Post Office conservation plan in the works prior to blaze

MANILA, Philippines — If not for last week’s fire that reduced a lot of history into rubble, the government would have started a long-stalled conservation management plan for the Manila Central Post Office building.

Interviewed by The STAR last Friday, Philippine Postal Corp. (PhlPost) marketing specialist Maria Abigail Tarroza revealed that the National Economic and Development Authority has allotted P153 million to preserve one of Manila’s prized historical landmarks.

“This year, we are supposed to rehabilitate some parts of the building. We already had a groundbreaking back in 2018,” said Tarroza, adding that prior to the fire, PhlPost management was already discussing when to publicize the big plans for the heritage building.

One of them was establishing a museum at one of the two lunettes — the half-circular structures found on opposite ends of the iconic structure, she said.

Declared as a National Historical Landmark and an Important Cultural Property, the whole building was consumed by a fire that started in the basement before midnight of May 21. When it was over 30 hours later on May 23, the Bureau of Fire Protection estimated the property damage at P300 million.

The Government Service Insurance System stated that the heritage building is insured for P604 million, and assured PhlPost of a loan for its reconstruction.

Last Friday, Tarroza joined the vigil expressing solidarity for the ravaged building, where attendees offered flowers and posted their “love letters” in the form of anecdotes, poems and sketches that mostly recalled memories of their visits.

“You’ve helped us reach our loved ones with our letters. We hope you rise again with the help of our little prayers,” read one note.

Tarroza recalled her once being a guide for the postal heritage tours, showing off the 14 huge Ionic columns of the building’s façade before leading visitors through its grand hallways and into the various PhlPost offices.

The Manila Central Post Office building, being a center for storage and dispatch of packages and correspondence, has a “direct communication link” with Luneta (Rizal Park) that served as the center of government during the American period and Escolta, once the financial district of Manila.

In a statement, heritage conservation group Manileños for Heritage or M4H called on the public to “come together in forming an ad hoc panel that would assist and partner with the (PhlPost) and the concerned national and local agencies in the holistic, participative, timely and acceptable restoration of the Manila Central Post Office building.”

Heritage advocate Stephen John Pamorada said he hoped the vigil that he and other supporters organized would send a strong message to the government that shall “keep an eye” on plans to rehabilitate the heritage building.