Rhizza Mae B. Comandante is an undergraduate student from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines taking a Bachelor of Arts in History. She is a student and research assistant at the PUP Center of Human Rights and Studies. She is an active member of the PUP-Samahan ng mga Mag-aaral ng Kasaysayan, and an active deputy of the Kabataan Partylist, a youth partylist group in the Philippine congress. Despite her numerous responsibilities outside the university, she is a consistent President’s and Dean’s Lister and a scholar of the Taguig City Government.
Her research interests focus primarily on (1) Local History; for the aspiration to give limelight to the collective struggles and experiences of the grass-root masses and Indigenous people, (2) Cultural Heritage; as she believes that the long-standing history of the people is reflected on their Cultural Heritage, and (3) Asian Studies; because she wanted to acquire an interdisciplinary understanding in studying the diverse culture and profound history of the Asian countries.
She joined the ICOMOS Philippines Internship Program because of the belief that this institution will help her achieve her utmost goal: to serve the Filipino people. As a scholar, she would like to amplify the voice of the Filipino masses and Indigenous communities by studying their remarkable history and culture, by contributing to the conservation of their Cultural Heritage and traditions, and lastly, by advocating that history must be accessible to the general public. Under the program, she hopes to create a significant contribution to the organization with the guidance of the ICOMOS Philippines mentors.