Albay racing to save historical bell towers on brink of collapse
LEGAZPI CITY, Albay — The retrofitting of the century-old belfry of the Saint John the Baptist Church in Tabaco City, this province, going well on schedule and the Diocese of Legazpi assured that other ageing bell towers of Albay churches will soon be reinforced to withstand earthquakes.
Architect Anna Lorilla of the diocese’s Engineering Department said that the bell tower of Tabaco Church is being retrofitted since they had noticed that a part of the structure has already incurred damage.
Lorilla said the belfry’s existing columns made of cement and regular steel are damaged and vulnerable to collapse in the event of a strong earthquake.
“If we talk about restoration, cement and steel should not have been used in the first place, but that’s how it was built and, now, the steel’s rotting away,” she said.
With a meager budget of R1 million coming from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Lorilla said materials to be used for repair will be lime, instead of cement and regular steel.
“Kulang talaga yung 1 M, siguro stretch na lang ’yung budget para magkasya,” she said.
The Tabaco City Church was built in year 1800, but its belfry, which is at least three meters away from the main church building, was built ahead of time.
Historians say the present belfry of the church served as a watchtower before it was converted into a bell tower.
After this project, Lorilla said the bell towers of Oas Church and Guinobatan Church, as well as the Cagsawa Church tower, are among the nation’s heritage sites that need to be retrofitted.
“The only problem we have is that, we still have no budget for that. So we are still looking for donors,” she added.
Albay Governor Joey Salceda said that part of the provincial government initiative to restore and protect heritage sites is the repair or retrofitting of the Cagsawa Church Tower.
“We have been waiting for the NHCP (National Historical Commission of the Philippines) which is the more appropriate agency for heritage conservation. NHCP has the authority but we are aware of the urgency. Anyway, the TIEZA project for Cagsawa, NHCP made it a condition that the project should include reinforcement of the Cagsawa church tower,” Salceda said.