THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) in Western Visayas in collaboration with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) has conducted the first “Training of Trainers on Cultural Mapping” for local development planners and implementers in the region.
Attended by 22 participants, the six-day training in Iloilo City until October 4 aims to create a core set of regional trainers on cultural mapping.
The participants are composed of provincial tourism and planning officers from the provinces of Antique, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo, and cities of Bacolod and Iloilo.
Representatives from Iloilo City Cultural and Heritage Council, Conservation Council of the Municipality of Alimodian, and planning officers of the Department of Tourism (DOT) and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) were also present.
Neda-Western Visayas Regional Director Ro-Ann Bacal, in her message, emphasized that the preservation and promotion of tangible and intangible cultural assets is now a development priority as included in the Philippine Development Plan and Regional Development Plan.
Bacal also underscored the importance of the training in providing the basic knowledge and skills on making cultural maps as a prerequisite for local planning and investment programming.
For his part, Vice Commissioner John Delan Robillos of NCCA National Committee on Museums highlighted the efforts of the commission in conducting trainings on cultural mapping in the regions.
The main resource persons and trainers on cultural mapping included Cultural Development Consultant and Station Manager of Radio Maria Philippines Arvin Manuel Villalon, Ateneo de Davao University Professor Dennis Coronel, and NCCA National Committee on Museums Assistant Secretary Liana Dela Rosa.
The training covered the topics like overview of cultural mapping; Philippine and international legal instruments on cultural heritage; frameworks on conservation (theories, domains, significance) and context of mapping process; cultural mapping methodologies, cultural statistics and mapping ethics; and mapping of movable and immovable tangible heritage, natural heritage, intangible heritage, significant personalities, cultural institutions, and LGU programs and projects for culture.
Another essential part of the training was the actual fieldwork for the conduct of cultural mapping exercises in the areas such as districts of Arevalo, Lapaz and Jaro in Iloilo City, and the municipalities of Leganes, Oton, Sta, Barbara and Cabatuan.
After each fieldwork, the participants encoded the data gathered and presented their mapping outputs for critiquing by the resource persons.
At the end of the training, 30 maps were produced composed of eight immovable tangible heritage, 12 natural heritage which include land formation, body of water, flora and fauna, five intangible heritage, and five movable tangible heritage.
“Visiting the museums is one way of knowing the region’s culture and its people,” Neda-Western Visayas Assistant Regional Director Arecio Casing noted. (PR)