TOUR | Victorias City Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez (left) takes National Museum of the Philippines Director General Jeremy Barns on a tour of the Victorias City Hall during the latter’s visit on Aug. 28, 2023. The City Hall will be turned into a sugar museum once a new city government center is built. (Photo from the Victorias City Public Information Office)
BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines —The Victorias City Hall in Negros Occidental province will be the future site for the first component museum in the province that will feature its sugar heritage and indigenous flora and fauna.
The city government of Victorias on Aug. 28 entered into a 50-year usufruct agreement with the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) to establish the museum.
It grants the NMP the right to use the City Hall building for 50 years as a permanent regional museum and where a satellite office of the NMP will also be established.
The Victorias City Hall will be converted into a museum once a new government center is built, according to Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez.
No date has been set yet for the groundbreaking of the new government center.
“We’re very excited about this partnership. We know that the National Museum of the Philippines and the partnership with the Department of Tourism, hopefully, will bring not only awareness but also education, honor, and tourists to Victorias City which will help people rise from economic hardships,” Benitez said at the sidelines of the agreement signing.
Negros Occidental is the largest sugar-producing province in the country, and Victorias City is home to Victorias Milling Co. (VMC), the largest sugar refinery in the Philippines.
Victorias Milling was founded on May 7, 1919, by Don Miguel Ossorio. VMC is one of the earliest modern sugar mills in the country and remains one of the largest sugar millers and refineries in Asia.
For generations to appreciate
Among the signatories of the Deed of Usufruct Agreement were Mayor Benitez and his uncle, Negros Occidental Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez, along with NMP Director General Jeremy Barns, NMP Visayas National Museums Director II Ma. Cecilia Tirol, and City Administrator Lindolf de Castro.
The initiative would ensure that Victorias City and the vibrant history and cultural heritage of Negros Occidental would be safeguarded and celebrated for generations to come, Mayor Benitez said.
Tirol, for her part, stressed the significance of the museum in the Visayas and emphasized that Negros Occidental was the only missing piece in the cultural map.
Barns affirmed the commitment of the NMP to making this vision a reality.
“This museum that we will be putting together, conceptualizing in consultation with you and the stakeholders, that this will be our best yet, for sure,” he said.