School-based Heritage Advocacies

Ching Pangilinan

Pampanga as a province and the Kapampangans as a people have a wealth of heritage resources, both tangible and intangible. The academe plays a vital role in ensuring that heritage preservation is not only feasible but sustainable as well.

Academic institutions in our province have been at the forefront of heritage research and programs, from publication of resource materials and even story books for the next generation of Kapampangans to producing films that promote our language. Some universities and colleges have gone as far as institutionalizing the teaching of Kapampangan history and culture in their curricula, whether as a required course or an elective.

For more than a decade, the Juan D. Nepomuceno Center for Kapampangan Studies have been leading the way in heritage preservation in our province, with a full time center that is considered a cultural and tourism hub at the same time. It is undoubtedly the institution on Kapampangan heritage studies among other institutions, primus inter pares.

Equally laudable are the efforts of the Angeles University Foundation’s Institute of Kapampangan Studies which recently launched Zoilo Hilario’s poetry book “Bayung Sunis”, containing both the original pieces in Kapampangan with their corresponding Filipino translations. The University of the Philippines Extension Program in Pampanga has also its share in contributing to the literature on Kapampangan Studies through its research program.

The Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University has also established its Kapampangan Heritage Center and has been very active in commemorating Kapampangan heroes as well.

The University of the Assumption, home to the Archdiocese of San Fernando’s Archives and Museum, is strengthening its school-based heritage program through the College of Engineering and Architecture, focusing on the preservation of built heritage. Just yesterday, the UA held its first ArkiForum lecture series for the school year and honored the only National Living Treasure Eduardo Mutuc of Apalit who is known for the “Pinukpuk” or silversmithing.

The City College of San Fernando, Pampanga, while a relatively new academic institution, has recently embarked on a heritage program in conjunction with the City Government’s strategic vision to strengthen its program on heritage, the focus of which is on crafts, cuisine and culture.

It is my fervent hope that our academic institutions will continue to serve our community and the Kapampangan people as purveyors of Kapampangan heritage and the government and business sectors can partner with them towards more sustainable programs on heritage preservation.

Meanwhile, there is a call for participants for the Conference on Cultural Heritage: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Theory and Practice which will take place on August 26 to 28, 2015 at the Palma Hall, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. Cultural workers, heritage practitioners, students and teachers are encouraged to attend. Inquiries may be ad d r essed through email at culturalheritage.conference@gmail.com.