Government engineers for heritage

If you think modern engineering and heritage conservation are incompatible, think again.

Yesterday, municipal and city engineers under the jurisdiction of the Province of Cebu completed the first of a series of training-workshops on the conservation of heritage structures.

The important capacity-building event was jointly sponsored by the Cebu Archdiocesan Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church (CACCHC), the Province of Cebu and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

Following the earthquake and typhoon damage sustained by churches in Cebu and Bohol, the CACCHC realized that the time had come to work closely with government engineers in Cebu who are always the first responders when disasters strike and damage heritage structures in the towns and cities where they work. And, if they had no proper training on colonial-era building and construction techniques, heritage structures might be haphazardly rehabilitated or restored.

After two meetings with Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, head of the Cebu Provincial Heritage Sites Commission, the training finally kicked off last Tuesday, with six speakers on different aspects of heritage materials conservation from Manila and three from Cebu. NCCA graciously supported the travel and honoraria of the six speakers from Manila, comprising Architect Rey Inovero and Engr. Larry Cruz of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), Architect Joy Mananghaya of the Unesco Philipppines Commission, lawyer Kay Malilong-Isberto of the NCCA National Committee on Monuments and Sites (NCMS) and Dr. Ruel Ramirez, structural engineer and also a member of the NCCA NCMS. The Cebu speakers were Architect Melva Rodriguez-Java of the University of San Carlos Conservation Heritage Studios (CHERISH), Fr. Brian Brigoli, newly-appointed chair of the ACCHC, and yours truly.

For two days, the engineers were immersed in both theory and method of heritage conservation with Architect Java setting the tone on the first day by presenting a diagnostic report on the earthquake damage to the churches and other monuments in Cebu. The report had been prepared together with Dr. Raimund Becker-Ritterspach, an architect and planner based in Germany who has been assigned to USC Cherish under the German Senior Experts Service.

For all except a few of the 70 participants, which included engineers and masons from the Provincial Engineering Office, this was their first time to know the required mixtures for quicklime, sand and a little cement, used for plastering or pointing gaps in coral stone structures.

Architect Inovero ably guided then through the process of crafting the right mixture. They were also taught how to clean coral stone walls and kill plant growth that if left unattended would cause tremendous damage. Architect Mananghaya conducted a workshop on timber and possible solutions to wood deterioration. Engr. Cruz, on the other hand, sent a representative to discuss destructive as well as non-destructive methods of sampling materials for chemical analysis.

The training came in the wake of the consultation last Monday by the NHCP regarding the assistance to churches and other structures damaged by last year’s earthquake. The churches of Carcar, Sibonga, Argao, Dalaguete, Boljoon, Samboan and the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño will be attended to by the NHCP, beginning with the conduct of detailed engineering studies (DES) to the tune of at least P2 million to be carried out on these churches as well as on Museo Sugbo, Fort San Pedro and Magellan’s kiosk. I also requested to specifically include the Magellan Monument in Punta Engaño, Lapu-Lapu City, while Fr. Brigoli requested the inclusion of the church in Dumanjug, whose belfry, the tallest in Cebu, was damaged during the Feb. 6, 2012 and last year’s earthquake.

Nothing proceeds unless the DES, which takes a maximum of 90 days, is finished. During the meeting, NHCP also presented the results of laser scans of church structures in Bohol that were also assigned to them for restoration. The laser scanning will be carried out shortly on the structures identified under the NHCP in Cebu.

Back to the training, the next batch will be for private engineering contractors in Cebu because many of them are usually tapped by priests for their restoration project or renovation projects. It is time to infuse heritage conservation to this important group. The third batch will be the priests themselves, many of whom will need to understand the behavior of coral stone, timber, paints and other materials in heritage churches assigned to them. With the vibrancy of the CACCHC under Fr. Brigoli and the support of government as well as the private sector, a community of heritage-aware engineers is slowly rising in Cebu.