THE National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) has granted P10 million to Department of Tourism (DOT) in Davao Region for the establishment of an arts and culture hub in the region.
"We are inputting P10 million just for the plans and the design because we are expecting that it will be complete with all the requirements necessary when we submit our proposal to DBM (Department of Budget and Management) and Congress so we will be able to get the appropriate funding necessary for the hub," NCCA deputy executive director Marichu Tellano said on October 7, 2019.
The NCCA and DOT-Davao signed the memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the project Monday, October 7, at Seda Abreeza Hotel. The MOA was signed by Tellano and DOT-Davao Director Tanya Rabat-Tan.
The hub is envisioned to be a complex with training or learning site, performing arts center, library, and museum that will promote the culture and arts of the indigenous people of Mindanao.
Tan said they are still in the process of identifying the location of the project.
"There is one in Mintal, and there is one near Malagos," Tan said. But she said they are still lobbying for the two properties.
Tellano said the NCCA prefers that the hub will be built on a government property because erecting it in a private property is risky.
After the signing, Tan said they would be hiring consultants, preferably from Davao, as well as coordinate with local and national agencies and other stakeholders.
"If it will be successful then we can satellite later on because if we spread our energy and resources too much, we will not be able to achieve the idea of the cultural hub," said Tellano.
"The limitations lang with establishing the hub in provinces is because there are 81 so I don't know if the national government will have the financial capacity to do that," she added.
If the funding would be possible, she said they plan to have a cultural hub in each region and may double it in the next two years.
Tellano said she hoped that the plan for the hub will be finished by March 2020.
"The master plan will be a prerequisite to succeeding funding requests for the actual construction of the infrastructure," DOT-Davao said in a statement.
The MOA signing was witnessed by the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. president Art Milan, Davao City councilor Pilar Braga, and Davao del Norte provincial tourism officer Noel Daquioag.