NHCP tells BDO: Preserve Vicar Hotel façade, ‘Skyroom’
PROTECTION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE
THE Banco de Oro Unibank, Inc., now the owner of the Vicar Hotel building on A. B. Fernandez Avenue in Dagupan City, has agreed to revise its development plan for the building to comply with the directive of both the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) and the Dagupan City government, it being a part of the city’s cultural heritage.
However, the construction was suspended on the orders of the Engr. Josephine Corpuz, head of the city’s zoning office, pending submission of complete documents to secure a permit for location clearance from the city government.
NHCP,’s Acting Executive Officer Ludovico Badoy, had written Mayor Belen Fernandez on May 3, 2018 alerting her of an ongoing development/demolition of the Vicar Hotel building as reported by Councilor Jeslito Seen, chairman of the committee on Arts and Cultural Heritage of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) of Dagupan.
Badoy reminded Mayor Fernandez that the Vicar Hotel Building, an example of post-modern Filipino architecture built in 1950, “is considered an important cultural property given that it is more than 50 years old” and must be preserved and protected, and that any development plan for the building must be cleared with the NHCP or the National Museum first.
He asked the city government to stop the construction activities after it already issued a Cease and Desist Order under Article III, Section 5 of the Heritage Law.
A copy of Badoy’s letter was furnished Engr. Edelito C. Glino, construction manager of Strategic-Tck Group, the contractor undertaking development/demolition of Vicar Hotel building.
In turn, Mayor Fernandez directed Engr. Corpuz, also head of the secretariat of the Investment and Promotions Board of the city to inform Patricia Villlareal of BDO Unibank Inc., that the company’s application for locational clearance would be discussed by the Investment and Promotions Board meeting on May 7, 2018.
It was during Corpuz’s ocular inspection at the site when she found out that the construction activity was still not covered by a permit from the Dagupan City Historical and Arts Council for the purpose.
Corpuz advised the company to secure all necessary permits for the project before proceeding with the construction.
In a talk to newsmen on June 12, Councilor Seen said BDO had agreed to revise its development/demolition plan by retaining the facade and the Skyroom of the former Vicar Hotel to remind the future generations of Dagupeños of the building’s glorious past.
Vicar Hotel, formerly owned by the Favila family, was named after the couple Vicente and Carmen, was bought by BDO Unibank Inc. to make it as the site for its regional center in Northern Luzon.
An ordinance was passed by the city council on March 13, 2018, that declared 21 structures and sites as Heritage Sites in the City, and Vicar Hotel is one of them, to form part of the Strengthening and Implementing Provisions of the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009. (Leonardo Micua)
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