Zamboanga’s heritage track

It’s amazing to see century-old acacia trees, branches gracefully outstretched and devoid of any obstruction. It is extremely amazing still to see these trees with a stainless steel belt on its main trunk indicating it was declared a heritage tree. This is what you will see when you visit Zamboanga City’s old Spanish quarter and what was once the marching grounds of the American-era Pettit Barracks.

Helping design the lifestyle museum of the Bank of the Philippines Islands in Zamboanga has given me the opportunity to experience up close the important zoning plan that has been implemented in this city that boasts of being a bastion of the Chavacano language. Chavacano is a pidgin Spanish variant that resulted from the amalgam of different peoples of different tongues coming together during the Spanish period at the edge of the Western Mindanao peninsula.

It’s amazing how this city has transformed itself into a model of heritage zoning where all government and private buildings within the historic district are required to follow Spanish period architecture. Thus one finds blocks of government offices sporting capiz windows and blustered upper stories amidst the welcome shades of tall acacia trees.

The late Ma. Clara Lobregat and her son, Celso Lobregat, who took over her mayorship, had apparently not forgotten the historical role this city played as the lone bastion of Spain  in Mindanao, recreating spaces that were once part of its history.

Cebu City and other cities all over the country can learn from the heritage zoning implementation that on the whole appears  quite successful in this city. Even the new Bangko Sentral building basks in elegance near Fort Pilar while the old American-era high school building in its compound awaits its conversion into a future museum of the National Historical Commission there if negotiations are successful. The only problem appears to be a new two-story convention hall that unfortunately stands too close to the fort, effectively blocking what would have been a magnificent view.

Still, one violation does not diminish the successes that Zamboanga has shown insofar as its Hispanic heritage is concerned. Viva Zamboanga!

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The Museo de Oslob will be inaugurated on  Saturday by Gov. Gwendolyn F. Garcia and possibly Sen. Loren Legarda. Sitting in  the imposing shadow of the unfinished, late Spanish-era cuartel, this  museum will host an exhibition of heirloom pieces from the old families of Oslob as its inaugural exhibition. My congratulations to Mayor Ronald Guaren for this achievement, thanks to Governor Garcia who has transformed Oslob’s old Spanish section beginning with the grand Oslob Heritage Park two years ago.

Titled “Herencia: Heirlooms and Other Treasures of Old Oslob,” the exhibit will feature Spanish and American household furniture as well as indigenous fishing and farming implements together with what was once Oslob’s major industry, cotton textile weaving, locally called “Hablon.” When in Oslob, find time to see the exhibit.