THE NATIONAL Committee on Archives (NCA) and the Mindanao State University (MSU) are undertaking a cultural heritage mapping project in war-torn Marawi City. “What we lost after the siege we cannot restore anymore, but reconstruct it to remind people of their heritage,” priest Harold Ll. Rentoria, NCA cultural heritage head said in a media forum. Mr. Rentoria said they already started a similar mapping last year in Maguindanao, another part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), but stopped when the Marawi fighting broke out. Currently, NCA is training more facilitators for the project. The training will focus on documentation skills for both physical and non-tangible cultural aspects such as practices, beliefs, and knowledge systems in the community. “Structures that are 50 years old are already presumed cultural property and is already protected by law, like mosques and churches, these are common heritage structures,” Mr. Rentorio said. — Maya M. Padillo

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