Sweet moments with Ms. B

Heritage Conservation simply means:Taking good care of the past. Quite ironic, don't you think? How can one takes care of the past when it has already gone? I think the answer lies in our hearts.

As an architect, I observed that through preservation of our Cultual Heritage, career-wise, has enhanced in ways i incorporate the design concept into the classical creations thereby giving recognition to those old but historical edifices which are now on the verge of existence due to wear and tear brought about by time and natural calamities while consciously merging both the modern and the classical ideas into a soluble tandem evolving into a pleasing incorporation of design eventually allowing trapped and hidden talents to be exposed and made to flourish into the limelight in the design arena.

With the application of Heritage conservation here inCebu, the community was hesitant at first. In fact they over-reacted that there were lots of misunderstandings and debates over who, what and why preserve? The biggest question then was: Why not just forget about it and replace it with a new one? To some it may seem to sound okay, but with the continued advocacy on the ins and outs of the process, the people now has grown and are more conscious in finding ways to lean some of the techniques in conservation of heritage. The greater majority of society are now positively enjoying the fruits of its resulting impact in the tourism-related repercussions in the aspect of economy. A rise of annual revenue together with the increase of influx of visitors proved it so. Various sectors of society were greatly benefited of this said program, and one of them are the intrepreneurs, who directly absorbed the profit-projected turnout in various angles of commerce.

Another group who are also enjoying its benifits is the marginalized group of people whom we have the majority in number. Although their level of consciousness as far as heritage is concerned was fast disappearing if not lost yet but with this Heritage conservation process they learned in their hearts the importance and value of why we should take good care of the past and/or what's left of it thus enabling their minds to subtlety be filled with the essence of what our heritage was and its significance in our existence today.

Cultural Heritage preservation means so much! I can say it is the guiding strength of a nation, of a society in general and of man, in particular. They are the mainstream of how we are today and how we might be in the future. Our pride as the only catholic nation in the far East only elaborates it more. We owe it all to our great though-kind-of- sour- past as to what has become of us now. Our culture speaks so much of us. As a matter of fact, it governs our very lives. Culture is our lifestyle. And the things, images, items and everything else which are associated with our culture, are significant for us in every little way it does. They come in as tangible and intangible kind. Structures like churches, ancient gates, old fortresses, grottos, even cemeteries are rich enough to be preserved as they are the very solid evidence of the ways those people in the past started it all for us.

The picture above is one of the booklet of four (4) produced by our team Cebu Heritage Frontier (CHF) from the taxing yet fun research we did in four towns in southern Cebu namely: Argao, Dalaguete, Boljoon and Oslob. I was the head-architect assigned in Oslob.
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Related article: INQ7.net