Zamboanga Arts and Culture IcelleARTicles - Remembering the Old Burleigh School part2

Arts & Culture of Zamboanga City

by contributing writer & local artist: Icelle G. Borja

IcelleARTicles: Remembering The Old Burleigh School, Part 2

It took me some time to collate all my materials regarding my research on the "Burleigh School". I did interviews from friends recalling the days when they were in school, just across the Sucabon creek. They shared to me their experiences and antics, of joys and terror teachers, of "juego de jolen," gardening, reminiscing their younger days with classmates of the then "Old Burleigh."

A detailed photo featuring the Pavilion with the Pediment and the "Quartrefoil" in the center.

I’m happy to share to all our readers the depth of my research, and that includes the rare photo that l found of the “Burleigh School" in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. It was published by the Philippine Gazetter (c. 1916), as a propaganda arm for colonialism wherein many civic and public buildings are featured.

In this column is my artistic description of "Burleigh School" in an Art Historian’s point of view.

The original school building was built entirely of Philippine hardwoods. Its floors, posts, trusses, and walls were hewn from the finest local materials. The windows were the lever-type with the use of a stick for support, and they were made from the translucent Capiz shells latticed in between thin strips of wood.

Its architecture was patterned after the “Prairie" style of the American schools, which was a one-storey affair.

The front corridor was embellished with wooden traceries akin to the "Calado" type of delicate embroideries. It decorated the upper portion of the posts along the portico.

Its facade is styled with double pavilions that crowns with a pediment and a tracery in a form of a “quartrefoil” used as a decoration for air vents.

A vintage photo engraving taken from the c.1916 Philippine Gazetter featuring the "Old Burleigh School" in Zamboanga City. [Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.]

The roofing is made from galvanized iron sheets, and the building's layout form is a letter "H."

The whole idea is a school building built for the tropics, making use of local materials, which was abundant and accessible. It accommodated one class for every grade, up to grades seven, and it had a library and clinic.

But with the growing population, a two-storey "Gabaldon” type of building was erected to accommodate the intermediate classes, which was built with wood and reinforced concrete for the posts, galvanized iron for the roofing, and latticed Capiz shells for the windows, of the lever type.

Then, the original building built of wood was replaced with almost the same architectural structure, but this time built of solid concrete for the floors, posts and walls.

Wood was utilized for the partitions and divisions, galvanized iron for the roofing, and the windows were of latticed Capiz shells of the sliding type. The eaves were broad, longer and lower, in consideration to the tropical weather of torrid rains and harsh sunlight.

Its' imposing pavilions lord the front facade and is decorated with the dentil-like rustications that runs across as an architectural detail. It is also decorated by a quatrefoil form pierced unto the concrete, reinforced with cast iron grills, used as air vents and a source of light. The whole pavilion is also reinforced with engaged columns, and the portico is supported with concrete pilasters, making it a sturdy all-weather school building, with a quasi-classical impression.

This was the prevalent architecture used for public buildings that would appear more dignified with the use of pavilions and pediments, than without.

It was built symmetrical with the respect to the East-West axis, as the most ideal orientation for a civic building such as this.

The Old Burleigh School: Zamboanga del Norte VS. Zamboanga City ( June 30, 1969 )

PHILIPPINE JURISPRUDENCE - FULL TEXT

The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation

G.R. No. L-24440 June 30, 1969

PROVINCE OF ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE vs. CITY OF ZAMBOANGA, ET AL.

Republic of the Philippines

SUPREME COURT

Manila

EN BANC

G.R. No. L-24440 June 30, 1969

THE PROVINCE OF ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE, plaintiff-appellee,

vs.

CITY OF ZAMBOANGA, SECRETARY OF FINANCE AND COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, defendants-appellants.

R E S O L U T I O N

REYES, J.B.L., J.:

Professing respect for the principles enunciated by this Court in its decision of 28 March 1968, in Case G. R. No. L-24440, entitled Province of Zamboanga del Norte vs. City of Zamboanga, et al., 1 the appellant City seeks reconsideration of our decision in so far as the latter declares that Republic Act 3039 is unconstitutional and void in so far as the same seeks to deprive the Province of Zamboanga del Norte of its share in the 26 lots situated within the City of Zamboanga, and hereinafter enumerated, without just compensation, for the reason that said 26 lots are patrimonial property of the old Province of Zamboanga. Said 26 lots are declared in the main decision to be the following:

TCT Number Lot Number U s e

5577 .......................... 177 .......................... Mydro, Magay

13198 ......................... 127-D .......................... San Roque

5569 .......................... 169 .......................... Burleigh2

5558 .......................... 175 .......................... Vacant

5559 .......................... 188 .......................... "

5560 .......................... 183 .......................... "

5561 .......................... 186 .......................... "

5563 .......................... 191 .......................... "

5566 .......................... 176 .......................... "

5568 .......................... 179 .......................... "

5574 .......................... 196 .......................... "

5575 .......................... 181-A ....................... "

5576 .......................... 181-B ....................... "

5578 .......................... 182 .......................... "

5579 .......................... 197 .......................... "

5580 .......................... 195 .......................... "

5581 .......................... 159-B ......................... "

5582 .......................... 194 .......................... "

5584 .......................... 190 .......................... "

5588 .......................... 184 .......................... "

5589 .......................... 187 .......................... "

5590 .......................... 189 .......................... "

5591 .......................... 192 .......................... "

5592 .......................... 193 .......................... "

5593 .......................... 185 .......................... "

7379 .......................... 4147 .......................... "

The movant City contends that the 26 lots aforestated were not patrimonial property of the former Province of Zamboanga, for the reason that said 26 lots have always been used for public purposes, such as school sites, playgrounds and athletic fields for schools.

To bolster its contention, the City of Zamboanga submitted photographs, plans and a sworn certification of its City Engineer to the effect that:

(a) Twenty-one lots (Nos. 17, 177, 179, 181-A, 181-B, 182 to 197) are part and parcel of the Zamboanga Trade School;

(b) Three lots (Nos. 169, 175 and 176) are part and parcel of the Zamboanga Normal College;

(d) Lot No. 4147 is the Bolong Elementary School;

(e) Lot No. 159-B is part and parcel of the Baliwasan Elementary School.

Appellant City of Zamboanga, therefore, prays that the main decision be partly reconsidered and that all title to, and ownership of, the 26 lots be declared to have been validly vested in said City free of charge by Republic Act No. 3039.

The motion for reconsideration is vigorously opposed by plaintiff-appellee Province of Zamboanga del Norte, which contends that the evidence sought to be filed by the appellant City is not newly discovered evidence and is, therefore, inadmissible at this stage of the proceedings. Alternatively, the appellee Province of Zamboanga contends that the 26 lots are vacant, or that the buildings existing thereon were constructed in bad faith; and that the said Province has additional evidence to show that most of these properties are not actually devoted to public use or governmental purposes.1awphil.nêt

Considering that both contending parties are actually subdivisions of one entity, the Republic of the Philippines, so that public interest is involved and demands that the issues presented be determined speedily without regard to technicalities, the Court resolved that, in the interest of justice and equity, its main decision and that of the court below be reconsidered and set aside, in so far as they affect the twenty-six lots heretofore enumerated, and the monetary indemnities awarded. Instead, the records are ordered remanded to the court of origin for a new trial, wherein the parties shall be given opportunity to adduce and submit any evidence in their possession to show whether or not the 26 lots aforesaid were or were not actually devoted to public use or governmental purposes prior to the enactment of Republic Act No. 3039. Thereafter, the Court of First Instance shall decide the issues anew, taking into account the evidence submitted by the parties and the principles of law laid down by this Supreme Court in its main decision of the present case, dated 28 March 1968.

So ordered. No costs.

Concepcion, C.J., Makalintal, Zaldivar, Sanchez, Castro, Fernando, Capistrano, Teehankee and Barredo, JJ., concur.

Dizon, J., took no part.

Footnotes

1See 22 SCRA 1334.

2"This could not be considered as forming part of the appurtenant grounds of the Burleigh school sites since the records here and in the Bureau of Lands show that this lot is set apart from the other Burleigh lots."

The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation