‘Malacañang sa Sugbo’ returns to Customs control

CEBU CITY – The historic Cebu customs house at Pier 1 which has been converted into the so-called “Malacañang sa Sugbo” and abandoned in 2010 will soon be back to the control of the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

BOC-Cebu Deputy Collector Administration Shirley Abarintos said customs employees in Cebu are happy that they can now return to their old customs clearing house soon.

Emmanuel Daez, director of Assets Management Office (AMO) and Edgardo Torres, director of the Engineering Office in Malacañang, conducted an inventory on the movable properties remaining inside the “Malacañang sa Sugbo”, and accounted for at least 300 of them. Daez visited Customs Collector Elvira Cruz and informed them of the result of their inventory. “We are happy to learn from AMO of Malacañang that they are readying the building for turnover to us. We will soon be holding office in that old customs house,” Abarintos told the Philippine News Agency.

Abarintos said they are now looking for a consultant who can help determine how much it will take to retrofit the building, considering the extent of its damage after it was abandoned. “Even if the repair of the old customs building will have a cost higher than constructing a new one, we are still determined to conduct such repair if only to preserve its elegance and grandeur.

Such a building has a historical and sentimental value for the Cebuanos, being one of the oldest buildings existing in the island nowadays,” she said. She said the old BOC building is situated in a heritage corridor in Cebu City where the historical Fort San Pedro, Plaza Independencia, Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño de Cebu and the Casa Gorordo are located. It is also near the Cebu City Hall.

Currently, the old customs building is under the management of Internal House Affairs Office of the Office of the President after former President Gloria Arroyo converted it into “Malacañang sa Sugbo” in 2004 and transferred the customs district office to a nearby building.

However, its ownership and occupancy was reverted to BOC after President Rodrigo Duterte approved the request of then Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña in October of 2018. BOC-Cebu is currently occupying the old terminal building at the Cebu International Port complex. The terminal building, which is managed by the Cebu Port Authority, was declared by the Office of the Building Official of the City Government, after it was damaged by two earthquakes in the past. (John Rey Saavedra)

20