ICOMOS Philippines’ intern Kenneth Tua will present his research on Philippine Landscape Heritage Education. This is his final presentation for the Internship Programme.
Philippine Landscape Heritage Education16 October 2020 (Friday) | 8:00 PM Philippine Standard Time
SPEAKER
“Philippine Landscape Heritage Education: Review of the preparedness of Landscape Architecture curricula in the Philippines for the specialization of Landscape Heritage Conservation (LHC)”
Mr. Kenneth J. Tua is a registered & licensed architect and a sustainable territorial development consultant. He graduated Bachelor of Science in Architecture at the University of Santo Tomas and have acquired professional certifications as a scholar in Sustainability, Sustainable Development, and Innovation programmes from YSISEA in Singapore, APYE in Thailand and Social Innovation Center, Hanyang University, South Korea. He previously worked for the Office of the President of the Republic of the Philippines – Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC) where he handled the research of the proposed Manila Esplanade Lighting Project and low impact development projects. Currently, he is a graduate scholar of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in DYnamics of Cultural Landscape, heritage, Memory and conflictualities (DYCLAM+).
DETAILS
“Philippine Landscape Heritage Education”, is schedule this Friday, October 16, 2020, 8:00 PM (Philippine Standard Time)
ICOMOS Philippines’ past and current interns will present respective research. Dr. Victor Venida from the Ateneo de Manila University will be the discussant for this event.
Project Alexandria28 September 2020 (Monday) | 6:00 PM Philippine Standard Time
CONTRIBUTORS
“Summary of Conservation Projects in the Philippines: The National Museum and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines”
Ms. Patricia Cecille Monica H. Panganiban is graduated with an Erasmus Mundus Masters in Archaeological Sciences from the University of Evora in Portugal, where she specialized in the study of pigments from Ancient Egpytian funerary masks and sarcophagi. Prior to that, she obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering from the Ateneo de Manila University. She is currently working with the Nayong Pilipino Foundation on the development of the Nayong Pilipino Virtual Museum.
Ms.Ma. Louisen Manuel Roxas is a graduate of BS Human Ecology major in Human Settlements Planning from the University of the Philippines Los Banos, and she is currently pursuing her masters in Urban & Regional Planning at UP Diliman. Currently, she is working as the Training Manager of Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), an internal NGO focused on humanitarian action & community development through open mapping.
“Diagnostic Report of The Philippine Registry of Cultural Properties (PRECUP)”
Ms. Carissa Veloso is the current ICOMOS Philippines Secretariat. Before joining ICOMOS Philippines, she was the Business Development Manager for San Sebastian Basilica Conservation, a non-profit restoration foundation based in Manila (2015-2019). She was also the representative of the Philippines for UNESCO’s young professionals program for the 42nd World Heritage Committee Session. She holds a BS Management degree with minors in Cultural Heritage and Entrepreneurship from Ateneo de Manila University.
Ms. Chanelle Custorio is both a registered and licensed chemical engineer and architect. She is an alumni of UP Diliman, worked in the restoration of San Sebastian Basilica, and is now a co-partner for the architecture firm Hiraya Design Studio. She has also attended courses on Management and Monitoring of World Heritage Sites by ICCROM as well as on Conservation of Japanese Textiles by TNRICP.
Mr.Isaiah Cabañero is a graduate of Community Development at the University of the Philippines – Diliman, working with communities and volunteer organizations which gained him experience in community organizing and people-centered participatory project development. He is currently working hand-in-hand with local coffee farming ati communities in Iloilo.
Ms. Ruby Descalzo is a recent graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University, with a degree in Environmental Science and a minor in Cultural Heritage Studies. She previously served as the President of Baybayin Ateneo, a Filipino cultural student organization. She is currently under the mentorship of Claudia Montero, and will be working with Dr. John Peterson as part of her internship.
Mr. Gio Abcede is a graduating BS Architecture student from De La Salle University, College of Saint Benilde. He has worked with One/Zero Design Co. on the Maestranza Creative Quarters project and collaborated with Digiscript Philippines Inc. with mapping presentations for the Intramuros Cultural Management Plan. He is also a core member and graphic designer for the Heritage Conservation Society. He is currently working closely with the Architecture Committee of ICOMOS Philippines, under the tutelage of Dominic Galicia.
DISCUSSANT
Dr. Victor Venida, ICOMOS Philippines member, completed his M.Sc. in economics at the London School of Economics and a PhD in economics at New York University. He completed a specialist course in International Economics, Trade and Finance at the Instituto Nacional de Administracion Publica at Alcala de Henares, Spain. Currently e is a Professor with the Department of Economics and a Lecturer with the European Studies Program, Development Studies Program and the Law School of Ateneo de Manila University.
DETAILS
“Project Alexandria ”, is scheduled this Monday, September 28, 2020, 6:00 PM (Philippine Standard Time).
ICOMOS Philippines members came together online last June 20, 2020 for the webinar, “Place-Making and Food Security: Thinking of Heritage Conservation and Food Production”. This is part of the project, ‘Heritage Practice Amidst Covid 19’. Members and specialists provided some perspectives connecting food security and cultural heritage amidst the challenges of the global pandemic.
CONCEPT
Three key terms were re-examined namely: food security, food sovereignty, and their relationship to cultural heritage:
A. Food security defined as the supply, the availability, and the stability of price of basic foodstuff in the international and domestic market (World Food Conference, 1974). While Food Sovereignty emerged more than three decades later as the reaction to grass roots movements around the world, and uncovered more clearly the mediators, interactions, and instruments of food production, distribution, and consumption.
Food sovereignty prioritises local and national economies and markets and empowers peasant and family farmer-driven agriculture, artisanal – fishing, pastoralist-led grazing, and food production, distribution and consumption based on environmental, social and economic sustainability. Food sovereignty promotes transparent trade that guarantees just incomes to all peoples as well as the rights of consumers to control their food and nutrition.
– Nyéléni Declaration on Food Sovereignty (February 2007) at Sélingué, Mali
B. Cultural heritage acknowledges the central role of change and human culture in shaping food production. The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, the Agave Landscape and Ancient Industrial Facilities of Tequila, the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia are just few of the sites representing agricultural practices passed on for generations, later on caters the global market, thus, highlighting the deep connections between food, people, places, and culture in various parts of the world.
Responding to queries – Pursuing a Public Discourse
A healthy public interest in the topic was well-received with questions coming from universities, professional organizations, and national institutions that exposes a need for public discourse in the Philippines on the politics of food.
An example is the Sagada in Northern Philippines which indicates the need for this platform in the public domain, to discuss our changing relationship with nature through food, cultural practices, and tourism.
Photos of a Dap-ay, a traditional place of gathering in Sagada. On the left shows the removal of more modern materials of corrugated metal which was replaced by more traditional roofing materials (right) during the pandemic. Photo from Patricia Santiago.
Responses by the esteemed speakers from the webinar’s questions are shown in the ‘Annex A’ of this report. The questions have been grouped into two broad themes: the first, brings globalization to bear on the Philippine context of food chain; the second focuses on local issues of food, tourism, economic development and intangible heritage.
CONCLUSION
ICOMOS Philippines hopes that this webinar provides new ideas that can contribute to improving the appreciation for Filipino farmers, and artisans, and improve their commercial prospects. The lack of interest and of involvement in traditional agricultural practices especially by the youth, will lead to a loss of traditional knowledge, and risks destruction of cultural landscapes that are shaped by the dying farming traditions. This holds true for fishing villages, sugar plantations, salt-making regions, and other places where food production is central to these cultural landscapes’ cultural significance
In summary the webinar
illustrates that humanity’s food resources can be secured, while conserving its
most important cultural heritage, based on these three basic principles:
Respect for the environment.
Build an equitable relationship with the primary producers of our food.
Recognise indigenous knowledge systems and practices for the benefit of these communities.
If you would like to know more about this initiative, please get in touch with Gabriel Caballero, ICOMOS Philippines Communications Officer at communications[at]icomosphilippines[dot]com and Estela Duque, Founder of Moulinet Chocolat Limited at http://www.moulinetchocolat.com/
This will be a conversation on the current crisis of monumentality and racial reckoning. Broadly put, what is the relationship between monuments and historical commemoration? Who or what do these monuments celebrate and what do they leave out? This event is the third talk in ICOMOS Philippines’ Webinar Series.
ICOMOS Philippines’ Webinar Series:: Rethinking Monuments in the Philippines
14 September 2020 (Monday) | 9:30 AM Philippine Standard Time
SPEAKER
Lila Ramos Shahani is the former Secretary- General of the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines.
Under her leadership (and with the help of
other agencies), her team succeeded in obtaining 4 UNESCO designations for the
country: in 2019, an endangered ritual complex (the “buklog” of the Subanen, an
indigenous group in the southern part of the Philippines) was inscribed in
UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in Need of Urgent
Safeguarding.
That same year, Cebu was named a UNESCO
Creative City of Design. In 2018, the Culion Leprosy Archives in Palawan were
inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Register. In 2017,
Baguio was named a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art.
She previously gave a talk on the same topic, ‘Rethinking Monuments’ exclusively for the ICOMOS PH members and some questions were raised are: What monuments should be kept and which should retire to the museums? How do we rethink of the relationship between monuments and public spaces which the public are being served by such erections? What do monuments subliminally represent?
REACTOR
Ian Morley is an Associate Professor in the Department of History, and Associate Professor (by Courtesy) on CUHK’s Urban Studies Programme.
He has published widely on the design of
built environments and participated in TV documentaries. Just recently, he
achieved the status of Senior Fellow from the UK Professional Standards
Framework and was a recipient of the
Bosma Prize in Planning History Innovation 2020 from the International Planning
History Society (IPHS) for his book American Colonisation and the City
Beautiful: Filipinos and Planning in the Philippines, 1916-35.
He currently is an editorial board member of
the Brill book series Studies in Architecture and Urban History, as well as of
Planning Perspectives.
DETAILS
The webinar, “ICOMOS Philippines’ Webinar Series: Rethinking Monuments in the Philippines”, is scheduled this Monday, September 14, 2020, 9:30 AM (Philippine Standard Time).
Zoom registration is on a first come first served basis. To register, you may fill up this form: bit.ly/ipws200914.
The talk will be streamed on Facebook Live where the speaker will be able to get your questions and respond: facebook.com/icomosph/live
Last July 18, 2020, ICOMOS Philippine members met up to discuss the situation of monuments and the current discourse of politics that surround these objects. The conversation was led by Ms. Lila Shahani, former Secretary-General of the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines.
Ms. Shahani discussed about the dynamics of politics, national narratives and cultural meanings of monuments. It was then followed by several reactors who discussed the angles of heritage interpretation, plaza development, and cultural politics. An open forum discussion was then facilitated by Dr. Stephen Acabado, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles
ICOMOS Philippines will be exploring further steps to think about deepening the discourse on the topic in the national context.
ICOMOS Philippines member Gabriel Caballero also participate in the global discourse by ICOMOS International entitled, “Diversify / Decolonise Heritage!” which was held online on July 19, 2020, 13:00 Paris Time. The initiative was started by ICOMOS Germany in collaboration with the ICOMOS Emerging Professionals Working Group.
Check out Ms Shahani’s two opinion pieces on Rappler. The first carries forward from the ICOMOS discussion, Rethinking monuments – “Who or what do these monuments celebrate, and what do they leave out? More pointedly, what do they erase and what do they choose to celebrate and canonize? “. The second is about ‘National’ narratives and the Philippine bureaucracy– “Who speaks (and who is spoken for) in the nation? Whose interests does it serve and represent? What does it encompass? ”
This public lecture provides a colorful, visual overview of the clothing of men and women of varying ages, political positions and occupations in diverse contexts and spaces in nineteenth century Spanish Philippines.
ICOMOS Lighter Side Talk: Clothing and Spaces 11 July 2020 (Saturday) | 3PM Philippine Standard Time
Drawing from a wide variety of iconographic (tipós filipinos, letras y figuras, visual costumbrismo), textual (literary costumbrismo, novels, correspondences), material (actual garments, textiles) sources, the first part presents clothes as social skin and examines the meaning of clothes in different social spaces and situations (e.g. tertulia, paseo, bailé, etc).
The second part focuses on the narratives that can be generated by looking into selected Spanish, French and German heritage or preservation spaces.
The third part discusses how knowledge gained from researching about clothing in selected European repositories can be applied to today’s exhibition scenes and spaces, e.g. bodily, physical, literary, artistic, theatrical, production spaces,etc.
SPEAKER
Stephanie Coo is a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the Departmento de Historia del Arte, Universidad de Granada, Spain. She holds a PhD in History from Université Nice Sophia Antipolis in France, Master of Arts in History and Bachelor of Science in Management degrees from the Ateneo de Manila University, where she served as Assistant Professor and Coordinator for Internationalization of the Loyola Schools. She is the author of Clothing the Colony: Nineteenth-century Philippine Sartorial Culture, 1820-1896 (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2019).
Dr. Stephanie Coo’s public lecture on “Clothing and Spaces” is supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 754446 and Universidad de Granada Research and Knowledge Transfer Fund – Athenea3i.
DETAILS
The public lecture, “ICOMOS Lighter Side Talks: Clothing and Spaces”, is scheduled this Saturday, July 11 – 3 pm (Philippine Standard Time).
This webinar discusses community engagement that is applicable to built heritage and landscapes, using perhaps the most abstract form of heritage that seems most removed from our lives – archaeology.
To communities, the site is invisible until digging begins, and relics unearthed are from so long ago that few can relate to it. Explore these archaeologists’ stories in their journeys to empower local communities to own their archaeological heritage. Work includes public consultations, community discussions, collaborative research and interpretation, and on-ground educational activities as methods that lead to better public learning and heritage protection.
ICOMOS Webinar Series Episode 2: When Communities Engage – Tools for Community Participation in Heritage 7 July 2020 (Tuesday) | 10AM Philippine Standard Time
The webinar will focus on providing answers to two main questions:
How does archaeology improve the lives of communities that live in and around these precious cultural sites?
What are the tools and approaches in archaeology that are used for learning and public engagement and are these tools still valid given the pandemic?
SPEAKERS
Dr. Stephen Acabado is an ICOMOS Philippines member and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His archaeological investigations in Ifugao, Northern Philippines dispute the commonly held theory that the Cordillera Rice Terraces are at least 2,000 years old. Dr. Acabado directs the Bicol and Ifugao Archaeological Projects and co-directs the Taiwan Indigenous Landscape and History Project at UCLA. He is a strong advocate of an engaged archaeology where descendant communities are involved in the research process.
Mr. Marlon Martin was born and raised among the Ifugao community. He heads SITMo, the Save Ifugao Terraces Movement, non-profit heritage conservation organization. He works with local and international academic and conservation organizations in the pursuit of indigenous studies integration and inclusion in the formal school curricula. Along with Acabado, he established the first community-led Ifugao Indigenous Peoples Education Center, the first in the region.
Dr. Rasmi Shoocongdej is a Professor of Archaeology and a director of the graduate program at the Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, and with an MA-Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan. Rasmi’s areas of interest include the collaborative approach between archaeology and ethnic communities, archaeological heritage management, World War II archaeology and decolonizing archaeology. She has been working intensively on public outreach to the general public and academic communities on cultural heritages and the role of archaeology in contemporary society.
REACTORS
There will also be 2 reactors who will be providing their perspectives on the topic:
Malaya Ragragio, faculty member of the Department of Social Sciences at the University of the Philippines, Mindanao
Angelus Maria Sales, Core Operations Head – External from TAO-Pilipinas, Inc.
MODERATOR
Ms. Kate Lim is an ICOMOS Philippines member who is a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Geographical Sciences, Freie Universitat Berlin. She is also an archaeologist and a development worker who sits as a board member in the Artists’ Welfare Project, Inc., Kapisanan ng mga Arkeologist sa Pilipinas, and Tuklas Pilipinas Society. Her current research involves risk assessment and conservation of maritime and underwater heritage sites in the Philippines given various human activities and coastal hazards.
DETAILS
The webinar, “When Communities Engage – Tools for Community Participation in Heritage”, is scheduled this Tuesday, July 7, 2020 – 10 am (Philippine Standard Time).
This forms part of the project, “Heritage Practice amidst the Pandemic“, which is a series of online discussions that delves with opportunities to explore new ideas for the Philippine heritage practice.
ICOMOS Philippines would like to thank ICOMOS Thailand, Tuklas Pilipinas, Tao Pilipinas Inc., University of the Philippines Archaeological Studies Program, and Intramuros Administration for co-organizing the event with us.
ICOMOS Philippines recognises that the heritage practice in the country has been affected by the global pandemic. Now, more than ever, practitioners need to see the work of conserving heritage in a different light.
ICOMOS Philippines believes that heritage needs to connect to national priorities and be part of a shifting focus on food security, health, well-being, and peace and order, while a viable vaccine is being created.
As part of the project, “Heritage Practice amidst the Pandemic“, ICOMOS Philippines is launching a series of online discussions that will delve with opportunities to explore new ideas for the Philippine heritage practice.
The first webinar is entitled, “Place-Making and Food Security – Thinking of Heritage Conservation and Food Production”, which will explore mechanisms that shape rural and urban spaces, private and public, that facilitate food production and place-making grounded in community-based participation. It will also provide various perspectives that link food and the understanding of historic significance of particular places.
The webinar will focus on providing answers to two main questions:
How can the heritage practitioners improve a community’s cultural, economic, social circumstances while preserving the environment?
How do you facilitate food production and place making grounded in community-based participation?
SPEAKERS
A dynamic group of heritage professionals, all of whom are members of ICOMOS Philippines, will be sharing their points of view on the integration of food production and heritage conservation:
Dr. Fernando Nakpil-Zialcita is Professor Emeritus, teaching at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Ateneo de Manila University. He has done field research among farming communities in the Ilocos, Northern Luzon, and has done studies on urban heritage and regeneration of Manila. He writes about the interface between the Southeast Asian and the Hispanic worlds in domains of Filipino culture such as traditional architecture, cookery, and popular Christianity.
Ms. Patricia Maria Santiago is a cultural manager with 25 years of experience who sits on the Board of Nayong Pilipino Foundation. She is part of “Sustainable Sagada,” an online support market for local produce of farmers from Sagada which aims to help bring local produce to reach consumers in Manila, to support their sustainability not only during times of economic crisis but even beyond.
Ms. Estela Duque is an architect, historian, social entrepreneur, certified chocolate taster, and chocolate competition judge in Europe. A practitioner based in the United Kingdom, she founded Moulinet Chocolat Limited (UK) in 2015 in order to introduce Philippine specialty cocoa to the world, and since 2017 she has been an adviser to the only craft chocolate event of the Philippines now called Intramuros Chocolate Festival.
Mr. Gabriel Caballero is the Communications Officer of ICOMOS Philippines. He is a Singapore-based landscape architect and independent world heritage specialist whose expertise ranges from sensitive landscape design interventions, cultural landscape research, and world heritage evaluations particularly in rapidly urbanizing areas in Asia. He will serve as the moderator for this webinar.
DETAILS
The webinar, “Place-Making and Food Security: Thinking of Heritage Conservation and Food Production”, is scheduled this Saturday, June 20, 2020 – 6pm (Philippine Standard Time).
This forms part of the project, “Heritage Practice amidst the Pandemic“, which is a series of online discussions that delves with opportunities to explore new ideas for the Philippine heritage practice.
ICOMOS Philippines would like to thank the Intramuros Administration for co-organizing the event with us.
For those who would like to be part of the conversation, please watch the webinar via our Facebook Live where the speakers will be able to get your questions and respond: www.facebook.com/icomosph
Last 24 May 2020, ICOMOS Philippines members and friends met up over zoom to have a “Lighter Side Talk” entitled, “The Basics of Baybayin”. The talk was conducted by prominent broadcaster, Howie Severino and his wife and environmental lawyer Ipat Luna.
After a short presentation on the history and typologies of ancient Philippine text, participants brought their pens out to do impromptu writing in baybayin, which everyone enjoyed.
Howie Severino believes that, “Baybayin is a window to understanding nature, culture, history, heritage, identity, at iba pa, which is why it’s so compelling.”
Fan-art by Fung Yu
ICOMOS Philippine member, Fung Yu created a fan-art of the ICOMOS Philippines logo, which brings a Filipino brand to the international prominence of ICOMOS. What do you think about his interpretation?
Veggie packs or cake that were awarded during the talk and members decided to donate these prizes to Covid-19 frontliners, homeless and workers in Baclaran.
ICOMOS Lighter Side Talks was conceptualized by the ICOMOS Philippines Board of Trustees to explore unexplored conversations and lighter topics of heritage and culture for the benefit of ICOMOS Philippine members.
ICOMOS Philippines members came together online last April 25 to discuss the topic entitled, “Heritage Practice Amidst Covid 19”. This discussion is seen as the first step in exploring collective strategies to adapt to new challenges amidst the global pandemic for Filipino heritage practitioners. Members living in different parts of the Philippines, United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Germany and Egypt shared their current situation, challenges and prognosis of Covid-19 in their heritage practice during the 2-hour discussion.
INITIAL FINDINGS
While the pandemic has threatened the heritage practice, many still viewed the resulting changes in the new heritage landscape as opportunities. Following were common experiences:
A. Stalled projects due to site inaccessibility and suspension of government-funded projects or work with local government projects; B. The recent memo from Department of Budgets to keep ‘non-essential’ industries alive results in diminished spending for heritage and mass layoffs for the creative industry; C. Difficulty in engaging students with online learning
