UST, LGU Magalang partners for heritage-based redevelopment plans project

The University of Santo Tomas, led by the Graduate School Center for Conservation of Cultural Property and Environment in the Tropics (USTGS-CCCPET), in collaboration with UST College of Architecture and UST Faculty of Arts and Letters signed a Memorandum of Agreement for the drafting of the town plaza redevelopment plan and the conservation management plan of the Magalang Municipal Building.

Due to the rapid growth of Magalang town, the relics of heritage and history gradually erode and are almost on the verge of obsolescence and neglect. The site development plan of the core zone plaza and the municipal building’s conservation management plan or CMP are crucial. The plan provides a road map on how to proceed, with systematic caution, when making decisions about intervention. The project is an off-shoot and utilization project after conducting the cultural mapping of Magalang facilitated by CCCPET and the Department of Education.

The MOA signing was joined by Mayor Ma. Lourdes Lacson, Councilor Norman Lacson and ENP Ryan Miranda from the Local Government of Magalang and UST Administrator, Prof. Michael Anthony Vasco, Ph.D.(Dean of the UST Graduate School), Ar. Rodolfo Ventura, MS Arch (Dean of the UST College of Architecture), Prof. Melanie Turingan, PhD, (Dean of the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters), and Assoc. Prof. Eric B. Zerrudo, Ph.D., (Director of the UST Graduate School Center for Conservation of Cultural Property and Environment in the Tropics (USTGS-CCCPET). 

In response to this partnership with Magalang and to other heritage conservation and sustainable development projects, the USTGS-CCCPET also forged a research collaboration with the UST College of Architecture and the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters. The partnership is part of the Center’s commitment to extend the multidisciplinary research opportunities in the University.

The signing was held last February 20, 2024, at the University of Santo Tomas Beato Angelico Building hosted by UST College of Architecture.