Mayor Lim vows to restore Metropolitan Theater

A six-man committee has been created by Manila Mayor Alfredo S. Lim to work on the immediate restoration of the Metropolitan Theater (MET) on P. Burgos Street that has been left rotting for years. The committee will be co-chaired by former Kapisanan ng mga Artista ng Pelikulang Pilipino (KAPP) head German Moreno and Lim’s chief of staff Ric de Guzman, with Vice-Mayor and council presiding officer Isko Moreno as vice-chair and Councilor Edward Maceda, Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez and Ambeth Ocampo as members. The committee will determine, among others, what happened to the P50-million fund given by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) for MET’s rehabilitation, what repairs had been done on the edifice and how much work is still needed for the theater’s full reconstruction. In forming the committee, Lim said the rehabilitation of the MET is important owing to its historical value. He said MET will also provide the ordinary masses with the kind of quality entertainment that can be derived from live and stage shows. The MET is now a property of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). Lim pledged to help the committee by tapping the support of big companies to raise the needed money to finance the project. “This won’t be an easy task because we will be starting from scratch," he told the committee in a meeting at his office. For his part, Isko Moreno vowed that the city council will support the project through legislation that may be needed for the speedy reconstruction of the theater. Designed by Filipino architect Juan Arellano, MET was built in 1935 and is regarded as supreme example of art deco architecture because of the bronze statues of female figures placed along the top of the façade. MET was Manila's focal venue for performances ranging from vaudeville to opera until it fell into disuse in the 1960s. The theater was restored in the 1970s but has once again been neglected. - GMANews.TV