History books on Cebu towns, cities launched

Nearly eight years after the project started,  the Cebu provincial government finished printing a collection of books about the history of the province’s towns and cities.

Copies of the  books –- one volume for each locality –- are displayed at the Capitol’s mini-library on the third floor of the Legislative Building.

The book collection was launched last Monday  in time for  Capitol’s 446th founding anniversary celebration.
Acting Gov. Agnes Magpale, who was then assigned as chair of the committee on history writing, called the project a  “labor of love.”

“I could have given up,” she told reporters.

Each local government  unit will be given 200 copies of their respective town or city history, she said.

It was Governor Gwendolyn Garcia who signed an agreement between Cebu Province and the University of San Carlos-Cebuano Studies Center in October 2007.

USC was commissioned to write the history of 53 local governments, including the cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu, Cebu Province and the Provincial Capitol.

The project cost was pegged at P11 million and was to be completed in two years.

Project Manager Rene Alburo sought  a one-year extension in 2010 since not all writers were able to submit their manuscripts on time. Magpale said they met a lot of bumps along the way.

Ambitious
She said some local chief executives had objections on the way some of the pieces were written because it “was derogatory to their families.”

“But you cannot help it. When you write history, you can’t expect everything to be positive about certain people,” Magpale said.

She said some writers even quit the project in the middle of it.

At the onset, many of her friends told her that the project was too ambitious. She said they anticipated these problems and  didn’t think the  provincial government could finish it.

In the first quarter of 2011, USC finally submitted their manuscripts. These were reviewed by all the history committee members.

By the last quarter of the same year, all manuscripts were given to the Women In Literary Arts (WILA), a group contracted to proofread and lay out the project.

Since the target book launching was in August 2012, the printing was awarded to Mandaue-based Clint Kamms printing press in June of the same year.

However the project was not launched on that date.

Project cost
At the time, Garcia was suspended by the Department of Interior and Local Government due to charges of grave abuse of authority filed by the late vice governor Gregorio Sanchez Jr.

Later on, the history committee decided to update the books to include the results of the 2013 local elections.

In that contest, the gubernatorial race was won by the incumbent Hilario Davide III.

The launch date was moved to August 2015.

“The project cost was initially shouldered by the provincial government, but later on the private sector came to the rescue since printing costs had increased,” Magpale said.

Last Jan.  29, 2015, Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI), through its president Roberto Aboitiz, donated P2.068 million while USC, through its president Fr. Dionisio Miranda, SVD, gave P3.6 million.

Delay
Magpale denied allegations that  the change of administration had delayed the project launch.

She said the project was already  delayed during Garcia’s term.

Magpale said Governor Davide, who succeeded Garcia, was “all for the project.”

“There was only a two-year delay during Jun-jun’s (Davide) term. We still had to look for funds,” she said.