INQUIRER Global Nation

First there was Boljoon Parish Museum, followed closely by the Cathedral Museum in 2006. Nearly a year later came Tuburan Town Museum and Bogo City Museum. This year it was the turn of Carcar City Museum and then Museo Sugbo, the Cebu Provincial Museum. Barely two months after the latter’s inauguration, the Toledo city council approved plans to convert its former city hall and the plaza fronting it into a museum and heritage center, project sponsored by councillor Amelia “Amy” Ortilla-de Pio.

Last week Gov. Gwen F. Garcia expressed her strong commitment to assist Toledo City in its plans to establish a museum in time for its golden anniversary in 2010. The same commitment made possible the creation of the museums in Tuburan and Boljoon and all others who have sought the province’s financial or technical assistance.

For Toledo, a task force headed by Mayor Arlene Espinosa-Zambo has begun the process of creating its repository of the city’s history and its march of progress from a small riverine settlement along the Jinulauan River to a powerhouse copper mining center in Asia.

Three days after the governor’s pronouncement, Task Force Museo Toledo met for the most crucial step, the exhibition plan and story line. After showing possible models and thematic frameworks for the museum, the initial consensus of the members was to follow the focal model. In this format, a major focus of the museum will therefore showcase the role of copper and gold in the development of the city. But added to this will be its pageant of history and a gallery of farming and fishing traditions. A heritage exhibition early next year is being set to showcase objects and artifacts that will eventually form part of the museum.

I was given a tour of the old city hall, a palatial structure (a mini-Malacañang, in fact!) now empty except for a few offices set to transfer once the rehabilitation of the building begins early next year. It will be a big challenge to fill such a large building with the artifacts of Toledo’s history and of its people’s memory but I’m sure the task force is, as its name suggests, up to the task. Assisting the mayor are councilors de Pio, Eric Espinosa and Sima Macapobre together with engineers Avelino Zambo, Jr. and Pilar Canga and department heads Eleuteria Alvez, Salvador Sanes, Jeremias Barcenas, Rudy Daclan, Marvin Natural, Isidro Encabo, and Edwin Abad.

Meanwhile, Aloguinsan and Dalaguete are also busy preparing their former municipios to convert them into museums, while Oslob has began removing the beach cottages that used to mar the sea view from the old Cuartel as a prelude to its rehabilitation. Boljoon has added to their museum the significant artifacts from our archaeological excavations, even as rehabilitation of the church roof continues.

Clearly a renaissance in art and culture in the province of Cebu is upon us. And with it is a provincial government committed not only to economic development but also to making sure the past is never forgotten but celebrated in museums, in festivals, in dances and in the revival of Cebuano performing arts traditions. In the unceasing drive to prosperity, the province has not reneged on its responsibility to ensure that we can look to the past for inspiration and from there, learn lessons for a greater and prouder Cebu.