Cultural mapping could have prevented the cutting of 10 trees in Oslob’s historic plaza, a Capitol heritage consultant said.
Cultural mapping helps identify and protect heritage sites before development projects are carried out.
Cebu Province continues to train LGUs on cultural mapping, while the DILG has ordered all local governments to implement the program.
THE CONTROVERSIAL tree-cutting in Oslob’s public plaza to make way for the town’s new sports and cultural center could have been completely avoided if there had been cultural mapping, an official said.
In an interview with SunStar Cebu on Monday, July 20, 2026, Capitol heritage and culture consultant Jobers Bersales said the environmental and historical loss highlights an urgent need to strengthen the province’s Cultural Mapping Program.
The Municipality of Oslob faced public backlash after cutting down 10 trees within the town plaza.
The plaza serves as the site of significant historical landmarks, including the Spanish colonial-era Cuartel ruins and the Immaculate Conception Parish Church.
Heritage loss
“If there was a cultural map, they could have decided to preserve the trees and move the covered court elsewhere. Because Republic Act (RA) 11961 is very clear: Plazas and open spaces must be kept open if they were built during the colonial period,” Bersales said.
In a SunStar Cebu report Sunday, July 19, the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) Argao clarified that it had issued a special tree-cutting permit. However, the office pointed out that the local government unit failed to coordinate properly with it regarding the permit's implementation.
The special tree-cutting permit for the 10 trees was set to become valid on July 23.
However, residents decried that the cutting began on July 13, in clear violation of the permit's terms.
While the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas issued a cease-and-desist order to halt the operations, the trees had already been cleared.
Mapping mandate
Bersales explained that RA 11961, which amended the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009, mandates LGUs to conduct comprehensive cultural mapping to identify, record and preserve local heritage.
He noted that the program is not merely confined to artifacts or traditions but also extends to natural and immovable landmarks, alongside both tangible and intangible heritage.
“It is everything that an LGU should be able to properly document, complete with data, where the location is, and historical background," Bersales said.
(It is everything that a local government unit should be able to properly document, complete with data, where the location is, and historical background.)
“The important aspect of cultural mapping is significance. What is the level of significance of an object, an artifact, a building, a story, the food, or a person to the town?” he added.
As one of the core members who crafted the act's implementing rules and regulations, Bersales said the tree-cutting in Oslob is an example of how cultural mapping can proactively protect local resources.
He recalled an incident in May 2026 when Oslob’s famous whale sharks vanished for four days. The sudden disappearance alarmed the town’s tourism industry and underscored the urgency of discovering and developing alternative local heritage assets.
“When the whale sharks disappeared for days, that was really an eye-opener for Oslob; this is a finite resource. When these whale sharks go elsewhere, what is the next step for Oslob?” Bersales said.
Capacity building
The Cebu Provincial Tourism Office and Museo Sugbo launched the Cebu Provincial Cultural Mapping Program in 2025, spearheading four-day workshops to capacitate local tourism offices in conducting cultural mapping.
The initiative includes localized fieldwork, hands-on training, capacity-building for community volunteers, and comprehensive guidance on properly accomplishing the TALAMAPANA forms required by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts for the Philippine Registry of Cultural Property.
“The Cebu Provincial Tourism Office is aware of the necessity of infusing heritage into tourism,” Bersales said.
He added that workshops have already been conducted in Carcar, Badian and Talisay, with Bogo City and the three municipalities on Bantayan Island scheduled to hold their respective mapping workshops soon.
Local government units that wish to jump-start their own localized mapping initiatives are encouraged to reach out to the CPTO or Museo Sugbo to schedule a training workshop.
Community pride
Bersales underscored that the ultimate purpose of cultural mapping is to foster a deep sense of identity and ownership within communities.
“The ultimate purpose of cultural mapping is to instill a pride of place, because if people are not proud of their place, of their history, and their culture, they will not take care of it,” Bersales added.
He emphasized that preserving heritage is not a barrier to development but a crucial step in ensuring that progress complements, rather than erases, a community’s cultural identity.
“Heritage is not anti-development as long as it is properly integrated into land-use planning, and the only way to do that is cultural mapping,” he added.
Amid rapid development, Bersales said heritage inventories allow citizens to appreciate and discover the unique attributes of their respective towns.
“In the midst of globalizing tendencies, of uniformitarian tendencies, the purpose of this program is to discover the uniqueness of your towns,” Bersales said.
Bersales drew a comparison to the 18th-century coral-stone church of the Nuestra Señora Virgen de Regla Parish National Shrine in Lapu-Lapu City, which was demolished in 1960 to make way for a modern structure.
“Every town will have that kind of regret, and cultural mapping is here to prevent generations from regretting what this generation did to their history, to their past,” Bersales said.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government issued a memorandum on June 25 mandating the timely implementation of cultural mapping and strict compliance with NCCA guidelines across all LGUs.
“Cognizant of the vital role of the LGUs in ensuring the prompt and correct implementation, all are advised to conduct cultural mapping and refer to the attached National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Guidelines,” the DILG memorandum read. / Veejay Catadman, UP intern
