By Jose Eleazar Bersales
Sociology-Anthropology Department
University of San Carlos

I was pleasantly surprised by the swift and positive outcome of my column (and my calls to the National Museum) last week regarding the looting of artifacts at Plaza Independencia. The National Museum (NM) immediately sent a team, led by its assistant director, Noel Cuevas, to meet with Vice Mayor Mike Rama, as well as the management of the subway project at the plaza, to check the reports.

Last Tuesday, Angel Bautista, officer-in-charge of the NM Cultural Properties Division, came over to Cebu to hand in official deputization papers to me and Malou Samson, curator of the University of San Carlos’ University Museum, authorizing us to monitor all excavation activities not just in the plaza but all over the province of Cebu. It was also timely that the monthly meeting of the Metro Cebu Development Project (MCDP) was held that same day so that we were able to attend, together with Mr. Bautista. We were briefed with the efforts of Kajima Corporation, the Japanese contractor for the project, to investigate, confiscate and apprehend the culprits behind the looting of artifacts.

More surprises came as we read the minutes of the previous month’s meeting, where among the issues tackled was, in fact, the illegal removal and selling of artifacts by some workers who were caught by security guards. Apparently, the Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Bureau (CIIB) has already been requested to conduct an investigation on the matter. We were also presented with reports they submitted of the artifacts recovered on the site, coupled with photographs. These artifacts were then submitted to Edrick Miano, the curator at the NM branch in nearby Fort San Pedro.

Just how much has slipped through the security cordon set up by Kajima is difficult to ascertain, pending the CIIB investigations. But I must commend the Japanese project management team, led by engineer I. Maeda, for taking the time to ensure that archaeological evidences that were photographed and recorded on site before these were removed and packed.

That no gold has been retrieved on record is intriguing, especially when compared to the gold jewelry we recovered in Boljoon. The Magellan and Legazpi expeditions mentioned the presence of much gold worn by the natives in the port of Cebu. Yet, we are not finding any in controlled excavations in the downtown area. Does this mean that unscrupulous collectors have already “cut us to the chase” and forever pillaged the evidence? Or is this absence a proof that the port of Cebu was more hype than reality?

A training session for engineers and construction personnel will be conducted very soon at the site so that protocols for the recovery of more archaeological evidence will be carefully observed. One-third of the plaza is due for excavation and it would be great to see what surprises await the world of heritage and archaeology.