Palawan board member seeks landmark bridge restoration in historical town

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=829504
• Saturday, November 21, 2015

By Keith Anthony S. Fabro [(PNA), RMA/CARF/KASF/RSM]

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Nov. 20 (PNA) -- A member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Palawan is seeking the restoration and rehabilitation of a dilapidated bridge in the northern town of Taytay as a significant landmark of its centuries-old cultural and historical past.

Palawan 1st District Board Member Roseller Pineda, in a resolution, asked Governor Jose Alvarez to appropriate funds for the restoration of the Langayan (also known as Taytay) Bridge as part of the town’s historic development into a first class municipality.

“It is the sublime aspiration of the people of Taytay who value their history and perpetuate the essence and existential symbol of their town to initiate the restoration of this bridge not only for the utilitarian purpose but most especially for the transcendent sense of history,” Pineda said Friday after filing his resolution to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

The resolution was approved in the first and final reading on Nov. 17.

Taytay, as the Palawan’s first capital, has rich cultural and historical treasures rooted from the Spanish colonial era, the American regime, and Japanese wartime occupation and liberation.

“Some of the most significant historical relics and landmarks (in Taytay) are in need of restoration for posterity and as legacy of the past for the succeeding generations of Taytayanons,” Pineda said.

Aside from the old Spanish fort of Sta. Isabel, other remaining symbols of colonial antiquity in the town are the limestone water wells (pasuelos) and brick walls of the site of Spanish officials’ residence, he added.

It is said that before Spain colonized the Philippines, Taytay was ruled by a monarch noted as followed everywhere at any given time by 10 scribes.

The crew of Ferdinand Magellan held the Taytay king and queen for ransom after escaping the Battle of Mactan, where he was slain. They intended to secure more supplies as they plan to cross into the Moluccas, where the Portuguese could sought help.

The native king and his subjects complied with the demands and even added more food supplies than what they asked for. This was reportedly recorded by Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan's chronicler, who was on board in one of the ships when these events took place.