A Negrense heritage advocate is asking the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) to issue a cease and desist order against the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to halt the ongoing clearing of the 90-year-old Talave bridge in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, that could lead to its possible destruction.
Andoni Llantada Valencia on Sunday, July 30, said he made the appeal in a letter to Dr. Emmanuel F. Calairo, NHCP chairman, on Friday.
The 90-year-old Talave Bridge built in 1933 by the United States Steel Products Company is located between San Carlos City and the municipality of Calatrava.
The Talave Bridge in 2021 was still in use, he said.
However, its concrete/asphalt platform was removed by the DPWH and its contractor this year, he added.
“The current state of the bridge today is more of a ‘skeleton’, and we fear this will compromise the bridge’s integrity and original structure if we will not put a stop to this,” he said.
He asked that as a cease and desist order be issued against “the perpetrators of this ongoing destruction/demolition of a presumed cultural heritage”.
Impleaded as well are the Local Government Units of San Carlos and Calatrava who should take a stand to preserve the integrity of Talave Bridge in its current location since 1933, he wrote.
Valencia said he also sent a similar request for a cease and desist order to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
He furnished copies of his letters to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., San Carlos City Mayor Renato Gustilo, Calatrava Mayor Marilyn Era, DPWH Regional Director Nerie Bueno, Solomon L. Locsin – Negros Occidental Historical Council president, and the Presidential Action Center, Valencia said.*