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With Supplemental Budget No. 4 approved by the Cebu City Council, the P11 million needed for the renovation of the Rizal Memorial Public Library and Museum is finally complete.
With the funds, the library on the ground floor and the museum on the second floor would undergo major repairs, as these have been devastated by termites and other conditions.
The building?s third floor would remain untouched during renovation work since this was recently reconstructed with the assistance of the Sinulog Foundation Inc.
The renovation, which has been in the works since last year, was delayed due to budget limitations. Funds for it were allocated in the city government?s Supplemental Budget No. 3 and the recently passed Supplemental Budget No. 4.
The renovation project was recently hounded by controversies, which included an earlier announcement by Vice Mayor Michael Rama that the building, a structure made during the US colonial era, would be remade as a pure museum for the arts.
Rama said the library component would be divided among different public schools within the city temporarily until a world-class library building could be constructed.
Rama said a new building was needed because parking at the current library was inadequate.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña later said there was no need to move the library because parking was never a problem there, citing the few visitors to the building.
Rama eventually scrapped the plan to move the library out permanently, saying the move would only be temporary while the renovation work would proceed.
The matter of where to transfer the library during the renovation had yet to be decided, said Councilor Arsenio Pacaña.
Pacaña, chairman of the City Council?s committee on tourism, said the Cultural and Historical Commission would meet to decide a temporary location for the library.
It was the Cultural and Historical Affairs Foundation Inc., (CHAFI) a non-government organization, that pressed the city government to allocate funds for the library building?s repair.
CHAFI has been actively pursuing for the preservation of historical landmarks in the city.
