Vintage Dagupan City hall, plaza proposed as heritage sites
THE Dagupan City hall as well its plaza, parks and open spaces near it are being proposed to be declared as cultural heritage sites for tourism and educational purposes.
This was contained in a draft ordinance filed by Councilor Jose Netu Tamayo last week that seeks to remind the city of the “invaluable role of the present Dagupan City government complex and the city plaza being historic and cultural landmarks given its role in the glorious history of Dagupan as the first and premier city of Pangasinan.”
According to Roberto Aliguin of the Dagupan City Cultural Office, Dagupan’s city hall, built in 1925 and inaugurated in 1926 as a municipal presidencia, during the term of Gaulberto de Venecia, then alcalde municipal of Dagupan, is one of the oldest functioning city halls in the country today.
The lots occupied by the municipal presidencia and the plaza were donated by the Meneses and Llamas families, two of the earliest clans who lived in Dagupan.
Records revealed that when the presidencia and plaza were built, the population of Dagupan, then a municipality of Pangasinan, was only from 20,000 to 25,000.
The draft ordinance seeks to prevent its sale, modification, destruction, demolition, mutilation, alteration, repair damage thereto, by any government official or private individuals and carries a penalty of not less P500 but not more than P2,500 for vandalizing, defacing or damaging historical landmarks and cultural heritage and to shoulder the cost for the restoration of the same to its original state.
Meanwhile, the committee is seeking a validation of the claim of the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) chapter that as early, as 2003, the Dagupan city hall, the Gabaldon building of the West Central 1 Elementary School and remnants of the Franklin bridge were already declared heritage sites by the Heritage Conservation of the Philippines then headed by Gemma Cruz-Araneta.
Aliguin said there is no document on file from the Lim administration that attests to the claim.
Tamayo said further research and consultation will be done to validate other edifices claimed to be older than 50 years that can qualify to become heritage sites.
Councilor Dennis Canto inquired if the lake in Barangay Malued, believed to be the smallest in the whole country, can also be declared heritage site. (Leonardo Micua)
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