Group
tries to save art deco face of Bauan Municipal Hall
Conservationists
are appealing to municipal officials of Bauan, Batangas, to “incorporate” the
“exceptional” art deco design of the old town hall in the new structure they
are putting up on the same site.
Ivan Anthony
Henares, vice president and trustee of the Heritage Conservation Society (HCS),
said the officials were planning to demolish the art deco façade of the
municipal building without approval from the National Commission for Culture
and the Arts (NCCA) in violation of Republic Act No. 10066 or the National
Cultural Heritage Act of 2009.
The HCS
advocates the protection and preservation of the country’s heritage, cultural
and historical sites and settings.
In a letter
sent on Oct. 8 to Bauan Mayor Ryanh Dolor, the HCS formally appealed to the municipal
government to stop the demolition of the municipio scheduled for Oct. 17.
It attributed the 1930s structure to Filipino architect Juan Arellano, who also
designed the Legislative Building, Post Office and Metropolitan Theater in Manila.
In an email to
the Inquirer, Henares cited Section 5 of RA 10066, which prohibits the
demolition of structures 50 years old or older.
“There’s a
remarkable story suggested by the architecture of the municipio … The art deco
details of the municipio are exceptional, speaking of the wealth of the
Commonwealth era,” Henares said, quoting architect Dominic Galicia of the
NCCA’s committee on monuments and sites as saying:
Galicia
explained that art deco (“arts decoratifs” in French for “decorative arts”) was
derived from the International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial
Arts held in Paris in the mid-1920s, which aimed to gather objects, furniture
and architecture perceived at that time to be advanced in design.
These objects
tended to be geometric and pared down, and later softened into the streamline,
he said.
P190-M
price tag
The local
government of Bauan borrowed money from the Development Bank of the Philippines for
the construction of its new municipal building estimated to cost P190 million.
The fund is part of the town’s supplemental budget this year, said municipal
administrator Antonio De Lacy Jr.
The project
will involve the demolition of the police station, offices of the mayor and
members of the Sangguniang Bayan, health officer, trial court, Municipal
Planning and Development Council, Association of Barangay Council, Department
of the Interior and Local Government, Commission on Elections and the library.
According to
Henares, the old building is more than 50 years old and demolishing it is not
necessary to attain development, He urged officials to “protect” the character
of Bauan, referring to the art deco façade which depicts agricultural products.
“Images of
agricultural products are pared down and made more diagrammatic in order to
conform to the relatively geometric forms of art deco,” Galicia
explained. Although acknowledging that he was not an expert on farm products, Galicia said
the images look like sugarcane, a major crop in Batangas.
Age
difference
Municipal
secretary Ferdinand Agena said the councilors were able to retrieve a document
of a local ordinance dated 1963 which stated a plan to construct a municipal
building. Actual construction was made the following year, the document said.
This finding
tends to show that the building is not 50 years old or older, the councilors
said.
De Lacy saw as
a “necessity” the construction project. “The municipal hall is dilapidated.
When heavy rain pours outside, it also rains and floods here inside, affecting
us and our services to the public,”
he said.
He said
renovations had been made, but these turned out to be more costly than building
a new edifice.
Moreover, the
municipality wants to develop a “face,” De Lacy said. “The municipal building
is the symbol of the municipality. How could investors trust us if our
government center is just like this?”
‘Use
outweighs history’
He said the
officials had looked into the historical value of the old municipio, “but the
use outweighs historical weight of the matter.”
Henares
clarified that the HCS was not opposing the construction of a new building. “In
fact, we support it but we should not disregard history,” he said.
He proposed
ways on how construction could proceed while preserving the town’s heritage.
“If possible, look for another location or integrate the art deco in the new
design,” he said.
In its letter,
the HCS suggested an “adaptive reuse” or the repair, renovation and integration
of the old building into the new structure to accommodate the space
requirements of the municipal government.
De Lacy Jr.
said he has a plan to incorporate the art deco façade. “I might as well place
the façade in a particular place within the municipal compound where they (NHC
officials) would see their concern.”
“It’s part of
our public service to improve,” he said.
The councilors
are scheduled to visit the NHC to air their side and present their findings
today, Agena said.
