Donating your baluarte

There are about 50 or so Spanish-era baluartes or watchtowers all over the province of Cebu.  These are quadrilateral or octagonal two-story towers made of argamasa (coral rubble), a mixture of lime mortar, coral fragments, fine sand and perhaps egg whites or milk. These were built between the early 1700s up to about the 1850s, the period corresponding to the most perilous moments in the life of native Cebuanos (as well as Visayans and even the people of Luzon) living along the coasts amid active slave raiding by Muslim marauders from Sulu (specifically, the Balangingi and the Iranun).

The town of Oslob alone has 11 of them, while Boljoon has about three left out of about six. There is one in Alcoy right off the highway along Tingko Beach, and one off the beautiful Dalaguete Church plaza (which has the precise date of 1768—probably the oldest dated one in Cebu). There are a few more spread from Santander, Samboan, Ginatilan and Malabuyoc up to Alegria on the western coast. There is another one at the public park of Aloguinsan, another one hidden amidst a cluster of shanties in Carmen, also in Daantabogon, Minglanilla and one more near the church in Sogod.

Others like Daancatmon have not just a watchtower but also an entire fort. This particular one still has its curtain intact on one side, located inside its public elementary school perched on a hill above the national highway. Oslob also has a citadel-like fort in Daanlungsod, with three crenelated towers on the coastal side. It even has what many believe to be a much older watchtower near the fort’s center.

Sta. Fe also has remnants of what must have been a small quadrilateral fort, while Madridejos recently cleaned and spruced up its small triangular fort, one that is undoubtedly much smaller than that of Fort San Pedro.

Then there is one in Doong Island, off Bantayan. This one caught my attention while I was in town two weeks ago to help train barangay officials on cultural mapping, together with heritage expert Ruel Rigor. The owner, who shall remain anonymous for the moment, wanted to donate this piece of history to the province. And it dawned on me that perhaps this is the way forward for many of these remnants of the past who are gradually crumbling or have been converted into small restaurants, living spaces and even pig sties. Many are also in danger of being destroyed by the onslaught of road widening that will happen in the future in Alcoy and Oslob.

So last Tuesday, during the general assembly of all municipal and city tourism and heritage councils under the Province of Cebu, I urged everyone to inquire with private owners if they were willing to follow the example of this owner in Doong. One need not donate the entire property on which the watchtower is located but just a portion of about two-to-four meters around it. This is most especially incumbent on those towers that are in danger of being lost to road widening as well as those that are now teeming with squatter shanties or, in the case of Kota fort in Sta. Fe, overgrown with plants and weeds. There is so much potential for restoring or rehabilitating many of these run-down structures that serve as reminders of our past. Part of this is a survey of all these structures to find out their status and how government can help.

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Congratulations to Malou Samson, University of San Carlos Museum curator, for accepting the presidency of the Visayas Association of Museums and Galleries Inc. (Vamgi) during the meeting held yesterday at Museo Sugbo. My felicitations also to Rey Inocian, curator of the Cebu Normal University Museum, and Fr. Efren Bongay of Baclayon Parish Museum (as vice presidents), and all the other officers and members of the board. As the representative of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts National Committee on Museums, I can say with confidence that the renewed and refreshed Vamgi will soon surge forward, especially with the constitution and by-laws, which were amended during the same event, subject to ratification by all members in January.

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I’d like to thank Ambeth Ocampo for graciously selling me for a bargain his second copy of “Buzeta y Bravo” or what is formally called “Diccionario geográfico-estadístico-histórico de las islas Filipinas por Manuel Buzeta y Felipe Bravo,” published in Spain in 1851. Thank you also for the titillating lecture titled, Queridas ni Rizal at BPI Museum Cebu last Monday.