National cultural agencies and the City of Manila have assured the public that the Manila Central Post Office (MCPO) Building will be restored to its former glory following a 30-hour fire which inflicted heavy damage to the iconic American-era edifice.
Statements were immediately issued by various stakeholders not after, but during the fire, which started 11:41 p.m. on May 21.
The neoclassic building, built from 1926 to around 1930 and reconstructed after World War II, was marked by the then National Historical Institute in 1994 and declared an Important Cultural Property by the National Museum in 2018.
An investigation by the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) revealed that the cause of the fire, with damages at least amounting to P300 million, was accidental, “attributed to sudden self-discharge of a car battery to thermal runaway, causing sudden build-up of heat and pressure and eventually causing the explosion.”
The BFP reports the fire started at the Mega Manila Storage Room located at the southern part of the basement, where other combustible materials such as thinners and office supplies were also stored.
National landmark
The National Museum of the Philippines (NMP), which described the fire as “horrendous,” said it will “give its full support to the considerable effort that will be required to address and recover from the devastation wrought by this calamity on such an iconic landmark of Manila and the entire nation.”
The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), meanwhile, said that it will help in the restoration of the building it describes as “one of the most beautiful in Manila and an important part of the country’s cultural patrimony.”
It also said that it will also help in the process of bringing back the normal operations of the Philippine Postal Corp. (PHLPost).
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), through its chairperson Emmanuel Calairo, said that his agency, “in collaboration with local and national agencies, expresses its commitment to help the PHLPost, in any way, to rehabilitate the damaged edifice,” as the building is part of the national consciousness on heritage.
He also said that the building is protected by law, as apart from being marked by them in 1992 and its ICP declaration, it was declared a National Historical Landmark with Liwasang Bonifacio (formerly Plaza Lawton) in 2012.
Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan has also assured the public that the building will be rebuilt and that no other building will rise on site as it is inside an institutional zone as indicated in the city’s zoning ordinance.
Restoration
Ivan Henares, secretary-general of the Unesco National Commission of the Philippines (Unacom) and head of the Subcommission on Cultural Heritage of the NCCA, expressed sadness on the damage and loss of Philippine philatelic history from the postwar years, which includes archival documents, postage stamps and stamp artworks plus other parts of the building, including some of its wrought-iron grills.
He gave proposals not only on the restoration of the building, but its environs as well.
Among others, he suggested to build a new PHLPost building and a new MCPO in other locations, purchase of the building by a national cultural agency, emergency shoring of its walls for protection and the establishment of a Philippine Museum of Philatelic History in one part of the restored building.
He also said that funds should be immediately allotted “for structural integrity studies, and its complete reconstruction led by the National Museum for potential use of government cultural agencies as a modern arts and culture hub and center for creative industries and the offices of a future Department of Culture.”
Henares likewise suggested for the Conservation Management Plan (CMP) of the building, but its CMP was already done in 2020 by a team led by conservation architect Michael Manalo with the University of Santo Tomas Graduate School-Center for Conservation of Cultural Property and Environment in the Tropics.
The document is already with the PHLPost and is just awaiting publication for the general public’s information.
Apart from Henares, the Escuela Taller de Filipnas, a foundation at the forefront of heritage conservation in the country, also made a number of suggestions, including “risk assessment of the current state of the Post Office building (sic) so that the response is calibrated according to risks that are identified,” and “a retrieval plan of site and building components should be quickly developed so that significant elements can be protected from further damage or loss.”Civic center
Part of Henares’ suggestions is to revive the Manila Civic Center Masterplan proposed under the administration of Mayor Francisco Domagoso with the help of landscape architect Paulo Alcazaren.
That civic center, which suggested the removal of flyovers, he said, “could include the MCPO, Liwasang Bonifacio, Manila Metropolitan Theater, Manila City Hall, National Museum Complex, Rizal Park, Arroceros Park, the banks of the Pasig River and other historic structures contained within.”
This masterplan took inspiration from the 1905 Burnham Plan of Manila, a systemic redevelopment of the nation’s capital which includes buildings, layout of streets radiating from the government center, which the MCPO building is part of, and plazas.
It is in this context that historian and anthropologist Fernando Zialcita has offered suggestions in relation to the eventual reconstruction of the damaged building.
He said the building should be situated in the context of its being part of a complex of buildings and open spaces designed by Burnham.
Alcazaren, on his part, said the building, strategically built at the end of Burgos Boulevard for easy access by land and the Pasig River, and its surroundings should be restored and redeveloped, and that includes the shelving of the planned Pasig River Expressway.
Arellano and Mapua
The MCPO building, originally the Bureau of Posts building, was designed by Juan Arellano and Tomas Mapua, and is described in the Cultural Center of the Philippines Encyclopedia of Philippine Art as “a monumental composition consisting basically of a rectangular block buttressed at each end by semicylindrical volumes [with] a majestic portico with 14 fluted Ionic columns running along the front, its repeated vertical lines dramatizing the strongly horizontal character of the structure.”
Some of its decorative elements, such as large flowerpots decorating the staircase to its vestibule and those decorating the four corners of its roof were done at the workshop of Isabelo Tampinco and his son Vidal in Quiapo.
The tangible evidence of the latter can still be seen at the Tampinco workshop compound on Concepcion Aguila Street in Quiapo.
The Manila Central Post Office fire is the latest to hit important structures in Manila after the Bureau of Customs Building in Port Area in 2019, Pandacan Church in 2020 and the Metropolitan Theater in 2022.
