Hi there! It’s another weekend. Let’s go straight to the point today. I’m not in the mood to do some pa-sweet tweetums like making my usual comments (acerbic or not) about things around me. This is late. Today’s topic was supposed to be for last Monday yet.
So, what is it with today’s title? It takes inspiration from one of the priests in Calbayog. During a mass (on a Sunday before last), a priest delivered a sermon castigating some concerned Calbayognons who complained about the “landscaping project” at the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral. I do not have a transcript or whatever of what that priest actually said. But I was able to get some points from a good number of friends who happen to be in that mass and had to endure listening to that sermon which in a way castigated those who asked questions about that landscaping project.
More or less, the priest supposedly said something like “kun san-o gintikangan na ini nga proyekto, mao man ini nga mga concerned Calbayognons kunu nga manreklamo. Nanu ini nga mga tawo nga nagpakadatidati. Wara ini politika nga proyekto, wara gender, wara race. Kaiha pa sini nga guin para-announce. Nagkunsulta man sini an parish council nga guin duyugan san Obispo.” Or something to that effect was said in the sermon.
It’s sad that I did not write a letter of protest to the Bishop, thus I did not qualify to be called a concerned Calbayohon kunu. Just the same, I was able to air my side to the Bishop and to also to the priest in the parish who is in charge of the project. To be called concerned Calbayognon KUNU is no big deal. But to be branded as nagpakadati-dati is another matter.
Dear Padre, I will not debate with your authority and ability to save souls or at least fish souls out of purgatory and or hell. I will not question your authority on morals and / or morality. I will not question your being our guide in preparation for the life after this one on earth. I will not entertain any small doubt about my faith because my upbringing and my faith taught me to be just that. But if you are going to do something not so nice about a built heritage in Cabayog, that is another matter.
Nagpakadati-dati. Yes, you have been announcing the project for the past few weeks. As far as I know, the announcement I heard was that it’s LANDSCAPING PROJECT. From my very limited knowledge, I understand that landscaping means beautifying the surrounding with plants and yes, the land around a structure, in this case, the Cathedral. I don’t think it should include removing the plaster off the age-old buttresses of the Cathedral. When I asked the architects from Escuela Taller about it, they agreed that it’s not landscaping. Sino yana an nagpakadati-dati?
Nagpakadati-dati. Nangunsulta man kami. My reply is: kanay? And when I asked some members as to what happens after you have exposed the bricks and the limestone (I agree exposing it adds beauty to the structure), the reply I got was either blank stare or a straightforward “dire pa kami maaram”. Let me tell you that you do not just expose bricks and stones - ancient bricks at that. Let me give you something which I got from page 17 of Balangkas, the NCCA Guidebook on the Care of Built Heritage in the Philippines: removing the plaster to show the stone actually hastens its deterioration. And let’s not even discuss why the stone at the Las Piñas church is eroding, simply because of the removal of its plaster.
Nagpakadati-dati. Why will you say wara ini politika, gender, or race? Indeed, when you talk about heritage, or heritage conservation, politics should be farthest from your mind, or so I would like to believe. And what’s with gender and race? And politics in the conservation of a heritage site in Calbayog? After castigating the politicians in the seemingly endless killings in Calbayog a few months ago, now you drag them into this mess?
Nagpakadati-dati. When you do conservation, you follow some steps, important steps if I may add. Let me share with you what I got from Architect/ Professor Tina Bulaong from the U.P. College of Architecture. First, let us inform ourselves that conservation is an extremely complex process involving a team of many professionals, specialists, trades and crafts workers. It is the preservation from loss, depletion waste and harm. It is a planned management of an object, structure or site to prevent its neglect and to prolong its life. It is a continuously documented process, a constant work in progress, multi-disciplinary and reversible.
And how do you go about doing conservation? You have at least six steps:
- Valuation
- RESEARCH (Historical background, documentation).
- Analysis and diagnosis.
- Design (Proposed interventions, solutions, programs).
- Physical Conservation (Interventions) and
- Building Maintenance (Preventive Maintenance Program).
Back to the Cathedral project, you went straight to step number 5. So, nagpakadati-dati an mga nag reklamo? And what happened to the consultations you were telling the mass-goers about?
Okey, you just wanted to show the bricks. So it’s not conservation. Call that landscaping or whatever, there was intervention (and yes did mention the use of maso and thus good portions of the bricks were chipped off?). You are doing intervention on a century-old structure. You should have at least complied with step number 2 before making step number 5 your first step. Well, nagpakadati-dati?
And let us not even start discussing on some guidelines about caring and / or tearing of structures that are more than 50 years old, be that structure a property of the government, the church or any private individual.
I have nothing against you padre. The cathedral is known for the renovations done in the 1960s and old folks can only sigh as to the loss of precious ornaments and the original looks of the structure; and could only wish for its return. Many interventions were made in the years that followed. It’s about time that we do it right.
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Having said all that, I would like to appreciate (Calbayog) Bishop Boy Abarquez for being gracious enough to listen to our queries. I appreciate his invitation for me to attend the consultative meetings last week, first with the Parish Pastoral Council; and the second with the architects from various universities and who are also connected with Escuela Taller. As of the moment the LANDSCAPING work was ordered stopped, pending the recommendation of the three architects namely Professor Eric Zerrudo (of UST), Professor Tina Silao-Bulaong (of UP) and Architect Rino Fernandez (of UST) who visited the LANDSCAPING project site at the Cathedral a week ago today.
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This is it for now. Have a nice weekend everyone! Ciao!
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