RIGHTS AND WORLD HERITAGE RESEARCH BRIEF June 2016

The Historic Town of Vigan: Preliminary Findings from the Case Study Vigan was inscribed on the WH List there is a perception that economic further development and “eradicate” in December 1999 and was cited in opportunities from the heritage enterprise poverty. This confidence is sound if the are not uniformly available across the capacity of the more economically UN Habitat’s Best Practices on population. Advancing the consultation vulnerable people is likewise strengthened Social Sustainability in Historic process and ongoing research could help for them to be able to substantially Districts in 2008. In 2012, its facilitate the expression and resolution of participate in and profit from the heritage recognition as Model for Best remaining aspirations and concerns. enterprise. Practice in WH Site Management Heritage-based initiatives in Vigan pre-date also signified the historic town’s its inscription on the UNESCO World achievements in terms of Heritage List. Some citizens and local Vigan’s inscription and recognition as a conservation efforts. government actors have long seen the model for WH Site Management town’s rich heritage as its greatest asset in The City Government of Vigan has been the pursuit of development and an Vigan’s inscription as a WH Site gave the pursuing a “heritage as tool for improved quality of life for its population. city’s government the power to chart a development” strategy to improve quality However, heritage-and-development efforts future built upon a systematic heritage of life in the city. The research focused on have been significantly bolstered by the conservation and management program. In the city’s heritage-and-development inscription. The majority of Vigan’s October 2012, thirteen years after experience to explore rights issues within residents acknowledge the dramatic inscription, this strategy was boosted by the site’s WH context. Findings so far recent transformation of the town, whose Vigan’s recognition as a model of best suggest that Vigan’s development will reputation, in the 1990s, was still beset by practice in World Heritage management involve determining how sustainable its violence-scarred history. While social- because of its multi-faceted sustainable tourism is linked with the city’s capacity to systemic and environmental constraints conservation and management approach address environmental issues and poverty. still provide challenges to the city, its for the protection of the property, “with More particularly, there are difficulties in government remains confident that its relatively limited resources” but with the the maintenance of “the ancestral houses” heritage conservation program will, with participation of the local community. as well as some indigenous industries, and the participation of the people, produce

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“Pride of place” and heritage Situated on the western coast of , 408 kilometers north of , the historic town of Vigan, in the province of Sur, was designated a World Heritage Site on The City Government consistently looks for December 2, 1999. It met criteria for inclusion on the WH list because it “represents a ways to increase pride in Vigan and its unique fusion of Asian building design and construction with European colonial heritage among its residents. This value is architecture and planning” (c. ii), and “is an exceptionally intact and well-preserved expressed in policies of quite different example of a European trading town in East and South-East Asia” (c. iv). sorts, including attempts to improve social services. It reflects the view that pride in Vigan was already important to regional trade prior to the arrival of Spanish place and satisfaction with living in 1572. The town became the center of colonial conditions are connected, so that heritage government in the north; Villa Fernandina de Vigan’s grid layout was defined in conservation and general development are accordance with the ’s Leyes de Indias of 1680. It became Ciudad mutually supportive. Such satisfaction and Fernandina after the seat of the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia was transferred to the the confidence it generates are seen as site from Lallo, in 1758. especially helpful in a region where memories of the violence of the 1960s and Vigan has kept most of its centuries-old Spanish heritage, despite colonial upheavals 1970s are still active. and WWII, which destroyed architectural heritage in many other parts of the country.

It was with the aim of inculcating pride that The ’s Office likewise issued an through the VMP were the restoration of the City Government promoted and Executive Order creating the Vigan the old Vigan Sports Complex to become invested in Vigan’s competition with Conservation Council in 1999 given the the Vigan Culture and Trade Center, a two- hundreds of cities to become one of the “urgent need to create a management phased potable water network project, a “New 7 Wonder Cities of the World”. Its body involving all the major stakeholders in food security project with the fishing campaign was successful: Vigan earned the conservation of the historic district in communities, and a resettlement program the title in December 2014, after a highly Vigan that will be vested with all the powers for informal settlers. Each taking at least energetic campaign that capitalized on the and functions necessary to properly four years for actual implementation, the city’s heritage and constantly urged protect the fabric of Vigan’s historical last three projects involved a series of Filipinos and supporters elsewhere to cast district ...” consultations and organizing efforts that multiple votes for Vigan through cellphone saw the beneficiary communities as main texts. The City Government sees this new Projects that helped in shaping the actors and partnering government and status as strengthening its “desire to heritage-founded development path of non-government organizations as supporters conserve (Vigan’s) priceless heritage and Vigan were carried out under the leadership and facilitators. sustain excellence in local governance.” of a range of agencies1 and with the participation of representatives of the The resettlement program proved to be the Vigan has also been accorded recognition different stakeholders’ groups. The Vigan most challenging among said projects through numerous regional and national Masterplan Project/VMP, a Development because of limitations that could be awards, which have included those for Plan for the Revitalization of the Historic attributed to resource constraints: The excellence in various aspects of local Center of Vigan, was formulated in 1999- piece of land that could be availed of by the governance. The people’s “pride of place 2002. Among the activities that emerged government for the purpose is situated at and heritage” has truly surged since it the city’s margins, with some parts of it in began to develop in 1999. low-lying area and therefore vulnerable to 1 The development of the Vigan Masterplan flooding during heavy rains; and the quality involved the following: The Government of of the row houses is only as much as what (represented by the Agencia government or privately-donated resources History of the heritage plan: Heritage Española de Cooperacion Internacional); could allow. Yet, the program must be conservation as tool for “development” Government of the Republic of the credited for peacefully allaying earlier Philippines (represented by the Department The path to WH status began with the resistance by addressing most of the of Tourism); Vigan Heritage Village conviction among some prominent citizens affected people’s concerns, for the smooth Commission; Provincial Government of that Vigan had a unique strength, and relocation process, for making ownership ; Municipal/City Government of thanks to its “ancestral” heritage. of settlement more possible for the urban Vigan; and Fundacion Santiago. The VMP Precursor activities included the poor, and for enhancing the latter’s started when Vigan was still a Municipality, establishment of the Ancestral Homeowners’ capacities to improve their lot in their new and was completed more than a year after Association and the initiatives of this group communities through poverty-alleviation Vigan regained its cityhood in 2001. The such as the launch in the early 1990s of initiatives. Indeed, a few residents have cultural mapping was under the guidance the annual Viva Vigan Festival to promote already managed to gradually develop of the USTGS-CCCPET. The local stakeholder culture and the arts, which was taken over their units into better ones. groups who participated in this mapping by the local government several years activity are numerous, with Since there was still much to be desired in later; the organisation of international representatives from City Government the city’s socio-economic life, Vigan’s conferences on heritage conservation; and departments; educational institutions from cultural mapping activity was undertaken the 1993-1996 inventory of ancestral the Department of Education Vigan City in 2006 with the initiative of the City houses. Local government was also active: Division to the University; craftspeople Government and under the guidance of the Significantly, it introduced ordinances in (weaving, pottery); hotels & restaurants’ University of Santo Tomas Graduate School 1997 to delineate the boundaries of the association; community organizations like – Center for the Conservation of Cultural historic area’s core and buffer zones, and those of farmers, fishers, women/rural Property and the Environment in the to define allowable uses for such zones. improvement club, youth, and others. Tropics/USTGS-CCCPET. The mapping

2 project’s aim was to translate the city’s mainly because of higher revenues. Social take advantage of the larger market heritage into an asset that could uplift the services are also much improved. The demand because of limitations in people’s living condition. Another major incidence of poverty is claimed to be down resources for production. Restrictions on turning point apart from the VMP, it to 7.1% in 2012 from dismal figures of food peddling (an enterprise of low-income provided the city with a system by which about 40% in the 1990s. Heritage and groups), below-minimum wages, and its heritage resources and their possible development could not yet be statistically difficulty of access to employment have, for uses were identified: the Heritage correlated; overseas workers’ remittances some, intensified their sense of Conservation Program as Tool for also admittedly power economic growth. marginalization. In addition, many still lack Development has been spelled out. Most important, however, is that majority interest or confidence to engage in of people perceive Vigan to have ventures despite the availability of training With conservation and cultural heritage transformed dramatically since the 1990s. opportunities and lending facilities. tourism at the heart of its development strategy, the City Government strengthens The increasing prestige of Vigan has also its programs by every imaginable way, and resulted in the immensely rising value of strives to ensure that the city generates Vigan’s Future: Development challenges real property that has made it difficult for economic benefits from its heritage. The people with few resources to maintain or local government continuously crafts The directly-delivered or implied secure properties for settlement and relevant legislation, and invests in sentiments and/or perceptions that have livelihood. Only the wealthy could now infrastructure and associated services, so far surfaced in the Vigan research are afford to buy property within the city core confident that these would bring greater based on preliminary findings and warrant and its immediate environs. In many opportunities for Vigan’s people. For further consideration. Nevertheless, the instances, overseas work has become example, traffic flows in the city and research reported here suggests that necessary to be able to purchase land even motorcycle engines were regulated with Vigan’s heritage-and-development policy is in the remoter parts of the city given prices the goal of protecting the core of ancestral subject to ongoing challenges in respect of that are about three times their zonal houses and historic buildings known as the human rights. values. Those who simply lack the capacity Heritage Village and minimizing air and to maintain or buy land add up to the noise pollution; the 2005 Investments Notwithstanding its achievements, the City number of people lining up for social Incentives Code encourages tourism- and Government aims to do better yet, and is housing and resettlement projects. Then, traditional crafts-related enterprises, while confident that it can eliminate poverty in like those with least resources, informal offering incentives for businesses to draw Vigan. However, constraints remain: Higher settlers would have to be content with at least 60% of their workforce from Vigan; costs of living and production and losses relocation into the city’s geographic and the 2006 Amended Conservation from natural calamities reduce or negate margins despite attendant costs and Guidelines that also led to the 2010 the income/benefit especially of lower- environmental vulnerability, and with publication of the Heritage Homeowner’s income groups. Natural resources, housing quality that limited funds could Preservation Manual, which now provides especially land, are becoming more limited build. homeowners and concerned technicians vis a vis the population that is growing from with visuals and details pertaining to the within and from outside as a result of the Similarly, the monetary worth of ancestral appropriate repair and restoration of the drawing potential of the city’s socio- houses has quickly rocketed about ten-fold old buildings. The City Government has economic boom. New spheres and patterns or more since two decades ago. Cost of allocated 1% of its internal revenue of consumption are coming with maintenance especially in accordance with allotment (IRA) from the national consumerist-oriented developments, and protective regulations is now also much government for culture, arts and tourism, new definitions and dimensions of poverty higher, although bigger rentals for and at least 40% of the city’s entire budget seem to be emerging. commercial spaces are offering better as a development fund. Infrastructure prospects for owners to earn money for The need to sustain heritage tourism and aimed at increasing visitor flow, such as repair, improvement or even for business. the new enterprises dependent upon it, the Convention Center and Conservation The houses’ surged values, maintenance coexists with concerns about competition Complex, had been built. A building along costs and management problems pose for resources, about traffic, air and noise the Heritage Village is being restored to greater challenge to the often multiple pollution, and waste management. become a multi-functional structure that heirs, with their varying claims and interests. Consequently, a number of heirs would house at least two City Government There is, moreover, a perception that of ancestral houses have had to give up offices, a gallery for local artists and a economic opportunities from heritage and others are on the brink of selling their crafts shop, among others; a “sleep-and- enterprises disproportionately benefit the heritage even to non-relatives as parking” facility and a theme park project relatively small fraction of the population remaining hopes to hold on to family that would cater to both tourists and locals that can access social and economic property and identity could no longer stand are underway. capital. As pointed out in some up to the opposite desire of others to discussions, larger chunks of income could The increased potential for the success of financially gain from the same. only come through bigger investments and enterprises is changing local people’s aggressive marketing, where economic conservative views about investment. Indigenous industries that are integral to and political clout are believed by some to Business has bloomed radically, ranging the history and culture of Vigan, i.e., the further bring about differential success in from those that require small financial manufacture of damili (earthenware) competition. On the other hand, very low capital and social/technical skills to those pottery or abél-Iloko textile weaving are capital could mostly only create small that could only be built by multi-million also, for different economic reasons, under profits even when greater labor is spent. peso investors. The City Government threat. With a large clay quarry area having Local farmers and fisherfolk could not fully budget has risen twelve-fold from 1995 been sold by its owner to another who has

3 converted it for residence, the top concerns for potters now are the very IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH limited quarry site, the possibility that owners would also in time sell the land, and Preliminary findings indicate that Vigan has been significantly transformed since the 1990s, that potters themselves do not have the when heritage and development became more intimately connected. The city’s inclusion in capability to buy the property. On the other the WH List and its heritage conservation cum development program have clearly played a hand, the more intricate design-techniques major role in these changes. Nevertheless, “development” challenges remain; not all of these of the abel-Iloko may soon become extinct are directly attributable to limitations in basic resources: Some of the difficulties are because of the absence of willingness generated and sustained by the very strategies aimed at furthering development. among the young to carry on with the difficult yet hardly financially rewarding While the city has made determined efforts to address some of concerns that moderate the craft. success of urban development, a more in-depth exploration of the basic policy of expanding tourism has yet to be done. Equity issues have also surfaced in the face of perceived The preceding discussion points to risks differential capacities to access the economic opportunities heritage enterprises can provide, faced by various stakeholders of losing including employment. The increasing shortages of land for settlement and livelihood, and the their heritage – whether it be in the form of uneven impact they have on segments of the population are particularly likely to challenge an ancestral house, land or access to future improvements, especially for the poorest. Furthermore, some ancestral homeowners specific livelihoods. Everyone has the right have difficulties in maintaining their properties, with the result that they are exposed to the to hold on to land, resource, property, growing risk of losing their heritage. livelihood, and heritage. Yet, under the present system, realizing and enjoying The research sketched here also indicates the underdeveloped state of community these rights is dependent upon people’s organisations, in that meaningful projects are still mostly framed according to government economic capacity to afford the price that initiatives. This tends to support people’s option to maintain silence and feed their timidity in such rights entail. In the case of equally expressing their concerns. Raising people’s awareness about their rights and obligations as legitimate but competing rights, those of citizens, advancing the consultation process and organizing efforts, as well as further actors with greater resources are easily research, could facilitate the expression of remaining aspirations and concerns, and enable favored, while the rights of people with less the exploration of feasible means by which development challenges and linked rights issues or none could only be subject to protection can be addressed. by political will. consultation and participation, however, government. Cynicism that prevents

the larger populace chooses to remain people from significantly helping In the case of Vigan, political will still lies in quiet on issues that they think may affect themselves and their communities has government, more specifically with local the politically influential. Apparently, also been observable in some. executives, so that the interests served are vestiges of the past continue to linger in determined by the wielders’ advocacy. So the imagination of many people who have The explicit and implicit concerns of some far, it is local government that has played witnessed that in the midst of distrust and sectors of Vigan’s economy, and the the key role in addressing issues and violence, silence, acquiescence or limited undertakings of people’s problems of its constituency, with focus on collaboration are prerequisites to peace. organizations, therefore suggest that marginalized groups like farmers, fisherfolk, They prefer to rely on themselves to consultation and participation processes urban poor and informal settlers. It is remedy difficult situations, as well as have not yet been sufficiently undeniable that city authorities have been depend on the discernment, initiative and institutionalized to maximize their urgently acting upon concerns brought to goodwill of people in authority to intervene potential in contributing to the their attention. on their behalf. Even the activities of achievement of development objectives community organizations that have been and to the realization of rights. Despite efforts by both government and envisioned to promote empowerment non-government bodies to encourage hardly go beyond those designed by

Authors

M.L. I. Ingel (Cultural researcher & community development worker, Philippines), [email protected]

Sara Dürr (MA student, University of Lucerne, Switzerland), [email protected]

Bettina Beer (Professor of Ethnology, University of Lucerne, Switzerland), [email protected]

Photo credit: Bettina Beer

Project: Understanding Rights

Practices in the World Heritage System: Lessons from the Asia Pacific 4