Oldies Want to Preserve, Popularize Spanish-Era Warehouse

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – Old- timers called Jayceeken and a solon seek the government guidance how to conserve, develop, and popularize the abandoned concrete walls of the Philippines National Railway Incorporated (PNRI) warehouse  here.

These storied historic walls played a proud role in the halcyon days when steamed power locomotive trains snaked from Tutuban Station in Manila to Dagupan City and vice versa in November 24, 1892 up to its last day of service in 1988, according to Councilor Jigs Seen, the chairman of the Committee on Cultural Heritage and Arts of this city’s legislature.

 He explained that when the Ferrocarril de Manila-Dagupan (FDMD) constructed a 195 – kilometer railway from its main terminal at Tutuban in Manila to here, this immovable property became an architectural heritage under then railway’s construction supervisor British Engineer Henry Kipping.

Passengers posing in front of the "Ferrocarril de Manila y Dagupan" (c. 1885). Photo Credit:Wikipidea

 “ He later married one of  history characters and resident of Dagupan the beauteous Leonor Rivera – a former girlfriend of national hero Jose Rizal who visited her by traveling to Dagupan from Calamba, Laguna,’ Seen cited.

“It used to be the warehouse of the PNR. The main terminal was near the back of the present building of the Development Bank of the Philippines,” Sual Mayor Roberto Arcinue told this writer.

Presently, the dim and dirty confine of the walls is used as garbage dumpsite by some residents of Barangay Herrero and narcotics and sex dens by drug addicts and the lascivious.

The mostly senior citizens Jayceekens want to clean the inside and outside locations floors of the vestige, Seen said.

They are aware of the prohibitions and corresponding penalties provided by Republic Act No. 1006 (An Act Providing for the Protection and Conservation of the National Cultural Heritage, and Others) that they cannot destroy, mutilate, modify, alter, or demolish the original feature of or undertaken landmark and other historic edifices and structures there.

Their thrust coincides with the cultural mapping here under outgoing Mayor Belen T. Fernandez in cooperation with the National Commission on Cultural and Arts to preserve the cultural heritage sites of the PNR Terminal.

The Jayceeken aspire to borrow a certain parcel of land in the middle of the area as venue for cultural celebrations and other non-income generating events cautious that they will not harm the integrity and antiquity of the built heritage there.

The altruism of Jayceeken is motivated by loved of the past when they personally saw and rode the railway behemoths that traversed from this city to its main terminal in Tutuban Station and vice versa.

They wanted to be a conduit between the past generation and the present one to unify the nation by a deep pride in their various common identities, cultural heritage, and national patrimony.

Seen said that his letter to the chairman of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines in Manila to intercede for the wish of the Jayceekens by banking on the power of Republic Act No. 1006 like jurisdiction on structure at least 50 years old and above.
He said it was his prayer that the PNR Inc. will acquiesce to their intention to be the vanguard of the glorious historical landmark.

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