Immediate passage of bill conserving century-old schools sought

TACLOBAN CITY, May 24 -- The An Waray Partylist hopes for the passage of a bill seeking to preserve century-old Gabaldon school buildings in the country.

The bill’s author, Rep. Victora G. Noel, urged the Senate to push for the passage of a counterpart bill after the House of Representatives' committee on basic education and culture approved last May 15 the bill mandating the conservation of old learning structures nationwide.

“I believe that these government buildings should be preserved because they’re built strong and resilient,” Noel said.

The partylist solon plans to talk to Senator Francis Escudero, chair of the Senate committee on education, to work for the fast approval of the counterpart bill.

The bill refers to school buildings designed by American Architect William Parsons and funded through Act No. 1801 authored by Isauro Gabaldon, a former governor of Nueva Ecija and member of the Philippine Assembly from 1907 to 1911.

The unnumbered bill substituted House Bill 139 authored by Noel, which seeks to rehabilitate and repair the Gabaldon schoolhouses and other heritage school buildings nationwide to preserve their historical significance, as well as address the ever-growing need for educational facilities.

Noel recalled that Act No. 18001 was one of the first laws passed by the Asamblea Filipina (Philippine Assembly) to meet the need for public school buildings.

“Taken from the surname of its principal advocate, it came to be known as the Gabaldon Act of 1907, and all the school buildings built in the next two decades during the American period were called Gabaldon Schoolhouses,” she explained.

The bill mandates the Department of Education (DepEd), in consultation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), National Historical Commission of the Philippines, and the National Museum to implement a program for the identification and conservation of these structures.

The bill seeks an inventory of all Gabaldon school buildings in all public elementary and secondary campuses to determine the physical status of each structure. School heads are required to submit the assessment report to the education department.

Local government units are also asked to adopt measures for the protection and conservation of these structures and support the DepEd in this project.

The measure strictly prohibits any modification, alteration, destruction, demolition, or relocation of Gabaldon school buildings. 

(Lizbeth Ann A. Abella/PNA)