How true is this report I just got that the coral stone facade of the San Nicolas de Tolentino Church of Malabuyoc town, southwestern Cebu, has been covered over with a thin coat of cement? A team of government evaluators who were in Malabuyoc yesterday quickly called me up to find out what could be done about it. This team was in town for the first round of the Expanded Green and Wholesome Environment that Nurtures Our Cebu (eGWEN Our Cebu), and a number of them were there to look at how tourism and heritage programs were being pursued not just in Malabuyoc but also in its neighboring municipalities. Mao nay giingon nga mas maayo pa ang mga taga-gobyerno nabalaka pa sa heritage significance aning karaang simbahan! Paet!
At the same time, a new member of the Archdiocesan Heritage Commission also texted me that old capiz shell windows from the convent of Saint Joseph the Patriarch Parish Church in Mabolo, Cebu City, now undergoing renovation, were being given away to some residents there. One even used it as accent to his carroza! Msgr. Carlito Pono, chairman of the commission, immediately called up the parish and was told that this is not true. So where did the capiz window now accenting a privately owned carroza come from? I really thought Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Church in El Pardo was going to be the last of these alarming reports about church heritage. So now it’s back to the woodwork for the Committee on Architecture under the commission.
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Yesterday, the University of San Carlos Museum opened a traveling exhibition organized by Ayala Museum titled “People Power,” an exhibition of photographs by Kim Komenich to mark the 25th anniversary of the Edsa Revolution. The exhibition will run until Dec. 16 and will move on to other places outside Cebu. This is a good opportunity for young people to get to know those four days in February 1986 when a small faction in the military that revolted against the dictator Ferdinand Marcos would have been routed had not hundreds of thousands of civilians crowded the long stretch of Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue, hence the name Edsa.
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This Saturday, Nov. 26, the Cathedral Museum of Cebu will mark its 5th anniversary with the unveiling of a number of old bells: two of them from San Remigio, another two from Sta. Fe, one each from Daan Bantayan and Santander, although the latter will be installed at a later date. This is part of a fund-raising scheme I proposed to the curatorial board, which is perennially in need of funds. So why not get all those old bells just lying around in churchyards and belfries, long silenced because they were cracked and lost their clappers or tongues?
To open the celebrations, renowned church historian Ricky Jose will plane in from Manila despite his busy schedule to do a lecture titled “The Bells of Cebu” at 2 p.m. at the Leo and Norma Lim Liu Hall of the museum. This will be followed at 3:30 p.m. by the unveiling of the traveling exhibition titled “The Iron Age in Cebu: Significant Finds from San Remigio” at the Virgilio Yap Memorial Hall. The exhibit is organized jointly by USC Museum, National Museum in cooperation with the Department of Anthropology, Sociology and History (DASH). Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale has been invited to cut the ceremonial ribbon, together with San Remigio Mayor Jay Olivar and Fr. Fritz Malinao, parish priest of the Parish of San Juan Nepomuceno. It was on the church grounds of the parish as well as the public beach across it where the significant Iron Age artifacts were recovered in two excavation seasons this year. These artifacts are now on storage at the National Museum Branch in Museo Sugbo.
The plan is to bring these back to San Remigio once the museum there will be finished. I understand that the Mayor will soon provide the space for these artifacts. But for the moment, the travelling exhibit will kick off at the Cathedral Museum where Archbishop Jose Palma will be the guest of honor. After two weeks, the exhibit will move to Museo Sugbo and then to USC Museum and hopefully to other town museums until it will eventually come home to San Remigio by early next year.
Admission to all these events is free but on a first-come, first-served basis. So please join us in these events and, if you feel like doing so, sponsor one of the bells because you help the museum community in Cebu.