Heritage sites in danger of being sold or torn down

Amid the furore over a rising condominium project that is said to be spoiling the view of the Rizal Monument, other heritage sites in Manila are in danger of being sold or torn down, according to a former tourism secretary and current chair of the Heritage Conservation Society.

Gemma Cruz-Araneta called attention to “endangered” sites like the El Hogar and other old buildings on Escolta, the Manila Post Office and the Manila Metropolitan Theatre.

Some of the buildings on Escolta were designed by the son of renowned Filipino painter Juan Luna, Araneta told the Senate committee on education, culture and arts on Thursday.

“They’re in danger of being torn down or being sold to groups that may not respect heritage,” she said during the hearing on the effect of the 48-story Torre de Manila condo on the sightline of the monument of Jose Rizal. 

Araneta’s great grandmother Maria is a sister of the national hero. She also cited as an example the Binondo house of General Antonio Luna, the brilliant Filipino-American War tactician and Juan’s younger brother, which had been turned into a noodle factory and warehouse.

The city government has announced plans to revive Escolta, Manila’s high-end shopping centre in the 1930s, by reusing heritage buildings as call centre hubs while preserving their architectural design.

 

Set for demolition

El Hogar, one of the few remaining American-colonial era landmarks in Binondo facing Pasig River, has been reported to be set for demolition after tenants were asked to vacate the century-old building in February.

The preservation of the Manila Post Office and the dilapidated Metropolitan Theatre has been a concern among conservationists for years.

Araneta appeared at the Senate hearing as a resource person on the raging controversy over Torre de Manila, a DMCI condominium project which obtained permits from the previous Manila City administration. Critics since 2012 have warned that the condo, now about 20 floors tall, would ruin the sightline of the Rizal Monument at Luneta Park.

Another resource person, Wilkie Delumen, chief architect of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, said a developer was planning to turn the American-era Army Navy Club on Roxas Boulevard into a hotel.

According to Delumen, Oceanville Hotel and Spa Corp had commissioned architect Felino Palafox Jr to rehabilitate and develop the building into a hotel with a promise to “maintain the integrity of the structure”.

The NHCP has given the developer permits to clean the area in order to make a “detailed engineering study” of the structure, he said. But the commission allowed the demolition of the annex building since it was already in a “bad state” and deemed hazardous, Delumen added.

Palafox and his firm had yet to present a development plan that would be subject to the NHCP’s approval, he said.