Dr. Augusto F. Villalon, President of ICOMOS Philippines, recently received the Diwa ng Lahi Award from the City of Manila, the highest distinction given by the city. They cited his continuing work in rehabilitating some Manila districts and for advocating heritage conservation. In the photos are Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and Gemma Cruz-Araneta, Head of the City of Manila Tourism and Heritage Office, conferring the award on Dr. Villalon.
ICOMOS Philippines joins in the celebration of World Heritage Day 2011
April 18 is the International Day for Monuments and Sites or World Heritage Day. For 2011, the theme is: The Cultural Heritage of Water.
According to ICOMOS, “Water is one of the key resources required to sustain life. It has led to the development and generation of significant material culture in the form of items, technology and places. How to obtain it, how to store it, how to harness its power and conserve it has motivated human endeavour in a myriad of ways. It has also been the catalyst for the development of significant cultural practices which have generated intangible cultural heritage values. It has inspired poetry, literature, artistic endeavour such as painting, dance and sculpture. It has informed and inspired the development of philosophies and religious practice. The cultural heritage of water, therefore relates not only to the technology and architecture that humankind has developed to manage, utilise and celebrate its life giving properties but also to those intangible values that have shaped our beliefs and practices.”
Ivan Anthony Henares, a member of the ICOMOS Philippines National Committee and expert member of the International Cultural Tourism Committee (ICTC), writes about the cultural heritage of water in the Philippines in International Day for Monuments and Sites 2011 celebrates the cultural heritage of water.
ICOMOS Philippines and PALA host Cultural Landscapes Forum
The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras are simply beautiful, a living cultural landscape and inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List. What does it mean to be referred to as a cultural landscape? Are there Philippine laws that can protect and conserve them? How do we become stewards of an entire mountain ecosystem and even just a single tree?
ICOMOS Philippines and the Philippine Association of Landscape Architects (PALA) will be hosting a Cultural Landscapes Forum on February 26, 2011, 12 to 6 p.m. at the UP College of Architecture. ICOMOS members Archt. Joy Mananghaya, Atty. Kay Malilong-Isberto and Archt. Susan Aquino-Ong will share and give a talk about cultural landscapes, the legal aspects of conservation, and the protection and conservation of Philippine heritage trees.
This is the first of PALA’s CPE-2011 series of lectures. For more information, e-mail Susan Aquino-Ong at sca.susan@gmail.com.
ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Committee 2010 Annual Meeting held in Douro Valley, Portugal
The 2010 Annual Meetingof the ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Committee (ICTC) was held in Douro Valley, Portugal from June 18 to 21, 2010. Ivan Anthony Henares, ICTC Expert Member and representative of the ICOMOS Philippine National Committee, was present at the said meeting.
During the said meeting, Henares invited the ICTC to Vigan, Ilocos Sur for its 2012 Annual Meeting. This invitation had been confirmed by Augusto Villalon, chairperson of the ICOMOS Philippine National Committee. The invitation was accepted by the committee. The Philippines looks forward to hosting the ICTC Annual Meeting in 2012.
ICOMOS Philippines celebrates the heritage of Agriculture
On the proposal of ICOMOS, 18 April was endorsed as the International Day for Monuments and Sites by UNESCO in 1983. This special day offers an opportunity to raise public awareness concerning the diversity of the world’s heritage and the efforts that are required to protect and conserve it, as well as to draw attention to its vulnerability. For several years now, ICOMOS suggests a topic to be highlighted on this occasion. This has allowed our members and our committees to hold activities, conferences, colloquia or other events to raise awareness on this cultural heritage among the public, the owners or the public authorities by linking a global theme to local or national realities.
This year’s theme is: The Heritage of Agriculture. Ivan Anthony Henares, ICOMOS Philippines member and expert member of the International Cultural Tourism Committee (ICTC), introduces the agricultural heritage of the Philippines in International Day for Monuments and Sites 2010 celebrates the heritage of agriculture.
Accroding to ICOMOS, “In the last two decades, the international NGO’s and public administrations in charge of heritage protection have begun to define and characterize the heritage of agriculture as well as to establish the criteria and tools that should guide the assessment of its values, protection and management. Accordingly, ICOMOS, UNESCO and other international organizations have included these objectives in their ongoing research and projects. It is therefore pertinent to evaluate how heritage properties linked to agricultural and livestock rearing practices are taken into account in current heritage practice by examining significant international experiences in this field, such as the listing of such properties in UNESCO’S World Heritage List and in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, as well as the Globally Important Ingenious Agricultural Heritage Systems Programme (GIAHS), led by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) with other partners such as UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), UNESCO and its World Heritage Centre, ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property), IUCN (The World Conservation Union) and CGIAR (the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research).”
IDMS 2009: ICOMOS Philippines meeting held last April 18
ICOMOS Philippines met at Escuela Taller in Intramuros last April 18, 2009 to celebrate the International Day for Monuments and Sites. Present at the meeting were Augusto Villalon (Chairperson), Christian Aguilar, Dominic Galicia, Ivan Henares, Jojo Mata, Mico Manalo (Escuela Taller Director), Melvin Patawaran, Tats Rejante Manahan, Cynthia Loza, Nady Nacario, Issa Avendano, Susan Aquino Ong, and Bruce Dawbin (ICOMOS Australia)
Twinning program between Ifugao Rice Terraces and Cinque Terre bared
A twinning program between the Ifugao Rice Terraces and Cinque Terre, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, has been initiated beginning with a study tour of Cinque Terre this coming May 11 to 20, 2009. UNACOM Secretary General Ambassador Preciosa Soliven, Governor Teodoro Baguilat, Jr. of Ifugao, Mayor Pablo M. Cuyahon of Hungduan, Ifugao and Archt. Joy Mananghaya of ICOMOS Philippines will join this study tour. The objective of the visit is to learn from the management and conservation approaches of this Italian cultural landscape, with the aim of applying some of their best practices to our own Ifugao Rice Terraces. Cinque Terre is a living cultural terraced landscape with vineyards and olives. It faces the same conservation and management challenges that our the rice terraces are facing.
Joint Statement of the Heritage Conservation Society and ICOMOS Philippines on the Dingras Church
The Tale of Two Facades
The Planned Demolition of our the Historic Dingras Church Facade’
A call to arms and a sound of alarms! Once again, a historic structure in our country is threatened. What makes it even more alarming is that it happens in the same province, Ilocos Norte in almost the same period of time. First the planned demolition of the Laoag Central Elementary School, a perfectly usable, intact and beautiful example of 1920s education architecture in exchange for a mall, and now the proposed demolition of the centuries old façade of the Church of San José de Dingras to be replaced by what would most likely be a poor replica of the former.
ICOMOS Philippines Participation at the 16th ICOMOS General Assembly
The 16th General Assembly of ICOMOS took place in Québec City from September 28 to October 4, 2008, a triennial event attended by members of ICOMOS National Committees throughout the world. The Philippines was represented by Augusto Villalón, President of ICOMOS National Committee Philippines and Expert Member of the International Scientific Committee for Vernacular Architecture (CIAV). The second delegation member was Ivan Anthony Henares who was the Philippine representative to the International Forum of Young Researchers and Professionals in Cultural Heritage, an Expert Member of the International Cultural Tourism Committee (ICTC), and a voting delegate to the General Assembly.
Villalon represented ICOMOS Philippines at the Advisory Committee Meeting on September 28 that was attended by all National Committee Presidents. Issues discussed were the strengthening of National Committees and revitalization of dormant ones, formation of new National Committees. Also the relationship of ICOMOS to the World Heritage Committee as its primary cultural heritage advisory body was discussed.
At the September 29 Annual Meeting of the International Scientific Committee on Vernacular Architecture (CIAV) Augusto Villalón was elected Vice-President. CIAV members thanked the Philippine Committee for organizing the 2007 Annual CIAV Meeting in Banaue, Ifugao Province, and further pledged their support for conservation activities in the rice terraces undertaken by both the Government of Ifugao and Save the Terraces Movement (SITMo).
During the General Assembly held on September 30, Villalón was elected Chairman of the Candidature Committee charged with verifying documentation for each candidate standing for election to office during the 2008-2011 triennium. Resolutions were read and passed during the General assembly, notably Resolution No. 14 proposed by Ivan Anthony Henares (Philippines), and Cliff Ogleby (Australia) on the institutionalization of youth participation is all future ICOMOS activities.
During the Forum on October 2-3, Villalón presented a well-received paper “Is Spirit of Place Enough?” which was a case study and status report on the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, currently on the World Heritage In Danger List.
The Québec City Declaration on the Preservation of the Spirit of Place was adopted by the Assembly on 04 October.
Resolution No. 14 – Institutionalization of Youth Participation
Proponents: Cliff Ocleby (ICOMOS Australia) & Ivan Anthony S. Henares (ICOMOS Philippines)
Considering :
– the necessity of encouraging and supporting the involvement of young researchers and professionals in the field of heritage in ICOMOS
– the success of the First International Forum of Young Researchers and Professionals in Cultural Heritage held in Quebec, Canada from September 27 to 28, 2008
The 16th General Assembly of ICOMOS, meeting in Quebec, Canada, in October 2008, resolves that .
– ICOMOS and its committees must pursue efforts to welcome and encourage the involvement of a greater number of young researchers and professionals;
– ICOMOS will continue the initiative of organizing the International Forum of Young Researchers and Professionals in Cultural Heritage;
– The involvement of young researchers and professionals should be integrated in the issues, goals and actions discussed by the Executive Committee, the Consultative Committee and the General Assembly;
– The international scientific committees will inform young professionals, especially participants of the Forum, of their activities via the ICOMOS Secretariat;
– The national committees will take the necessary proactive measures to welcome and involve a greater number of young researchers and professionals, and assure them a sufficient representation.
Post Conference Report: 2007 CIAV Conference – “Preserving Traditional Landscapes”
The ICOMOS Philippines successfully hosted the 2007 meeting of the ICOMOS International Committee on Vernacular Architecture (CIAV), held last 2-8 December 2007 at the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, a UNESCO World Heritage site. International heritage experts, members of ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) participated in the event.
ICOMOS is the official international organization of heritage conservation professionals involved in heritage conservation and who are recognized as international leaders in the field. It regulates the worldwide conservation profession and is the only NGO accredited to advise the UNESCO World Heritage Committee on cultural heritage matters. Its headquarters is in Paris and its Philippine members are prominently involved in conservation projects for the government or private sectors and are also members of the academe.
The conference was unveiled with a welcome dinner organized at the National Museum. Sumptuous dishes were shared as the hosts presented their welcome remarks to the numerous distinguished guests and delegates of the conference. Respected heritage specialists from Canada, Italy, Finland, Germany, United States, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Japan and Korea joined their Philippine counterparts in the welcome event.
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