Garcia vows funds for Toledo museum

CEBU - Governor Gwendolyn Garcia assured Toledo City officials that she would help in the establishment of a museum there as part of her advocacy in preserving local culture and heritage.

“We are encouraging this. The LGUs should have a place for their artifacts para makit-an sa mga bata,” Garcia said, adding that she would help Toledo in the same way she had helped the town of Tuburan.

Garcia explained that museums are important because these “serve as mirrors of the past.”

Tuburan is the first town of Cebu to open its own municipal museum last April with the joint efforts of Mayor Constancio Suezo, Vice Mayor Rosa Marie Suezo, and Councilor Marie Tabotabo. The museum is on the second floor of the old municipio.

The old municipal building is originally the residence of Don Fausto Tabotabo. He was the mayor of Tuburan from 1869 to 1871 and from 1879-1885.

Garcia provided the counterpart funds to complement the town’s appropriations for the museum, this was learned.

Last August, the provincial government opened the “Museo Sugbo” along M.J.Cuenco Avenue. The old building of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center was converted into the Museo.

It has four galleries, each showcasing a period in the province’s political history. There are collections of chinaware that once were common in Cebu, a Christmas card from President Manuel Luis Quezon written in Sinugbuano, a copy of the “Ang Suga” which is the first Cebuano newspaper, and a small spy camera called “The Brownie” used in the Japanese-American War. — Garry B. Lao/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)