DUMAGUETE CITY – The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) will bring its “Conservation Goes To The Province” project to Negros Oriental in August, this year.
The NHCP has partnered with the Diocese of Dumaguete, headed by Bishop Julito Cortes, through its Commission on Church Cultural Heritage, to host this year’s “Conservation Goes To The Province” event.
Msgr. Julius Perpetuo S. Heruela, parish priest of the St. Augustine of Hippo Church in nearby Bacong town and chairman of the Commission on Church Cultural Heritage, disclosed Thursday afternoon that the five-day training on conservation will be held sometime in the second week of August.
The training on the conservation of movable church materials on paper, wood, polychrome, metal and others will complement the NHCP-funded restoration projects of the churches in Lazi, Siquijor and in Dauin and Zamboanguita towns in Negros Oriental, he said.
At the same time, it will also equip the parish priests and lay church members involved in maintaining church properties, such as icons of saints and important documents, with the proper knowledge on how to protect, preserve, and conserve these items, Msgr. Heruela pointed out.
Early this week, a team from the NHCP visited the Diocese of Dumaguete for three days and met with church officials/priests, Commission on Church Cultural Heritage members. The team also visited the different potential heritage sites and NHCP-funded project sites in Negros Oriental and Siquijor.
Rommel Aquino, the senior conservator of the NHCP’s Materials Research Conservation Division (MRCD) and currently officer-in-charge of the said division, in an interview earlier explained that the conservation training is a yearly activity.
“The Conservation Goes To The Province is an event that the Materials Research Conservation Division undertakes during History Month,” said Aquino.
He explained that the NHCP identifies dioceses and local government units that are willing to host the conservation event “and that has a good sizable collection of historical artifacts (and) movable objects.”
Asked about the importance of conservation, Aquino explains: “the reason for this Conservation Goes To The Province is to transfer the conservation and restoration techniques and methodologies to the common people who commonly handle these heritage objects.”
“With the passage of time, disasters and everything, all of these has to be taken into account to equip the people that are in the grassroots to protect what is left of their heritage,” the NHCP official stressed.
One of the highlights of the upcoming conservation training is disaster risk reduction and management planning, with the Bohol experience as an example, to train people on how to react and what to do with these movable heritage materials when disaster strikes, Aquino disclosed.
Some of Bohol’s churches were damaged following a strong earthquake that hit the Central Visayas province several years back, he noted.
“There is a pressing need on disaster preparedness and that is one of the main modules that we have prepared during the event because of the importance and also of theft, especially in the region where a lot of items have already been vandalized or stolen, so we aim to protect, to document everything as much as possible,” he added.
This is the 8th Conservation Goes To The Province event, with the first one held in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, according to Aquino. (PNA)
