Be a heritage vigilante!
http://news.inq7.net/lifestyle/index.php?index=2&story_id=25948
Jan 30, 2005
By Augusto Villalon
THE COUNTRY needs more watchers to keep our heritage from vanishing at the rate that it does nowadays.
If you want to do your part in preserving our culture, here are some suggestions on what to do to contribute your bit for the Philippines.
To value your heritage, you must learn about it. Join a walking tour of one of Manila’s heritage areas.
Go to museums and take a good look at what they’ve got. The Central Bank Gold Collection at the Metropolitan Museum (Roxas Boulevard, Manila) is stunning.
The Museum of the Filipino People at the National Museum in Manila presents Philippine culture in an engaging, interactive learning atmosphere which is a lot of fun.
Get a feel of how it was to be an ilustrado in the Spanish colonial era. Check out colonial lifestyle museums like Casa Manila in Intramuros, Bahay Nakpil in Quiapo, Museo De la Salle in Dasmariñas (Cavite), Casa Gorordo in Cebu City, Balay Negrense in Silay (Negros Occidental).
The idea behind taking a close look at the fabulous collections in each of these house museums is to realize the excellence of Filipino craftsmen and to see that we are heirs to a rich tradition, not to continue the fallacy that anything Spanish in the Philippines is evil, as the "Museum of Horrors" in Intramuros mistakenly perpetuates.
Feel Philippine greatness. Travel to a Philippine World Heritage site to experience being in one of the great places of the planet.
World Heritage sites must pass exacting Unesco standards, which attest to their global uniqueness and universal value, making these truly outstanding places which make one proud to be Filipino.
Five of the over 800 World Heritage Sites are in the Philippines : 1) Tubbataha Reef Marine Park in Palawan, 2) the Baroque churches of the Philippines, which include San Agustin in Intramuros, the churches of Paoay in Ilocos Norte, Santa Mar¡a in Ilocos Sur, Miag-ao in Iloilo, 3) Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordillera, 4) the Historic City of Vigan and 5) Puerto Princesa Subterranean National Park in Palawan.
Monitor
Take a look at how our World Heritage sites are being maintained. Under Unesco agreement, the Philippine government is responsible for the maintenance of its World Heritage sites.
How to see if they are being maintained properly?
Remember that as much as possible these sites should remain in their original condition. That means no alteration or remodeling for buildings. Natural sites should remain in their pristine condition. Inside protected sites, no setting up of fast-food and souvenir stands is allowed.
Any repairs to protected buildings should be done following the same old-fashioned methods that constructed them, unlike many churches that now replace timber trusses with steel and the roof with galvanized iron. Its effects on the old structural system are as disastrous and inappropriate as plugging a hole in a leather shoe with plastic.
Looking around is the best way to develop an appreciation for heritage.
Aside from looking, you should develop an appreciation through all of your senses-taste, touch sound, and smell. That is because heritage is not confined just to architecture and urban planning, but includes all of the expressions of Filipino creativity like poetry and literature, music, dance, the visual arts, and even everyday stuff like fashion, folk art, and cuisine. Nor does something of heritage value have to be old.
Heritage towns and their architecture simply are the packages where heritage is developed, as a bahay-na-bato with all of its contents are heritage of the Spanish colonial lifestyle.
The many developments sprouting in suburban Manila, with exotic names like Citt… Italia, are bound to become 21st century heritage when our grandchildren reach their time.
Now comes the vigilance part. If you see a historical place that seems to have been overlooked, damaged or poorly maintained, blow the whistle!!
Are the changes appropriate? Do the new designs complement or damage the heritage architecture?
Document it with pictures, sketch maps, and write descriptions of whatever you think is not right in the place. Submit the information to the Committee on Monuments and Sites of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (fax 02 527 2191, email info@ncca.gov.ph). They know what to do and whom to contact.
Be vigilant about development around a heritage site. Rouse public interest or alarm over a heritage site that is under threat. Heritage, after all, belongs to everyone, so each Filipino has a right to how it is preserved.
Not all heritage vigilante stories are success stories. The destruction of the Jai Alai building in Manila is an example. While a huge public outcry was going on, the building was demolished right under the protestors’ noses.
Carcar, Tayabas examples
Things have gotten better since the Jai Alai days. For instance, take recent developments in the heritage town of Carcar in Cebu.
After a long, patient and vigilant campaign by the Carcar Heritage Conservation Society (CHCS) to mainstream conservation activities with local government policies, Mayor Barcenas of Carcar issued in December 2004 an Executive Order which formed the Carcar Municipal Tourism and Heritage Council.
Council members are a mix of ex-officio officials, conservationists and local property owners, a good cross-section of Carcaranon stakeholders, with the support of Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia and Rep. Eddie Gullas.
The council is the first step in bridging the gap between government officials and conservationists in preserving the heritage character of Carcar.
Malagonlong Bridge in Tayabas, Quezon, recently made it to the Inquirer’s front page. Respecting the heritage value of the 1840-bridge, town officials ordered the re-routing of a highway to bypass the bridge.
Officials now plan to construct a fine-dining restaurant on top of the bridge. Purists ask, Is a restaurant appropriate? What about its history of being one link in the road network developed by the Spanish to transport goods to Southern Luzon? What about its significance as a feat of engineering?
Maybe the restaurant could have an exhibit that makes people aware of the historic and heritage impact of the bridge while serving Tayabas cuisine. Filipinos are not a heritage-conscious people, so if food will draw people to the bridge to experience heritage, then so be it.
However, here is a word to the heritage vigilante about the bridge. Restaurants were built on top of the Intramuros walls, and their foundations dug into the stones and waste pipes imbedded into the centuries-old walls. That is totally inappropriate. It permanently damages the heritage structure.
An appropriate restaurant would set tables under umbrellas on top of the bridge. As they do in similar restaurants atop similar heritage structures in Latin America, no cooking is done.
If the heritage watcher sees inappropriate construction happening in Malagonlong Bridge (or in any other heritage structure for that matter), then be a good vigilante and blow the whistle.
E-mail your feedback to afvillalon@hotmail.com
