Urban Development and the Protection of Philippine Archaeological Heritage

In celebration of the #NationalHeritageMonth, this week’s #TrowelTuesday is featuring the protection of Philippine archaeological heritage vis-à-vis urban development as part of our #MuseumFromHome series.

Should modern urban development be stopped in the name of cultural heritage preservation?

In 2007, during the construction of the Cebu South Coastal Road Project (CSRP) tunnel section in Cebu that cuts through the Plaza Independencia archaeological site, archaeologists from the #NationalMuseumPH worked alongside construction workers to rescue archaeological remains revealed during road-building activities. Among the archaeological remains uncovered were 14th–15th-century Common Era (CE) graves that contained gold death masks. Before this, evidence for the rare practice of burying the dead with gold covers for eyes, nose, and mouth was only scientifically documented in Oton, Iloilo. Were it not for archaeologists investigating urban development sites, the evidence for the unique and significant burial practice of pre-Hispanic Cebuanos would be unrecorded and lost forever.

Infrastructure development and redevelopment are indispensable facets in urban areas and expanding cities. New roads, railways, buildings, subdivisions, and industrial complexes, among others, are continuously built and rebuilt to meet the needs of exponentially increasing urban populations. Unfortunately, construction projects potentially destroy archaeological sites.

In the Philippines, cultural and archaeological heritage is protected under Republic Act 10066. However, laws protecting cultural heritage are still inadequate as cultural resource protection is largely carried out as an afterthought. Frequently, construction activities have either begun, ongoing, or completed before the stakeholders learn about the culturally-damaging projects, ensuing public outcry.

A recent example is the construction of the Filipino-Chinese Friendship Bridge that connects Binondo to Manila. The problem with the bridge from a cultural heritage perspective is it lies within the buffer zone of the San Agustin Church, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Intramuros, and carries adverse social, cultural, and environmental implications like potentially delisting the historic church from the UNESCO Heritage List. This example demonstrates one of the biggest challenges to archaeological resource protection in the country—poor or overlooked consciousness of the importance of our national cultural heritage at various levels of society. Another lingering hurdle is the consistent communication and collaboration among government agencies on how to best protect cultural heritage.

Despite these difficulties, many projects have shown how different government agencies can work together with local stakeholders to balance the needs of archaeological heritage protection and economic development. More recent construction or redevelopment projects, for instance, at the Manila Metropolitan Theater, Intramuros, Mehan Garden, SM City San Lazaro, and SM City Santa Ana, involved agencies such as the #NationalMuseumPH, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Intramuros Administration (IA), and the City Government of Manila. It allowed archaeologists and developers to collaborate and assess the archaeological value of the sites, scientifically document them and their contexts, and recover the archaeological materials before infrastructure construction. Though construction of the roads and buildings on the sites proceeded, archaeological data about the past were successfully collected.

Much of the Philippine prehistory is unknown and unwritten. The only way to know and understand our past is to dig our way through it archaeologically. Discoveries from development projects not only provide an opportunity to learn about our nation’s prehistory; the knowledge gained also serves as the foundation upon which a profound consciousness and sense of national and local identities are instilled among generations of Filipinos.

For archaeological discoveries, contact the #NationalMuseumPH and NCCA.

#PamanangLokal

#NHM2022

#ArchaeologicalHeritage

#ArchaeologicalSitesAsHeritage

Text by Alexandra De Leon and Nida Cuevas, and posters by Timothy James Vitales | NMP Archaeology Division

Photo credits: Nida Cuevas and Gregg Alfonso Abbang

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines