iCONoclast: Gapan: Nueva Ecija’s “Heritage City”

(Part 2 of a series on Gapan City)

by Randy R.I. Espinoza

Gapan's Old Casa Municipal (Municipal House), the pink building to the right

Unknown to many, Gapan City, established in 1595, is the oldest town in Nueva Ecija and one of the oldest in the Philippines. Cabanatuan City may be the provinces’s most progressive city and the town of San Isidro was declared the country’s interim capital in 1899 by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo during the Philippine-American War, but Gapan remains the province’s crown jewel, a veritable heritage town that rivals others in the entire Central Luzon in terms of historical and cultural significance.

The street leading to the Gapan Church and the Divina Pastora College

Much of the city’s historical “treasure” is centered around the centuries-old Gapan Church (the Parish Church of the Three Kings) and the heritage houses and buildings that line the streets that form part of the old poblacion area. Foremost of these heritage structures are the Old Casa Municipal, which has long been lying idle and unkempt, and the ancestral houses nearby, some of which have been restored but most of which have long been in disrepair.

The Gapan Church

These architectural structures form a major part of what the City Government, in cooperation with national agencies and heritage preservation groups, can designate and develop as a heritage area. These historical artifacts are too important to neglect and let fall apart. Well, there’s some good news. Early this year a memorandum of agreement has been signed by the City Government of Gapan and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines to restore the Old Casa Municipal.

An older building of the Divina Pastora College

Many of the houses featured in the photos are those that I wasn’t able to take photos of during my first visit in the area. Many of the better houses have already been published in Part 1 of the series.