The management team tasked to oversee the restoration of the Basilica del Sto. Niño has sought City Hall’s approval for a three-month closure of Osmeña Boulevard to enable them to expedite the repairs on the bell tower which crumbled in last year’s earthquake.
Fr. Harold Rentoria, OSA, who heads the Project Management Team, said they already wrote the Cebu City Integrated Traffic Operations Management (Citom) and the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) for this purpose.
“We are coordinating with Citom, requesting that they close the Osmeña Boulevard for three months because we are going to do the shoring on the top [of the tower] and based on the management team it’s quite risky,” Fr. Rentoria said.
The team’s request came amid an appeal from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) to churches affected by the Oct. 15 earthquake to coordinate with them in implementing their restoration projects.
“We don’t want to end up regretting our hasty decisions,” said Maria Serena Diokno, NHCP chairperson in yesterday’s stakeholders’ meeting at the Pilgrim Center of the Basilica del Sto Niño.
Own funds
Fr. Rentoria said they asked Veco to insulate three high voltage wires suspended over the Osmeña Boulevard to prevent the risk of exposing workers to electric shock.
Rentoria said they are already done with the initial part of the restoration.
“We were able to document the rubble and we were able to transfer it to Talisay City,” he said.
He said they are shoring the remaining parts of the tower and hope to go full blast on their repairs by May 26 once Citom and Veco approve their request.
“If we really want to work faster, we need to shell out our own funds,” Rentoria said.
Restoration plan
The NHCP said they included the Sto. Niño Church in its budget for restoration works on parish churches.
“We were visited by experts from Spain, Japan and Germany, and they gave us suggestions and recommendations,” Fr. Rentoria said.
Architect Omar Maxwell Espina, who is part of the team, said they are considering to call on engineers to propose a restoration plan for the church.
The Cebu City Council is studying an ordinance that would pedestrianize a part of Osmeña Boulevard along the side of the Basilica to avoid weakening the ancient church.
Diokno said the NHCP will pool local and international structural engineering experts to present and discuss their recommendations on restoring the churches.
She said a master restoration plan will then be crafted containing general guidelines on how to pursue the restoration process.
The master plan will be used as basis for specific site restoration plans for each of the affected sites./by Angeli Sarmiento UP Cebu Intern with Reporter Jose Santino S. Bunachita
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