TWO THOMASIANS assumed top posts in the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos) Philippines during the council’s assembly on July 11 at the Manila Metropolitan Theater.
Conservation architect and UST College of Architecture instructor Ramil Tibayan was elected president, succeeding UST Graduate School faculty member Cheek Fadriquela.
Beverly Bautista, acting director of the UST Graduate School Center for Conservation of Cultural Property and Environment in the Tropics (USTGS-CCCPET), assumed the post of vice president.
Tibayan wants more heritage conservationists in the limelight and to maintain the continuity of Icomos Philippines projects.
“[N]akikita ko kasing dapat na ma-pursue na trabaho is more on professional development—exposure [ng] mga upcoming heritage workers,” Tibayan told the Varsitarian.
Mentees have the capabilities to go beyond what was taught to them and be proactive members of the heritage field, he said.
Bautista outlined plans to expand membership to reach various regions and avoid being urban-centric.
“Ang dami-daming kailangan sa mga probinsya pero walang [capacity]…we’re together on that vision na mas mapalawak ang membership all over the Philippines,” Bautista said.
Outside their work in Icomos, Tibayan and Bautista are set to undertake the conservation of the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help (Baclaran Church) and its cultural assets through the USTGS-CCCPET.
For Tibayan, several components must be considered in restorations to make a site a tourist attraction and be of help to the community.
“Kaakibat ang capacity-building ng community, ng government, local government…maraming aspect na, kahit maayos namin ang isang structure, hindi ‘yan magsu-survive for the next generation kung hindi capacitated ang mga taong taga roon,” he added.
Tibayan and Bautista will serve in their new posts in Icomos Philippines until 2029. Rhamiel Mae T. Vicente
