Restoration Of Laoag Cathedral, roof splits community Options

[Ek-ek]

Restoration of Laoag Cathedral roof splits community

By Cristina Arzadon

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte (15 July) -- For the group opposed to the restoration of the Laoag Cathedral (St. William' Cathedral), it means robbing the community of its cultural heritage. To the clergy, the restoration meant sparing the lives of parishioners from peril. This, in capsule, is the line dividing the groups generated by the rehabilitation of the cathedral roofing.

Father Jacinto Jose, Laoag's parish priest, announced after his homily last Sunday (July 11) that the groundbreaking for the rehabilitation works would begin on July 26. The restoration work is expected for completion by February next year, in time for the feast of St. William the Hermit, Laoag's patron saint.

A survey of the church's roofing done by government engineers showed that at least 75 percent of the wooden braces have decayed through the years.

Officials of the Laoag Diocese, through Bishop Ernesto Salgado, and in consultation with engineers and architects then planned to replace the wooden support with steel-works.

Of all the centuries-old Catholic churches in Ilocos Norte, only the churches of Laoag, Sarrat and Piddig have kept their original wooden-braced roofing.

In preparation for the rehabilitation, church officials have started peeling the ceiling, exposing the wood support composed of hard logs that date back to the early 1700s.

Fr. Jose recalled that a log fell from the ceiling at one point while a funeral mass was being heard. The log fell on the spot where a man was previously standing.

"By God's graces, no one was hurt. We can no longer afford to delay the roof's rehabilitation because the next log may hit a parishioner and we will be liable," the priest said.

Fr. Jose noted that the logs have decayed badly such that its skin felt like paper when they prick it with a boring tool.

He said steel works were the most practical and cost-effective material that can be used to replace the wooden beam.

When word spread of the cathedral's restoration, Al Valenciano, the artistic director of Museo Ilocos, and a group of conservationist started a signature drive in the hope of convincing church officials to take another look at their plan to substitute the structure's rotting wooden truss work with steel.

In their letter, Valenciano said the church's present truss work is a result of centuries of experimentation of the most effective means to cover huge spans of similar structures in an earthquake-prone area.

"In these earthquake-ravaged, fire-plagued and war-torn islands, a handful of examples has survived, and Laoag boasts of one of the longest spans," the letter said.

Valenciano's group argued that the current truss work system at the cathedral has endured more than 100 years from its construction noting that it has been barely modified since the last quarter of the 19th century.

"The compatibility of steel with a building at least 150 years old has yet to be tested. Should we then run the risk of implementing a system which has not even been proven to withstand the effects of earthquakes known to occur frequently in the region," the group asked.

Valenciano sat down with Salgado last April and laid down a report that would serve as an alternative to the prelate's plan to alter the wooden church beams.

The report included an assessment of construction materials so that those to be conserved are segregated from those to be discarded.

"The bottom line is, if the church is to be restored, it must be restored with wood, not steel," Valenciano said.

"To change the trusses from wood to steel is effectively erasing a testament to the long history of the St. William's Cathedral from its beginnings in the 1700s to its last great rehabilitation in 1891," he added.

But according to Fr. Jose, Bishop Salgado has given the clearance for the restoration using steel trusses after weighing all sides of concerned groups.

Jose said the cost of replacing the roof with wood meant increasing the cost of building materials two-folds.

The church would be spending P12.5 million in repairing the roof using steel compared to wood, which would amount to P25 million.

"Practically, we will spend P100,000 for one log alone and we need more than 200 logs to build one section of the roof," Jose added.

He said the woodworks needed for the roof are not even commercially available in the country and would have to be imported from Australia, which produces 50-feet long in dimension

"At this point, peoples' lives are at stake. I hope people will share my fear which I carry before I go to bed and upon waking up in the morning," Jose said. (PIA) [top]

[poknat]

I hope that they try to restore the roof using wood over steel .

[BishoujoHunter]

buti naman

[Ek-ek]

I do not know if the parish priest would budge in the demands.

In Japan and in other countries they have tried using the original materials in their restoration projects !