DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 14 August) – A group is pushing for the declaration of “San Pedro Square” in Davao City as a heritage zone.
Patmei Ruivivar, vice president of the Davao Historical Society, told “Kapehan sa Dabaw” on Monday that San Pedro holds cultural and historical significance to Dabawenyos because it is where the city’s most important landmarks are located.
These landmarks include San Pedro Cathedral, City Hall of Davao, Osmeña Park, and decades-old building of Philippine National Bank (PNB) Davao at San Pedro Street corner C.M. Recto Street, she said.
She said the City Hall of Davao is the oldest building in the city while the Osmeña Park was where the settlement of Datu Bago once stood.
She said “heritage buildings” include structures that are over 50 years old like the PNB, which has retained its “distinct architectural style” over the decades.
She said San Pedro is also the venue of the city’s cultural celebrations, making it a “very important cultural hub.”
She said officials from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) visited the city from August 7 to 10, and held a walking tour at the historical sites.
She said the group is urging the city council to declare San Pedro a heritage area to support the ongoing efforts to have it officially declared by the NCCA as a heritage zone that would be protected under Republic Act 10066 or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009.
Aside from San Pedro, she said the historical society is pushing for the declaration of 50 other sites as “important cultural property.”
These include the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao and the old building of Davao International Airport, which are designed by Leandro V. Locsin, the “Little Tokyo” of Mintal, and Oboza Heritage House where Manuel Roxas, who would become the first post-War president, hid from the Japanese Imperial Army.
The residence is now home to Tola, a restaurant on the upper floor, and Huckleberry Southern Kitchen & Bar on the lower floor.
Ruivivar said Locsin was a national artist for architecture who designed the Cultural Center of the Philippines and Francisco Balagtas Theater, two of the country’s important cultural landmarks.
She said these buildings are “presumed important cultural property” because these are works of a national artist, and thus protected by law.
The NCCA is assessing these landmarks, she said. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
