Camarines Sur has also undergone more than a few facelifts, more reborn perhaps for the better.
A century ago, the seat of the provincial government was situated in downtown Naga, housed in a building of adobe and cement. For several years, the edifice was the center for government activities and transaction in the provincial sector. It continued to witness changes and transitions in the rules and implementations caused by the shifting of one administration to another. This scenario, however, was not as stable as the structure seemed to be as a great transformation in the structure of political subdivisions would later on to take its pace.
December 15, 1948 marked a memorable date for both Naga and Camarines Sur with the former exulting over its proclamation as a chartered city as embodied in Republic Act (RA) 305. It was also a significant event for the province as it was perhaps the beginning of what would later be the long travail of the province in its search for a new site for the Provincial Capitol building.
With Naga as a chartered city, high standing officials of the province had eventually expressed the need for a new location of the seat of the provincial government.
Governor Juan F. Trivi o, who assumed office in 1952, initiated the first move to transfer the Provincial Capitol and started the creation of the Provincial Capitol Complex. The Municipality of Pili, 15 kilometers south of Naga City was the chosen ground.
In 1955, Republic Act 1336 known as An Act Transferring the Site of the Provincial Capitol of the Province of Camarines Sur from the city of Naga to the barrio of Palestina, Municipality of Pili in the same Province was passed seeking for the transfer of the Provincial Capitol building. It was duly approved on the 16th of June on the same year.
The plan being made public, several individuals expressed their desire in donating a lot for the new location of the Provincial Capitol building. The first offer was a 16 hectare lot in Barangay Palestina in Pili from Roberto Soler. All things were set except for the fund in financing the expenses in the construction of the new edifice. The national government at that time could not aid to the province because of other priorities.
Then Soler, for the failure of the government to begin its construction within two years as stipulated in the contract, cancelled his donation.
It was under the administration of Governor Maleniza that another resolution was approved. Republic Act 3407 came into existence, creating the provision which gave authority to the President of the Philippines in selecting the new Capitol site to be recommended by a committee.
The committee proved to be of great help. In 1962, 3 possible sites were considered upon including: the Hacienda Marasigan at Brgy. San Jose, a lot within the Poblacion, and an area along the Anayan-Partido road.
The selection was already left to the discretion of the president of the Philippines and by virtue of Executive Order(EO) 41 issued by then President Diosdado Macapagal on June 16, 1953, the 67-hectare Hacienda Marasigan was declared as the new site for the Provincial Capitol.
In 1964, eleven years after the declaration, the groundbreaking ceremonies and laying of cornerstone were held, graced by then President Macapagal.
A year later, the construction for the building was started. All could have gone well but on the same year for the beginning of the construction, a case had been filed in court questioning the validity of the construction. Because of the case and the reluctance of Governor Armando Cledera to resume the Capitol construction due to lack of funds, the provincial government's objective in building the new site for Capitol was temporarily put to a halt.
In 1968, then Mayor Jose B. Velarde of Pili had the Municipal Board passed a resolution which sought the gradual transfer of all the provincial government offices to the Capital town which was already Pili. The same decree also asked for the transfer of the Capitol site from the Marasigan lot to a site within the Poblacion or at Barangay Anayan but the move consequently caused the Marasigan family to decide not to donate their lot to the provincial government.
The Capitol Site Selection Committee was then organized. Six possible sites were deliberated upon. These six included: the Marcos Stadium(now the Freedom Stadium), a 4-hectare lot fronting the Marcos Stadium, Cadang-Cadang Area, Marasigan Site, Pawili-Anayan Junction and lastly the Don Susano Rodriguez donation of a 15 hectare lot. The committee finally voted upon the last site.
It was during the term of former President Ferdinand Marcos when Executive Order (EO) No. 48 was issued, designating the site of the New Provincial Capitol. But before the commencement of the construction for the new Capitol site, on June 26, 1976, tragedy struck, a big fire torched the Provincial Capitol building, including important papers and public documents of the province. But also as a result, the construction of the Capitol building was hastened, a contract was signed by the Bensia Construction of Naga City, a 3-storey building with reinforced concrete, with twin RIB and corrugated galvanized iron roofing on steel and wooden roof framing came into completion. The Provincial Capitol measured 3, 528.18 square meters.
In addition, satellite buildings of the Regional Trial Court branches, Provincial Nutrition Center, the Post Office and the Kadiwa were also built.The 700-km access road from the Maharlika Highway was concreted.
And with such beginnings the present Provincial Capitol Complex was founded, now with its impressive expanse of buildings and scenic spots which qualify it as tourist spot, the Province can do well to be proud.
Capitol of Camarines Norte
Camarines Norte is a province of the Philippines located in the Bicol Region in Luzon. Its capital is Daet and the province borders Quezon to the west and Camarines Sur to the south.
Bicol province was founded in 1573. The province of Camarines was created from Bicol in 1636. That province was divided in 1829, creating Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur. They were briefly merged from 1854 to 1857 to make Ambos Camarines (ambos is Spanish for "both"). They were merged into Ambos Camarines once again in 1893. The province was divided into Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur once again in 1917.
The province of Camarines Norte is found in the northwestern coast of the Bicol Peninsula, which form the southeastern section of Luzon, the largest island in the Philippine archipelago.
One of the six provinces that make up Region V (Bicol), it is bounded on the north by the Pacific Ocean, in the east by the Pacific Ocean and San Miguel Bay, in the west of Lamon Bay, and in the south by Quezon province and the adjoining province of Camarines Sur.
Holy Rosary Major Seminary
The HOLY ROSARY MAJOR SEMINARY is the center of theological studies and formation in the ecclesiastical province of Cáceres, comprising the Archdiocese of Cáceres, the dioceses of Daet, Legazpi, Masbate, Sorsogon and Virac, and the prelature of Libmanan, all within the Bikol Region in southern Luzon.
The first conciliar seminary in this part of the country was canonically erected on March 7, 1797 during the incumbency of the Dominican bishop, Domingo Collantes. However, many historians contend that a century before this there existed a Casa de Clerigos in the episcopal capital. It was come kind of ecclesiastical college which assumed the purpose of training the diocesan clergy. In fact, Bishop De Luna testifies that from the tenure of Bishop González to the incumbency of his immediate predecessor, Bishop Manuel Matos, OFM, more than forty diocesan priests had been ordained.
Since 1797 the Naga seminary had been known as Seminario Conciliar de Cáceres, placed under the tutelage of its principal patroness, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, and secondary patrons, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure. In 1865, upon the invitation of Bishop Francisco Gainza, OP, the Vincentians took over the administration of the seminary, which now offered both priestly and lay education. The Seminario-Colegio, as it was known in this period, was for about half century the only center of higher learning in the Luzon south of Manila.
The years that followed the World Wars witnessed an increase in the number of vocations. The old building could not accommodate all seminarians coming from the six provinces of the Bikol region and nearby provinces. In response to this problem, a new building was constructed at the outskirts of the city. On August 10, 1964, the HOLY ROSARY MAJOR SEMINARY was blessed and inaugurated by Bishop Carlo Martini, then the delegate of the Papal Nuncio. It stands as a monument of Archbishop Pedro Santos (1938-1965), the first archbishop of Cáceres.
This event marked the division of the seminary. The HOLY ROSARY MAJOR SEMINARY became the new home of the college and theology departments. The old seminary came known as the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary continued to house the high school department. With the gradual phase out of the high school department in 1990, the college department returned to its original home, making the HOLY ROSARY MAJOR SEMINARY a center of theological studies and formation.
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