Sunday, September 14, 2008 Citadel of memories By Mayette Q. Tabada
WITH many grandparents now opting to twirl around ballrooms or connect to the Internet, befuddled parents wondering how their kids can connect to the past will find succor in museums.
Due to the thrust of the Cebu Provincial Government to promote heritage and history, Cebu has been having a rash of community museums opening recently.
Nearest and particularly intriguing of these is the Museo Sugbo.
Currently, four galleries representing the major eras shaping Cebu are housed in the old Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) located along M. J. Cuenco Ave. Visitors can view the galleries following the chronological timeline or pursue whatever captures one’s attention or fancy.
Prominent text panels provide information and context in Cebuano and English versions. These bilingual translations widen appreciation of the collections. Along with the P5 entrance fee for children and the P10 admission for adults when the museum finally opens to the public this month, these features should make the Museo Sugbo not merely a repository of old but ill-appreciated collections but a portal for neverending stories of Cebu.
For instance, the Battle of Mactan is recounted with the immediacy and attention to details found in today’s news reports. Knowing that 120 Spaniards and Cebuanos reached the shores of Mactan at 3 a.m. of April 27, 1521, only to be repelled by some 1,500 warriors led by Lapu-Lapu is bound to make a child or even his parents hit the history books to follow the tantalizing lead: did Magellan plan to surprise the natives with this dawn attack? How did the Mactan warriors foresee the invaders’ treachery?
Thanks to institutions and individuals that donated or loaned generously from their collections, hours and hours of stories are guaranteed at the Museo Sugbo. The Conrado Colina Tudtud memorabilia includes a Brownie, a small spy camera owned by Tudtud whose popular multi-flavored line of ice drops, Conrad’s Frozen Products, reportedly gave him immunity with Japanese and guerilla forces and served as effective cover for the man who would later become chief of the police Secret Service Department after World War II.
Treachery, skullduggery and valor. Such timeless attractions are promised and fulfilled just by wandering among the collections in Museo Sugbo. During Sun.Star Cebu’s tour, the sleek, brown bullet of a cockroach catapulted on a display cabinet, unexpected but trenchant reminder that even the Museo’s walls have tales to tell.
The building was named CPDRC in the 1980s. It was in 1871 that the Carcel de Cebu was constructed. In its 135 years, the building witnessed scores of Katipuneros convicted without trial during the rebellion against Spain. In the Japanese Occupation, guerrillas were tortured in these same cells by the Kempei-Tei, the dreaded Japanese secret police.
Reclaiming the Carcel de Cebu for Museo Sugbo may just be the decisive break with the past, from the ignominious defeat of ignorance and forgetting to remembrance and resolve.
