Cultural Heritage Program for Cebu City

I love Cebu and I enjoy showing off my city's heritage every chance I get. In my quest to be a better tour guide, I have asked almost everyone I consider an expert on Cebuano culture on what the must-dos are if one had only a day or less to spend in the city. I also checked the Internet (the Panublion Heritage Site is a good site). I even asked cab drivers what they learned about the city's tourist spots in the seminar they had to attend for the ASEAN.

A few weeks ago, a couple of friends got to test my skills as a guide. It was their first time to visit Cebu and they only had a few hours. It was too hot to walk so we decided to take a cab around the city. We visited the Taoist Temple. We then went to Casa Gorordo. I showed them the marker in Colon Street and the sculpture in Pari-an by Ed Castrillo. I also took them to the Fort San Pedro, Magellan's Cross, the Basilica del Santo Niño, and the Cebu Cathedral. We visited everything in less than three hours.

"Is that it?" my friend asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"Oh. For a place always mentioned in history books, I expected to see much more," she added.

I knew what she meant. Every time I visited a city which is not as old as Cebu, I would wonder why it would have several historical sites listed. Surely, this is not because nothing historically significant happened in Cebu City.

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a newspaper advertisement of the Cebu City Government "through the Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission." The ad congratulated the winners of the Pasko sa Sugbo Christmas Decoration Contest 2006. I knew about the contest. But a commission on cultural and historical affairs? Really?

My next thought was not that pleasant. If this government body existed, what else is it doing to promote the city's cultural and historical affairs? I love bright Christmas lights as much as anyone else but how does a Christmas décor contest promote Cebuano culture? Cebuanos love Christmas and the contest promotes our identity as such?

Admittedly, there is no law detailing what a local government unit (LGU) should do to perform its mandate to preserve and enrich culture. Senate Bill No. 54, entitled "An Act Providing for the Protection and Preservation of Philippine Cultural Heritage and for Other Purposes," introduced by Senator Juan M. Flavier attempts to fill this gap.

This bill, among others, gives the LGU the obligation to designate historical zones and cultural spaces, to document traditional and contemporary arts, and to protect and safeguard cultural property. The bill also gives the LGU the power to levy a Cultural Property Tax.

Recently, the Senate created a technical working group to study and consolidate the pending bills on cultural heritage and to review existing laws on the same. The other bills are: Senate Bill No. 1089 entitled "An Act to Promote the Protection and Conservation of the National Heritage, the Creation of a National Heritage Commission, and Providing Penalties and for Other Purposes," introduced by Sen. Edgardo J. Angara; Senate Bill No. 2123 entitled "An Act Providing Mechanisms to Regulate the Import, Transit, Export, and Repatriation of Cultural Property into and from the Philippines," also by Sen. Angara; and House Bill No. 5577 entitled "An Act Declaring the Municipality of Carcar in the Province of Cebu as a Cultural Heritage Zone," sponsored by Representative Eduardo Gullas.

Comments and position papers are being sought by the technical working group on these bills. The full text of the bills may be accessed at the website of the Senate. Comments may be sent to the Heritage Conservation Society, which is a member of the group, at [email protected] before January 15, 2007.

While I'm not very optimistic that a heritage law will be enacted this year (everyone seems to be in election mode now), I still have hopes that it will. Maybe a law detailing the duties of an LGU with regards cultural heritage would lead to projects that actually promote Cebuano culture and history.

* * *

Email: [email protected]