BAGUIO CITY – Mauricio G. Domogan urged the members of the city council to immediately pass the appropriate ordinance that will outline the preservation and protection efforts to be done in identified heritage and historical sites around the city.
The city mayor the ordinance will be the guidepost of the city government on how to undertake the preservation and protection of the declared heritage sites to avoid problems to be encountered by the local government in case it decides to improve the said heritage sites.
“We know our backyard that is why we should be the ones to identify what interventions are necessary in efforts to preserve and protect declared, classified or marked heritage sites. We know what we want,” Domogan stressed.
He added the passage of the ordinance will be done in close coordination with the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) so that there will be no longer untoward interventions from the said agencies in case the city government decides to improve the state of heritage sites and historical landmarks.
Under the ordinance, the local chief executive claimed allowed and disallowed improvements of heritage sites will be clearly outlined upon the approval of the NCCA and NHCP so that it would be easier for concerned stakeholders to implement desired projects to improve the state of heritage sites in the city.
According to him, the dilemma of the local government in implementing programmed projects in marked structures like the city hall building will be prevented once the ordinance prescribing the rules and regulations in the preservation and protection of heritage sites will be put in place.
He cited the best managers of heritage sites and historical landmarks are the local governments hosting the said sites, thus, cultural agencies like the NCCA and NHCP should be the ones to advocate for the downloading of preservation and protection of heritage sites to the concerned localities.
He admitted there are numerous heritage sites and historical landmarks in the city which must be preserved and protected but the hands of local officials are tied into implementing the appropriate preservation and protection efforts because of the need to seek the permission of NCCA and NHCP just to be able to touch such structures.
Domogan cited the city government does not want to repeat its experience on the city hall ground improvement and fencing project where the NCCA and the NHCP had conflicting views on the matter, thus, the city government took the risk of pursuing the project in order to improve the state of the city hall grounds without obstructing the prescribed architectural view of the city hall building that was previously marked as a heritage structure.
By Dexter A. See
