Preserving Patria de Cebu: Origins won’t be forgotten
After 64 years, the Cebu Archdiocese thinks it’s high time to develop Patria de Cebu to enjoy maximum benefits from the property; an integrated center will stand in its place in 2021
Patria de Cebu was built not with a flick of a wand, but with the courage and perseverance of some Catholic students in 1954.
The students had to hurdle at least two major challenges and even deal with persecution, said Father Brian Brigoli, chairman of the Commission on Culture and Heritage of the Archdiocese of Cebu.
“It’s not a magical thing nga derecho ra siya og tubo. It underwent a lot of struggles, underwent even persecution before this building came about,” he said.
The students and their mentor, Father Bernard Wrocklage, SVD, had to solve two problems - where to get the funds and where to relocate the informal settlers who were occupying the project site.
Brigoli said one of the informal settlers did not want to move out and threatened to strike a student with his bolo.
Wrocklage put himself between the enraged man and the student. Then he told the man, “If you want to kill this young boy, kill me first.”
“It was an offering, a sacrifice,” Brigoli said. The would-be assailant backed off.
“This was really a test of faith, endurance of faith (because) even to the point of death, people are tested and tried about their resolve to really build this building and almost being martyred along the way,” he added.
The sacrifices made by Wrocklage and the students will not be forgotten, Brigoli assured.
When developer Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) tears down the building in early 2019 to pave the way for its redevelopment project, Brigoli said the Church will keep some of the socalled Ave Maria blocks and use these to build a marker. Making the Ave Maria blocks was the “most important” part of the Patria’s history, Brigoli said.
The students each made their own hollow blocks and prayed over these with a Hail Mary (Ave Maria). Thus, the name Ave Maria blocks.
The Ave Maria block marker, along with a planned diorama, would “perpetuate the story and the memory of the Patria building so that the people will always remember,” Brigoli said.
These two features will serve as a reminder of how the Patria was built and the struggles and trials faced by its builders. These will also complement the planned monument to commemorate 500 years of Christianity in Cebu.
The new Patria de Cebu structure will honor the building’s history. Brigoli said the developer has pledged to “consider its (Patria) historical identity, its heritage value and significance.”
“So that we will be creating something that’s still sensitive to its past, sensitive to its heritage value,” Brigoli said.
The proposed development will include a Rome-inspired public plaza, which is targeted to be completed in 2021 in time for the 500th anniversary of Christianity in Cebu. The plaza, along with the landscaped Church grounds and a pebbled walkway in between, will serve as centerpiece of the archdiocese’s celebration.
It took more than a year before the project took shape, Brigoli said.
The Archdiocese, which wants to maximize the benefits from the Patria, invited developers last year to draw up redevelopment plans for the 6,670-square-meter property across the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.
There were five companies that presented their business and development plans, which were evaluated roughly four months ago in terms of the kind of proposed development, potential of generating revenues and social impact or corporate social responsibility, Brigoli said.
The Church eventually chose CLI, a homegrown company that is listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
CLI, through president and chief executive officer Jose Soberano III, and the Archdiocese of Cebu, through Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, signed a 40-year lease agreement on Oct. 29 for the redevelopment of the property into a mixed-use project.
CLI will spend around P1 billion for the project, which will contain a hotel as well as office and retail spaces, including a supermarket.
Patria de Cebu was envisioned mainly as a recreation center for the youth.
Over the years, the building was also used as a convent and, in 1986, provided office space to the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel).
The Church also converted a portion of the structure into a budget-friendly hotel intended for pilgrims.
Today, it houses a hostel and the offices of various commissions of the Church such as the Chancery, Office of Economic Affairs, Tribunal Court, Pastoral Planning Board and Diocesan Curia.
It was the first building in Cebu City with the tie beam system to make it resistant to earthquakes. When the 7.2-magnitude destructive earthquake struck Cebu and Bohol in October 2013, the building sustained only minor damage, Brigoli said.
The Patria is the second Church property in Metro Cebu to undergo redevelopment. The first is the two-hectare lot in Barangay Mabolo, which is being developed by Duros Land, the company that built the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) Pavilion.
Brigoli said the Church believes it is high time to develop the Patria property “in order to achieve the maximum benefit.”
“We welcome change and the Church uses its resources to its utmost use to really maximize the usage of the property,” Brigoli said.
The property is still owned by the Church, with CLI paying a monthly rent for its use.
“This is a BOT (build-operate-transfer) agreement. Within 40 years, the Landmasters will build and operate, then they will return everything to the Archdiocese,” Brigoli added.
In the meantime, Brigoli assured that the “spirit of Patria would remain.”
“It would just be a new face, a new exterior perhaps. The story of what it took to make Patria continues,” he said.
It’s not a magical thing nga derecho ra siya og tubo. It underwent a lot of struggles, underwent even persecution before this building came about.
FR. BRIAN BRIGOLI
Chairman, Commission on Culture and Heritage