RAVAGED BY ONE TYPHOON AFTER another, the end of the typhoon season appears still not in sight. But this early, the damage to life and property sustained by the country is of staggering proportions.
Included but not recognized by the general public in the massive typhoon damage is the loss to built heritage, most of which was already endangered before the floods either drowned or swept away precarious heritage.
Built heritage includes individual and groups of houses, towns, religious and government buildings that are of historic or artistic value to our nation and to the world.
Obviously of heritage value are towns like Vigan. Also of heritage value are surviving public parks, houses, religious and government structures dating from the Spanish and American colonial eras.
Less obvious but of equal heritage importance are post-World War II structures of the recent past that are routinely demolished and replaced with new constructions.
Least obvious and not given any importance at all are valuable rural landscapes and seascapes, coastal areas, barrios, agricultural land and rice fields, terraces, and forests that form a large part of our national visual identity.
Adding value to these formerly insignificant landscapes, the recent disaster has taught us the environmental importance of maintaining agricultural land and forest cover intact as natural flood control.
Because of a severe lack of public awareness and appreciation, the heritage situation in the Philippines has always been at a critical level. Heritage, either manmade or natural, seems to vanish right before our eyes. Conservation has always been an uphill battle, now intensifying with the alarming number of flood-damaged heritage structures requiring serious conservation work.
Hampered by lack of personnel and funding, it is virtually impossible at this point to take an accurate inventory to determine the full extent of damage in the vast flood-devastated areas of Manila and Luzon.
Members of the Philippine Committee of Icomos (International Council of Monuments an Sites), part of the Paris-based NGO that coordinates professional heritage activities worldwide, have volunteered to lead survey teams composed of professionals and students in a series of documentation activities to record the damage and plan out the conservation work required to conserve and rehabilitate damaged heritage.
Teams will fan out to document different sections of Manila and neighboring provinces each weekend. Their findings and conservation plans will be submitted to national and international agencies for assistance in the hope that some, at least, of the damaged heritage can be conserved.
Sadly the physical impossibility of carrying out comprehensive documentation of the entire damaged area is impossible. The modest Icomos effort is offered in the spirit of each Filipino doing what he can to help in this time of disaster. Maybe this effort will lead to bigger things, such as a national disaster management plan for heritage.
Right now the most important thing to do for our country is to help out in the way each person knows best.
The City of San Fernando in Pampanga will host the 4th Philippine Towns & Cities Conference: Reflections of the Past, Lessons for the Future on Nov. 6-7.
Organized annually by the Heritage Conservation Society (HCS), the event aims to enhance civic engagement with local governments units in order to inform and guide the LGUs on the proper care and utilization of a valuable asset?built heritage resources.
In our towns and cities, wanton real estate speculation and over-construction are often mistaken for modernization when in fact these exert devastating pressure on the his toric and cultural core of many of our human settlements. As a result, a valuable economic resource?built heritage?is left to deteriorate or is thoughtlessly demolished in the name of progress.
Concerted effort is imperative to protect heritage resources because these are revenue- and job-generating assets that can spark economic revitalization, as the case of Vigan clearly shows.
However, there is a general lack of awareness at the local government level, which is precisely where policies should be formulated and ordinances passed to declare heritage districts and protect these as a town or city?s prime assets.
Built heritage resources should be the core of any master plan for urban development and inner town/city revitalization. Livelihood opportunities are generated by adaptive reuse, the revival of traditional crafts for restoration work and an increase in tourism receipts.
Significantly, communities that conserve their heritage feel pride of place.
The Philippine Towns and Cities Conference is a communications campaign to influence policy makers at the local government level. Through the Mayors? Forum, best practices are shared.
Other stakeholders in government, the private sector and the academe are invited to participate because heritage conservation is a multidisciplinary concern.
For reservations and more information, contact Dorie Soriano or Luz Regalado of Heritage Conservation Society at 5212239, (fax) 5222497, 0917-8668853, 09062625631, 0922-8712061; e-mail hcs_secretariat@ yahoo.com; or Ching Pangilinan or Malyn Tuason of the San Fernando Tourism Office, tel. (045) 9615684 or e-mail mlcjdp@yahoo.com. Sponsors include the City Government of San Fernando, Pampanga, and the Spanish Program for Cultural Cooperation.
E-mail comments to pride.place@ gmail.com
