Locsin House on Lower Bottom Portion of Photo with Molo Church
I was saddened and horrified when I saw another of our heritage houses being torn down and be replaced by something…rumors say it’ll be another commercial building. That old green and white building sitting just across the majestic Saint Anne’s Church in Molo, Iloilo City, has been demolished.
Locsin House Demolished (Photo by Rex Dianala)
The old Locsin house which is just at Calle San Pedro in Molo was just demolished to give way to a rumored commercial or residential new space for this area after the old owners sold it to a private investor which the name is withheld.
The local heritage council of Iloilo made effort in saving this piece of Ilonggo heritage but was futile since the existing ordinance only governs the Calle Real Central Business District and the six plazas of Iloilo City. It’s either that the implementation is slow or is it that the local heritage council really lacks the support or action? There are a lot of heritage sites outside the protected zones, lots of them…are we gonna wait until all of them are gone? Where is this promotion of making Iloilo City a heritage and cultural destination if one by one, these panubli-on of our ancestors disappear without a trace, all in the name of progress and not of culture? It’ll be futile.
Locsin House at Molo, Iloilo City (Image: Google Earth)
The city is banking on these as their potential tourist drawers and at the same time a foundation of understanding the rich Ilonggo culture and history. The first days of Iloilo City Heritage Sites promotion was really intense, creating such awareness to the people that these are truly our treasures to behold and be kept. But alas, us having the so-called “Dory Syndrome” didn’t saved this house, or probably more of them in the future.
Locsin House Demolished (Photo by Rex Dianala)
Is it the ignorance of the majority of the masa or is it really part of our culture not just Ilonggos but Filipinos as a whole to just leave the old and in with the new? I understand that we as Filipinos emphasize first in survival more than anything else, but would we like to have our system be like that for eternity? Never evolving about cultural awareness? In my opinion, there is a difference between learning from the past and living with the past and let it linger and doesn’t move on. I heard from one of the people back then that “A city doesn’t have a soul without its history, or perhaps heritage sites.”
It may be that the rich and the educated are the only ones showing concern about heritage and culture but I really do hope that the middle class and especially the masa would learn how to love their history, culture and society. It can live side by side along with practicality or surviving the next day. Creating awareness thru elementary and high school would be a start. Educating our young to love our heritage and foster a sense of pride of place.
Locsin House, 3 years ago.
The demolition of the Locsin house only manifests on how our civilization, our society treats history in general perhaps. Leaving the old and forgetting the lessons and the importance it brought towards the civilization. We’ve seen more heritage sites either being desicrated by those who wear the sutana and others demolished since it no longer has a place in this modern day and age. I wish the private investor could have given a chance for adaptive reuse of this old house.
Tell me, what are you know if it wasn’t for yesterday?
And to quote a very old and cliché maxim:
“Ang di lumingon sa pinanggalingan, ay di makararating sa paroroonan.” (f you do not look back from where you came from, you’ll never reach where you are or even beyond.)
