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| Capiz Provincial Capitol, c1912. Image from the Bureau of Public Works Quarterly Bulletin |
There are a many digital repositories to check out for one
who wishes to learn more about the past of his community. spending some time to
dig deep will give you surprising details of our history, otherwise buried and
forgotten. In my search to learn some tidbits of information about my hometown,
I began to read details about our historic provincial capitol. I originally
posted this article on Facebook and eventually added more later. Enjoy reading!
The American occupation of the Philippines following the
Treaty of Paris in 1898 and the resulting end of the resistance after the
surrender of General Ananias Diokno [1] led to the establishment of a civil
government in Capiz on April 15, 1901 by virtue of Act 115 with Simplicio Hugo
Vidal as the first civil governor [2]. With the transition from military to
civilian rule, the insular government desired for efficient administration of
the Philippine Islands' 31 provinces, thus, provincial capital centers were
established with provincial administration buildings at the heart of every
province.
The newly established provincial governments were patterned
from that of the United States, except that there was no legislative body at that
time. The provincial board—the governing body—was composed of two elective
officials (the governor and the third member) and an appointive member, the
treasurer. Other officials of the province who also had their offices in the
provincial center included the district engineer, district auditor, district
health officer, district forester, district veterinarian, provincial fiscal,
provincial assessor, provincial sheriff, superintendent of schools, weather
observer, postmaster, inspector of Constabulary, and internal revenue agent.
The provincial capitol also houses the court room, where the judge of the Court
of First Instance also holds his legal duties. [3]
The provincial buildings established during the Spanish
period were "attractive both in design and surrounding," [3] but
were, nevertheless, not durable. At the
onset of the American rule, William Howard Taft launched comprehensive building
construction and city planning in the country.
This was the height of the City Beautiful Movement, a reform philosophy of North American
architecture and urban planning that had seen its better days in the 1890s and
1900s, the focus of which was beautify cities and introduce monumental grandeur [4].
On the helm of the insular government’s building and city
planning was American architect William Parsons, who served as Consulting
Architect of the American Commission by virtue of the Philippine Commission Act
No. 1495 (enacted May 26, 1906) [5] [6].
His job gave him general architectural supervision over the design of
all public buildings and parks throughout the islands, including provincial and
municipal work as well as insular. Parsons envisioned provincial government
buildings to be “arranged in a logical and convenient scheme. The order and
system which exists in the form of provincial government should prevail and
find expression in an orderly plan for grouping buildings.”
The Provincial Capitol for Capiz Province was one of the 31
provincial capitols built following the plans of American Architect William Parsons.
It was originally a two-storey reinforced concrete structure, box type, and
with Roman doric columns on the facade. The roof was made of flat tiles, unlike
the "heavy curved Spanish clay tiles"
used during the Spanish period, which quickly deteriorated due to the
infestation of white ants or dry rot and were replaced by corrugated galvanized
iron [3]. Capiz shells were later installed
on the window sash, instead of glass. The shells are trimmed into squares and
set in thin strips of wood, providing a soft opaque light rather than the
harsh, oftentimes intolerable glare from glass windows.
The site of the building was an old fill in a swamp. The
foundation was prepared by "compacting large adobe rocks with an 8 and
10-ton road roller over the entire area of 1,110 square meters." [3] Parsons planned out the provincial
capitols to be far from the crowd:
“Unlike municipal buildings and markets, provincial
buildings need not be near the centers of the population. In fact, a location
at some distance from the business centers is much to be preferred for both
practical and aesthetic reasons. ..” [3]
He further emphasized that “provincial buildings should be
in a park, in a position of dignity, and retirement.” This principle was not
merely for aesthetic reasons, but also for practical purposes as this will
remove the civil servants “from the noise and dust of the streets and from the
danger of fire spreading from
neighboring buildings.” [3]
As such, surrounding of the Capiz provincial capitol was
laid out to be spacious enough to accommodate "tennis court, walks, lawns,
hedges, and both ornamental and shade trees." I am not sure, though, if our capitol ever
had these amenities and what surrounds it today are commercial establishments.
[3] parsons, nevertheless, emphasized how parks surrounding a capitol should be
laid and maintained:
"The park which surrounds the buildings ought to have
well-kept lawns with shade trees and blossoming plants which the Tropics like
no other climate afford. Quite the most beautiful thing in the vicinity, it
ought to set a good example in the way of beautifying the streets and plazas of
the municipalities. Where there is prison labor, good soil, good drainage, and
a supply of water in the dry season, the conditions are ideal for its accomplishments."
[3]
Records from the Bureau of Public Works show that the
building of the present-day Provincial Capitol of Capiz started in 1911 after
the provincial government secured a loan from the Insular Government. To finance the construction, a loan was
secured by the Provincial Government from the Insular Government amounting to
P55,000 by virtue of Acts No. 1728 and 1729,payable in seven instalments,
payable quarterly beginning December 23, 1911, with the last payment on
December 23, 1916. The provincial
treasurer took charge in the disbursement of the fund. Of the total amount, P16,500 was taken
from the insurance fund created by Act No. 1728, while 38,800 were taken from
the sinking bond created by Act 1729. When the capitol was finally completed in
1912, the provincial treasurer assessed the actual cost to be P113,911.75.
However, the district engineer appraised the capitols value to be P116, 880.70.
[7] [8]
The Capiz Provincial Capitol has seen improvements, repairs and extensions many times in its long history. Here are some photographs of the capitol through the years.
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| Capiz Provincial Capitol, c1935. Image from David and Campos via Nerio Lujan's Facebook. |
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| An image of Capiz Provincial Capitol, c1970, on a clipping at Capiz State University Main Campus Library. |
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| Capiz Provincial Capitol, c1980, from the Lindsay Bridge Collection via Nerio Lujan's Facebook. |
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| I took this shot of Capiz Provincial Capitol in 2010. |
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| Capiz Provincial Capitol in 2018, shortly before the opening parade of Dayaw Festival. |
[1] Watterson, H. (1898). History of the Spanish-American
War: Embracing a Complete Review of Our Relations with Spain. Werner and Co.,
657-668.
[2] Act No. 115 (1901). An Act Extending the Provisions of
the “Provincial Government Act” to the Province of Capiz.
[3]Cameron, H.F. (January 1, 1914). Provincial Centers in
the Philippine Islands. Bureau of Public Works Quarterly Bulletin, 2 (4),
2.
[4]Daniel M. Bluestone, Columbia University, (September
1988).Detroit's City Beautiful and the Problem of Commerce Journal of the
Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. XLVII, No. 3, pp. 245-62.
[5] A.N. Rebori (1917-04). ("Architectural
Record, Vol. 41 - The Work of William Parsons in the Philippine Islands".
pp. 305-309. Architectural Record, Ltd, New York.
[6] Bureau of insular
Affairs (1907). "Acts of the Philippine Commission, Nos. 1408-1538",
pg. 248. Government Printing Office, Washington.
[7] Loans for Roads, Bridges, Schools, Municipal Buildings,
Etc.—Sept. 22 to December 27, 1912 (2013, January 1). Bureau of Public Works
Quarterly Bulletin, 1 (4), 2-3.
[8] Capiz: Provincial
Building (January 1, 1914). Bureau of Public Works Quarterly Bulletin, 2 (4),
51.
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