Setting the cornerstone for a creative city

The Baguio City government should continue improving coordination with the creative sector regarding plans for United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Creative City to avoid conflict and miscommunication.

Artists and citizens criticized the City Environment and Park Management (CEPMO) for removing the historic stone sculptures by artist Gilbert Gano on the rotunda atop Session Road.

The Public Information Office (PIO) released a notice on January 26 saying that the stones were temporarily removed and safekept at the Dominican Hill Retreat House to make way for the Panagbenga Festival’s Carpet of Flowers landscaping competition.

The post also acknowledged the importance of the stone sculptures that were commissioned by former mayor Peter Rey Bautista to represent the eight members of the Second Philippine Commission who held session in the city in 1904. However, the removal was done without the consent of the artist.

Now, a giant landscaped teddy bear sits atop Session Road as an entry in the landscaping competition which has gained a mixed reaction.

According to CEPMO head attorney Renan Diwas, it was under his authority and jurisdiction to remove the stone sculptures. “There is no prohibition to remove anything there,” Diwas said in an interview. “In fact, there is no ordinance or resolution that allowed the artist to put up the Keystones there.”

Diwas pointed out that the stone sculptures also had no marker to describe the piece or state its creator. However, he said that in a recent meeting, Gano agreed to help the CEPMO reinstall the piece after the Panagbenga Festival.

Although there was no city ordinance or resolution protecting the stones, out of respect and courtesy, the CEPMO should have researched and contacted Gano before removing them. Even without a legal basis, the stones are undoubtedly historically important to the city.

Professor Liza Ilagan of the Department of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines (UP) Baguio believes that cultural pieces such as Gano’s work should be protected by the government through ordinances, city resolutions, and informing the public of their relevance.

If the problem is only the legality, then the papers can be processed and ordinances or resolutions can be put in place. Perhaps this is a consideration the government should look at now that Baguio is a UNESCO Creative City.

Ilagan also questioned the criteria for the landscaping competition based on the teddy bear that sits atop Session Road. “What does it symbolize?” Ilagan asked, citing the reason Baguio became a UNESCO Creative City in the first place: because of promotion of traditional arts and crafts.

While coordination on the side of the government is important, artists should also be mindful of the work they create and display to the public. According to Ilagan artists should create art that the masses can understand and appreciate.

In a SUNSTAR article, Raymundo Rovillos of the Council for Baguio Creative City (CBCC) and Chancellor of the UP Baguio, stated that the issue of the stone sculptures could have been avoided with proper communication and consultation with the CBCC.

If Baguio is to become a world-class Creative City, there should be constant coordination among the local government, the creative sector, and the public. As Rovillos mentioned, the CBCC should always be consulted regarding plans for art, culture, and heritage.

City ordinances and resolutions protecting art pieces should also be enacted by the local government, forums and talks about the rights of artists should be held, and the public should be made aware of creative plans and the importance of art works scattered around the city. Such actions will be the cornerstone of building this Creative City.

Artists also have a role to play in building the Creative City. Their creations should help forward, but not be limited to, the promotion of the culture of Baguio. As Ilagan mentioned, their pieces should also be understood by the masses especially when made primarily for public consumption.

It is true that the city government has taken steps to promote art through the creation of the CBCC, commissioning of artists to paint the Lion’s Head and murals around the city, releasing publicity materials, as well as the plan to setup a creative center in Baguio. However, there is still room for improvement and progress.

by Jose Immanuel Rivera