Diocesan heritage workers

Safeguard church memory

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA)—Cultural heritage workers of the Diocese of Tagbilaran steps forward in yet again, another calling: safeguard the memory of church heritage by nurturing its meaning and ensuring that these items and structures bequeathed in faith, can be responsibly handed to the next generation.

At the 14th Biennial Convention of Church Cultural Heritage Workers, hosted by the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro, Episcopal Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church (ECCHC) chair and Prelate of Batanes, Bishop Danilo Ulep situates church heritage work as that within the broader field of ecclesial continuity and mission.

The biennial convention, supposedly set in 2025, but was moved due to the pressing issues brought about by the natural disasters hitting the country, picked on the theme: Church Heritage Beyond the Jubilee Year of Hope.

Our churches, artworks, archives, traditions and sacred spaces are not mere relics of history; they are vessels of faith, witnesses of grace and bridges that connect generations of believers, he said.

As stewards of the Church’s cultural heritage, we are entrusted with this sacred responsibility, the Batanes bishop said, in the context of the slow degradation of heritage structures, artefacts and sacred objects left to the fate of time and neglect amidst the hastened effects of changing climates.

In fact, several of these built heritage structures and artefacts due for restoration and conservation have been victims of tampering in the guise of reconstruction and refurbishment, something that communities of believers cold have protected, had there been research and proper documentation making the attendant information of the object’s value available.

In the conference, National Commission For Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Supervising Administrative Officer and Enforcement Section Head of the Cultural Properties Division Vanessa Marquez-Nicolas pressed on the role of communities and their active engagement in the protection and conservation of church heritage.

Boholano priest and ECCHC Executive Secretary Milan Ted Torralba said that they organized conventions like this, to advance awareness, sensitivity and appreciation of the cultural assets of the local churches in the Philippines, the frontliners and stakeholders in the conservation, advocacy and pastoral care of the ecclesial community’s heirlooms.

And since heritage protectors and community stakeholders can sometimes be easily overpowered by forceful persuasion disguised as restoration, the convention also provides the on-going formation, updating and training of workers, practitioners and scholars on heritage sciences as the Agreement between Rome and the Republic of the Philippines on the cultural heritage of the catholic church, the Boholano heritage scholar added.

Republic Act 10666 (RA 10666) or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 aims to protect, preserve, conserve and promote the nation’s cultural heritage, its property and histories and the ethnicity of its local communities.

It also establishes and strengthens cultural institutions like the NCCA, National Historical Commission of the Philippines, the National Museum of the Philippines, National Archives of the Philippines and the National Library in their tasks of assessing national cultural treasures and historical landmarks, sites and monuments.

Meanwhile, section 34 of RA 11961 or the law strengthening the Conservation and Protection of the Philippine Cultural Heritage tasks the NCCA as the agency responsible for the proper implementation of the laws protecting Philippine Cultural Heritage.

While the NCCA issues the declaration, it partners with NHCP in assessing historical sites, buildings, and historical events, if these can be declared among the National Historical Landmarks, National Historical Shrines and National Historical Monuments.

For documents, the NCCA partners with the National Archives of the Philippines, while for declaration of published books, correspondences and published heritage, National Library of the Philippines aids the NCCA .

In Bohol alone, with over 20 heritage churches, the NCCA has declared 9 national cultural treasures (NCT) and three churches as important cultural property (ICP).

The NCCA with the National Museum has declared the Immaculada Conception Church of Baclayon, Saints Peter and Paul Church of Loboc, Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Dauis, San Nicolas Tolentino Church of Dimiao and the Sto Nino Church of Cortes, as NCT, being among the most historically and architecturally significant Spanish-era churches in the Philippines.

Also declared ICP are Santissima Trinidad Church in Loay, Santa Monica Church in Alburquerque, Our Lady of Light Church in Loon, and Holy Cross Parsih Church of Maribojoc.

The NHCP has also declared church properties like the Immaculada Conception church of Baclayon, Saints Peter and Paul Church of Loboc, Santissima Trinidad Church of Loay, Our Lady of the Assumption Church of Dauis, San Nicolas Tolentino Church of Dimiao, Santa Monica Church of Alburquerque Church and Saint Joseph Cathedral in Tagbilaran City and National Historical Landmarks. (PIAbohol)

COMMITTED TO CHURCH HERITAGE PRESERVATION. A lean team from the diocese of Tagbilaran led by ECCHC Executive Secretary Fr. Milan Ted Torralba, and at least seven parish priests with church heritage workers represented the diocese in advancing faith heritage protection. (PIAbohol)

NHCP, Loay Parish brings in

curated exhibit of old icons

LOAY, Bohol (PIA)—Life sized wooden images of the characters who figured out in Christ’s passion, all dressed in period-correct tunics and cloaks like they were when they first came out for the Holy week processions in the 18th century Loay are now on exhibit at the second floor of the Museo ng Pamana at Kasaysayan’g Boholano, Casa Tribunal of the Holy Trinity Parish Church Compound here, until March 26.

Presented and curated by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), with the Holy Trinity of Loay and the benevolent encargados who now have in their keep these revered icons as family devotions passed on across the ages, the exhibit entitled Pag-antos: Remembrance, Preservation and Passing of the Lenten Traditions in Loay, allows these seldom seen centuries old carved wooden images to be seen up close by devotees, weeks before these are to occupy their decorated caros during the Holy week processions.

The exhibit, which opened March 12 feature the Lenten traditions from the palms, to the events that lead to the crucifixion and death of Christ, which is the central theme of the Lenten tradition introduced by the Spanish missionaries in Bohol in the 16th century.

The wooden icons, some a few decades after the establishment of the stone church on top of a hill here, have been commissioned by the parish or donations by rich parishioners in the 16th to the early 19th century, still feature the reverse-painted glass eyes and gems as tears, which are quaint devotional practices.

Some of the images still sport that some delicate skin tone paint jobs when they were commissioned, and most are over a hundred years old, the icons already considered cultural heritage assets, according to the NHCP.

We are very thankful that the families of the encargados gave in to our request, NHCP Loay Museum in-charge Perlina Alo shared, adding that encargados do not usually allow their image to be out of their sight.

Loay, like almost all heritage churches in Bohol practiced the entrustment of these priceless sacred icons to families as the church does not have the capacity to guard these from theft.

Sacred images from Bohol are among the hottest objects in the arts thievery black market.

We talked to each one of the encargados and offered help if we see any thing that needs to be restored in these images so they can get back the lend image in a much better state, she added.

The images, entrusted to families in town, only come out for the Lenten activities beginning with the Passos on Spy Wednesday and the Good Friday to the Easter procession leading to Sugat.

And while other parishes allow the improper vesting of the icons using the fashionable gowns, it is always our desire to get back to the core: make these images as catechetical aids in relearning of the lives and the roles these saints performed during the lenten commemoration, explains NHCP Materials Conservation Research Division chief, Mark Aquino.

The NHCP, which keeps a conservation laboratory in Loay Museum, also dished out some pointers to the encargados on the care and upkeep of the priceless images.

The NHCP also gave a lecture on care and preservation of the Holy Week images for encargados, which was also joined by encargados of the different parishes in Bohol.

The Pag-antos exhibit in Loay runs until March 26 and opens starting 9 am to 4 PM Tuesday to Sunday. (PIAbohol)

RARE EXHIBIT. Sacred images which are the main feature of the Passos procession for the Holy Week come out from the vaults of the families in Loay who have been, through the ages, entrusted with the upkeep of these priceless antique images for a few weeks of exhibit before the Holy Week and then again, they disappear from public view. Curated by the NHCP, Pag-antos exhibit at the Casa Tribuna of the Holy Trinity Parish Compound in Loay, runs until, March 26, 9-4PM Tuesdays to Sundays. (PIAbohol)