DAVAO CITY — The National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) is embarking on the mapping of heritage, people, events, and sites across the country as basis in coming with a registry of national cultural pride.
NCCA chairperson Virgilio Almario on Friday said this is one investment of the Commission under the Duterte administration.
He said the project was already presented to the President Rodrigo Duterte who has given his support to the cultural mapping.
Although he did not mention how much the mapping activity would entail, Almario said there are so many things to do under the project. Once completed, “we can have thousands of items in the list that we can be proud of and promote them not only in our country but throughout the world,” he said.
Almario admitted the project cannot be done in two years but there is a special group that will handle it. The scope also depends on the research agenda that will be formed during the national conference in October 2018.
“Once the research agenda for our cultural heritage will be done then we will know how much is the cost and the work we will do,” he said.
As the country celebrates this month the National Heritage Month 2018, Almario said NCCA is also embarking on the re-education and re-orientation about the Philippines since its colonization.
In current times, Almario said: “We want to recover our memory from the past. We want to recover our memory because we want to rediscover our pride as we have a very glorious time before just as Andres Bonifacio who instigated our national revolution against colonialism.”
Towards the end of the month, NCCA will be showing the Ragin di Bantigue, a Maranao epic at SM Davao Center.
A traveling exhibit will be launched in Tagum City next week. This will highlight the ‘Heritage Churches’ and an on-tour Heritage Preservation will take place in Zambales’ different sites like San Andres Apostol Church or Masinloc Church recently declared as a National Cultural Treasure, and Casa San Miguel.
The “Journeys on Galleon,” a theater production written and directed by Floy Quintos is also one to look forward to. (Digna Banzon/PNA)
