NCCA, LGUs work together to preserve heritage
Heritage is not old, but rather “young and a hit” when people choose to relive them and bear in their minds, said the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA).
As part of the continuing effort to preserve cultural heritage, NCCA is linking up with local government units, particularly barangays, to realize its yearlong “Taoid Heritage Program.”
Taoid is an Ilocano term which means heritage or inheritance.
NCCA commissioner Fr. Harold Rentoria said the state council aims to organize series of activities, among which is partnering with LGUs to get involved in protecting and conserving the cultural heritage in their respective districts.
“What we want to emphasize is that we want to engage the various communities and tell them that they also take responsibility for the conservation of their own heritage,” he said.
Rentoria said the community firstly will identify their respective resources such as monuments, landscapes, works of art, books, artifacts or their folklore, traditions, and language, among others.
The community will then design their individual development plan centered on heritage conservation.
“NCCA will then validate the data and record it to the Philippine Registry of Cultural Property,” said Rentoria.
Likewise, the NCCA team is organizing training and conferences for the community.
Celebrating the people’s legacy, thousands of spectators gathered to witness the second Taoid Concert, this time hosted by Cebu City, with around 500 entertainers.
Last Saturday night’s event, which was spearheaded by NCCA in cooperation with Ayala Center, was lined up for the celebration of May as National Heritage Month.
Declared in 2003, the month of May of every year has been recognized as the National Heritage Month, as stipulated in Presidential Proclamation No. 439.
“There is a need to strengthen the people’s awareness of cultural heritage sites, structures and landscapes, and encourage their participation in the preservation of these cultural legacies through various activities such as performing arts at these sites and/or visual art and fashion exhibits, thematic culinary events, as well as popular folk food fairs, design retrospectives and competitions, media and literary events, and homage to living traditions and intangible heritage,” part of the public statement reads.
“The month of May is by traditions when most fiestas, festivals, and other indigenous activities are celebrated throughout the Philippines,” it added.
Moreover, NCCA is tasked as the lead agency in carrying out the necessary activities to conserve and promote the nation’s cultural and historical heritage.
The heritage concert at the Ayala Terraces featured Tagalog and Cebuano songs and cultural dances, among others.
The three-hour concert carried the theme, “Heritage: Ancient Roots, New Fruits.”
Rentoria said the concert also aimed at putting the traditional art into the interest of the new generation and to likewise challenge the youth to live and embrace the city’s cultural heritage of music and dance.