'Persona non grata' for heritage destroyer
By Antonio Montalvan II
Inquirer News Service

ANOTHER SOS is being sent, not from Baclayon, Bohol (which is showing us the way), but from Cagayan de Oro City. And much like an epilogue to the long-drawn saga of the destruction of the prehistoric Huluga archaeological site, the perpetrator in this instance is still its city mayor, Vicente Y. Emano. That is the problem with mayors who run their turfs like principalities and potentates. Listening to public outcry is not among their fortes. And Emano has not learned his lesson despite losing the administrative case filed against him by the Heritage Conservation Advocates on the Huluga debacle, from which I coined the term "cultural terrorism."

Emano's target for his cultural terrorism this time is the city hall of Cagayan de Oro, which he plans to sell, together with two other city government properties, to generate a whopping return of P800 million that, he said, he will use to build a new government center for the city. A fine plan, indeed, that promises to promote further growth for this burgeoning northern Mindanao metropolis. But that is as far as we can tell on the surface-because the mayor's financial management is obscure (no statement of income and expenses is publicly available), and his style of urban management is "primitive" (the city has degenerated, teeming with shanty communities, sidewalk vendors and rolling coffins disguised as public transport).

The planned sale and transfer raise a lot of eyebrows.

Built in 1940, the city hall is among Cagayan de Oro's remaining pre-war architecture. And it stands where the Aguinaldo Revolutionary Government was first proclaimed -- on January 10, 1899 -- in Mindanao.

Casa Real was the seat of the Spanish provincial government. It had become a symbol of Spanish repression in Cagayan. It is said that a cruel Spanish governor at one time whipped "Indios" right at the stairs of the mansion. On proclamation day, the people of Cagayan occupied it with much rejoicing -- a two-day fanfare, replete with parade, speeches, music and cannon booms -- thus marking the end of the Spanish colonial regime that had ruled Misamis repressively and, at the same time, welcoming the first Filipino government in the island. Documents in microfilms relating to the "Fiesta Nacional" can now be viewed publicly in the National Archives.

Casa Real was later demolished -- sometime between 1910 and 1930. When Cagayan built a new town hall on the same site, there was another jubilant celebration, attended no less by President Manuel L. Quezon himself.

Citizen Cory Aquino added history to the same building by gracing with her presence the ceremonies formally renaming it as the Ninoy Aquino Hall of Justice, just after his assassination in 1983. I was a witness to that event.

It is thus understandable that the people of Cagayan de Oro would hold the site sacred. To ensure that future generations will forever remember and cherish the Cagayan people's love for freedom, a historical marker was installed on the site in 1999, the year Mindanao marked the centennial of the proclamation.

Emano, his rabid lapdogs and the pseudo-historians who cling to him for bread and butter, sneer at this "piece of history." They arrogantly claim that the marker is not backed up by records in the National Historical Institute. This may be true. But the NHI is not the sole arbiter of history in our land; there are other existing laws that recognize local historical bodies.

About three weeks ago, the city council of Cagayan de Oro railroaded an ordinance giving full authority to Emano to underwrite all the financial transactions pertaining to the sale of this historical heritage. But the ordinance strangely seems to be a product of "computer plagiarism." The text of an executive order that Emano had signed earlier was simply lifted-as in cut-and-paste-to the new city ordinance.

This could only mean that the ordinance was hastily ordered, dictated by Emano verbatim, and accepted by his underlings without batting their eyelashes, and naturally passed without floor deliberations by Emano's rubber stamp, the city council. It was only after more than seven days from the passage of the ordinance that the council conducted a public consultation on the sale. But by then, it was moot and academic as the measure had already been enacted into an ordinance. There are no plans to ensure that the building will not suffer demolition.

With arrogance. This is how Emano governs this now forlorn city which is, indeed, very unfortunate to have as mayor a man who has no love at all for the past of its people.

When will we see the day that professional politicians whose three terms have expired will be banned from running in voting districts where they have no birthright, but to which they transfer residence simply to perpetuate their political careers?

Emano is not a native of Cagayan de Oro. Being a chartered city, the city's residents do not vote for the provincial candidates of Misamis Oriental. Emano served as the province's governor, following a stint as mayor of his hometown Tagoloan. He has, therefore, no ties to Cagayan de Oro City. He is there only for political expedience and power. No wonder, heritage is for him only a matter of convenience.

As a native of the city, and in exercise of my birthright, let me now have the privilege to be the first to declare Vicente Y. Emano persona non grata to the people of Cagayan de Oro.

Comments to monta@cu-cdo.edu.ph