SINCE 1896, THE PAROLA (LIGHTHOUSE) ng Malabrigo has stood on a desolate hilltop overlooking Verde Island Passage at the tip of Batangas province, one of 21 ?lonely sentinels? of the interisland network, whose lights guided ships through Philippine waters.

Modern technology has rendered lighthouses obsolete. But even when their lights were still on, only maritime navigators and the Coast Guard were interested in these forsaken stations at the farthest outposts of the archipelago.

That is why the Adopt-a-Lighthouse Program was launched. The Coast Guard entered into agreements with private-sector custodians who pledged maintenance and protection of lighthouses.

The Malabrigo lighthouse is open to the public. Visitors can stroll around the courtyard surrounding the lighthouse-keeper?s dwelling. But they are prohibited from entering the rooms or climbing the tower.

Before, treasure hunters and vandals had broken into the rooms, ripped out the antique brass doorknobs and hardware. They littered the place, kicked out its century-old metal grills, tore out or chopped down its wooden doors.

Despite all that, Malabrigo remains a romantic sight. From a majestic bluff overlooking the sea, a brick tower rises above a one-story lighthouse-keeper?s residence surrounded by broad verandahs.

Some authentic brick walls from the same era survive, as well as the wooden plank flooring, original architectural details and delicate 19th-century grillwork around the verandahs.

Structural damage

But a few weeks prior before its National Landmark designation three years ago, Malabrigo became the unauthorized location shoot of an independent film.

As a result, people from neighboring towns drove up the dirt road in packed jeepneys to gawk at the largely unknown actors. Forcing their way into the lighthouse to get a better view of the shoot, adults and children crowded the grounds, literally climbing the rafters and going up the lighthouse tower to get the best vantage point, without a thought that the building was so structurally fragile that the floor or roof could actually cave in under their weight.

There was some structural damage caused by the crowd but there was vandalism, too. Bits and pieces of the building broke off, graffiti scratched into limestone walls and wooden doors.

Film equipment dragged across the 100-year-old hardwood floors have left permanent deep gouges. Whatever was left of doors and windows original to the lighthouse have been torn open. Props had been randomly hammered into the 19th-century walls of limestone or hardwood.

It?s not that film crews always disrespect their locations. I have watched shoots in private homes where the crew meticulously made sure that there was absolutely no damage done.

On the other hand, many years ago, I saw the damage done by a film crew to a small 19th-century church at Boso-Boso in the Antipolo foothills, used as a location for, as I was told, a war film. Church walls were riddled with bullet holes, its floor ripped up, doors and windows gone, and sections blackened from fire damage. Not much remained of the church.

Clear guidelines

The damage to Malabrigo might have been avoided if there were clear guidelines on the use of lighthouses between the Coast Guard and the Adopt-a-Lighthouse Program. Custodians should have been assigned to the lighthouses.

LTSG Derrick Manas, head of the General Task Force Parola and officer of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary in Calatagan, Batangas, said the film crew did not secure permission from the Coast Guard to shoot in Malabrigo.

Nor was permission obtained from the Malabrigo Lighthouse Foundation, which is the private-sector partner in the adoption program.

Nor does any protective or financial assistance come from the National Historical Institute (NHI), which attaches markers identifying structures of historic importance such as Malabrigo. The general public is totally unaware of the significance of these markers.

?So what happened is a desecration of a National Historical Site by supposed artists who should even lead the appreciation and protection of such a historical structure. I really lament what happened there,? said Manas.

It is obviously time for establishing protection and maintenance guidelines between the Coast Guard, Adopt-a-Lighthouse participants, and the local community, which seems unaware of the heritage value of lighthouses like Malabrigo and their NHI designations.

As a start, because of what happened to Malabrigo, the film industry should educate its members, especially location scouts and film crews, on respecting the heritage places that they shoot in.

Films should transmit the message that heritage is worth preserving if only to ensure that our national identity withstand the global pressures trying to dilute it. And that?s what movies can do.

E-mail the author at pride.place@gmail.com.