NHCP orders stop to old bridge’s demolition a month after it’s gone

BACOLOD, Negros Occidental – The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) issued a cease-and-desist order against the demolition of a 91-year-old steel bridge in Negros Occidental. But the order came too late: the nearly century-old bridge, considered an important cultural property, was already completely demolished by the public works department a month earlier.

Built by the United States Steel Products Company in 1933, the 100-meter Talave Bridge once served as a link between San Carlos City and Calatrava town in Negros Occidental.

Its demolition started a controversy and finger-pointing among local officials, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and the NHCP.

In the cease-and-desist order dated July 16 but received on July 30, the NHCP warned against the demolition of the Talave Bridge. 

Engineer Sanny Boy Oropel, regional director of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), said the NHCP acted too late because the demolition, which slowly started in August 2023, was completed in June this year.

Oropel also cited resolutions from the San Carlos local government, which sought the bridge’s demolition due to safety concerns. 

He said the demolition of the bridge had to be done, citing safety concerns due to frequent flooding at the Talave River. The DPWH, he said, plans to build another two-lane bridge to ease the traffic congestion.

“DPWH only acted upon the request of San Carlos local government… for the immediate demolition of the dilapidated Talave Bridge, presuming that it posed dangers to motorists and passersby,” he said.

However, San Carlos City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Joe Recalix Alingasa said that despite the resolutions, the final decision to demolish the bridge rested with the DPWH.

Since the bridge has been demolished, Alingasa said the local government can work for its restoration through an “adaptive reuse” program of NHCP. He said the mayor of San Carlos, whom he called a staunch advocate of heritage conservation, has already set aside a space at the San Carlos People’s Park for a restored Talave Bridge.

NHCP has cautioned as early as 2023 against the demolition of the Talave Bridge.

“We respectfully remind your office that, as the petition to remove the presumption of the Talave Bridge as an ICP has not yet been decided upon, thus, no activities within the subject property should be undertaken,” NCHP Chairman Regalado Trota Jose Jr. wrote to San Carlos Mayor Renato Gustilo.

Cultural advocates, including Andoni Llantada Valencia of the Juan Calatrava Movement, said the demolition violated a law that mandates the protection of cultural heritage sites. 

Valencia said the demolition proceeded without the NHCP approval, making the act more questionable.

“It constituted grave acts of negligence and abuse of authority inimical to the national interest, considering that due to your negligence and sheer lack of appreciation for history, an ICP of the Philippines was destroyed, and we will not take this sitting down,” read part of Valencia’s letter to Oropel in July 19. – Rappler.com