DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, May 30 (PIA) -- Heritage advocates in Negros Oriental moved to conduct another round of cultural mapping activities in the province in line with the goal to preserve its tangible and intangible heritage properties.

National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) Commissioner for the Visayas Dr. Earl Jude Cleope, who is also the vice president for academic affairs at Silliman University, emphasized that cultural mapping should be done first to produce an inventory of all culture and heritage properties and practices in the province.

After this, awareness activities should be carried out so that the public will be conscious about these matters and become involved in its preservation especially the intangible heritage which include the local cuisine and folkways.

Cleope noted that cultural mapping efforts have been carried out before with representatives of Local Government Units (LGUs), concerned stakeholders, and related agencies but it stopped during the pandemic.

“Basin ma-push nato na mag-cultural mapping ta sa province kay that is needed. If we can have that, then all of these will come into place: history, culture, intangible, tangible hasta kanang sa church makit-an na. (Hopefully we can push for a cultural mapping in the province because that is needed. If we can have that then all of these will come into place: history, culture, intangible, tangible even church heritage items can be identified),” Cleope said.

“Cultural mapping, cultural inventory will lead to a very good cultural management plan,” he added.

Cleope also said the efforts and motivation to conduct cultural mapping activities should start from the LGU since it is directed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)’s memorandum on the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG).

Msgr. Julius Heruela, chairperson of the Diocesan Commission on Church Heritage of the Diocese of Dumaguete, also believed that more heritage items and practices related to the history of the diocese and Catholicism in the province can be recovered and documented if there were sustained cultural mapping activities carried out in the province.

He noted that some homeowners in Dauin town, especially in the hinterlands, still display antique carvings of saints made by local artisans on their alters while some still have old molds used in baking “Pandesillos de San Nicolas.”

Heruela said these items could have been identified and catalogued during the cultural mapping activities.

Heruela also cited that cataloguing is big challenge for the church when it comes to its efforts in preserving cultural artifacts.

“Actually, daghan ta collection sa Diocese of Dumaguete di pa namo ma-abrehan kay wala pa mi insaktong archiving ato. Mangita mi og technical assistance ato (We have a lot of collection in the Diocese of Dumaguete but we weren’t able to open it because we don’t have a proper archiving system. We also need technical assistance on that),” Heruela said.

Another challenge is ensuring the sustainability of the church’s heritage preservation initiatives since the diocese needs to hire researchers, maintenance personnel, and other experts in handling these sensitive items which would also entail additional costs for the diocese.

The prelate hopes the government can look into this concern further and provide adequate support to the church in its undertakings in preserving important heritage artifacts.

Meanwhile, Provincial Tourism Unit Culture and Arts Officer Fay Belloso also sees the importance of holding cultural mapping activities.

Belloso committed to push for this activity to reinforce the efforts in heritage preservation and conservation.

Aside from this, there is also a need to capacitate tourism officers and heritage workers in every LGU.

“There is a need to support these towns and cities in terms of training and facilitation in the cultural initiative,” Belloso said.

She said that holding cultural mapping activities is also timely since the provincial government will celebrate the centennial anniversary of the construction of the Capitol next year. (RAL/PIA7 Negros Oriental)