On June 29, 2024, leaders and key representatives from the creative and cultural community of Naga City, in particular, groups and institutions aligned with heritage conservation, gathered in Café Clara near Magsaysay Avenue to celebrate the approval of the Sangguniang Panglunsod resolution declaring the Spanish-era structures known as Administracion de Coreo and Carcel Provincial as Important Cultural Properties. The milestone was announced on July 1, 2024, by the Nueva Caceres Heritage Movement Inc. in their petition update on change.org.
In a win for the heritage conservation proponents, Naga City Mayor Nelson Legacion finally approved revised Resolution No. 2024-264 (adopted date May 7, 2024), after considering additional supporting documents and arguments from the stakeholders. Prior to this, the original Resolution No. 2024-054 was unanimously passed by the Sangguniang Panglunsod (hearing date March 4, 2024). However, the Mayor returned it unsigned with a note stating the need for reference materials, such as position papers to serve as factual basis for the heritage significance of the Spanish-era buildings or ruins.
The response to the Mayor’s request was submitted in a letter dated March 25, 2024 by the culture and arts sector representatives to the Sangguniang Panglunsod Commission on Culture and the Arts (chaired by Councilor Jose B. Perez). The letter exhibits included reference materials and evidence which show the sufficient historical, socio-cultural and architectural significance of the subject buildings/ruins located in Peñafrancia Avenue.
The signatories representing the creative and cultural sector of Naga City were:
- Nueva Caceres Heritage Movement, Inc. (NCHMI) – Ar. Josenia B. Merencillo, President
- Sumaro Bikolnon – Ramon O. Olano, Jr., President
- United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) Camarines Sur Chapter – Ar. Chenlee O. Menes, UAP, ENP, RMP, President
- Parasurat Bikolnon – Irvin Parco Sto. Tomas, President
- Naga City Arts and Culture Coalition – Judge Soliman M. Santos, Jr. (Ret.), by authority of its President, Victor Dennis T. Nierva
- Kabulig Bikol, Inc. – Estelito B. Jacob, President
- Saysay Bikol – Fr. Francis A. Tordilla, President
Saving the Spanish-era structures – a timeline
On October 8, 2022, the Nueva Caceres Heritage Movement, Inc. (NCHMI) issued a resolution requesting the Naga City government to save from demolition the only existing two Spanish-era buildings in the city. Known as the Administracion de Coreo (circa 1826), the old post office is an example of Spanish Philippine colonial architecture which uniquely combined native Philippine building materials and construction methods with colonial Spanish design. The historical structure also served as the provincial jail.
On that same day, NCHMI started a petition on change.org addressed to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) to save Naga City’s old Post Office and Provincial Jail. It stated that the structures are in jeopardy of being demolished. It strongly opposed the de-listing of the historical structure from the Philippine Registry of Cultural Property (PRECUP).
On October 10, 2022, Mayor Legacion wrote a letter to Atty. William Enrile, chairman emeritus of the Nagaland Development Corporation, to remind the latter of the city government’s commitment to preserve its rich history and culture and to state that “ongoing and planned work” on the two Spanish-era buildings and perimeter wall be reconsidered pending inspection and recommendation by the City’s Arts, Culture and Tourism Office and the City Engineer’s Office. In that same letter, Mayor Legacion suggested the adoption of “adaptive reuse” to conserve the site while utilizing the structures for whatever purpose the Enrile family, the property owners, may intend.
The two stone buildings, now shells of their former selves, are located on a property along Peñafrancia Avenue that once belonged to the provincial government of Camarines Sur and sold to PhilAm Life Insurance Company in the early 1990s during the administration of Gov. Luis Villafuerte. The property was left idle for over 30 years until it was sold to Nagaland Development Corporation (NDC) about two years ago. NDC, which is owned by the family of Atty. William Enrile, has invested in prime land properties in the city and turned them into commercial establishments.
In response, Atty. Enrile wrote Mayor Legacion a letter on October 20, 2022, seeking “for the non-inclusion of said colonial structures from the Naga City Ordinance No. 2003-003 listing (of) certain cultural and heritage buildings, inasmuch as the property has not been proven to have any cultural or historical significance/importance other than being old buildings.” The matter was accordingly referred to the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
On November 16, 2022, Mr. Rene Escalante, chairman of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), issued a Cease-and-Desist Order (CDO) addressed to Atty. William Enrile of NDC, suspending all activities involving the demolition of built-heritage (referring to two (2) remnant Spanish-era stone buildings located in Barangay San Francisco along Peñafrancia Avenue) and enjoining further Atty. Enrile to immediately coordinate with the NHCP and submit site development plans for evaluation. Meanwhile, NCHMI’s petition to NHCP on change.org was able to garner the support of 1,600 signatories by mid-December 2022, and close to 2,500 in 2023.
In a letter dated August 9, 2023, to National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) Officer-in-Charge Carminda Arevalo, Mayor Legacion highlighted the opposing views regarding the preservation of these structures. Some argue for preservation based on their historical and cultural significance as a former Provincial Jail from the Spanish colonial period, while others contend that these edifices lack cultural or historical importance because they housed criminals.
On September 12, 2023, in response to Mayor Legacion’s letter, Dr. Emmanuel Franco Calairo, the new NHCP Chairman, stated that only the NHCP Board of Commissioners has the authority to approve or disapprove the lifting of presumption of a built heritage structure as Important Cultural Property. He also requested the Naga City government to submit a resolution stating that the old Spanish colonial stone buildings either hold or do not possess any local historical, socio-cultural, and architectural significance as requisite for the lifting of presumption process.
When it was first learned that development works had begun in the site in question and civic opposition to the impending demolition of the stone buildings within said site, the Sangguniang Panlungsod Commission on Culture and the Arts called for a series of hearings and consultations inviting all stakeholders in the arts and culture sector and the Nagaland Development Corporation to exhaustively discuss the matter.
The ensuing consultations and deliberations lasted for over a year. These included extensive research, retrieval of historical documents, books and journals, visits to the national library, museums, and the National Archives, interviews with surviving witnesses, ocular inspections, and correspondence with the Spanish Archives in Madrid. The local architects presented proposals based on “adaptive reuse” designs similar to Manila’s surviving historical landmarks and those from abroad.
The heritage conservationists refuted the argument that these edifices lack cultural or historical significance due to their association with criminal confinement, citing Fort Santiago as an example. Correctional facilities are historical testaments to the evolution and development of the criminal justice system. Moreover, they stated they are not antagonistic to the commercial potential of the site. They concurred with the proposed adaptive reuse of these structures to meet the needs of commerce and modernity.
The committee sided with the cultural and arts sector which pushed for the preservation and conservation based on legal grounds, such as RA 7160 or the Local Government Code of the Philippines, RA 10066 or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009; Naga City Ordinance No. 2003-003, Naga City Resolution No. 2014-038, and DILG Circular No. 2017-133, among others. Deliberations also weighed heavily on the primary question for consideration, “Because fewer of these remnants from our cultural heritage still stand, should we not rehabilitate or conserve, rather than demolish the remaining ones?”
The Resolution Annex Exhibits
The two building ruins themselves res ipsa loquitor (thing speaks for itself). There is the “1826” construction year inscription on the right-hand building. The discernible Spanish-era stone material and architecture of the two buildings are similar to other 19th century Spanish buildings in the Philippines. (Reference: Exhibit A)
Submitted for consideration was “Correo: Conveying a Relic into the Future” by architects Casey Niña Y. Abalayan and Markel Cesar A. Luna (University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, 2023), an exceptional architectural expert publication based on field work at the two buildings ruins in 2020. To quote therefrom: “The sheer rarity of these Spanish-period structures represents a scarce research and education value that, once lost, can never be recovered.” The report also presented the significance of the buildings ruins as, “representation of history,” “childhood memories and nostalgia,” and “part of Naga City’s vistas.” It also included the recorded and quoted utterances of 11 interviewees from different walks of life in Naga, mostly residents near the site. (Reference: Exhibit B)
Included among the exhibits was the paper, “Historical Significance of the Old Post Office,” prepared by Bicol and Naga historian Danilo Madrid Gerona and Ateneo de Naga University (ADNU) Social Sciences Department Chair Leo Paulo I. Imperial. It cited that, “the Administracion de Correo… and its carceral structure… in the area that has been the core of civic and economic life in the city…. It housed a telegraphic system, which changed the course of military defense against the dreaded and piratical assaults of the Moros… the channel of communication between the city and far-flung municipalities. Serving as the central telegraph base, the Estacion de Nueva Caceres…” (Reference: Exhibit C)
A part of the submission is the unpublished research “Hispanic Heritage in Camarines Sur” (2009) by local journalist-historian Jose Fernando Pelonio Obias based on his own field site visits. It included a section “Obras Pias Building in Naga City” which featured photos in pages 94-96. Pages 94-95 show the dimensions and some features of the right building (facing from Peñafrancia Ave.) with the “1826” inscription. Pages 95-96 show the dimensions and description of the bartolina at the back of that right building. A bartolina is a prison cell for solitary confinement of prisoners or detainees. (Reference: Exhibit D)
This is followed by Notes arising from the above said unpublished research “Hispanic Heritage in Camarines Sur” by Jose Fernando P. Obias, with his listed “References on the Provincial Jail/Post Office of Naga” (March 13 2024). (Reference: Exhibit E)
Reference to “the Naga jail, beside the post office building” in 1943 during the Japanese occupation was made in the book “In the Crucible of an Asymmetrical War in Camarines Sur 1942-1945 (The Story of the Tangkong Vaca Guerrilla Unit)” (National Historical Institute, 2007) by social scientist and local historian Jose V. Barrameda, Jr. In page 55 of the book, a passage shows, “Among those arrested and imprisoned by the Japanese were (Constancia) Estrada and her younger brother, Salvador… The latter was first detained in the Naga Jail, beside the post office building…” (Reference: Exhibit F)
An aerial photo of Naga taken on April 7, 1935 (from the US National Archives) showed the two buildings still intact (marked with green and red arrows), very much a part of the city’s socio-cultural landscape during the Commonwealth period. (Reference: Exhibit G)
“A Friar’s Account of the Philippine Revolution in Bicol” by Fr. Marcos Gomez, OFM, made reference to the “Infirmary of San Francisco,” likely one of the two subject buildings. Said manuscript was translated and edited by Fr. Apolinar Pastrana Riol, OFM, and published in 1980. “The infirmary of San Francisco was a building belonging to the Franciscan Fathers and meant to house the priests of these provinces of the south…. If any religious parish priest fell sick, he was transferred there for his cure.” (Reference: Exhibit H)
The same Infirmary (building) and its history as a structure of the Franciscan Mission was the topic of Danilo M. Gerona’s article which appeared in Bikol Daily, February 14, 1998, “The Convent of San Francisco de Naga: The Cradle of Franciscan Missions in Kabikolan (1578-1898).” He wrote:
“This church was a mute witness to the death throes of the Spanish colonial rule in the region. In September of 1896, which marked the initial stage of the twilight of Spanish domination, the church and the infirmary building became the Spanish community’s strategic room. It was in these buildings where the Spanish authorities together with the peninsular residents gathered together, planned and decided the fate of many prominent Bikolanos, among them the 15 Bikol martyrs. By the second week of September, when the reign of terror began, many of those suspected of being accomplices to the revolution in the Tagalog region were rounded up, detained and tortured in the premises of this church, particularly in the infirmary building…” (Reference: Exhibit I)
The Pagsalingoy souvenir publication for the commemoration of the 10th foundation anniversary of San Francisco Parish, Naga City in 1998 provided captions of the stained-glass icons in the present renovated church. In particular, the caption for the 5th stained-glass icon (1647-1865) stated, “… The infirmary likewise became the interrogation and torture chamber of Bikolanos arrested on suspicion of being rebels. Most of the fifteen (15) Bikol martyrs actually experienced their preliminary suffering in this edifice.” (Reference: Exhibit J)
On February 27, 2024, Sumaro Bikolnon President Ramon Odarve Olano, Jr. interviewed 92-year-old John Rebuena Oliva in barangay San Francisco. Born on 27 September 1931, Mr. Oliva lived nearby till the present and thus has personal familiarity with the subject two buildings nearby his residence. He recalls, among others, that one of the two old buildings was a hospital where he was born according to his mother. During his elementary school years of the American Commonwealth period, one of the buildings was used for the office of the Superintendent of Schools. There was a big library in the other building which appeared to be the public library then. During the Japanese occupation, at least one of the buildings was used as a barracks or quarters of Japanese troops. After the war, the buildings were used as a post office with a telegraph office and a prison. Transcript excerpts from the interview were provided by former City Kagawad Bernadette Florendo-Roco, March 21, 2024. (Reference: Exhibit K)
Atty. Luis Ruben M. General provided an affidavit dated 20 March 2024 based on his personal knowledge. As his late father’s law office assistant in the early 1970s, he knew of the old Provincial Jail Annex behind the old Post Office in barangay San Francisco. (Reference: Exhibit L)
Nueva Caceres Heritage Movement, Inc. (NCHMI) President Arch. Josenia B. Merencillo submitted a letter dated February 23, 2024, to the National Archives of the Philippines (Spanish Documents 1852-1900) requesting16 specific archival documents, listed by reference name and number, relevant to the two subject buildings. The submitters called for prudence and the awaiting of the requested documents before committing the irreversible act of demolishing the two building ruins. (Reference: Exhibit M)
Finally submitted was the passage on “the construction of the provincial jail which took place in 1846” in p. 43 of the printed booklet “The Pueblo of San Francisco de Naga: The Cradle of Franciscan Missions in Kabikolan (1578-1898)” by historian Danilo M. Gerona. (Reference: Exhibit N)
Not mentioned here is an 11-page “Summary of Manuscripts found in the Archivo Historico Nacional de Madrid” with photos and sketches of the two old buildings. The documents were shared with the Committee by Fr. Francis A. Tordilla of Saysay Bikol, himself a historian and rector of the ancient Seminario Conciliar de Caceres. He states that “(h)istoricity is not limited to a single event like that most claimed that Elias Angeles and Felix Plazo were imprisoned in these jails. A building or a house may be historically valuable if it can be an example of a style of architecture or an industrial process that’s no longer used, or simply for its age…” (Reference: Bicol Mail)
Conclusion
In their submission letter to the SP Committee on Culture and the Arts, the signatories attest that the subject two buildings, now ruins, in barangay San Francisco, whether as Administraccion del Correo complex with postal office and telegraphic station, as charitable foundation, as prison of the city or of the province, as torture chamber, as war room, as infirmary, as hospital, as schools superintendent’s office, as public library, or as what have you, these have been mute witness to nearly two centuries of history, culture and life in Naga City from 1826 during Spanish rule, American rule, the Commonwealth period, the Japanese occupation and the post-war independent Third Republic of the Philippines up to the more recent decades of rapid urban development. Furthermore, they declare that there should be no more doubt about the historical, socio-cultural and architectural significance of the subject two buildings ruins that justify their continued preservation as Important Cultural Properties.
Formally acknowledging receipt of the copy of the approved Resolution No. 2024-264, during the June 25, 2024 Tuesday session of the SP, Committee on Culture and the Arts Chairman Kagawad Jose B. Perez expressed his gratitude to Mayor Nelson Legacion, SP Presiding Officer Vice Mayor Nene de Asis, his fellow councilors, and the various stakeholders, including the Nueva Caceres Heritage Movement, UAP Camarines Sur Chapter, Sumaro Bikolnon, Saysay Bikol, Parasurat Bikolnon, Kabulig Bikol, and the Naga City Arts and Culture Coalition, for firmly playing their roles that eventually resulted in the declaration of the Spanish-era structures in Naga City as important cultural properties.
Perez said the Resolution’s approval was a triumph for Naga, its rich history and culture.
The local stakeholders in Naga and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines must now move on to the new challenge of judiciously navigating the best possible heritage preservation disposition of these two Spanish-era stone building ruins as newly- declared Important Cultural Properties that are however found in currently privately owned land tied to a local big business family.
Written for Dateline Ibalon by Jojo De Jesus and edited by Judge Soliman M. Santos, Jr. (Ret.), based on these references: Letter submission including annexes to the Naga City Sangguniang Panglunsod Committee on Culture and the Arts; SP Resolution No. 2024-264; Bicol Mail; NCHM petition on change.org. Header image: Stylized photograph originally taken by Kyna’s Whereabouts (Kyna de Castro).