DAGUPAN CITY — The city of Dagupan will soon launch a cultural mapping program with the help of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCAA) in a bid to protect and preserve the city’s historical and cultural sites as well as relics for the sake of future generation.
This after Mayor Belen Fernandez signed on Monday a memorandum of understanding with officials of NCAA for the conduct of the project during a ceremony at the City Museum.
The NCAA was represented in the signing by John Delan Robillos, vice head of the sub-commission on heritage of the NCAA and Diwata Arawiran, NCAA project manager on Cultural mapping.
Fernandez was assisted by City Councilor Jeslito Seen, chairman on the culture and the arts in the Dagupan City council.
Seen said the undertaking is necessary because there are only two sites in Dagupan declared for their historical and cultural value.
These are the old church of Dagupan where the remnants of the Spanish army made a last-ditch stand against the Katipuneros led by General Francisco Macabulos, as well as the landing site of the Liberation forces in Bonuan Blue Beach.
Also present during the signing were City Councilors Dennis Canto and Marcelino Fernandez, City Administrator Farah Marie G. Decano, Dagupan Historical Culture and the Arts Office head Zenaida Sinlao, and Tourism Office head Sharon Maramba.
The MOU is consistent with the Local Government Code that encourages local government units (LGUs) to ensure and support the preservation and enrichment of culture in their respective jurisdictions.
In the agreement, both the city government and NCAA mutually agreed to conduct a cultural mapping program in the city in close collaboration, partnership and coordination with each other.
The NCCA agreed to conduct capability-building seminar-workshops for stakeholders who will conduct the cultural mapping; provide technical assistance and mentoring during the whole duration of the project; provide transportation of cultural mapping workshop facilitators to the locality; and to provide honoraria for the cultural mapping workshop facilitators.
On the other hand, the city will organize the implementation of the project in the city; organize the participants and local mappers for the training workshop; provide logistical needs for the different phases of the project; pass ordinances or resolutions supporting the project; ensure the continuous implementation of the project phases until its completion; and assist other LGUs in Cultural Mapping Projects.
In a briefing, Fernandez disclosed her plans of restoring the ruins of Franklin Bridge, then spanning across the Calmay river till it was swept by a big flood in 1932.
Others planned to be rehabilitated are the General MacArthur Park, the old city hall, the jack stones at Tondaligan, the water tower, the lighthouse and the Leonor Rivera piano retrieved by the city last year from the Hiyas ng Bulakan Museum in Malolos. (Leonardo Micua/PNA)
