More on Adopt a Lighthouse

PRIDE OF PLACE
More on Adopt a Lighthouse
By Augusto Villalon - -Inquirer

The article on the Philippine Coast Guard’s Adopt a Lighthouse program has elicited an enormous response from individuals who have been e-mailing since the other week to inquire what the adoption process involves, or simply to signify support.

Lt. Derrick Manas from the PCGA 501st Squadron based in Calatagan, Batangas, writes about the unknown efforts of his squadron to restore and reuse Cape Santiago Lighthouse built in the 1890s in Calatagan:

“I can still fondly remember when I was a kid I used to play in that lighthouse… Now that I’m working as part-time professional divemaster, I immediately presented the idea to my comrades in the 501st Squadron to adopt our lighthouse … and they immediately created a special task force called Task Force Parola (lighthouse) wherein I was designated as Task Force Commander.

“My mission is to retrieve, restore and make our lighthouse a home base for our squadron and make it a cultural center of Calatagan in preparation for the celebration of our town’s 100th year anniversary on 2011.

“Our lighthouse has been neglected for decades… I already talked with the National Historical Institute to declare it a National Historical Site, and the National Museum to declare it a National Cultural Treasure like Cape Bojeador [Lighthouse] in Ilocos Norte.”

Task Force Parola lobbied for legislation to protect the lighthouse and expects its enactment in the near future. This is to be followed by establishment of the Calatagan Heritage Foundation, which primarily aims to gather funds for restoration. Theirs is a story of determination and commitment.

Other requests for adoption have come from as far as Dubai, from Filipinos residing in foreign lands, or from local residents wanting to care for lighthouses near their towns.

“I’ve read your article about lighthouse adoption. We’re planning to move back to the Philippines in a couple of years and settle down in Zambales. I’m interested in the Capones lighthouse and would like to find more information about it. How far is it from Iba, Zambales, and is it accessible by land or by boat? What kind of repairs and maintenance are needed for this particular lighthouse?” writes a Filipino from Maryland, USA.

An e-mail from Australia asks: “I have read about this program in Sail-World [magazine]. Could you please send me some more information about the program? Which lighthouses are available for adoption, and what are the conditions?”

A Scandinavian officer on the ship M.S. Norwegian Majesty writes, “Just wondering if the lighthouse in Puerto Galera, Sabang, is up for adoption. This would be a beautiful place to rejuvenate and live in.”

Icons of strength

Lighthouses are truly icons of strength, romantic isolation, and of stoically weathering the elements. The tables have turned. The elements have sadly weathered most lighthouses today.

Lighthouses are no longer functional. Solar-powered beams installed on lightweight steel towers have rendered the bulky, multifaceted French-made optical lenses atop masonry towers obsolete.

Even more obsolete is the lighthouse keeper whose lonely job has been rendered useless by modern technology. The Coast Guard is hard put to maintain not only the string of lighthouses around the country but also provide for their keepers. What better thing is there to do than put the structures up for adoption?

Adopt a Lighthouse program makes a strong call for keeping something alive.

“I am Kazandra Yap,” begins another e-mail, “national president of United Architects of the Philippines-Student Auxiliary. We are Architecture students all over the Philippines. I am interested in Adopt a Lighthouse for our organization. Please do send me details and proposal.”

Adopting a lighthouse should benefit the lighthouse and its adoptive parents. The lighthouse gets a new lease in life, and its foster parents can lay claim to an incredible piece of heritage but hopefully will find ways to use the structures to earn an income that helps (but probably will not cover) the cost of rehabilitation and maintenance.

Tourism is an obvious answer, especially opening the lighthouse to provide bed and breakfast to guests. Other structures closer to populated areas could become a number of things—restaurants, shops, schools, even offices.

The possibilities for lighthouse reuse may not be endless, but they are varied. Reuse possibilities for lighthouses in the most far-flung areas challenge creative imagination.

Lighthouse construction, a difficult operation done under the most challenging geographical and physical conditions, is among the topics discussed by architect Manuel Noche, a professor at University of Santo Tomas in Manila and the author of “Lonely Sentinels of the Sea” (published by the UST Publishing House).

Noche spent years researching, photographing and traveling to all the lighthouses in the Philippines, a feat impossible to accomplish without determination like his.

Interest in lighthouses, as I have discovered from the response to an earlier column, is varied.

“I head a small club in Manila and part of our annual program includes out-of-town motoring tours,” wrote a reader. “I would like to get more information on this program in order to look at the possibility of including this on our club agenda and maybe doing a tour to one of the lighthouses.”

I thought the best e-mail to end with is this:

“Dear sir, I have read the article in the newspaper and I would like to ask how I could help in the adoption of the said lighthouses. I am from Sorsogon and I have seen that you have three lighthouses for adoption and preservation here. Please inform me on how I could help—but especially not on financial matters. Thank you so much.”

E-mail the author at pride.place@gmail.com