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[av_heading heading=’Now is the time to restore the Jaro Plaza ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY HERBERT VEGO
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Thursday, February 9, 2017
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FINALLY, the vendors have abandoned the Graciano Lopez Jaena Park, traditionally known as the Jaro Plaza in Jaro, Iloilo City. Between December 2016 and the first week of February this year, the plaza had doubled as a hodgepodge of “kiosks, carnival rides, restaurants and ukay-ukay market” in observance of the “Jaro Agro-Industrial and Charity Fair.”
The time has come for “Toti” to buckle down to work. Toti is Architect Augusto Villalon, who is tasked to design the plan for vintage restoration of the Jaro Plaza with full financial backing from the Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).
A native of Cebu City, Villalon is renowned here and abroad as a heritage conservation expert who is the first Filipino to become a member of the Paris-based International Council for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).
Among the heritage sites he has helped restore are the Miagao church in Iloilo, Paoay church in Ilocos Norte, San Agustin Church in Manila and Santa Maria church in Ilocos Sur.
To reiterate what this corner previously mentioned, Villalon had honored the invitation of Rep. Jerry Treñas (Lone District, Iloilo City) to come to his constituency office for a meeting with multi-sectoral representatives. In that meeting, he revealed his tentative sketches of the restoration to be done and sought suggestions on how the project could faithfully mirror Jaro Plaza’s original landscape.
Based on experience, he said he would not limit his restoration technique to simple rebuilding. He also had to secure sustainability for the building’s present and future. Since the plaza had slowly evolved from its original Spanish-vintage landscape, its surviving pictures could not be the sole basis for restoration, which should also take into consideration present-day realities. For instance, Villalon deplored, there is now the need to elevate it above the flood-prone ground level.
The old pictures of the Jaro Plaza show a bandstand, benches, walkways and lush ornamental plants and flowers.
The original Jaro Plaza is believed to have been constructed in the late 1580s when it was the standard practice of the Spanish government to establish a plaza in their domain in order to bring the natives closer to Roman Catholicism and to achieve effective administrative control over the people.
Presumably, Iloilo’s two great heroes, Graciano Lopez Jaena and General Martin Delgado, were frequent strollers at the plaza in the 1870s or 1880s; they were students of the nearby San Vicente de Ferrer Seminary.
A statue of Graciano Lopez Jaena Statue now stands at the west side of the park near the belfry. On the east side is the large gazebo with his name printed on top. The park is surrounded by awesome old buildings, including the Jaro Cathedral, the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Jaro Palace, and several old Spanish style mansions.
Its restoration would be in keeping with Presidential Decree 1216, which provides that parks are for public use and therefore “beyond the commerce of men.” Therefore, it ought to regain its traditional image as a free tourism and recreational facility for children and adults.
The plaza restoration is just half of the Jaro Plaza Complex. The other half, already fully restored, was Jaro’s old municipal hall that would now house a regional museum under the auspices of the National Historical Commission and the National Museum. The Iloilo City Sangguniang Panlungsod has passed an ordinance donating the structure to the National Museum.
The Jaro Plaza Complex is one of the seven heritage sites covered by Republic Act 10555 as conceived by its author, Congressman Treñas. The rest are the Jaro Cathedral, Molo Church, Molo Plaza Complex, Iloilo City Central Business District, Fort San Pedro, and the Plaza Libertad Complex.
The law mandates the Department of Tourism, TIEZA and the Iloilo City Cultural Heritage Conservation Council to preserve the aforesaid heritage sites./PN
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