“A country’s heritage gives its people its identity as a race, and an inspiration to unite for its future,” said Gil G. Chua, Filipino Heritage Festival, Inc. (FHFI) Trustee.
By virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 438, S. 2003, National Heritage Month (NHM) is observed annually and celebrated in May. It is the month dedicated to the Blessed Mother.
“Filipino Heritage Festival, Inc. is a private non-profit organization has been in existence for 19 years. It works with the government to make the public aware of our own heritage and a deeper knowledge to know who we are,” remarked Armita B. Rufino, FHFI president. “We believe that by doing so, we will bring the Filipino people into the unity and love of country, to know more about our roots. This would bring about our appreciation, care, and concern.”
The youth is the country’s next generation of cultural heritage bearers. Thus, FHFI has been conducting the Youth Forum on Heritage since 2016. It is one of the major activities. Through strong public and private partnerships, FHFI organizes the annual forum to plant a seed and develop it into the passion of preserving and safeguarding the nation’s cultural treasures. The forum helps the youth understand the importance of cultural heritage in community development and nation-building.
During the pandemic, communities developed “hope muscles” as they learned to find opportunities from the painful experiences brought by COVID-19. Communities recognized the ability of culture to withstand or adapt to change though conservation initiatives of vast localities. The online heritage talks, conferences, and cultural mapping training became essential in NGO and LGU programs.
Cultural heritage preservation is relevant — in terms of research and management. It is crucial for the community’s conduct towards important local cultural properties in times of crisis. Cultural heritage is threatened by several factors like natural calamities, man-made disasters such as wars and terrorism, unsound modern development and, the most worrisome threat of all, neglect.
We are now in the process of healing from the devastation of the pandemic. Our heritage, through change and continuity, is healing.
“The FHFI and NCCA’s Youth Forum on heritage project will be a great endeavor towards fostering intergenerational connections and preserving cultural legacies. I wholeheartedly support its endeavors,” said Francisco “Kiko” Benitez, Ph.D., Representative of the 3rd district of Negros Occidental.
“In the hands of the youth lies the power to breathe new life into our cultural legacy, to infuse it with their own unique perspectives and to pass it on to future generations, richer and more vibrant than before. Through the youth forum on heritage, the FHFI and NCCA (National Commission for Culture and the Arts) will cultivate the value of cultural appreciation and preservation and the vital role all of us play in protecting and promoting our cultural heritage. I am honored to be part of these efforts,” he said.
“The youth are not just inheritors of the past but architects of the future, who must weave the threads of tradition and innovation together to create a tapestry that will stand the test of time. The youth forum in a testament to our commitment to cultivating cultural awareness and appreciation among the younger generation, and I am proud to offer my unwavering support.”
Among the cultural events scheduled during National Heritage Month include multiple exhibitions.
There is the National Heritage Month exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Manila (The M), done in partnership with the FHFI and NCCA. This has been an annual project for the last two decades. It has featured outstanding heritage personages and cultural legacies in art, architecture, music, photography, and design.
This year the focus is on the town plaza.
“For this year, 2023, Places of Memory, Places of the Heart goes to the heart of the Filipino urban and provincial life with a nostalgic and contemporary revisiting of town plazas around the country. A place of gathering, a space for community, the town plaza was witness to celebrations, fiestas, romance, grief, arrivals, and departures, and the hum of daily living,” said Tina Colayco, The M president.
“This exhibition is also a timely and relevant focus that adheres to his year’s Heritage Month theme of ‘Change and Continuity,’” she said.
“Urban heritage in the Philippine context is focused on the quintessential setting of the plaza. From the Spanish colonial era onwards, towns and cities in the country were organized based on guideline set by the Laws of the Indies. The urban form prescribed was based on the cuadricula, a grid. Within this, the most important structure — church, Presidencia (town hall) and homes of the elite were organized around and defined a central space — the plaza,” explains landscape architect Paulo G. Alcazaren in his curatorial notes for the exhibit.
The exhibit will run from May 4 to June 3.
Among the interesting events this Heritage Month is the much-awaited encore of the exhibition Larry Alcala: Slices of Life, Wit, and Humor – Travelling Exhibition 2023.
The exhibitions pay homage to National Artist for Visual Arts Larry Alcala, the cartoonist who was loved by millions of Filipinos. We all looked forward every morning to reading his serialized cartoons which depicted scenes of local everyday life throughout the 1970s and ’80s. Twenty years after his demise, Professor Alcala still has popular appeal to different audiences. The elements are his “humorous, hard-hitting and timeless visual commentaries about Philippine society.”
Up close and personal during a private interview with this writer, Alcala was witty, humble, and charming. He was always a part of the cartoon story. Everybody tried to spot him disguised discreetly in some unexpected obscure corner of his cartoons. It was a delightful, folksy game of “hide-and-seek” between artist and his broad audience of all ages.
Last year, the first exhibition series of works by Alcala was presented by FHFI, NCCA and The M, in cooperation with SM Malls. The curator for his exhibit is the award-winning artist Ruben “Totel” de Jesus (a former student of Prof. Alcala), a faculty member of UP College of Fine Arts.
This year the exhibit will be on view at the Museo ng Makati from May 11 to June 3, and at the Negros Museum from May 15 to July 31.
A major sponsor expressed his appreciation of the festival:
“As business leaders, we support the initiatives of FHFI and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in organizing National Heritage Month because they have been doing a great service to Filipinos by leading the efforts toward our heritage preservation,” said Gil G. Chua, group chairman and CEO of the DDB Group Philippines.
“Mabuhay ang Filipino!”
Best wishes to Filipino Heritage Festival, Inc., the organizers, the generous partners and sponsors. Thank you for keeping our cultural heritage vibrant for future generations.
The Youth Forum on Heritage 2023 will be hosted by the Office of Rep. Francisco “Kiko” B. Benitez and co-hosted by the mayors’ offices of Victorias City, Silay City, Talisay City, the municipalities of EB Magalona and Murcia, with the participation of LGU-Mayor’s Office of Bacolod City. The three-day forum workshop with fieldwork will heighten the youth’s sense of social responsibility and leadership within their communities. (The attendees will be between the ages of 17 to 23 years old.) For more information, contact Judith Neric, Project Coordinator of FHFI, at nericjudith@yahoo.com, the Museo ng Makati at mcao@makati.gov.ph, and the Negros Museum at thenegrosmuseum2014@gmail.com.
Maria Victoria Rufino is an artist, writer and businesswoman. She is president and executive producer of Maverick Productions.
