The Capitol will be turned into a museum if the executive and legislative offices of Cebu province will be moved to Balamban. | Morexette Marie B. Erram
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu Provincial Capitol, situated along Escario Street, Cebu City, could be turned into a museum.
This will happen if the current administration plans to push through with the transfer of both executive and legislative offices to Balamban town.
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, in a press conference on Thursday, November 5, clarified her previous announcement that she was planning to transfer the seat of power to Balamban, a first-class municipality that borders Cebu City to the west.
Read: Garcia pushes for transfer of Cebu Provincial Government to Balamban
Garcia said they would only be relocating offices of the executive and legislative departments of the provincial government, and not the structure itself.
“You can never move the Capitol. I have no intentions of moving the Capitol (building). It is in the best place it could possibly be…in the entire country, and in the entire Southeast Asia,” said Garcia.
Garcia on Wednesday, November 4, announced they were planning to erect a government center, whose costs are pegged at around P550 million, in Balamban.
Watch: Governor Garcia discusses plan to turn Capitol into a museum if …
The proposed government center will house key offices of all departments under the provincial government.
When asked what will happen to the Capitol if vacated, Garcia said she was planning to partly convert it into a museum.
“Our priority right now is preservation. We could convert it into a mixed-use development or (parts of it) as a museum,” she explained.
“But considering that this is a heritage site, we need to ask the consent from the the NHCP (National Historical Commission of the Philippines),” she said.
The Cebu Provincial Capitol was built in 1938.
Aside from easing traffic in Cebu City, Garcia earlier said that transferring their offices to Balamban would mean convenience for the province’s constituents. /dbs