The Leyte provincial government is eyeing at least PHP240 million in funds to convert the old capitol building into a World War II Museum, Governor Carlos Jericho Petilla said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters, Petilla said the old structure, hit by Super Typhoon Yolanda in 2013 and an earthquake in 2019, requires some PHP120 million for retrofitting.

The aesthetics inside the capitol, built before the Second World War, also need the same amount.

“In Leyte, we have many World War II artifacts. Wartime memoirs are kept in houses. We need a proper place where we can store these artifacts. Veterans are dying, people are forgetting, and the only thing that will outlive all of us is the museum,” Petilla added.

The governor is looking at donations from the private sector and allocations from the Office of the House Speaker and the National Museum of the Philippines to achieve the project.

The provincial government targets the completion of the project within two years.

The provincial capitol was the seat of the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines (Oct. 23, 1944, to Feb. 27, 1945) when President Sergio Osmeña came into power in 1944 with the World War II Liberation Forces.

He was sworn into office by General Douglas MacArthur inside the building in the “presence of Cabinet men, liberation forces and many other grateful people.”

Construction of the neoclassical building of Leyte Provincial Capitol started in 1917. It was renovated and expanded in 1964.

Early this year, the provincial government completed the new Leyte provincial capitol building complex located within a 14-hectare property in nearby Palo town. (PNA)