People started leaving one hour and 30 minutes after the scheduled start of Saturday afternoon’s forum on heritage with Cebu City Mayor-elect Nestor Archival. An academic and top university official I shared a table with said she, like many, was promptly at the venue on the scheduled start.

The forum, Bililhong Bahandi (Treasured Heritage), was set for 3 pm on Saturday at Palm Grass The Cebu Heritage Hotel. Archival was expected to “share his vision for Cebu City’s natural and cultural heritage in a talk show-style dialogue” facilitated by Cebu heritage’s tireless advocate Miss A, Agripina Guivelondo. Agripina had sent questions ahead of time – acknowledged by Archival’s team – to facilitate the flow of discussion.

I knew there was a good turnout when I couldn’t park at the hotel and had to line up for several minutes for a space at a commercial compound a block away.

In the room was a good mix of heritage advocates in Cebu City – representatives from museums, tour associations, writers’ and artists’ groups, government agencies, and various community organizations.

“We are here because we are willing to partner with the city,” one of the stakeholders said. That statement perfectly captured the enthusiasm in the room of heritage stakeholders eager to listen to the Mayor-elect’s plans.

By 4 pm, people were fidgeting. My seatmate then shared a post about how Mayor Archival just attended the inauguration of the National University and had long left. Why is he still not here?

I said I was used to waiting for politicians since they are almost always late. I shared the story of how former mayor Mike Rama was so late for the opening of a Japanese restaurant and how the Japanese just stood the entire time, waiting for him.The Japanese official had prepared a speech with the greeting “good morning” but Rama was so late the speech was given, uncorrected, in the afternoon.

By 4:30 pm, Agripina started the forum and after the preliminaries, we found out that not only was Mayor Archival still not around, he would no longer be attending. Mayor Archival wasn’t feeling well, we were told, and Councilor-elect Nice Archival would be representing him and conveying his answers to the questions that were submitted ahead.

Nice shared about how her uncle saw the need to strike a balance between progress and preservation; protect our water resources; and more strictly enforce our zoning laws. She also said the Mayor-elect agrees with the need to teach the youth about our local history.

The indefatigable Melva Java, soft-spoken but firm on her advocacy, was there and pointed out the good mix of representation when it came to tangible and intangible heritage of Cebu. Architect Melva, who attended for the archdiocesan commission on heritage, also raised her alarm at what was happening at the ports, with the work by the Cebu Ports Authority on the foreshore area, “which belongs to the people.” She asked that Mayor Archival look into this and check what the plans were by CPA.

Alice Queblatin, who heads the ​​Cebu Alliance of Tour Operations Specialists, raised the need for tourism facilities in the city such as clean restrooms and increased visibility of people like barangay tanods. Ann Ariosa of the Carbonhanong Alyansa talked about the need for an official declaration of the Carbon Public Market as a heritage zone to protect it.

I had wanted to ask Mayor Nestor how high up heritage was in his hierarchy of priorities. Cebu City is facing a myriad of problems, many urgent, and heritage workers understand that there are other more pressing issues.

People I talked to left that forum with the impression that heritage may not be a priority of the incoming mayor. If heritage were important to him, one said, he could have at least sent a message via video conference. How difficult would it have been for him to record a short message on the phone to say he wasn’t feeling well and that he was sorry to miss the forum but that he would go over the suggestions and concerns raised in it?

Near the close of the forum, Agripina called my name to ask whether I had a question. I declined. What for? People were there to find out the executive direction at City Hall on heritage but we got a representative from the legislative branch, no matter if she were the niece.

But if there’s one character shared by heritage advocates, it is that they are not easily discouraged. It explains why they continue to do the thankless work that they do despite disappointments at City Hall. After Mayor Archival stood them up last Saturday, they continued talking to each other, exchanging updates and plans.