New cultural find in Butuan
By Antonio J. Montalvan

THE MAN is a law unto himself. That is probably one of the worst that can be said of anyone, let alone a government official aspiring to become a member of the Philippine Senate. That was probably the most scathing remark yet made about senatorial candidate Dick Gordon in the uproar over the Lapu-Lapu statue recently put up at Rizal Park.

Gordon has since answered the charges made against him by Inquirer columnist Ambeth Ocampo, who is also the chairperson of the National Historical Institute. But the fact remains that a law of the land, in this case Presidential Decree 1505, remains such until otherwise repealed or amended, a detail that must not escape any senatorial candidate.

Gordon probably timed the installation of the controversial statue for his Senate try. But what perfect timing as well that this has to happen when Filipino voters must discern the actuations of government officials, who after allegedly breaking the law, aspire to become lawmakers. But what the heck, our elections are a carnival anyway, and with all the political prostituting going on, nothing shocks us anymore.

Heritage advocates, and Gordon for that matter, can take note, however, that there are bright spots in heritage advocacy, and that happens only when local governments follow the law on heritage protection.

Missing the eye of our election-fixated media was a recent prehistoric find in Butuan City that, as is usual for heritage-rich Butuan, sets another paradigm for close private sector and government collaboration.

The Bonbon Shell Midden is a mound of shells running up to two meters deep occupying an area of about half a hectare in barangay Bonbon, Butuan City. Not far from it is another mound, although smaller. At the moment, materials found in the site are undergoing radiocarbon dating analysis in Japan. But National Museum archaeologists who recently made an in-depth study of the site are of the tentative prognosis that the materials go back to Late Stone Age. That effectively pushes back in time the cultural chronology of Butuan's early settlement, and eventually alters data on Philippine history. It is thus an exciting find.

The precious find, however, stands in the way of "progress" for those who wish to make it appear that development and culture are in conflict with each other, that one must give way to the other. The planned Butuan circumferential road, which is already in the final planning stages, will pass right through this Midden site.

When the Butuan Historical and Cultural Foundation sounded the alarm of the possible mutilation of Midden, the city government promptly communicated its concern to the engineering team of Nippon Koei. And with funding from the city government -- how fortunate Butuan's historians are! -- the foundation called in the National Museum to do the test drills. With the archaeological work now completed, and the road design altered to save Midden, the danger of its destruction has passed, but "just in time," says Butuan historian Greg Hontiveros, whose landmark publication, "Butuan of a Thousand Years," will soon be out on the book shelves.

The National Museum team found out that the site is not a natural formation. Aside from freshwater and brackish shells, the excavations yielded stone flake tools that bore traces of human interventions, including deposits of human and animal bones. At the moment, two human tibiae (long bones of the arms) and parts of the hand are in Japan for C-14 analysis.

Our good news from Butuan doesn't end with the diversion of the road and the museum's findings. The city is soon to inaugurate its new City Library building where the local government and Rep. Leovigildo Banaag have assigned a room for the planned Butuan Historical Studies Center.

The center will house a collection of books and research materials that will surely be useful to visiting scholars and researchers. Already, the initial volumes include the private research materials of Vic de Jesus on the Magellan expedition which are all sourced from abroad. Also from European libraries and archives are Spanish documents gathered by Father Joesilo Amalia, and some out-of-print books which have significant data on Butuan. The library will also contain studies on Butuan done these last three years, including the geomorphological study of the Butuan delta. There will also be copies of all archaeological studies of Butuan and other Mindanao sites.

As one can see, it is not only Butuan's prolific historians who are setting the example here, but also local government officials appreciating highly the valuable contribution of heritage education to the development of people. True, the officials are only doing their duty, but with the numerous violations by some government people (encouraged by the apathy of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from whom, after being sounded out on the Luneta misadventure, not a whimper was heard), Butuan's example puts many to shame.

"Tourism means jobs. Maraming trabaho para sa Pilipino." Those campaign slogans are true. But development must not only be all economics. Culture can be a powerful partner to economics and hence, can energize development efforts. What better development there can be than Filipinos having better education on and understanding of their own identity and heritage? Culture is as essential to people as food and jobs are.

How we wish there is such a thing as a heritage vote in the coming elections. Wow Butuan!

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