MUSEUM SITE. Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez (left) and City Engineer Mary Jean Majaducon (right) show Director-General Jeremy Barns of the National Museum of the Philippines around the Victorias City Hall on Monday (Aug. 28, 2023). On the same day, Benitez and Barns sign a usufruct agreement for the establishment of a regional museum for Negrense sugar heritage and indigenous flora and fauna in the northern Negros city. (Photo courtesy of Victorias City Information Office)
Cesafinews | The city of Negros Occidental will get a sugar museum | BACOLOD CITY – The city government of Victorias in Negros Occidental has signed a 50-year usufruct deal with the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) to set up a regional museum for Negrense sugar heritage and native plants and animals.
Victorias City Hall, which is an important heritage building, will be the home of the museum once the local government unit moves its seat of power to the New Government Center in Sidlak Victorias Global City. The exact date of this move has not yet been set.
The NMP-Victorias, Negros Occidental is what it will be called.
“We’re very excited about this partnership,” said Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez in a statement on Tuesday.
On Monday, Benitez and NMP Director-General Jeremy Barns signed the deed of usufruct at the City Hall. The mayor’s uncle, Third District Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez, NMP Visayas National Museums Director II Ma. Cecilia Tirol, and City Administrator Lindolf De Castro were also there.
“The partnership with the NMP and, hopefully, with the Department of Tourism will bring not only awareness but also education, honor, and tourists to Victorias City and help people get out of economic trouble,” Benitez said.
Under the deal, the NMP will be able to use the city’s building for 50 years. In Victorias, the NMP will set up a permanent regional museum and a satellite office.
Benitez said that the mayor thinks that having this kind of museum in the city, which will be the first NMP component museum in Negros Occidental, would finish his vision of a new and revitalized Victorias.
“One that is still connected to and aware of its long history and past,” the politician said.
Barns said that the NMP is dedicated to making the vision of the young mayor come true.
“This museum will be our best one yet,” he said. “We will put it together and figure out what it will look like with your help and the help of the people who matter.”(via PNA)
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