I have been following the debate over the proposed amphitheater at Plaza Cuartel with particular interest because, more than a decade ago, I was part of the USAID COMPETE team that worked on developing Puerto Princesa’s heritage tourism circuit.
Something important is getting lost in the debate: plans to develop Plaza Cuartel did not begin with this project.
In 2015, our USAID team worked with the city and provincial governments, the Palawan Tourism Council and private-sector stakeholders to explore how Palawan’s history could become part of the visitor experience. The idea was not to commercialize historical sites, but to preserve them, interpret them properly and connect them into a heritage circuit.
The late architect Augusto “Toti” Villalon, one of the country’s respected heritage conservationists, helped provide the architectural and conservation perspective.
The vision was never to freeze Plaza Cuartel in time. It was to find a way for people to experience the place while respecting the history that makes it important.
Plaza Cuartel, the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral, Rizal Park, Eulalia Park, the Governor’s Mansion (now The Residence) and other heritage assets were envisioned as parts of a walkable historic district. That work eventually contributed to the establishment of the Puerto Princesa Heritage District in 2016, with planning and consultations continuing through 2017.
Around the same period, the Palawan Liberation Task Force brought together the provincial and city governments, Palawan Tourism Council, Puerto Princesa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, USAID, Rajah Travel Corporation led by tourism industry veteran Aileen Clemente, and other stakeholders.
From that collaboration came A Salute to Valor: Palawan Liberation, launched in 2015 to bring attention to Palawan’s largely untold World War II stories.
Plaza Cuartel naturally became part of it.
The first Salute to Valor included a wreath-laying there, recognition of Filipino and American honorees, and historical photo walls. In 2016, provincial and city ordinances formally declared April 22 as Palawan Liberation Day.
During the pandemic, businessman and filmmaker Francis Lara Ho, together with American veterans, approached the city about holding memorial rites every December 14, the anniversary of the Palawan Massacre.
The two commemorations remember different but connected events. December 14 remembers the American prisoners of war massacred at Plaza Cuartel in 1944. April 22 commemorates Palawan’s liberation and honors the Filipino guerrillas and American forces who helped end the occupation.
That history is precisely why I support the rehabilitation of Plaza Cuartel.
The city already issued a statement that the proposed amphitheater is not a commercial entertainment venue. It is an open landscape feature intended for commemorative, cultural, educational and historical activities, and is only one part of a larger rehabilitation that includes landscaping, a fence and gate, public toilet, administration office, information facility and monument.
An amphitheater does not automatically turn Plaza Cuartel into an entertainment venue.
Imagine schoolchildren sitting there and hearing what happened on December 14, 1944. Imagine descendants of veterans telling their families’ stories. We could hold Salute to Valor ceremonies, memorial rites, historical talks and documentary screenings there.
Instead of diminishing the memorial, a gathering space can give it a voice.
There are safeguards. The National Commission for Culture and the Arts, which had earlier suspended the project, lifted the suspension on June 16, and construction resumed July 1.
An Archaeological Impact Assessment found no archaeological features within the assessed area that would require the project to be suspended or substantially changed. Historical documentation cited in the assessment also placed the trenches associated with the burning of prisoners outside the present Plaza Cuartel compound, in the property now occupied by the NBI.
The city has also asked Palawan State University Museum officials to regularly monitor the ongoing work.
For me, preservation and development are not opposing ideas.
A historic place can be solemn and still welcome students. It can honor the dead and welcome people who want to learn about them. It can be a memorial and remain a living part of the city.
Of course, Plaza Cuartel should never become just another entertainment venue. What happens there must respect what happened there.
But that is an argument for responsible use, not an argument against development.
We spent years trying to make Palawan’s history more visible. Toti Villalon and the people involved in that early work understood that conservation was not simply about leaving old places alone. It was also about helping people understand why they matter.
So I don’t see this as a choice between developing Plaza Cuartel and preserving it. We can do both.
Develop the place. Let people experience it. Let our children sit there and learn its story.
Just never allow the development to erase the reason Plaza Cuartel matters in the first place.
Let history live. And make sure we never forget.
