Cagayan town wants 116-year-old lighthouse declared a historic site

SANTA ANA, Cagayan – This northern coastal town, described to be one of the “Boracays of the North,” has renewed its bid for the national government to declare its 116-year-old lighthouse a cultural and heritage site in an effort to save one of such remaining Spanish-era structures in the country from further ruin.

Mayor Norberto Victor Rodriguez said their long-pending bid for the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCAA) and the National Historical Institute (NHI) to declare Cape Engaño, one of the 27 lighthouses built during the 400-year Spanish occupation, a historical and heritage site, has again been brought to the fore in the wake of the edifice’s deteriorating state.

The lighthouse, now under the lighthouse division of the Department of Transportation and Communications, used to be the “guiding light” to sailors and fishermen, including Spanish and Chinese merchants plying the Batanes and Babuyan Claro seas and the Pacific side of Northern Luzon.

 “The alarming state of the lighthouse has awakened our consciousness to find ways to preserve it not only as a part of our local history but also as a part of the country’s cultural heritage,” said Dindo Danao, who hails from this northernmost Cagayan town.

Though still sturdy, the lighthouse, also known as El Faro de Cabo Engaño, has been vandalized and many structures in its compound no longer have roofs, exposing them to the elements.

“The NHI was astounded by what they saw in the lighthouse and said that it would take at least P5 million to rehabilitate it. Instead, they suggested that the building’s present condition be maintained to prevent its further deterioration,” said Gloria Jamora­bon, the town’s tourism operations assistant officer.

Earlier, the Santa Ana-based Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, which is attached to the Office of the President, said there have been talks with the Spanish government for possible support in reconstructing the fortress-like structure, made of bricks of volcanic sources and which stands on volcanic rock.