Government Assures No Commercial Structure Will Replace Burned Historic Post Office Building

The local government of Manila assured that no new commercial structure will be built to replace the 97-year-old historic post office building which was razed by a massive fire on Monday.

Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan gave the assurance following social media speculations that the blaze was intended to create new high-rise condominiums or commercial buildings.

"To those who have doubts that another structure could be built on the Manila Central Post Office site, don't worry. The site where the post office is built, according to our zoning ordinance, is an institutional zone," the city mayor was quoted by the Philippine Star in a televised briefing on the same day as the fire.

General Institutional zones are intended specifically for government offices, hospitals and clinics, and academic, research and convention facilities, a housing and land use regulatory board guide said as reported by the Philippine Star.

"Apart from that, the Manila Central Post Office was declared in 2018 by National Museum as an important cultural property.," Lacuna-Pangan added.

Furthermore, she said the site where the Manila Central Post Office was built is also a heritage zone that prohibits the national and the city government to build any other type of infrastructure on it.

Republic Act No. 10066 or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 says that government agencies shall work together to designate heritage zones to "protect the historical and cultural integrity of a geographical area."

The National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 also prohibits the sale of any cultural property as stated in Article III, Section 11 of the law which reads: "No cultural property shall be sold, resold or taken out of the country without first securing a clearance from the cultural agency concerned. In case the property shall be taken out of the country, it shall solely be for the purpose of scientific scrutiny or exhibit."

Completed in 1926, the neoclassical building located at Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila was designed by renowned architects Tomas Mapua, Juan Marcos de Guzman Arellano and Ralph Doane. It was considered the grandest building during its time which features 16 Greco-Roman Iconic pillars and a recessed rectangular attic atop its structure, this CNN report said.

The Bureau of Fire Protection estimates the initial total damages at P300 million.

Meanwhile, House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto suggested possible sources of funding for the quick rebuilding of the national post office building. He said funds could be sourced from the government's P13-billion contingent fund and the P13-billion calamity fund under the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Recto pointed out that Republic Act No. 10066 allows national historical landmarks to "priority government funding for protection, conservation and restoration."