We wish to express our deep concern regarding the installation of Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights outside and inside the Parish Church of Our Lady of the Pillar which was carried out without the consultation and approval of this Commission.
The Cebu Archdiocesan Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church (CACCHC) is mandated by the Archdiocese of Cebu to superintend in the care and protection of its church patrimony, especially regarding historic and heritage churches, rectories and other properties and their adjunct structures and their holdings therein.
Guided by Opera Artis, the circular letter on the Care of the Church’s Historical and Artistic Heritage issued by the Congregation of the Clergy on April 11, 1971 and affirmed by the late Ricardo Cardinal Vidal’s Circular Letter No. 10/05 on the Norms Governing Church Restoration issued on May 25, 2005, we wish to remind all parish priests to respect the historic and heritage character and fabric of the churches under their care, ensuring that these are not disrespected nor defaced by ill-advised alterations and additions.
In the case of the parish in question, we are disheartened that these LED lights to the church structure, though perhaps well-intentioned, are incompatible with its heritage and historic character. Moreover, as a National Historical Landmark declared by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines in 2010, no additions or alterations that impact on the historicity of this parish church should be carried out also without the tacit approval of the NHCP.
We are nevertheless heartened that these LED lights can be removed easily without causing damage to the overall physical fabric of this nearly 200-year-old church. We have therefore requested the parish priest, Fr. Agustin B. Abella, through a formal letter, to consider removing them as soon as possible.
In the same letter, we conveyed to him that the Commission is more than willing to offer advise on how to provide the appropriate and proper illuminations both inside and outside this church that is congruent with its character as one of the lasting legacies of Augustinian missionaries who toiled in building this edifice.
This much we owe it to them who served God in the most trying of circumstances in order to spread the Gospel in this part of the world.