Catbalogan folk cry foul over demolition of Doña Paz victims’ memorial

MV Dona Paz. built in 1963, was a passenger ferry that sank on December 20, 1987 after colliding with MT Vector. —Photo: lindsaybridge via wikimedia commons

TACLOBAN CITY, LEYTE, Philippines — It was a blatant disrespect to the memory of the thousands of people who died in the 1987 collision between the MV Doña Paz and oil tanker MT Vector, considered the world’s deadliest peacetime maritime disaster.

This was how the families of the Doña Paz victims and residents of Catbalogan City, Samar, described the demolition of a memorial built to honor those who perished in the maritime tragedy.

“It is not just a simple monument. It is a symbol of remembrance and honor for those who died in the MV Doña Paz tragedy,” said Lourdes Singzon, in an online interview.

READ: Remembering Doña Paz

“Our appeal is to leave the ‘La Pieta’ structure untouched. It’s the only place where we can honor and remember our loved ones, especially during the disaster anniversary and All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days,” she added.

Singzon lost her mother-in-law, Petra Singzon, her aunt Nenita Villapaz, and several other relatives and friends in the Dec. 20, 1987, tragedy, which claimed the lives of more than 4,000 people, many of whom were from Catbalogan City.

The shrine, which featured the sculpture of Michelangelo’s famous “La Pieta,” was crafted from Italian marble in 1995 by Catbalogan artist Alejandro Villarin and commissioned by a group of Catbaloganons, including actress Tessie Tomas.

The statue depicted a distraught Virgin Mary cradling the lifeless Jesus Christ after He was taken down from the cross—a powerful religious image and a tribute to the victims of the Doña Paz tragedy.

It sat on the 1,300-square-meter park beside St. Bartholomew Church at the heart of Catbalogan. The park is reportedly owned by the Diocese of Calbayog, which had yet to issue a statement regarding the matter.

The park where the monument was built had been classified under the “parks and plazas” category in the city’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan and was declared a cultural heritage site by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines in 2018.

Several residents were shocked to see the sculpture demolished on April 2, reportedly to give way to the construction of an outlet for a pizza chain.

Too late

In a Facebook post dated April 5, Catbalogan Mayor Dexter Uy said that when he learned on April 3 that the area had been fenced off and construction equipment was brought in, he immediately directed the City Engineering Office to issue a notice of violation to the franchisee.

The notice ordered to immediately stop all unauthorized construction activities, required the party to coordinate with the engineering office within three days to submit proper documentation for a building permit, and warned that failure to comply would prompt legal action.

But the “La Pieta” monument was already destroyed by the time the order was served on April 3, Uy said.

Work in the area was subsequently stopped on April 5.

Uy said the franchise holder told him in a phone conversation that the demolition allegedly had the knowledge and consent of local church officials, including Bishop Isabelo Abarquez of the Calbayog Diocese, which has jurisdiction over the Catbalogan parish.

While the mayor did not identify the restaurant chain, Shakey’s Philippines, in a statement on April 6, apologized for the destruction of the “La Pieta” monument, describing it as an “unfortunate situation involving one of our franchises.”

“We recognize our franchise partner’s intention to relocate and enhance the landmark to a new site, and we are deeply disheartened by the accident that caused damage to ‘La Pieta,’” the statement said.

It added: “While we aspire to bring Shakey’s to Catbalogan, our priority at this time is to help rectify the situation and respectfully do what is right for the community.”

The Inquirer tried to reach the diocese through phone calls and social media messages but it had yet to respond as of April 7.

The residents of Catbalogan, especially the families of the victims of the Doña Paz tragedy, appealed to the Diocese of Calbayog not to convert the site into a commercial area.

On Sunday night, hundreds of relatives of the victims held a vigil at the site, pleading with the diocese to abandon plans to commercialize the area.

Jhonil Bajado, a history professor and curator of the Samar State University Museum and Archives, also lamented the demolition.

“I vehemently abhor this desecration of a religious and historical structure that gives remembrance to the memory of those who perished in the Doña Paz tragedy,” he said in a separate online interview.

Bajado, who was among the first to publicly denounce the demolition on social media, said that it was unfortunate that the local church did not conduct any consultation with its faithful on the matter.

“The demolition of ‘La Pieta’ came like a thief in the night and robbed us of the collective effort to honor our fellow Samarnons,” he added.