SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The provincial government here has pledged to submit the proposed development plan of the President Diosdado Macapagal District Hospital in the municipality of Tobias Fornier to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) within the week.
This comes after the NHCP issued a cease-and-desist order against the provincial government’s renovation project for the hospital, which is considered an important cultural property.
Inocencio Dajao, chief of the Provincial Engineering Office implementing the hospital renovation, said on Monday that they immediately halted the renovation upon receiving the NHCP order last month.
“We will submit the required hospital development plan within the week to the NHCP,” Dajao said.
He said the Provincial Legal Office is helping them prepare the documents to be submitted to the NHCP in the hope that the commission could immediately approve them for the renovation to proceed before the year ends or early next year.
The construction, which is now 80 percent complete, was questioned by Consolacion Paz Caseńas, whose family owns the lot where the hospital stands. She said the hospital, which was built 56 years ago, is an important cultural property.
Dajao said the complaint on the renovation project came late, and they had begun implementing and completing more than half of the project.
Provincial Board’s history and cultural heritage committee chair Egidio Elio, during Monday’s session, said he received a copy of the letter from NHCP chairman, Dr. Emmanuel Franco Calairo, halting the hospital renovation.
“The NHCP issued the cease and desist order with the hospital being an important cultural property and, thus, its renovation should have to be first approved by the commission,” Elio said.
In his letter dated Nov. 15 and addressed to Gov. Rhodora J. Cadiao and a copy furnished to Elio, Calairo cited that an important cultural property, such as the President Diosdado Macapagal District Hospital, shall be protected from any modification or renovation based on Republic Act (RA) 10066, as amended by RA 11961.
RA 11961, or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009, defines important cultural property as those with exceptional cultural, artistic, and historical significance to the Philippines declared by law or pertinent cultural agencies.
Elio clarified that the NHCP order is only temporary and could be lifted once the provincial government submits the renovation plan and other requirements for the NHCP to approve. (PNA)/PN
