Words Gabrielle de la Cruz
Images Patrick Kasingsing
Today, June 18, 2024 (Tuesday), National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Commissioner for Cultural Heritage Ivan Henares said in a Facebook post that the NCCA Board “rescinded its opposition” to removing the presumption of Carlos Arguelles’ Carmen Apartments as an Important Cultural Property (ICP). The statement was made over a month after April 25, 2024, when Henares announced that the board opposed the owners’ petition to remove the presumption of the building as an ICP and that it would be declared an ICP.
Henares responded to a concerned citizen’s comment in his post, saying that unfortunately, “no one filed a petition to declare” the building as an ICP, which is “required by law for declaration.” In an exclusive conversation with Kanto, he revealed that “the ones they were expecting” to make the petition “did not file,” and that it would be “too late” for a petition to be made at this point. “It would also be unfair to the owners if the government will not pay for the retrofit. Who will fund the repair should the building be declared?”
Various reactions from the community were received by the post, signifying the loss of another Arguelles work. It can be recalled that Philam Life Theater, arguably the architect’s most prominent work, was demolished in 2020.
The declaration would have safeguarded Carmen Apartments “against exportation, modification, or demolition” as stated under Article III, Article III, Section 5 of R.A. 10066 or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009. “The presumption will now be removed by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) since there is no more opposition,” Henares told Kanto. Demolition will proceed “as soon as the owners get clearance from NHCP.”
Carmen Apartments is located at Roxas Boulevard, Malate, Manila. It was completed in 1958 and is one of the buildings Arguelles designed as an established architect. Architect Paulo Alcazaren described it as one of Arguelles’ “most elegant buildings” in a column he wrote in 2002, and the building is also listed under the twenty architecturally significant modern buildings in Metro Manila by the mASEANa (modern ASEAN architecture) Project.
We end this news with a snippet from architect Dominic Galicia’s mASEANa report, where he explained why it is vital to protect the work of remarkable Filipino architects: “That we are considering their work for documentation and conservation in the context of mASEANa underscores the tradition we share in this region of respect for our ancestors and learning from the significant work they left behind. This point is all too frequently belied, in the way significant buildings are unappreciated, almost forgotten, often demolished in Manila, which is why the point needs to be emphasized even more.” •
