LINGAYEN, Pangasinan September 05 – Pangasinan’s local cultural heritage will further be identified, protected and preserved with the implementation of the cultural mapping program.
As an initial step, the Provincial Board in its regular session recently, approved Provincial Resolution No. 952-2017 which authorized Gov. Amado I. Espino III to enter into and among the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and two local government units—Lingayen and Calasiao—as pilot LGUs.
With Vice Governor Jose Ferdinand Z. Calimlim, Jr. as main proponent, the resolution noted that MOA is needed to serve as a vehicle for collaborative effort between and among the Province of Pangasinan, the NCCA, the LGUs of Lingayen and Calasiao as well as the Center for Pangasinan Studies (CPS) in order to “distinguish, record, classify and analyze” the cultural resources of the two localities.
CPS Executive Director Perla E. Legaspi said the program is of utmost importance as it will enable the province to identify combined cultural assets and resources of different communities. Community then, she added, will be empowered and involved in the process.
By cultural mapping, a range of perspectives are used such as mode of inquiry and a methodological tool in urban planning, cultural sustainability, and community development that makes visible the ways local stories, practices, relationships, memories, and rituals constitute places as meaningful locations.
Legaspi said the Center for Pangasinan Studies initially came up with a short list of five areas to include Bayambang, Mangatarem, San Carlos City, Lingayen and Calasiao. For its pilot project, the last two towns were considered.
The project will be undertaken for six months per municipality.
By Dexter A. See