Gone, unlamented

Who ordered the destruction of the last remaining Spanish heritage of this province? The remains of Puerto San Juan, popularly known as the Provincial Jail had been destroyed and gone forever.

When I first saw the remains of the fort published in The Visayan Daily Star, I thought that the Negros Occidental Historical Council which is funded by the province to safeguard of historical heritage would take action, but not a whimper was heard.

The demolition of a squatters shanties had more publicity and denunciation than this destruction. This loss is unlamented and those entrusted with our historical legacy were silent, not a whimper.

Where is the provincial historical council and why the silence?

Where is Bacolod Councilor Carl Lopez who had gone around town listing our historical and cultural heritage that these maybe preserved? This fort is among the first in his list so why is he silent? Is he already in the campaign trail that he cannot give a hoot to this crime against the future?

There is a law that prohibits the destruction and even the rehabilitation of a historical landmark or structure without the consent of the National Historical Commission. Did the contractor get a permit to demolish this Spanish fort? Whoever ordered its demolition must answer before the law.

I recall that the lease of this lot 888 carries a provision that this fort is to be preserved and even enhanced because of its historical value. Did 888 comply with this provision? The way it looks 888 did not.

Before we left for abroad, the leveling off of the ground behind the façade of the fort was going on and I thought that 888 or the province or whoever has been contracted for this clearing would respect this provision but not until I saw the first publication of the demolition did I realize that the entire structure would be completely wiped out and gone forever.

The picture last week can only make us cry for this loss. No amount of restructuring can replace that structure.

In other countries, these structures are not only preserved but protected. The ruins of the past in many countries are tourist attractions not because (but perhaps because of it) of their appearance but the history, the story of the past.

Here we destroy and nobody gives a hoot even those organized and funded to insure that these historical structures are preserved.

There were many of these structures that had been demolished and we are and the future generations are poorer intellectually and culturally because we tolerate this madness.

The lease to 888 carries the provision that the old fort should be preserved but days after their demolition had been published we heard nothing from 888. Should not 888 be made to account for this clear violation of the contract of lease?

Somebody must be made to explain and account. In fact, the National Historical Commission should be informed of this. Councilor Lopez has a mandate – this falls under his committee SD in the SP. I don’t know who is in charge of this in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan but at least the Negros Occidental Historical Council should do something, unless it too thinks that historical structures are not within the purview of its purposes.

In which case, perhaps we would like to know who is responsible, especially in making 888 to account for the provision in its contract of lease.

If nobody is, then let this historical structure pass into oblivion but I record this that the future will never say that nobody bothered and will know who demolished our last heritage structure.

Puerto San Juan was constructed in 1894 under the direction of Fr. Mauricio Ferrero who also constructed the San Sebastian Cathedral. The prison was necessary to accommodate prisoners who were detained in a rented house.

It was the detention cell of the Spanish friars after they were arrested in the aftermath of the Negros revolution. Filipinos who opposed American rule were also imprisoned here.

When World War II erupted, Japanese civilians were incarcerated in this fort until they were transferred to Isabela when Bataan surrendered.

After the war, it became the Provincial Jail and became the prison cell of many suspected Huks and later of the Columban priests (Frs. Brian Gore and Niall O’Brien) and church workers who were accused of the murder of Kabankalan Mayor Pablo Sola. All the accused were exonerated.

Portions of this fort were made of bricks from Silay, Isabela and Hinigaran and La Paz in Iloilo. Now that the fort has been demolished, so also goes the last vestige of our Spanish past. The fort has much to tell, but now that is gone and it seems nobody laments its passing, another victim of commercialization. *

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