The year 2018 may be defined as the year of euphoria in terms of heritage restoration and repatriation of national cultural and historical patrimony.

But while stories of triumph prevailed this year with the completion of the reconstruction of churches and related structures in Bohol and Eastern Samar damaged and destroyed by the 2013 earthquake and Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name “Haiyan”), heritage controversies still hounded the country as in the previous years.

Bannering this year’s list of heritage controversies is the China-funded Binondo-Intramuros Bridge, seen as seriously affecting the World Heritage List status of the Baroque churches of the Philippines, which include the churches of San Agustin in Intramuros; San Agustin in Paoay, Ilocos Norte; Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion in Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur; and the Santo Tomas de Villanueva in Miag-ao, Iloilo.

These religious edifices inscribed in 1993 in the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) are in danger of being delisted since the bridge encroaches on the buffer zone of the San Agustin Church in Intramuros, a violation of the condition of their enlistment.

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the site manager for the churches, had reportedly sent recently a response to the Unesco World Heritage Center’s letter raising concern about the construction.

Details of that “confidential” letter have not been made public.

Burnham parking buildings

Another highly contested issue this year is the planned parking buildings at Burnham Park in Baguio City, seen by heritage advocates threatening to ruin the integrity of the iconic open space and an insult to the design of the park by famed American architect Daniel Burnham.

NCCA and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) have rejected the plans, saying the park should remain an open space since it is the city-center’s breathing space, center of public activities, and a presumed important cultural property since it is at least 50 years old, the two agencies said.

Caught off guard

But in some issues, these cultural agencies were caught off guard or were scored for being reactive as with the case of the demolished Tumagboc Bridge in Miag-ao, Iloilo, and the Department of Public Works and Highways’ road-widening projects, which affected Spanish colonial bridges in General Trias, Cavite, and Laoag, Ilocos Norte.

In the case of the Philbanking Building on Anda Circle in Manila’s Port Area, the NCCA issued a cease-and-desist order (CDO) against the demolition. But the agency eventually allowed the pulverization of the heritage structure designed by National Artist for Architecture José Maria Zaragoza.

NCCA also reminded the new owner of Life Theater in Quiapo, Fionix Corp., to integrate the façade of the building into the new development. Heritage advocates have frowned on the NCCA advice, calling it “façadism” and “illusionary heritage protection.”

Manila Bay reclamation

Also, one of the biggest stories of 2018 was the public outcry against the planned Manila Bay reclamation projects and the loss of about eight heritage houses in Boac, Marinduque, due to a huge fire in early July that exposed the incompetence of local authorities and the Bureau of Fire Prevention.

NHCP has refused to restore the Boac structures, including the historic Pedro Piroco house, since these are privately-owned.

On a high note, the NHCP issued CDOs this year against the renovation of the Molo church convent in Iloilo and the planned multipurpose hall at Alimodian Plaza also in Iloilo, and the demolition of the American-era Old Hinigaran Bridge in Negros Occidental.

Meanwhile, headlining the positive developments this year is the publication in the Nature science journal of the discovery of the butchered rhinoceros fossil in Rizal, Kalinga, last year which pushed back Philippine prehistory from 67,000 to 709,000 years ago.

The archaeological project involved French and Filipino archaeologists of the National Museum and was funded in part by the National Geographic Society.

The biggest heritage achievement this year was the return only this month of three Balangiga bells taken as war trophies by United States forces in 1901.

Also this year, five years after the 2013 twin disasters, most of the heritage structures affected in the Visayas are now reconstructed such as the churches of Loay, Baclayon and Dauis in Bohol and the church of Guiuan in Eastern Samar.

“Buklog,” the most complex of the rituals of the Subanen ethnic group of Zamboanga peninsula, was nominated by the NCCA to the Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Safeguarding List to save it from extinction, since the Subanen hardly practice it due to its high budget requirement and the influence of religious sects which view the practice as pagan.

In Aparri, Cagayan, the “Commedia de Isla Fuga,” a rare type of a religious play in verse was performed for the first time outside of the island of Fuga, letting the mainland Aparri townsfolk witness that type of a drama described as pure and frozen in time due to its antiquity.

Also significant was last October’s Dayaw, the Philippine international indigenous peoples festival. Giving importance to the rich indigenous and intangible heritage of the country, Dayaw was held in Capiz province, where seven of nine living Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (Gamaba) or National Living Treasure awardees attended, a rarity in the yearly event organized by the NCCA. —CONTRIBUTED