Last week, I had the privilege of addressing representatives from the municipalities and cities belonging to Clusters 8, 9 and 10 for a workshop on
Conservation Management Planning. This covered Borbon, Sogod, Catmon, Caracar, Sibonga, Argao, Dalaguete, Alcoy, Boljoon, Oslob, and Ronda. The workshop was conducted by the Committee on Sites, Relics and Structures of the Cebu Provincial Tourism and Heritage Council.
Mr. Ruel Rigor gave a recap of the heritage caravan experience that marked the start of the province-wide campaign for heritage awareness in Cebu. Architect Melva Rodriguez-Java, the head of the committee, gave an overview on Conservation Management Planning. Architect Carmencita Solis, a professor at the University of San Carlos and an urban planning expert, gave a talk on valuation of heritage resources and statement of significance.
Ms. Gelena Asis, a professor at the University of San Jose Recoletos and an expert on tourism, lectured on an alternative approach to cultural and heritage tourism. Professor Lourdes Montenegro, also of the University of San Carlos, spoke about the economics of heritage. She pointed out that the tools used in environment economics could be used to analyze the costs and benefits of heritage preservation.
I spoke on cultural heritage laws and what the powers and duties of local government units are with respect to preservation of heritage. What followed after all the lectures was a lively discussion on what the participants had learned and how these were applicable to the state of affairs in their municipalities or cities.
One of the common concerns was the preservation of baluartes or watchtowers found in private lands. These watchtowers are part of the fortification system conceptualized and built by Father Julian Bermejo to protect coastal towns in Cebu from the attacks of pirates and slave raiders from Mindanao. Sadly, some of these are being used as bars, houses, even pigsties, without thought to their heritage value. I have no answer to the question as it would entail a study of the nature of the watchtowers, who owned them, and what the conditions were for the transfer of the ownership of the land where they stand to their current owners.
The second most common question was: "How do (we) ensure that heritage projects are continued in case of a change in local government officials?" This is a recurring problem for heritage workers who have to deal with insecure local officials who discontinue a heritage project despite its obvious benefits to the general welfare simply because it was their predecessors who started it. I answered that it would help if they put the measures to protect heritage enacted as local ordinances as everyone is mandated to obey the law. My suggestion is just one step and I hope I get more ideas from others as to how this problem can be solved.
"If you want to do something good, then just do it!" (or something similar) was the campaign slogan of a Sangguniang Kabataan candidate I sat beside while waiting for my ring binding to be done at a copy shop. I could not agree more. This could be the battle cry of Cebuanos who care about cultural heritage. Luckily, Cebu has Governor Gwen Garcia, who deeply cares about cultural heritage and has put in place a province-wide initiative to preserve it. I only wish that other places in the Philippines had someone like her.
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Email: lkemalilong@yahoo.com