THE NATTON'S UAI'ING NDWSPAPAN
Monday, September 23, 2019
ElepEd €e spemd
F384 ffE irt g$Z$,
ta preserve
Gafoaldon-type
school huildings
By CHARISSA M. LUCI-ATIENZA
..:;-+i ebu Rep. Eduardo Guilas
:: ; disclosed yesterday that the
i.: . Department of Education
',,:.n." ' (DepEd) will be spending
F3B4 million next year to preserve
around 1,800 Gabaldon-tlpe and other
heritage school buildings nationwide.
The House Committee on Appro
priations member cited that of the
1,800 Gabaldon school blocks, over 140
heritage pubiic sehool buildings ar'e
found in Cebu.
"The amount is on top of the.2.06
billion already earmarked this year foil
the conservation and restoration of
Gatraldon and other historical school
houses," Gullas, an educator, said in a
statement.
Gabaldon school buildings reler to
school buildings designed bv Ameri
can Architect \4lilliam Parsons and
funded through Act No. 1801 authored
by Nueva Ecija Assemblyman Isauro
Gabaldon during the American Pe
riod. ._ l
Gullas said man) oi lhe remaining
Gabaidon school structures are nqrv.,
$ cll o\ cr a ccnlur\ old.
"They were constructed uBder
$'hat $'as basicaily the country's first
public school building program." he
noted.
Gabaidon. a member of the 1907
Philippine Assembly authored a iaw
seeking t 1-milion approprialion "for
the corrstruction of school houses of
strong materials in barrios with guar'
anteed daily attendance of not less
than 60 pupils."
"Our Gabaldon school houses are
valuable cultural assels that hold piec-
es of our historl,," Guilas said.
He ciled that President Rodrigo
Duterte signed into law Republic Act
11194 in January this year for the con-
servation and restoration of Gabaldon
school burldrngs.
' Yhere is a need lo safeguard the
heritage school structures to remind
future generations of Filipinos of the
grandeur and aesthetic splendor of
the architectural designs of the past,'
he said.
Republic Act 1i194 mandates the
DepEd to implement a program for
the identification and consen'ation
of all Gabaldon and other heritage
school buildings nationwide in coordi
natior'l with the Nalioital Commissiott
for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). the
National Historical Commission of the
Philippines (NHCP) and the National
Museum (NM).
All Gabaldon schooi houses are
considered as "built heritage" that
form part of the gountry's "cultural
property" under the Natiolial Cultural
: Heritage Act of 2009, the la$' states.
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