Robin wants Senate probe into Manila Post Office fire

Citing the need to improve preservation and protection measures for the country’s cultural properties, Senator Robinhood “Robin” C. Padilla on Monday, May 22, sought a Senate probe into the fire that razed the Manila Central Post Office today.

Padilla filed Senate Resolution 627 directing the appropriate Senate committee to handle the probe, “with the aim of revisiting and strengthening policies for the preservation and protection of cultural properties against fire and other hazards.”

“This recent incident underscores the vulnerability of our national cultural heritage to fire and other hazards and highlights the urgent need to revisit and assess the effectiveness of existing preservation and protection measures,” he said in his resolution.

“It is of public interest to provide policies that will prevent or mitigate the effect of fire and other hazards to protect and preserve our national cultural heritage,” he explained.

In his resolution, Padilla said the Manila Central Post Office Building is an iconic neo-classical building designed in 1926 by American architects Ralph Doane and Tomas Mapua, and Filipino architect Juan Marcos de Guzman Arellano.

For almost a century, he noted the Post Office building was known as the grandest building of its time and is currently known as one of the dominating landmarks in Metro Manila.

Also, Padilla pointed out that in 2018, the Manila Post Office building was declared an “important cultural property.”

“The Manila Central Post Office is a tangible representation of the nation’s culture and history, and its damage is a blow to the country’s cultural heritage,” he stressed. — Mario Casayuran

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