Cebu Province expanded its Cultural Mapping Program 2026 to help local governments identify and preserve heritage assets, forming a framework for a new 10-year Provincial Tourism Development Plan.
The Provincial Tourism Office partnered with Cebu Normal University and the University of San Jose-Recoletos to expedite data gathering, including a project to document Cebu’s culinary heritage.
Museo Sugbo curator Jobers Bersales is leading hands-on workshops to train up to 20 volunteers per locality in completing NCCA Talapamana forms for the Philippine Registry of Cultural Property.
CEBU Province is ramping up its Cultural Mapping Program 2026 to safeguard cultural heritage and support sustainable tourism development across its component towns and cities.
The Provincial Tourism Office (PTO), together with Museo Sugbo, aims to equip local tourism officers and community members with the necessary skills to identify, document, and preserve their local heritage assets.
PTO head Rowena Montecillo shared that the program heavily relies on the proactive involvement of community stakeholders.
“The information gathered will help identify what a certain destination can offer culturally and tourism-wise,” Montecillo said on July 16, 2026. “The office of Museo Sugbo and our tourism office cannot do it alone. It has to involve both the local government unit and the private sector, because stories can be gathered better if the locals themselves are involved.”
Montecillo explained that cultural mapping serves as a framework to scaffold the upcoming 10-year Provincial Tourism Development Plan.
“Now, with the cultural mapping together with the Local Tourism Development Plan (LTDP) per municipality, we would want to come up with all of this because one deliverable that we have, especially next year, will be the Provincial Tourism Development Plan,” she said.
To support this vision, the Department of Tourism -Central Visayas, in partnership with the PTO, conducted a four-day workshop from July 13 to 16 for local tourism officers across the province, focusing on evidence-based and sustainable frameworks for their LTDPs.
The Cultural Mapping Program encompasses documenting tangible and intangible heritage, as well as accounting for natural and human resources.
Academe collaboration
Montecillo said the Provincial Government is venturing into collaborations with top universities in Cebu to expedite data gathering and collection.
“We are sitting down with Cebu Normal University and the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), our academic partners, to assist us in gathering information. We are leveraging students and researchers because relying solely on tourism officers would take too long,” Montecillo said.
“These institutions want to contribute to the province through research, while fielding their students, especially those in tourism, gives them valuable hands-on learning experience,” she added.
To formalize the collaboration, USJ-R signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the PTO to implement the Cebu Geographical Indication Culinary Research and Development Project.
The project aims to document, protect, and elevate Cebu’s food heritage through the country’s Geographical Indication System.
Hands-on workshop
The Cultural Mapping Program features a four-day hands-on workshop designed to train and guide participants on accomplishing the Talapamana forms required by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) for inclusion in the Philippine Registry of Cultural Property.
Program lead and Museo Sugbo curator Jobers Bersales stressed that the primary qualification for volunteers is a commitment to support efforts to nurture local history and boost tourism.
“We would like to train people who are passionate, concerned, committed, and know how to write or fill out the forms,” Bersales said on July 20. “We are looking for up to 20 volunteers per locality who are willing to write. They can write in Tagalog, English, or Cebuano, since local languages are permitted by the NCCA, given that they are dedicated to the work.”
Bersales shared that workshops have already been conducted in Carcar City, Badian, and Talisay City.
Cultural mapping workshops are currently underway in Bogo City, while the three island municipalities of Bantayan, Madridejos, and Santa Fe are slated to hold their respective workshops soon. / Veejay Catadman, UP Cebu Intern
