The National Commission for Culture and the Arts cancelled a junket to Apayao at the last minute and convened an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss the impact of the Visayas earthquake on heritage sites. Together with officials of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the National Museum, a ‘Heritage Task Force’ has been formed to assess the damage wrought by the 7.2- magnitude earthquake in Bohol.
The crew will establish the damage on the structures that have been declared National Cultural Treasures, National Landmarks, and Important Cultural Properties. The task force will also prioritize which landmark can be restored immediately, as well as evaluate the amount of resources needed for the rehabilitation works. Here’s to hoping for generous donors to fund the restoration effort.
Among those damanged are the churches of Loboc (Church of San Pedro) and Baclayon (Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception), both of which were once considered for the UNESCO World Heritage List, reports Yahoo! Philippines. “Both churches were built by Jesuit priests. The Loboc Church was originally built in 1602 and reconstructed in 1638 while the Baclayon Church was completed in 1727. The Loboc Church is classified as a baroque church and submitted for inclusion in the world heritage list in 2006. The Baclayon Church, meanwhile, is made of coral stones cut into square blocks and piled on top of each other using bamboo tools and cemented using egg white.”
