Another heritage building bites the dust.
A couple of days ago, the Philbanking Corporation Building located at Anda Circle in Port Area, Manila was demolished. Just as many feared would happen after it was condemned by Erap’s city hall from back in 2016.
TV host, producer, and blogger Daphne Osena Paez brought attention to the heritage building’s end through a strongly worded Facebook post.
Another one goes down. This was the Philbanking Building designed by National Artist Jose Ma Zaragoza in 1965. He…
Posted by Daphne Osena Paez on Tuesday, February 13, 2018
The 53 year old building was designed by renowned architect Jose Ma. Zaragoza, who was posthumously awarded as National Artist for Architecture back in 2014. It was also presumed to be an important cultural property under the National Heritage Act because it was more than 50 years old and was designed by an acknowledged National Artist.
Still, the government of Manila deemed the important cultural landmark too dangerous to keep around. As stated in Osena Paez’ edited post, they cited structure instability after the fires the 13-story building experienced as reason to bring it down.
At the end of it all, she voices out our frustrations with this line of demolitions through two simple questions. “Why are our buildings often left to rot for decades? Why are government buildings often the worst maintained?”
Header photos courtesy of Facebook.com and Inquirer.net
Writer: ANTHEA REYES
