CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is just not done yet with the fight in getting Compania Maritima back.
In fact, if he can have it his way, he would convert the controversial Compania Maritima into something like that of Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian Institution – an edifice considered to be the world’s largest museum, education and research complex.
And if anyone has doubts about his new plan, Rama said he would even plan to discuss this with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos just to get this moving.
“This whole area, having been to Washington D.C. This will be like the Smithsonian, people will just walk, walk, walk, and reach City Hall,” Rama said.
When the City Hall will eventually be transferred to the South Road Properties, the current City Hall will also be converted as the City Museum, Rama said.
He added he gave the time for the president to enjoy the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP)-Cebu and did not bother him from discussing the Compania Maritima yet.
“Wala pa, wala pa. Pero I will be talking about it at the right time,” Rama told The Freeman.
The NMP-Cebu which will be made open to the public beginning today is expected to be an additional tourism attraction in the city.
“This area is very important to me, the Plaza Independencia, Fort San Pedro and this Malacañang sa Sugbo (now NMP-Cebu) including Campania Maritima and the rest with heritage value, is very important to the Cebu City,” Rama said during the inauguration of the NMP.
Rama said they will continue to fight for the preservation of all structures with heritage value including the Compania Maritima together with Vice Mayor Raymond Garcia and the city’s Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission and other entities.
“We are one in fighting for the preservation of all of these,” Rama added.
The mayor was with the president during the inauguration of NMP-Cebu, but they have not yet discussed the matter about the Compania Maritima which is now being annexed by the Cebu Ports Authority as its rightful owner following a Regional Trial Court ruling last June 5, 2023.
The court further declared that the CPA, as the Republic’s trustee, should be able to exercise its functions within the property, subject to both national and local laws, statutes, and regulations, free from any form of harassment from the defendants.
Before such ruling, the Cebu City Government, under Rama, has cleaned up the area and dressed it as a huge gift as part of the redevelopment of the Carbon Market area.
For so many years though, the Compania Maritima was just a “ruins” with so many garbage and human wastes and even became a shelter to street dwellers, stock area to some vendors and deliveries at Carbon market.
NMP-Cebu Building
The present NMP-Cebu used to be the Aduana Building which housed the Customs office until 2004 when it was turned into Malacañan sa Sugbo, the official residence of the President in the Visayas.
In 2013, the building sustained damages and was rendered unsafe after the magnitude 7.2 earthquake.
In December 2019, the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) and the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) entered a usufruct to allow the latter to use the building and to facilitate the building’s preservation and restoration.
The same is also being prayed for by the city government regarding the Compania Maritima, all for the sake of heritage preservation. — (FREEMAN)