I am happy to report that an important step in saving at least the front section of the Patria de Cebu was accomplished when Archbishop Jose S. Palma met with members of the Archdiocesan Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church (ACCHC).
Stating that he was enlightened by the historical research on the Patria de Cebu, the shepherd of Cebu’s Roman Catholics nonetheless made it clear that as a pastor of the church who would go back to his hometown in Iloilo when his retirement is up, he really had no personal biases on the proposed project. That is, there can be no one more objective in looking at the matter than the archbishops himself who is not from Cebu.
The next step is now to convince the archdiocesan committees charged with project (Administration and Temporalities) and, most especially, Cebu Landmasters, Inc., ( CLI) whose proposal to develop that vital piece of property once occupied by the Palacio Episcopal of the colonial era, won their nod.
A meeting has been scheduled soon with CLI to hopefully convince it to save a section of the Patria de Cebu from demolition. Its owners, Joe Soberano and his wife, Marose Borromeo-Soberano, are no strangers to heritage advocacy and it is hoped that a compromise will be reached soon.
There was, on our side as advocates, never any issue of saving the entire Patria complex. Rather, a compromise had to be reached given the future needs of the Church and the present need to save a part of its historicity.
I cannot say the same for the Cebu Provincial Resource Center, that proposed 20-storey structure whose fate has finally reached the Provincial Board. I was in conversation with a high official of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) the other day over other heritage concerns but the official wasted no time to first inquire on the status of the development project. The NHCP, without doubt, is very concerned about the outcome of this ill-planned building that will look down on Cebu’s architectural gem, the pre-war Cebu Capitol Building.
Not only is it ill-planned but it is also ill-timed, coming in the wake of the decision of Gov. Hilario Davide III to slide down to the position of vice-governor in next year’s election and thus leaving whoever will be the next governor with the task of finding ways to ensure that his so-called 20-storey legacy will have enough private sector occupancy to pay for the gargantuan debt it entails. That is, if the Provincial Board and then, later, the Bangko Sentral Monetary Board, will approve the 1.3 Billion-peso loan being applied for with the Development Bank of the Philippines.
And if all these protocols fail to halt this project, there is at least the voice of the Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission (CHAC) of Cebu City whose chair, Vice Ma-yor Edgar Labella, has said clearly that no permit from it has been obtained for this building of such magnitude that will brood over a beloved national historical landmark inside Cebu City.
Other than these heritage sensibilities, I have already quoted former Provincial Board Member Babbit Ybañez in a previous column, about the tremendous problem of traffic and the unfairness of public sector competing with the private sector through this building and shall thus not belabor it here.
Suffice to say that if only Davide had vision enough, this monstrosity would not have appeared like an alien amidst a lush and historic landscape. If only he would be enlightened in the manner of our dear archbishop. Or is that too much to wish for?