Heritage-pride movement launched
13 March 2005
By Augusto Villalon
AT LONG last, a pride campaign that makes everyone a heritage vigilante has been organized!
"Doon Po sa Amin" is a wonderfully simple, grass-roots campaign that introduces a paradigm shift to change the usual negative view taken by Filipinos of themselves and of their country.
When was the last time we Filipinos took a positive look at our country and ourselves?
To shift our normal focus of attention away from dwelling on public and private blunders we toss aside by saying it can happen "only in the Philippines," the Unesco National Commission partnered with the Film Academy of the Philippines and Globe Touch Mobile to get Filipinos to look at the positive in our country and recognize our legacy of greatness resulting from the high level of achievement of our nation and culture.
High level of achievement does not equate to only what is grand and monumental. The ordinary and the everyday equal, and many times surpass, the grand and monumental in level of achievement.
The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordillera cannot be the grand monument they are recognized to be without the support of the farmers who live, plant, harvest and maintain the site. Unrecognized for being the true heroes of the rice terraces, their lives revolve around the site.
It is their ordinary, everyday environment, taken so much for granted, that many fail to realize it is an internationally recognized Unesco World Heritage site. For the residents, it is just their home.
Noticing the ordinary
<!–
D(["mb","consider ordinary and everyday that we fail to realize their value.
"Doon Po sa Amin" gets people to notice the ordinary.
I remember visits to places like Vigan decades ago when no local
cuisine was served in restaurants. When you asked for it, waiters
shied away, saying their food was too simple to serve to visitors.
They would quickly offer a properly soured Tagalog sinigang instead,
the kind I could get anywhere in Manila.
So I ended up believing what people told me, that there was no cuisine
to speak of in Vigan.
Years later, dinner at a Bigue?o home introduced me to the ordinary
cuisine of the locals, a cuisine that was unique to itself, certainly
far better than the Tagalog food Vigan waiters kept insisting to serve
me in restaurants.
Dining on Vigan food in a bahay-na-bato completed the Vigan
experience. Heritage is, after all, the sum total of all the
influences, experiences and expressions of a people over time, no
matter how ordinary some of them might seem.
Conserving heritage requires the preservation of the total package. In
the Vigan case, it is conserving the bahay-na-bato and the life that
went with it-the family\'s personal stories and anecdotes, their food,
the clothes that they wore.
Preserving the total package gives life to the old house, unlike a
museum exhibit that locks everything lifelessly away under glass.
Heritage is alive. It is not static. It is made every day. What we
consider ordinary today is tomorrow\'s heritage. It is time to start
being proud of our everyday stuff.
Pride list
What can we be proud of? Here is a list for starters:
Places: natural sites (beaches, mountains, falls, volcanoes, rivers
and streams, hot springs, forest reserves, animal sanctuaries,
valleys, river deltas, plateaus); man-made places (structures,
museums, libraries, archives, zoos, school and universities, churches,
",1]
);
//–Like our Ifugao brothers, we are surrounded with so much of what we consider ordinary and everyday that we fail to realize their value.
"Doon Po sa Amin" gets people to notice the ordinary.
I remember visits to places like Vigan decades ago when no local cuisine was served in restaurants. When you asked for it, waiters shied away, saying their food was too simple to serve to visitors.
They would quickly offer a properly soured Tagalog sinigang instead, the kind I could get anywhere in Manila.
So I ended up believing what people told me, that there was no cuisine to speak of in Vigan.
Years later, dinner at a Bigue?o home introduced me to the ordinary cuisine of the locals, a cuisine that was unique to itself, certainly far better than the Tagalog food Vigan waiters kept insisting to serve me in restaurants.
Dining on Vigan food in a bahay-na-bato completed the Vigan experience. Heritage is, after all, the sum total of all the influences, experiences and expressions of a people over time, no matter how ordinary some of them might seem.
Conserving heritage requires the preservation of the total package. In the Vigan case, it is conserving the bahay-na-bato and the life that went with it-the family’s personal stories and anecdotes, their food, the clothes that they wore.
Preserving the total package gives life to the old house, unlike a museum exhibit that locks everything lifelessly away under glass.
Heritage is alive. It is not static. It is made every day. What we consider ordinary today is tomorrow’s heritage. It is time to start being proud of our everyday stuff.
Pride list
What can we be proud of? Here is a list for starters:
<!–
D(["mb","Spanish colonial edifices built before 1900, American colonial
edifices built 1901-1946, modern edifices built 1947-to the present,
birthplaces of heroes, presidents, senators, justices, and other
distinguished people) Products: cuisine (traditional food, cooking
methods, kakanin); craft production (basketry, textile, wood, metal,
and other materials); traditional tools or instruments used in
fishing, farming, construction and office work; costume and fashion
(clothing, jewelry); furniture, ritual objects, and more Animals and
plants: work animals, wild animals, pets, insects, birds, fishes;
trees, cultivated or wild flowers, yards or gardens, edible plants and
flowers, medicinal herbs Traditions and norms: traditional beliefs,
patron saints, origins, legends, and dialects; other traditions such
as customs, rites, fiestas, processions and parades Arts: visual,
traditional and religious arts including artists, paintings,
sculpture, folk art, authors, poetry, songs, dances, plays; music,
musicians, and musical instruments Ordinary people and professionals:
people who make us proud to be Filipino because of their exemplary
contributions to society by hard work and practicing Filipino ideals,
through development in any field; also includes prominent people and
outstanding artisans, cooks, tradesmen, doctors, scientists,
inventors, engineers The first, the best, the only, the oldest: can be
either person, place or thing
The easy way to participate in "Doon Po sa Amin" is to text Globe
{CODE} 2332 and download ringback tones by Cesar Montano, Gary
Valenciano, Jolina Magdangal and other artists.
However, a more meaningful way to participate in the campaign is to
text PRIDE to 2346 and tell everyone in the country what you are proud
of.
Pick out something from the list that you want to share with your
countrymen. There may be many things not on the list that you feel
",1]
);
//–>Places: natural sites (beaches, mountains, falls, volcanoes, rivers and streams, hot springs, forest reserves, animal sanctuaries, valleys, river deltas, plateaus); man-made places (structures, museums, libraries, archives, zoos, school and universities, churches, Spanish colonial edifices built before 1900, American colonial edifices built 1901-1946, modern edifices built 1947-to the present, birthplaces of heroes, presidents, senators, justices, and other distinguished people;
Products: cuisine (traditional food, cooking methods, kakanin); craft production (basketry, textile, wood, metal, and other materials); traditional tools or instruments used in fishing, farming, construction and office work; costume and fashion (clothing, jewelry); furniture, ritual objects, and more;
Animals and plants: work animals, wild animals, pets, insects, birds, fishes; trees, cultivated or wild flowers, yards or gardens, edible plants and flowers, medicinal herbs;
Traditions and norms: traditional beliefs, patron saints, origins, legends, and dialects; other traditions such as customs, rites, fiestas, processions and parades;
Arts: visual, traditional and religious arts including artists, paintings, sculpture, folk art, authors, poetry, songs, dances, plays; music, musicians, and musical instruments;
Ordinary people and professionals: people who make us proud to be Filipino because of their exemplary contributions to society by hard work and practicing Filipino ideals, through development in any field; also includes prominent people and outstanding artisans, cooks, tradesmen, doctors, scientists, inventors, engineers The first, the best, the only, the oldest: can be either person, place or thing.
The easy way to participate in "Doon Po sa Amin" is to text Globe {CODE} 2332 and download ringback tones by Cesar Montano, Gary Valenciano, Jolina Magdangal and other artists. However, a more meaningful way to participate in the campaign is to text PRIDE to 2346 and tell everyone in the country what you are proud of.
<!–
D(["mb","will make other Filipinos proud, so tell them what it is.
If you prefer to e-mail your submission to me, then I shall be happy
to forward it to the Unesco National Commission together with the long
list of things I\'ve got for them.
Share your pride with all Filipinos and do your bit for nation
building. Instill pride of place in your everyday existence.
How can we know how great our country is if we do not feel great about
ourselves? It is time for all of us to feel good about being Filipino.
It is time for all Filipinos to know there is such a bounty of
achievement and wonder everywhere in this country, and it is high time
to be proud of it.
Heritage watch
The Heritage Conservation Society has invited American historic
preservation expert Ron Anthony to give a series of lectures on
historic preservation and the preservation of wood in Manila.
Anthony shall be speaking at the forum "Securing our Church Cultural
Heritage" organized by the University of the Philippines Art Studies
program, to be held at the National Historical Institute on TM Kalaw
Street at 1-5 p.m. tomorrow.
The HCS and the Embassy of the United States of America will jointly
sponsor another lecture on March 17, 4 p.m. at the Embassy Ballroom.
If you wish to attend, call Dorie Soriano, the HCS Secretariat, at
5212239 and 5222497.
E-mail the author at afvillalon@hotmail.com
--------
http://www.geocities.com/balen_net/ivan01.htm
Protecting San Fernando\'s Heritage
By Ivan Anthony S. Henares
Sun*Star Pampanga (2002)
It was a painful lesson for San Fernando. Way back in 1995, the City
",1]
);
//–>Pick out something from the list that you want to share with your countrymen. There may be many things not on the list that you feel will make other Filipinos proud, so tell them what it is. If you prefer to e-mail your submission to me, then I shall be happy to forward it to the Unesco National Commission together with the long list of things I’ve got for them.
Share your pride with all Filipinos and do your bit for nation building. Instill pride of place in your everyday existence. How can we know how great our country is if we do not feel great about ourselves? It is time for all of us to feel good about being Filipino. It is time for all Filipinos to know there is such a bounty of achievement and wonder everywhere in this country, and it is high time to be proud of it.
E-mail the author at afvillalon@hotmail.com
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