The 300-year-old fence of the Sandiego Ancestral Home before and after it was damaged by a wayward truck on Sept. 13, 2019. |Photos courtesy of Val Sandiego
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael “Mike” Rama, who also chairs the city’s Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission (CHAC), Â said City Hall will not turn a blind eye on the destruction of the centuries-old stone fence of the Sandiego Ancestral Home.
Rama told CDN Digital in a phone interview on Friday, September 13, that he was saddened by the destruction of the structure, as it played an important part in preserving the history and heritage of Cebuanos.
He said that the Sandiego Ancestral House is among the few remaining well-preserved Spanish colonial homes in downtown Cebu City that ought to be preserved.
As the chairman of CHAC, Rama said the incident was a wake-up call for the city as it showed how vulnerable these centuries-old structures are.
The Sandiego Ancestral Home was built in the 1675, while the fence was built early in the 1900s. It has served as a destination for heritage tours and contains various heirlooms from passed on from least four generations of the Sandiego family.
Val Sandiego, the current owner of the house, said restoring the fence that was hit by a wayward truck on Friday morning, September 13, 2019, will be difficult.
Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama
Rama said he will look into how the CHAC and the city can help restore the fence.
“If the house was registered in the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), there will be protocols to follow,” said Rama.
Rama added he would make sure this incident will not be forgotten by the public because the destruction of heritage sites is a loss to Cebu City, which is considered as a heritage city by the NHCP.
“We will make an issue out of this,” said Rama.
The vice mayor also assured that he will take the concerns of the heritage site to Mayor Edgardo Labella to find out protective measures the city can do for the site.
Sandiego earlier urged the Cebu city government to consider measures that would protect heritage sites in the city from similar incidents./elb
Read more: Wayward truck rams, destroys Sandiego Ancestral Home’s 300-year-old stone fence