Day: September 23, 2021

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.

Jake is a graduate student currently taking up MA Philippine Studies at the University of the Philippines Asian Center. Having graduated BS Communications Technology Management from the Ateneo de Manila University, he is passionate about how marketing, design, and heritage all intersect and inform the Philippine cultural identity. 

With ICOMOS, he hopes that his internship will deepen his understanding of heritage work in the country, as well as provide him an opportunity to contribute. He believes that heritage is an important part of realizing and appreciating who we are as Filipinos.

Novo Mickey M. Mitra is an undergraduate student from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Manila studying Bachelor of Arts in History. She is an active officer of the student organization of the Department of History PUP ‘Samahan ng mga Mag-aaral ng Kasaysayan’ as a year-level representative. Aside from school, she is an active officer and a member of a community organization ‘Rotaract Club of Culiat’ as Professional Service Director. She’s a consistent President’s Lister and a scholar. 

She joined a month Internship with ICOMOS Philippines because of her interest in studying culture in Traditions of the Philippines as well as Military History and the ruins that wars left in the soil of the Philippines. She believes that there is a world beyond books that she wants to discover in order to understand the diversified communities, their stories and their significance to each other. Like her program History, Heritage studies become closer to her heart as she met and read about the Indigenous People and their struggles about keeping their culture and Heritage in modern days and ICOMOS Philippines is one of the most powerful places to empower such ambition. She hopes to learn new things and knowledge outside her current program and contribute to the ICOMOS.