BONGABON, Nueva Ecija – The municipal government has ordered works on a 334-square meter lot here stopped amid report it was “presumed to be a heritage site,” the town engineer said Thursday.
Municipal engineering office chief Ferdunand Arucan said Mayor Allan Gamilla set an urgent meeting among stakeholders to thresh out matters surrounding the lot owned by Bartolome Valderama.
The lot, situated across the old municipal hall on Rizal St., and the public plaza on Mozo St., was fenced with bricks and rubble work, according to Arucan.
But the engineering office, he said, was not in possession of any document or declaration that the lot was a heritage site as per National Heritage Act of 2009.
His office was also not informed of the demotion that started a few days back.
In a report, heritage advocates described the demolition as “unfortunate,” referring to the demolished property as “a large portion of the Spanish-era Commandancia ruins” that was “presumed to be important cultural property under the National Cultural Act of 2009.”
Such report, according to Arucan, prompted the government to conduct a thorough study.
Valderama, however, maintained his lot was different from the much bigger property reportedly owned by a certain Dr. Santos at the corner of Mozo and F. Aquino Sts., on which side the local government and the Catholic Church’s St. Francis of Assisi Parish erected a marker in 2012.
Part of the marker reads: “This monument attests to the existence of the Spanish Commandancia of Nueva Ecija in 1700s marking the antiquity of the town of Bongabon, Province of Nueva Ecija the memory of which shall remain an esteemed symbol of historical and cultural significance and contribute to the positive development of national pride.”
Valderama said his parents had never said any historical event in their own lot, saying theirs was only a warehouse for the family’s palay harvest. He said he would not have touched the place if someone said it was historical.
“E di sana ay hindi ko na giniba,” he said. “Kung sinabi na historical ito ay hindi ko gagalawin yan.”
He was planning to construct a commercial building on his lot.
