LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – The provincial government of Pangasinan pilots its cultural mapping project in Lingayen and Calasiao towns.
Cultural mappers from barangays of the two towns, along with higher education students in Pangasinan now undergo orientation and training which also include field works, collating and presentation of data prior to the cultural mapping proper in the pilot areas.
Provincial Tourism and Cultural Affairs Officer Malu Elduayan during the opening program of the cultural mapping held at the Consuelo Hotel, here, said the cultural mapping program was pushed during the administration of former governor and now 5th district Representative Amado T. Espino, Jr., who set the pace of cultural reawakening in the province.
“The provincial administration under Governor ‘Pogi’ Espino sustains its tourism development agenda which is significant to preserving and flourishing the distinct Pangasinan culture,” Elduayan said.
Collaborating with the provincial government for the cultural mapping project are the Center for Pangasinan Studies (CPS), and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), which accommodated Pangasinan as the first recipient of the program in the region funded by the agency.
Cultural mapping is an approach (or the process) used to identify, record, and use cultural resources and activities for building communities. Communities map what is important to them.
Prof. Alvin Villalon, who led NCCA’s training team, said that cultural mapping orientation and training introduces the basic framework on culture and heritage in the context of Republic Act 10066 or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 and other laws and mandates.
Villalon stressed that when completed, a cultural mapping production will serve as a mechanism for Local Government Units (LGUs) to integrate the cultural profile and baseline on statistics on its local development plans.
Fieldworks in pilot areas undertaken from November 21-24 include writing of data collected, initial presentation of data collected, and lecture on cultural mapping modules. Guide to collating and presenting data, along with critical next steps of LGUs are also included.
Present during the opening program were: CPS Executive Director Perla Legazpi, along with representatives from the consortium of five universities and colleges in Pangasinan collaborating with CPS, which include: University of Luzon, Lyceum Northwestern University, University of Pangasinan – Phinma, Colegio de Dagupan and Virgin Milagrosa University Foundation.
Dagupan City LGU, which also eyes for a cultural mapping project, sent Councilor Jeslito Seen to observe in the orientation and training.
By Dexter A. See
