonga to Santander and even faraway Pinamongajan, across to Dumaguete and Sibulan in Negros, and on to Siquijor and Panglao in Bohol), to build a line of watchtowers equipped with a system of telegraphs probably using smoke and flags, with the Peñon or Crag atop the Ili of Boljoon as its central command post. These watchtowers are still visible to this day, many of them falling by the wayside, as it were. At least one has been ruthlessly cemented and painted over somewhere in Oslob.

Many of these structures are in private hands now but I agree with the common suspicion that these continue to be properties of the Philippine state as all instrumentalities of the Spanish colonial administration were turned over to the Americans by virtue of the Treaty of Paris in 1898. Even if well inside private property, each watchtower and about two or four meters around it are still part of the Philippine defense system. More on Fray Julian as the quintessential renaissance man next week.

[ivanhenares]

This link of a video of pre-war Manila was just e-mailed to me. Wow!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4933039399110729804&hl=en

[Wonderboy]

^^ Cool. I saw that video last year and saved it on my favorite weblinks. The cameraman is obviously an amateur. But he was able to cover the key landmarks of Manila such as the Sta. Cruz district, Plaza Goiti, Escolta, Intramuros, Dewey Boulevard, even Ermita beach. My favorite part of the 7-minute video is the Plaza Goiti with two tranvias passing along the busy district. Everything seemed so simple then.

For Ivan and Jeff, and for forum members who are members of HCS or other groups or association who advocates for heritage conservation and the like. I read this and it was posted on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/groups/santos_images_of_faith/discuss/72157594495376387/#comment72157594511634350

Sorry man. Read this posting just now. The trail of postings above indicate that Ivan of HCS has answered your query regarding the stolen image. Perhaps what's also important is that the local government, local police, and the church should coordinate so that this will not happen again.

One of my mentors is a bishop now. When my schedule permits, I will talk to him regarding this matter. Maybe he can help me come up with a plan or something.

[bukid]

we should also help our fellow filipinos from balangiga in recovering their church bells which have been stolen by the americans and displayed as war trophies in wyoming.

http://www.petitiononline.com/bells05/

http://www.cbcponline.net/borongan/html/balangiga_bells.html

http://www.philnews.com/2005/da.html

http://www.rwor.org/a/v19/930-39/939/bells.htm

http://www.samarnews.com/Insight/insight9.htm

Had we been as powerful as china or japan. i believe the americans would immediately return what they had stolen. sad to say, we are not as powerful as china and japan. :(

[ivanhenares]

Underneath the urban chaos hides Manila's former glory
Photos at http://ivanhenares.blogspot.com/2007/02/underneath-urban-chaos-hides-manilas.html

I was at Binondo today to join in the Lunar New Year festivities. Since it was definitely going to be a traffic nightmare in Binondo, I decided to park at that unsightly shopping mall beside the City Hall of Manila (I must admit, I finally saw use for it... hehehe!) and walk to Chinatown from there. I also saw it as an opportunity to check out all the neglected heritage buildings along the way.

As I've mentioned over and over again, that uninteresting mall beside City Hall used to be where the elegant YMCA Building designed by Archt. William Parsons stood. Right beside it is an early post-war government building, one among many decrepit heritage buildings near City Hall, the former GSIS Headquarters. It was a pity looking at the building. From the architectural details, I could imagine just how chic it was during its heyday.

One thing the City Government of Manila lacks is creativity. There is such a thing as adaptive reuse Mayor Atienza. The GSIS Building could have been by used for the Unibersidad de Manila, and it would have been an elegant school building at that, instead of constructing that boring building in Mehan Gardens.

Aside from the fact that it was built on an important historical and archaeological site, it lessened the open space in Manila. We were discussing in my land use planning class yesterday that Filipinos seem to hate open spaces since when a local government sees one, they try to build something on it. In Mehan Gardens alone, Atienza had succeeded in constructing the UDM campus and Park & Ride. Check out this article for more details.

Anyway, right in front of UDM itself was another heritage government building that could also have been used by the UDM. But the National Waterworks and Sewage Authority building was obviously as derelict as GSIS. What a waste of architectural treasures right beside City Hall!

I continued my walk and saw that controversial DepEd building Atienza built in the Arroceros Forest Park. Oh brother! From outside, Arroceros was a sorry sight, heavily damaged by two typhoons, one named Milenyo and the other named Jose. If Winner Foundation was still on top of things, I'm sure the trees would have been rehabilitated immediately after Milenyo.

At the end of the road was the jewel of all decrepit heritage treasures in the vicinity of City Hall, the Metropolitan Theater. Need I say more?

I hope they are able to bring back the grandeur of that charming edifice which has Art Deco written all over it. But sadly, as early as now, one could already see that declared structures such as the Metropolitan Theater won't be spared by the elections. Attention Comelec, not only did Gabriela place their posters outside the designated posting areas, they violated PD1505 by desecrating a national historical landmark and had the gall to place their posters right beside the NHI marker at that!

At least across the street, Liwasang Bonifacio (formerly known as Plaza Lawton) had already been rehabilitated. Beside it, another imposing Manila landmark, the Central Post Office stands like a proud sentinel of Manila's former glory (before the city was carpet-bombed by American forces in the final days of the Second World War, it was among the great cities of Asia and the world). I guess there is a glimmer of hope for Manila's heritage.

I continued my walk across the Pasig River via the Jones Bridge. It's sad that they did not restore this bridge following the original plans of Archt. Juan Arellano. From the west side of the bridge, you could see Intramuros on your left and Binondo on your right. Again, amidst all the urban chaos, two buildings standout: the El Hogar Building and Pacific Commercial Building. I hope they restore these buildings soon.

At the end of the bridge, the Philtrust Bank Building (another grand pre-war building that should be restored) and a welcome arch greets visitors as they enter Chinatown. Along Quintin Parades Street, more Art Deco buildings still stand. And it was a pleasant surprise to see many of these old buildings freshly painted. And I also noticed that they are foreign banks, namely Citibank and HSBC which chose to locate in chic pre-war buildings. I guess it's because they know the value of the said buildings.

Anyway, my walk ended at the Binondo Church. Few people know that only the facade is original since the church was bombed too during the Second World War. But the current interior is just so nouveau riche, a cheap and pitiful imitation of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Binondo, with all its money could definitely do better than that.

[ivanhenares]

http://bp2.blogger.com/_-fGx2wDrdVc/Rdc7FXxgzLI/AAAAAAAAAVg/Ki8nWb5Xa_o/s200/DSC05774.jpg
GSIS Building

http://bp0.blogger.com/_-fGx2wDrdVc/Rdc8V3xgzNI/AAAAAAAAAVw/cPZm0L85Olc/s200/DSC05780.jpg
NAWASA Building

[overtureph]

Las Piñas holds 32nd bamboo organ festival
By Edu Punay
The Philippine Star 02/19/2007

The St. Joseph Church in Las Piñas City transforms into a medieval setting once the majestic sound of the bamboo organ begins to surround its halls.

Even Msgr. Albert Venus, the parish priest, admits that Masses in this church are "deeper and more solemn" because of the priceless national treasure housed inside the church.

The priest believes the mere survival of the 190-year-old instrument and the church can be considered a miracle. He said there have been attempts to duplicate the bamboo organ, especially in some Asian countries where bamboo is abundant but none has succeeded so far.

Venus likewise pointed out the bamboo organ paved the way for the production of smaller pipe organs that are now being exported to Europe.

For Armando Salarza, the renowned instrument has a more personal significance. The bamboo organ played a crucial role in developing his musical talent that brought him to many countries in Europe and the US.

Salarza was only 11 years old when he gave his first public performance on the bamboo organ and became an accompanist of the Las Piñas Boys Choir. He was also the youngest finalist to join the National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA).

After finishing with highest honors at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Gras and Vienna, he had performed in various cities in Europe and the US. He was named as the Titular Organist of the bamboo organ, as one of the only three Filipino organists who can perfectly play the instrument.

The bamboo organ was built in 1816 by Augustinian Recollect Fr. Diego Cera, then parish priest of St. Joseph who was a musical genius himself, with the help of parishioners. The instrument is said to be a "fusion of foreign technology and local musical aesthetic creativity."

The instrument was restored 30 years ago and brought to Germany for tuning. It now has 902 bamboo pipes and 129 metal pipes and is being maintained by Bamboo Organ Foundation Inc. (BOFI).

The fascinating sound of the bamboo organ, declared as the only surviving 19th century bamboo organ in the world and a national culture treasure by the government, will be celebrated this week in an international music festival featuring popular organists and artists from here and abroad.

The festival, now on its 32nd year, will open with a concert on Feb. 22 entitled Baroque Masters, showcasing Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 as performed by Anamaria De Guzman and Najib Ismail, Weiss’ Scarlatti sonatas and Suite No. 16 by guitar duo Sixto Roxas and Ruben Reyes, and Bach’s Cantata No. 52 by soloist Camille Molina with the Las Piñas Boys Choir.

Dalibor Miklavcic, an award-winning organist from Slovenia, will take turns with Salarza in playing the bamboo organ during the concert.

On Feb. 24, a concert featuring local artists like Rico J. Puno and Jacqui Magno will be held at the church courtyard.

Miklavcic will take center stage on Feb. 26 for the "Fiesta Musika" concert where he will play the music of Bach, Frescobaldi, Buxtehude and Dubois.

The next day, the festival will showcase masterpieces of the late national artist for music Lucio San Pedro. It will officially conclude on March 1 with a tribute to St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music.

Organizers said the weeklong festival costs about P2.5 million, mostly for artists’ fees and operating expenses.

Venus, who also heads the BOFI, said they understand that "it is inevitable to sacrifice cultural affairs during economic crisis."

Still, the priest said they would like to thank the government and other sectors for their unwavering support.


http://philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200702196305.htm

[LordCarnal]

Basilica Minore del Santo Niño


Pre-war interior of the church
- Notice the pulpit and the retablos in the transepts.

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/cebu/details/ku63715.jpg



The interiors were renovated in time for the celebration of the 400th year of the Christianization of the Philippines which was held in Cebu.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/beautifulChurches/ceiling_santonino.jpg




//

[lewdsaint]

The place of Dueñas in Philippine history
By Joy S. Lagos and Nazaria “Charie” Lagos

(Descendants of National Heroine Nazaria L. Lagos)

Did you know that the first Capital of the Philippines is Simsiman, “the Old Panay”?

Did you also know that the “heart” of the Philippines is Panay and the “heart” of Panay is the old town Laglag (Dueñas)? When the town Dueñas was still known as, “Laglag”, the towns of Janiuay, Lambunao, Calinog, Passi, San Enrique, Dingle and Pototan were once part of (Laglag) Dueñas.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e248/lewdsaint/panaymap.jpg

My favorite writer once said, “It is only through the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential and what is invisible to the eyes”.

Ramon L. Lagos, Sr., my grandfather and a local historian, devoted his heart and soul in writing numerous books which are of great value to present and future generation. He said, “the noble and heroic past should be appreciated by us, for the same holds the key to a better and brighter nation”. When my grandfather wrote the “History of Dueñas”, Simsiman occupied only a few lines in it. But Simsiman played an important part in the History of Panay and of the Philippines. We believe that its heroic past should be recorded as a precious legacy for the future generations.

The world is very different now. Sometimes the new generation dares to forget our past – our History. But I dare you all, not to forget, that we are the heirs of our forefathers. The torch has been passed to a new generation of Filipinos. In our hands will rest the final success or failure of our course.

Based on my grandfather's interview of some Negritoes in 1916, Tan Martin was the Chief of the Aetas in Panay from 1888 up to 1948. When he died, Goyang, an officer under Tan Martin and an accomplished Balitao Dancer, and Ati Elder Tiago, who assisted Tan Martin in his governmental affairs, were the direct descendants of the blue blood Negritoes that lived in Simsiman.

Historian Ramon L. Lagos Sr. got most of the rich sources of information about Simsiman through the old folks of Laglag (now Dueñas) like Bartolome Lagos, Juan dela Cruz Lagos and Segundo Lagos (husband of the National Heroine Nazaria Lagos) and other early ancestors.

Bartolome Lagos, founder of Dueñas, got his story from his immediate grandfather Apoy Benito Lagos, the Patriarch of Simsiman in 1595, and the first Gobernadorcillo of Laglag in 1600. Bartolome handed down his story about Simsiman to his son Segundo Lagos (husband of National Heroine Nazaria Lagos). Later in 1898, Segundo Lagos himself became President of Dueñas.

It is very discouraging to know that some foreign writers of our history were not able to make thorough research about our past. They stayed in the country in so short a time, mostly in the capital, and whatever data they obtained was either mythical or hearsay. Hopefully, with this write-up would be of great help to historians, researchers and students.

The Far East historians reveal that 25,000 years ago, the small black people of Asia immigrated to these islands. According to them our islands were once connected with the mainland of Asia. Later, after their arrival, the island bridges which connected us to Asia submerged. Thus, the small black people whom we called Aetas became the first inhabitants of our country. The Ati were called by the Spaniards “Negritoes” which means “little blacks”.

The Aetas while yet in Asia were educated with the art of the Chinese Government. They learned much of the Chinese culture. There were intermarriages between the Aetas and the Chinese. So, when these small black people immigrated to the Philippines, some were already Ati-Chinese mestizos. They brought with them Chinese civilization and no wonder when they settled in the Philippines they were able to organize a government similar to that of the Chinese. Their Chief of State was called Datu.

Before the year 1212, according to Ati Tan Martin and collaborated by Ati Elder Goyang, the whole Aetas of the Philippines were under Datu Pulpulan and at this time the Philippines was called by the aetas, “Mga pulo sang Ati”, or “Island of Aetas”. During those days the islands had no name except that the Aetas called the island “Island of Simsiman”. So goes the Old Panay or “Mal-am nga Panay” as termed by Elder Tiago. (To be continued)

* Based on the book “History of Simsiman” (the Old Panay) Copyright 1968 written by Ramon L. Lagos, Sr. who was the 6th son of National Heroine Nazaria P. Lagos. He was a former politician, pharmacist (a graduate of U.P Manila. Top 9 in the Pharmacy Board in the whole Philippines), businessman, philanthropist, former chairman of the Municipal Historical committee in Dueñas, and author of almost 20 books.

From : The News Today Iloilo (http://www.thenewstoday.info/2007/02/28/the.place.of.duenas.in.philippine.history.html)

[ivanhenares]

^^ There was no Philippine nation before the arrival of the Spaniards. Simsiman could not have been the first capital of the Philippines. It could have been the capital of a kingdom in Panay. Local historians tend to romanticize the roles their towns play in Philippine history. We have to be careful about making that mistake.

One source lists the following capitals of the Philippines:
Cebu City (San Miguel / Villa del Santissimo Nombre de Jesus): April 28, 1565 - 1571 [Under Spain]
Panay (Bamban): 1571 [Under Spain]
City of Manila (Intramuros / Tondo / Manila / Greater Manila): June 24, 1571 - July 17, 1948 [Under various governments]
Bacolor: 1762 - 1764 [Under Spain during the British occupation]
Pandi: December 1896 [Site of the Real de Kakarong de Sili Republic, Katipunan]
Naic: 1897 [Revolutionary Government]
Maragondon: 1897 [Revolutionary Government]
Talisay: 1897 [Revolutionary Government]
Biak-na-Bato, San Miguel: May 1897 - December 25, 1897 [Site of the Biak-na-Bato Republic, Revolutionary Government]
Kawit (Cavite el Viejo): June 1898 - September 1898 [Revolutionary Government]
Iloilo City: August 13, 1898 - December 10, 1898 [Spanish rule, under the last Governor-General]
Malolos: September 1898 - March 31, 1899 [First Republic]
San Isidro: March 31, 1899 - May, 9 1899 [First Republic]
Cabanatuan: May 9, 1899 - June 6, 1899 [First Republic]
Bamban: June 6 1899 - June 1899 [First Republic]
City of Tarlac: June 1899 - November 10, 1899 [First Republic]
Bayambang: November 10, 1899 - November 13, 1899 [First Republic]
Palanan: September 1900 - March 23, 1901 [First Republic]
Corregidor: December 25, 1941 - February 21, 1942 [Commonwealth during the Japanese invasion]
Washington DC, US: March 13, 1942 - October 1944 [Commonwealth in exile]
Tacloban City: October 23, 1944 - February 1945 [Commonwealth during liberation from the Japanese]
Baguio City: 1945 [Second Republic towards end of the Japanese occupation]
Nara, Japan: 1945 [Second Republic officials, prior to Japan's surrender]
Quezon City: July 17, 1948 - June 24, 1976
City of Manila: June 24, 1976 - Present
Clark: Proposed as site for new capital

[ivanhenares]

NEW HCS E-MAIL ADDRESS
The Heritage Conservation Society (HCS) has a new e-mail address.You can reach us at info@heritage.org.ph

* * *

NEW STUDENT CHAPTER
Congratulations to DLSU Liga Historia, the newest accredited student chapter of the HCS! We encourage students to form chapters of the HCS in their own colleges and universities. Existing organizations can also get themselves accredited as an HCS student chapter of their school. Please check out http://www.geocities.com/ivanhenares/HCS_Youth.pdf for more information.

* * *

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL AND APPLICATION
HCS is reminding all its old members to renew their annual membership with the organization. We are also inviting all interested individuals, institutions and corporations to become registered members of the HCS.

Corporate Patron (PHP50,000.00)
Individual Patron (PHP10,000.00)
Executive (PHP5,000.00)
Individual (PHP1,000.00)
Associate - below the age of 30 (PHP500.00)
Academic - undergraduate student (100.00)

Please issue check payments to HERITAGE CONSERVATION SOCIETY. Cash payments could be deposited to HCS Current Account: 8105-8153-61, BPI-M H del Pilar Branch. Please send to Heritage Conservation Society, Museo Pambata Compound, Roxas Boulevard, Ermita, Manila or Fax to 522-2497 or e-mail to info@heritage.org.ph

* * *

MEMBERS' BLOGS
Ivan About Town http://ivanhenares.blogspot.com (Latest update on Baguio Flower Festival/La Trinidad Strawberry Fields)
HCS Database of Philippine Built Heritage Resources http://heritageconservation.wordpress.com
HCS Database of Heritage Articles & Columns http://preservephilippineheritage.blogs.friendster.com
Old Manila Walks (Ivan ManDy) http://oldmanilawalks.blogspot.com
Essays on Filipino Identity (Butch Zialcita) http://www.dsa-ateneo.net/fzialcita

* * *

NEWS FROM OUR FRIENDS

Decorative Arts Workshop
The Lopez Memorial Museum would like to inform you that the Decorative Arts Workshop to be facilitated by Ms Tats Manahan will be on March 7, 9 and 12, 9am-4pm. The workshop will focus on the use of decorative techniques such as estufado, tisu or intaglio and marbleizing. Taking off from the encarnacion process which is used in the Philippines to create flesh tones in religious sculptures, Ms Manahan will teach both the Italian and American methods of using the processes to create decorative works.

Ms Manahan is a surface designer who has done residential and private spaces in the Philippines, Singapore and San Francisco. Her work was recently featured in a September 2006 issue of Architectural Digest. Ms Manahan's involvement in the restoration of Gota de Leche also received recognition from UNESCO for Heritage Conservation in Asia. She was mentored by JoAnne Day, foremost American decorative artist in San Francisco and New York, and specialized in Stucco Marmorino, Lacca Veneziana, Scagliola at Centrp Europeo per Formazione degli Artigiami in Venice, Italy under Prof Mario Fogliata.

The workshop will be held at the Tambunting Villonco Hall of the National Museum of the Philippines. A film featuring the work of a Filipino craftsman will be shown. Included is a brief introduction/lecture on the history of decorative arts apart from the hands-on sessions. The fee of Php5000.00 includes materials. A certificate will be given at the end of the course to those who have successfully completed the workshop.

The Lopez Memorial Museum and Library is a subsidiary of the Lopez Foundation, Inc. Please visit our website at www.lopezmuseum.org.ph

* * *

ABOUT THE HCS
The HCS is a non-stock, non-profit organization advocating the protection and preservation of our built heritage, cultural and historical sites and settings, thus upholding the Philippine Constitution that heritage and culture should be developed and preserved for national identity.

VISION
A Filipino society that values and preserves its cultural heritage in order to instill pride of place and strengthen Philippine national identity.

MISSION
The HCS will be the prime mover and advocate for the preservation of Philippine built heritage resources in order to contribute towards the establishment of a Society that preserves and values its cultural heritage through advocacy and volunteerism, project implementation, education and information.

[ivanhenares]

I got this text just now...

1. Bulacan culture lovers have created TASK FORCE PAMANA to address the issue of vanishing old houses. The first meeting will be on March 8.
2. We have another concern and this is the project of Dean Barbers, PTA GM who is building a sports complex beside the walls of Intramuros. All these stupid undertakings done out of material selfishness must be put to a STOP! Let's do something to arrest this new travesty on Philippine history and culture.

[Ang_Bantayanon]

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL AND APPLICATION
HCS is reminding all its old members to renew their annual membership with the organization. We are also inviting all interested individuals, institutions and corporations to become registered members of the HCS.

Corporate Patron (PHP50,000.00)
Individual Patron (PHP10,000.00)
Executive (PHP5,000.00)
Individual (PHP1,000.00)
Associate - below the age of 30 (PHP500.00)
Academic - undergraduate student (100.00)

^^ Those in the provinces who would like to become members of HCS, how will they do it? Does HCS have local chapters like, say, Cebu? :) Please send us details. Thanks.

[Ang_Bantayanon]

@lewdsaint, forgive my ignorance but who is Nazaria Lagos and how did she become a heroine?

my ignorance and those of other people is due to the fact that we only study Manila-centric history.

perhaps (im guessing) Laglag was one of those places established by the so-called "ten Bornean datus" which have long been discredited for being a hoax.

in Cebu, we also have something to that effect. an "historian" wrote a historical account known as "Aginid tawarik niining bayok" which has also been discredited as a work of a creative mind.

that's the problem in history, as they say, when records can't be found, it is all but conjecture. nagtatanong lang po.

[ivanhenares]

^^ Those in the provinces who would like to become members of HCS, how will they do it? Does HCS have local chapters like, say, Cebu? :) Please send us details. Thanks.

Yes, please contact info@heritage.org.ph for membership. We also encourage the formation of local chapters. We have a chapter in Carcar, the Carcar Heritage Conservation Society headed by Jerry Alfafara. I'll have to check in other towns and cities.

[ivanhenares]

2. We have another concern and this is the project of Dean Barbers, PTA GM who is building a sports complex beside the walls of Intramuros. All these stupid undertakings done out of material selfishness must be put to a STOP! Let's do something to arrest this new travesty on Philippine history and culture.

Got a follow up text, it's being built in the Club Intramuros area, in the driving range very close to the walls.

[Pinoy_ako]

^^

It is being built just beyond the walls of a National Shrine - Fort Santiago. Outside the country, this is tantamount to desecration of a National Shrine.

[ivanhenares]

^^ The follow-up message I received states: the project, worth PHP85M, was done despite the disapproval of the PTA Board to whom Barbers reports to, and a stoppage order issued by the Intramuros Administration. I'll post photos as soon as they are sent to me. I hope Barbers does not forget that Intramuros and its walls are protected by PD1616!

Rumor has it, he is persisting because of the 20% you know what!

[TheAvenger]

Actually I have taken this photos of constructions beside the wall of Intramuros and I think I have included in the photos I have posted in the Thread ""Ciudad Morada Intramuros " on 21st February 2007

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s307/jaime_makabayan_2007/intra48.jpg

The constructions of the Sports complex is at the back of this building of National Shrine, and fronting that road from Anda Circle to Del Pan Bridge, I think that road is Roxas Blvd Extension.





http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s307/jaime_makabayan_2007/intra49.jpg

This is the construction beside the Wall of Intramuros / Fort Santiago just behind the National Shrine building. I was taking the photos at the back of Fort Santiago's National Shrine bldg.



http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s307/jaime_makabayan_2007/intra50.jpg





http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s307/jaime_makabayan_2007/intra51.jpg





http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s307/jaime_makabayan_2007/intra52.jpg

.

[ivanhenares]

^^ Oh my God!

@TheAvenger, I'll post these photos in my blog so people realize how close it is to the walls. We'll alert the media.

[TheAvenger]

^^ Oh my God!

@TheAvenger, I'll post these photos in my blog so people realize how close it is to the walls. We'll alert the media.


Oh yes. thanks

[Lili]

That construction of the Sports complex in Intramuros adjacent to its walls is so wrong! Someone should enjoin that continued construction. Why was that allowed?!! :rant:

[overtureph]

I hope a case be filed against this monstrosity and desecration.

[lewdsaint]

NAZARIA LAGOS
Date of Birth: August 28, 1851
Place of Birth: Dueñas, Iloilo
Date of Death: January 27, 1945

Nazaria Lagos is one of the women in the Philippine Revolution

- She allowed the use of her house as a secret meeting place of the revolutionary leaders of Iloilo. Her family's hacienda at Angaro was also used as a food and supply depot of the rebels. Her father supervised the depot.

- She helped build a hospital for the rebels by providing bamboo bed, chairs, tables, shelves, cabinets, and clothing materials. She cared for the wounded and sick Filipino soldiers even after she lost two of her children during a smallpox epidemic. The Red Cross helped her by soliciting food and clothes.

- She sewed the Philippine flag that was raised in the Dueñas town square on June 12, 1899, the first anniversary of the proclamation of independence.

- She was also known as Florence Nightingale of Panay.


@lewdsaint, forgive my ignorance but who is Nazaria Lagos and how did she become a heroine?

[ivanhenares]

That construction of the Sports complex in Intramuros adjacent to its walls is so wrong! Someone should enjoin that continued construction. Why was that allowed?!! :rant:

It was not allowed. Mr. Barbers was after the grease. Sigh!

[Wonderboy]

That's just wrong. Very wrong.

I hope HCS, Intramuros Administration, and the media can do something about this. Such a shame.

I'm still busy with a lot of things but that's not an excuse. I'll do my part.

[ivanhenares]

^^ Jeff, what happened to the wood pala sa Escolta? Any updates? Dorie forwarded your message to John Silva. Has he responded?

[Lili]

^^ The follow-up message I received states: the project, worth PHP85M, was done despite the disapproval of the PTA Board to whom Barbers reports to, and a stoppage order issued by the Intramuros Administration. I'll post photos as soon as they are sent to me. I hope Barbers does not forget that Intramuros and its walls are protected by PD1616!

Rumor has it, he is persisting because of the 20% you know what!

What is your next step now? Do you have some sort of legal fund or legal team to file for a temporary restraining order and hopefully, a permanent injunction against this construction?

How do you enforce that stoppage order and PD 1616? Why isn't Mayor Lito Atienza doing anything about this? Obviously, since construction has been under way, they have obtained permits to build this structure.

[ivanhenares]

What is your next step now? Do you have some sort of legal fund or legal team to file for a temporary restraining order and hopefully, a permanent injunction against this construction?

How do you enforce that stoppage order and PD 1616? Why isn't Mayor Lito Atienza doing anything about this? Obviously, since construction has been under way, they have obtained permits to build this structure.

We start with media. As soon as we get copies of the PTA and IA decisions, the real noise begins.

Mayor Atienza? Hmmmmm, who knows, he might have a part of the grease. And for someone who plans to build shopping malls in Intramuros, what's a sports complex?

[Wonderboy]

^^ Jeff, what happened to the wood pala sa Escolta? Any updates? Dorie forwarded your message to John Silva. Has he responded?

The woods will be thrown in a dumpsite tonight. Several people responded via SMS and they told me that I document (take photographs) instead. John Silva hasn't responded yet.

[kyle@1008]

We start with media. As soon as we get copies of the PTA and IA decisions, the real noise begins.

Mayor Atienza? Hmmmmm, who knows, he might have a part of the grease. And for someone who plans to build shopping malls in Intramuros, what's a sports complex?

can any of us do anything to help?? I mean if its intramuros,.. I'm willing to do a lot of things... :colgate:

[Wonderboy]

^^ Send me your e-mail address, Kyle via PM. I'll add you on my list so you can forward the e-mail to your friends. That way, the conservation will keep you updated as well.

I'm not sure if there will be a protest and I mean out in the streets (if it's Intramuros, protest within the walls) but we'll keep you posted and hope that you will support this cause.

[weirdo]

nakakabaliw naman tong balita. di lang pala sila expert magwasak ng mahahalagang buildings. nagtatayo pa sila ng basura sa bakuran ng intramuros. pera talaga. sana malugi tas ipa demolish.