Sariaya heritage protectors launch online petition

LUCENA CITY—Heritage conservationists have launched another online petition to stop a controversial government road project in Sariaya, Quezon province, 126 kilometers south of Manila.

The petition on www.change.org, initiated last week by Danny de Luna, president of Sariaya Heritage Council Inc. (SHCI),  asked Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson to respect the cease-and-desist order (CDO) issued by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and stop the diggings along General Luna Street.

De Luna said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) should respect the sites chosen by heritage house owners and stakeholders for its loading and unloading bays along the main street.

On March 18, the NCCA issued the order suspending the road-widening project amid criticisms that it could affect the Natalio Enriquez heritage house, municipal hall and plaza, the St. Francis of Assisi Parish Church complex and all other cultural properties in the area.

Rina Marquez, daughter of the present owner of the iconic Enriquez mansion, has contended that the DPWH and its contractor were defying the order and had been digging the roadside of General Luna in the central part of the town, purportedly for its loading and unloading bays for passenger vehicles.

“Where is the local enforcement?” Marquez commented on the Facebook thread of the petition.

Nestor Cleofas, chief of the DPWH-Quezon 2nd District based in Lucena, said the road construction activity was “far from the heritage structures that were covered by the NCCA’s CDO.” The digging is 250 meters away from the Enriquez mansion and the parish church.

Insisting that the DPWH has been complying with the NCCA order, Cleofas said on the phone on Sunday that the project was welcomed by residents in the area. “They want their parts of the town to be widened and its drainage facilities improved,” he said.

Heritage advocates demanded that the DPWH abandon its plan to put up loading and unloading stations along General Luna during a mediation hearing conducted by the NCCA between them and the DPWH on Sept. 15.

Under the revised road plan, the transport facilities will be built in three strategic spots of the main street—at a portion of the plaza in front of the church and the municipal hall, in the middle section of the town center, and in the vicinity of the public market.

The residents argued that since the road in front of the market had already been widened, it should serve as a stop for public utility vehicles. Conservationists, however, suggested that the DPWH just construct another bus stop near the cemetery, just outside the locality, instead of putting up two more stops inside the town center.

Cleofas maintained that the DPWH was bound to construct the vehicle stations as planned if there was no more legal impediment.

During the hearing, Trixie Cruz-Angeles, NCCA legal consultant, advised critics to submit their counterproposal to the DPWH project.

In July, SHCI initiated an online petition to save the frontage of the 100-year-old public cemetery from destruction to pave the way for the widening of Maharlika Highway. It, however, failed to convince the DPWH to drop the plan, which also resulted in the toppling of a century-old “kalachuchi” tree in front of the cemetery.

Critics also created a community Facebook page “SOS: Save Our Sariaya Heritage” to bolster their campaign.

The petition, posted on De Luna’s Facebook page, has so far drawn 55 signatories on Sunday.