Escuela Taller kicks off course on preventive maintenance of heritage structures, sites
MANILA, Philippines— A non-government organization on heritage conservation on Thursday kicked off the first day of its course offering on preventive maintenance for heritage structures and sites.
The Escuela Taller De Filipinas Foundation launched the blended learning course offering called "Preventive Maintenance towards Disaster Risk Reduction: A course for Managers and Administrators of Heritage Sites" to build the capacities of attendees when it comes to properly caring for heritage structures and sites.
The course, which will run until December 6, also seeks to reduce heritage structures and sites’ vulnerabilities to natural and human-induced hazards through preventive conservation.
"Heritage places in the Philippines are vulnerable and are in constant risk of being damaged due to the high frequency of typhoons and earthquakes and therefore need to be in their top form to reduce the destructive effects of these natural phenomena," Jeffrey "Foom" Cobilla, architect and Escuela Taller’s head of Project Development and Management for Heritage Conservation, said.
"Preventive maintenance is the simplest and most basic conservation approach to built heritage," he added.
Cobilla also believes that increasing awareness of Filipinos on the need to safeguard the nation’s heritage is important. He cited that there is an opportunity for site owners and custodians to harness that interest in gathering support for conservation initiatives.
For Escuela Taller, heritage also provides livelohood.
"Since our built heritage is considered cultural property, its values are shared and it follows that the responsibility for its protection should also be shared," the architect said.
"With more people having a better understanding of the importance of our heritage assets and with it the growing desire to properly take care of them, the task of implementing the simplest conservation approach becomes much easier," he added.
The training, co-sponsored by Sika Philippines Inc. and the Prince Claus Fund, has a blended learning program of 14 days, combining seven days of synchronous sessions and seven days of asynchronous sessions.
It eyes to have local government officials from various offices, parish council members, parish priests, and cultural heritage groups as learners.
Among the topics the attendees can expect to learn from the course include an overview of Philippine Architectural Heritage, developing a Preventive Maintenance Program and Cyclical Maintenance Plan, and basic documentation, condition survey, cleaning, and repair procedures.
The roster of speakers includes:
- Cobilla
- David Mason – Senior Heritage Specialist from the Public Works Advisory of New South Wales, Australia
- Carmen Bettina “Tina” Bulaong – Executive director of Escuela Taller de Filipinas
- Michael Querido – Project officer of Escuela Taller de Filipinas
- Sarah Jane Pahimnayan-Pagador - Architect, Escuela Taller de Filipinas
- Ma. Nicole “Nikky” Angeline Losa - Site officer, Old La Loma Cemetery Chapel
On Thursday, the organization said it successfully concluded the first day of the course with a diverse set of attendees from across the Philippines.
"We are glad that we have a broad range of participants from different parts of the country who have decided to be part of this certificate course," it said.
In 2017, Escuela Taller hosted an international symposium on Preventive Maintenance.
A known leader in heritage conservation, the organization led the preservation of the Malate Church for five years, applying techniques in preventive maintenance to safeguard the historic structure from major earthquakes.
It is also recently partnered with the Diocese of Kalookan to save the old La Loma Cemetery Chapel in Caloocan City from further deterioration.
Escuela Taller is also in the process of developing a manual on preventive maintenance of heritage structures.
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