Advocates cry foul over Tayabas monument redevelopment
On the heels of the Catbalogan park redevelopment controversy, another issue is brewing in another historic monument-cum-park in Tayabas, Quezon, which is currently being redeveloped by the local government.
The site in question, the Taaw Monument, was built in 1926 to honor those who fought in the Taaw Rebellion in Tayabas in 1897, where more than a hundred revolutionaries died.
In the book on the history of Tayabas, author Ryan Palad notes that it was Don Isidoro Lavares, one of the heads then of the Veteranos de la Revolution in Tayabas, who was instrumental in the construction of the monument.
It likewise notes that the bones of the heroes of Taaw were exhumed in the 1920s at the Santuario de las Almas and presumably reinterred at the monument.
The landmark, located on Trese de Agosto Street, is not just a monument per se, but a mini-plaza used by the area’s residents.
Around the year 2000, a lamp post was erected in front of the obelisk-type monument, and about 2006, a bust of Doroteo Nadres, mayor from 1922 to 1925, was erected on site.
The current project includes walling up the site and demolishing the flagpole, which hinders the view of the monument.
While it agrees to the demolition of the flagpole, the group Alternatibong Tahanan ng mga Akda at Gawang Nasaliksik (Atagan) or the Tayabas Studies Center expressed its opposition to the walls being constructed around the site, which it said will pollute the vista of the area.
“We do not agree to this project, and it would be better if there was an unobstructed view on the perspective of the area, and only the monument should be visible to the public,” it said in Tagalog.
It is also opposed to the idea that the monument will be compromised visually by the repositioned bust of Nadres.
So far, petitions have already been sent to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines to issue a cease-and-desist order against the project, but the agency has yet to take action.
The local government also has not yet released any statement on the issue.
