By Mairene A. Leynes
The Metro Infanta Foundation (MIF) has made education a top priority since its inception to reflect its commitment to improve the cultural life in the community. To reaffirm its commitment to education and culture, MIF has partnered with the Infanta Credit and Development Cooperative (ICDEC), a local community-based NGO, Infanta Central Elementary School and the Municipal Government of Infanta to launch the Gabaldon Heritage Project (GHP). It seeks to conserve the historic Infanta Gabaldon Schoolhouse by applying for its recognition and declaration as a heritage site by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).
The project seeks the declaration and recognition by the NHCP in relation to the role of the Infanta community. It seeks to identify and declare the Gabaldon as a historic-educational space that is shared by all through the community’s engagement and stewardship. The project also aims to find ways to regenerate the community by providing training to the locals to improve education, livelihood, local culture and tourism. And as it aims to find ways to achieve these objectives, GHP seeks to foster a sense of rootedness to the place, local pride, and good stewardship by the community.
For nearly 40 years, the Infanta Gabaldon was sitting in ruins until the MIF funded its reconstruction in 2011. Now it has been 10 years since the historic Infanta Gabaldon was reconstructed. Alongside the physical conservation and upkeep of the Infanta Gabaldon, there is an urgent need to provide improved training and education to locals to maintain the Infanta Gabaldon’s authenticity and integrity, as well as a need to develop its interpretive plan for the benefit of the community and its stakeholders. As the NCHP officially recognizes the Infanta Gabaldon as an important heritage site, it can open other pathways that could ensure better education and cultural opportunities for the community and the generations of Infantahins to come.
William E. Parsons—an American architect and protégé of Daniel Burnham, the man behind the urban development of Manila and Baguio—created the blueprints for the Gabaldon Schoolhouses including the Infanta Gabaldon Schoolhouse. It took inspiration from the bahay kubo (nipa hut) and bahay na bato (house made of stone) found in most towns in the Philippines, and is counted as one of the more than 3,000 Gabaldon structures constructed in the country during the American rule.
The Gabaldon School House is protected under the law Republic Act No. 11194 or the “Gabaldon School Buildings Conservation Act.”
Ms. Maireen Leynes is a member of the GHP Team. She teaches art in the College of Arts & Sciences, University of Asia snd Pacific in Manila.
