Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 2) – The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) will be shutting its doors for two to three years beginning next year for major renovation.
CCP President Margarita Moran-Floirendo announced the closure at Thursday’s hearing of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities.
The country’s premier venue for the performing arts is closing its doors in January 2023 “because we are now renovating the whole building and structural retrofitting,” she said.
In the presentation, Floirendo also announced additional requests for funding due to the sudden closure of the 53-year-old building.
“We will need more funds than what we expected because we did not expect to move out and because when they started to open the little theater, they saw the structural retrofitting that is needed. So the whole staff is moving out of the building for next year,” the former Miss Universe said.
The CCP offices will begin vacating the building by November this year, Floirendo added.
According to CCP Chairman Jaime Laya, they intend to move back inside the center’s main building on March 15, 2025.
After using corporate cash for the lease this year, Floirendo stated that they will require an extra ₱390 million in funding for the lease of the office and theater in the coming years.
She noted that only the main building’s construction budget was included in the 2023 national expenditures program, as they were only supposed to move out by floor and not all at the same time.
The additional fund request will also cover the construction of the Liwasang Ampitheater, and the lease for performance venues.
“Since we won’t have the building for two years, we have to perform outdoors and outreaches in these theatres in Manila,” Floreindo explained.
The CCP is planning to lease a space at the Design Center of the Philippines for its artistic department, while the executive offices will move into the Ramon Magsaysay Center in Malate, Manila.
