This November 9, the Heritage Conservation Society, which I have recently become a member of, will be conducting a seminar entitled: “Philippine Towns & Cities: Reflections of the Past, Lessons for the Future.” The event will be held in Sarabia Manor Hotel and time is unsure to me yet.
The seminar is aimed to teach local government units the proper care and utilization of heritage structures. It raises the issue of some heritage structures being (even unintentionally) destroyed because of modernization.
November 9 is a friday, which means I have a scheduled class in the morning and afternoon. Attending the seminar is important to me because I really want to be an active member of the HCS. Being absent in class isn’t an option for me, so I’m I just hoping that it’s going to start in the evening or late afternoon or that it will be sembreak by them.
Inquirer.net has posted an article about the said event and the article tackled about “recycling” heritage sites. It mentioned originally non-socially relevant old structures that have been transformed into productive heritage sites.
In London, a decommissioned power plant along the River Thames has taken a new life as the popular, elegant Tate Gallery of Modern Art.
In Mexico City, the Cemento Azteca plant is now an environment-friendly children’s museum—El Papalote.
Singapore has salvaged a cluster of decrepit shop houses, turning Boat Quay and Clarke Quay into an eclectic mix of high-end restaurants, al fresco dining, dazzling bars and pubs. [The Daily Inquirer]
I’m raising this issue because there is a heritage building in Iloilo that is threatened to be demolished to give way to a P350M Government and Convention Center. I’m talking about the Iloilo Rehabilitation Center (IRC), the building beside the Iloilo Provincial Capitol. It was built without aesthetics in mind but the functional purpose of being the provincial jail. Now that the IRC has transferred to a new building in Pototan, the old one building has become quite useless, so utilizing the lot in a more productive way seems apt. To an Ilonggo point of view, even though heritage conservation is important the old IRC is a non-socially relevant building. It would have been a totally different scenario if a very important historical figure spent some jail time in the old IRC but I guess it’s just not the case.
Getting in context on what’s happening outside Iloilo (even outside the country), where a old power plants are being recycled as art galleries and cement plants as museums, the old IRC could have other alternative uses too like being an extension of Museo Iloilo, which is in need of a bigger space to display its exhibits. The Gov’t Building and Convention center could be built in some other place, where there is ample space (esp. parking space).
It would be a shame to lose part of our heritage, even if it just seems to look like a “dot”. I hope I and many officials in LGUs will be able to attend this seminar.
member on December 2005, that’s almost 2 years since that I’ve remained a sub-user of flickr. While my basic need to have a place to host images has been satisfied, the limitations of being able to see just the most recent 200 pictures has made it quite hard to manage my gallery.
account as a gift. Thank You 
