Who painted the old town hall pink?

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Provincial Tourism Heritage Council said the old municipal hall of Talisay, which now houses the Talisay City College, is a heritage site and strongly urges the Talisay City government to preserve it. 

Capitol Consultant Jojo Bersales, the chairman of the committee on sites, relics and structures of the Cebu Provincial Tourism Heritage Council, is puzzled as to why the structure was painted orange and pink. 

The old town hall, which is located in barangay Poblacion, became pink when the Talisay City College and the Department of Education arrived.

“I was shocked to see a heritage structure that was colored pink and orange,” Bersales said, adding that he was told that there is a train of thought in American educational psychology that the color pink is said to stimulate the minds of the young. 

The Gabaldon-type school building was built in the late 1920s. 

Bersales was reminded of the pinkish stones that were hastily applied on a rear section of the Cuartel in Oslob which Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has ordered to be removed and replaced with better material that would approximate the original fabric of the unfinished Spanish-era structure.

Bersales urged the city to repaint the structure with the colonial color applied on the provincial Capitol building, the city hall, and the Cebu City old public library.

He also frowns on the fence that was put up around the building for the reason that it would block the view.

In a separate interview, Talisay City administrator Richel Bacaltos said that while efforts were made to preserve the city’s heritage sites, mistakes were also committed, such as allowing the repainting of the old building.

However, Bacaltos said fencing it was all right since it protects students as well as the old Heroes Monument.

Bacaltos, who is a member of the city tourism and heritage council, said that with the city’s new direction to protect its historical relics, a “heritage mapping” has been started to determine each barangay’s own heritage relics and sites.