TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines- Cagayan Provincial Government officials are eyeing for a soft opening of the new Provincial Museum in Bagumbayan, this city, at Aggao Nac Cagayan this June.
Cagayan Museum and Historical Research Center Curator Jenifer Junio-Baquiran said the site has been fenced and the building has finished paintwork after undergoing “minimal” renovation.
The move is a total relocation of the provincial museum from the capitol in Peñablanca, Cagayan.
The building of the new museum was once called as “Tribunal de Tuguegarao” which later on served as the provincial jail. It will soon be declared as a cultural heritage site and a provincial treasure, Baquiran earlier said.
Baquiran said they will leave one jail room and the bullet holes on the building’s walls untouched to preserve the historical value of the site.
She also said that it is important for the tribunal to be declared as a provincial property because of its historical value in the province.
Made out of rocks and limestone, Tribunal de Tuguegarao was said to be built on 1877 and served as the office of the Alkalde Mayor, the then-equivalent of provincial governor during Spanish times. In the Japanese occupation, the tribunal became a garrison.
Baquiran further said that the area, including the cathedral, Rizal’s Park, and the first site of the provincial capitol or what is now Primark Mall may also be declared as a heritage zone.
She also revealed that Jose Rizal’s statue at the park will turn 100 years old this year. Northernforum.net
