NCCA grants 100 cultural projects to Cordillera

BANAUE, Ifugao -The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) bard 100 cultural projects had been granted to the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in three years.

Maricel Diaz of the NCCA said 52 projects were given to CAR in 2015, 22 for 2016 and 26 in 2017, of which, 72 percent was focused on conservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage such as Schools for Living Traditions (SLT), Cultural Festivals, Trainings and Research-Documentation.

Others were provided to support culture and arts projects like enhancement of museum/gallery/exhibit, writing of history, art festivals, conferences, and implementation of art promotional activities.

SLTs are established in the provinces of Abra, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province to cater the needs of various tribes in the Cordillera including support to cultural festivals.

For the new 5-Year SLT Program that started in 2015, beneficiaries are the Ibaloy community in Datakan, Kapangan, Benguet and the Tuwali community at Poblacion, Kiangan, Ifugao.

Other contributions of the NCCA for cultural development of CAR include the nomination and inscription of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordille- ras in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites; proclamation of Hudhud as one of the masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity; Philippine Registry of Cultural Property (PRECUP) of the province of Abra and inscription of the “Punnuk” into the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.