A MULTI-COLORED marker that would depict a “dance of the water” will be installed at the entrance of the Buhisan dam in February 2012 to mark its centennial celebration.
The marker will bear the names of persons including the late Sergio Osmeña Jr. who made possible the building of the dam as a source of potable water for Cebuanos, said architect Melva Java.
“But we wanted to do away with the bust and other traditional designs,” said Java, a commissioner of Cebu City’s Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission (Chac).
Java presented the marker design to the media in a Chac press briefing on July 27.
She said the marker would be made to look like a wall of water. It will have pipes accented by LED lights below it to make water from the pipes appear as if it were dancing.
Java said the marker would be installed at the entrance of the Buhisan dam to “introduce the dam.”
She said they hope to complete the marker between Feb. 12 to 14, 2012.
“The Buhisan dam is very significant because even after 100 years, it is still doing its job of giving us potable water,” said former councilor and Chac commissioner Arsenio Pacaña.
Charmaine Rodriguez, Metropolitan Cebu Water District information officer, said the Buhisan river is their only source of surface water.
The Buhisan dam was completed on Feb. 11, 1912. It was built following a fire in 1906 which razed Cebu’s business district and a cholera outbreak in 1909 which killed 559 of Cebu’s population of 55,000.
Sergio Osmeña Jr. who was then with the Philippine National Assembly helped source the P515,000 funding needed for the construction project which was later named as the Osmeña water works.
Cebuano engineer Marcelo Veloso Regner worked with Italian Gulp and Pacific Co., the project contractors
Rodriguez said they are now trying to locate the descendants of the late engineer Regner so that they would be able to attend the installation of the Buhisan dam marker. /Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac