Museo Sugbo restoration starts

CEBU, Philippines - Restoration works for the 150-year-old province-owned building that houses the Museo Sugbo are now underway, two years after it was damaged by the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that jolted Cebu and Bohol.

At least P20 million was set aside by the national government through the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) for the restoration project, which is expected to be finished within six months.

Museo Sugbo curator Masi Cabañes said the museum’s interior and parameter walls need to be fixed after it suffered damage in the 2013 quake.

She said the NHCP shouldered the expenses for the restoration since the museum was declared as a national historical structure.

In May this year, Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III, Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, Provincial Board Member Miguel Antonio Magpale, head of the PB Committee on Arts and Culture, and National Historical Commission in the Philippines executive director Ludovico Badoy signed a memorandum of agreement for the restoration project.

Under the MOA, the restoration will be in accordance with international and national conservation standards.

Cabañes said that after the Museo Sugbo was damaged, they immediately coordinated with the NHCP on how to go about the rehabilitation of the historical structure. The Commission then sent a team to conduct detailed engineering studies to determine the damage.

She added that the restoration plan also included the measures to be applied to strengthen the structure without impinging its historical integrity.

“Resiliency is important in preserving the structure. By strengthening your structure, mas ma-prolong ang life sa heritage structure,” she told The FREEMAN.

Senator Pia Cayetano, who chairs the Senate Committee on Education, Arts and Culture, earlier warned against sloppy restoration of historical structures.

She said the restoration efforts, if not done properly, may mar the historical value of the heritage sites and structures.

Architect Reynaldo Inovero, former member of the NHCP and the contractor for the Museo Sugbo restoration, assured that the structure’s historical value will still be preserved.

“As much as possible we preserve the original materials but not exactly going back to the original because we cannot do that, it’s not possible,” he said.

The 150-year-old structure, which used to be a provincial jail (Carcel de Cebu), was constructed in 1869.

NHCP allocated P650 million for the restoration of other historical structures in Bohol and Cebu that were damaged by the quake. — Michael Vencynth H. Braga/ATO (FREEMAN)