Romblon cathedral, ancient Hispanic forts declared National Cultural Treasures

TAMAWAN artist grades mosaic entry in the art competition held at Fort San Andres.

EVEN LOCAL government units must acknowledge the necessity of having scholars in the conservation and rehabilitation of our cultural heritage, said Commissioner Regalado Trota José of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), during the recent declaration of Casa del San Fernando, a colonial-era house on Sibuyan, Romblon, as an Important Cultural Property.

“The NCCA, whose seat is in Manila, can only help as much. Localities must have their own group of researchers and specialists,” José said.

‘Siete Palabras 2013’ adapts ‘new media,’ reaches out to Filipinos abroad

Cultural presentation during the Siete Palabras program

A KEY Lenten program on Philippine TV, “Siete Palabras”—the communal recitation of the Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ, which are accompanied by reflections from priests and testimonies from lay people—is an experience  Filipinos overseas surely miss during the Holy Week, said a Dominican priest who had directed the program for half a decade now.

“In the past years, we have received requests from Filipinos abroad to make the program available to them because, even if they are no longer in the Philippines, they still desire to be one with us in celebrating the Holy Week,” said Christopher Jeffrey Aytona, OP, assistant director of the Social Communications Division of the Institute of Preaching.

Dipolog international fest fetes gong, bamboo music

Vietnamese duo of Ho Khac Chi and Hoang Ngoc Bic. Lord Norven Namoc

THE MUSIC BORNE out of playing gongs and bamboo instruments cannot simply be dismissed as an obfuscated form of entertainment, for it has always been a mirror of “a life of spirituality, subsistence, and of communing with nature in this part of the world,” said National Artist-designate Ramon P. Santos during the first international gongs-and-bamboo music festival, held Feb. 19-22 in Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte.

“There’s a need to trace the roots of these musical traditions in Southeast Asia to fully appreciate and explore their significance,” he added.

Jane Arrieta Ebarle’s ‘Hibla’ series off to New York

Hibla 44

IT IS SAID that when an artist paints, she seems to go through a trance, one that brings her to an abyss of colors, forms and shapes, where thoughts do not exist.

Time may stand still but the hands move. The eyes would follow them while the body gestures according to the form that is slowly creating itself on the canvas.

When Jane Arrieta Ebarle starts to paint, she does not live in this world anymore. She seems to transcend from a mind of chaos to the silence of some place where even she doesn’t  know herself.

“It is only the viewer with an open-ended understanding of art who can appreciate abstract art,” said Ebarle.

University of San Agustin, oldest university in Western Visayas, promotes cultural heritage

University chapel

AT OVER 100 years old and Western Visayas’ first and oldest university, the University of San Agustin (USA) in Iloilo is focusing on heritage and history, especially the conservation of the cultural patrimony of the Augustinian institution and of the Church and people of Panay island.

The focus will be evident in USA’s celebration of the 60th anniversary of its declaration as a university on March 1. Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), will be the main celebrant of the thanksgiving Mass at 9 a.m. at the university gymnasium.

Fr. Harold Rentoria, OSA,  vice president for academic affairs and former commissioner of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, said the festivities would  be “a commemoration of the past, a celebration of the present, and a commitment to the future.”

USA was declared a university such by the Philippine government on March 1, 1953. As a memorial, USA will construct the Garden of Firsts, a gallery of leaders, events, and innovations that have contributed to the welfare of society.

Historical markers will also be mounted near the Urdaneta Hall, built in 1939, the oldest intact building inside the  campus, which survived World War II.

Business and other sectors rush to save Manila Cathedral

SAN MIGUEL Properties, Inc. vice president and general manager Karlo P. Estavillo and San Miguel Corporation president Ramon S. Ang hand over the P50-million donation for the restoration of Manila Cathedral to Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle and Tita de Villa.

THE HISTORIC MANILA Cathedral, located at the heart of Intramuros, is now set to undergo a multimillion retrofitting process to preserve its physical structure and to ensure the safety of those who will use it after its restoration.

According to Henrietta de Villa, who was appointed to the Manila Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica Foundation for the renovation and restoration project, the overwhelming support from the faithful is drawing their purpose’s fulfillment nearer and probably earlier than expected.

“With the support from our donors, we don’t have to worry about chasing funds. Because of that we are able to focus more on planning the actual restoration and repair work of the church in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible,” De Villa said.

Collaborating for the cathedral’s redevelopment are De Villa, a former ambassador to the Holy See and a champion for voter education; Cardinals Gaudencio Rosales and Luis Antonio Tagle; retired Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban; and Ramon S. Ang, president and chief operating officer of the San Miguel Corporation, who already donated P50 million for the project.

Photos capture facets of a religious shrine and National Cultural Treasure

"La Naval de Manila--Sailing on with Faith," FoTOMASINO

ON THE OCCASION of the formal installation of the National Cultural Treasure marker at Sto. Domingo Church, a group of young photographers is mounting “La Naval, Mother of Faith” at the Museo de Sto. Domingo, which runs Dec. 14-Jan. 31.

Composed of 54 frames capturing the various facets of devotion to the Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario, La Naval de Manila, and of her shrine at the Quezon City church, it is the first exhibition of Fotomasino, the official guild of photogaphers of the University of Santo Tomas founded by award-winning lensman Paul Allyson Quiambao.

Collection of Mass songs wins CMMA best inspirational album

Album cover by artist Aris Bagtas

The winner of Best Inspirational Album in the 34th Catholic Mass Media Awards(CMMA) is a collection of Mass songs, proof of how liturgical music could become mainstream.

The album, “Umawit at Magpuri sa Panginoon” (2011), also won Best Inspirational Song.

Composer is Fr. Allan Antonio, a priest of the Diocese of Malolos and a student at the Conservatory of Music of the University of Santo Tomas.

Unang Daloy pays tribute to the arts of Central Luzon

Abstraction techniques by Eghai Roxas

Philippine Art—as defined by art critics, historians, connoisseurs and collectors from Metro Manila—has had to rely largely on the talents, subjects and styles that have emerged in Central Luzon, said an award-winning arts scholar in Unang Daloy, the first Central Luzon Visual Arts Congress, held Oct. 3-4 at SM City and La Jardin Resort in Baliwag, Bulacan.

With this observation, Reuben Cañete, a recipient of the Leo Benesa Award for Art Criticism from the Art Association of the Philippines, mapped out the regional arts history of Luzon’s vast plain in his lecture, “Reflections on the State of the Visual Arts in Central Luzon.”

Santo Domingo Church, La Naval de Manila shrine to be declared National Cultural Treasures

Sto. Domingo Church.
Photo by Lester Babiera

The Philippine government, through the National Museum, will declare this week the Santo Domingo Church, with its Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary-La Naval de Manila, in Quezon City as a National Cultural Treasure.

The declaration, according to the National Museum, recognizes Santo Domingo-La Naval both as an institution and a structure, as well as a repository of modern art.

The declaration will be formally announced on Oct. 4 at 5 p.m. during the traditional enthronement of Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario, La Naval de Manila, to be led by shrine rector Fr. Giuseppe Arciwals, OP. To formally accept the declaration is Fr. Gert Timoner, OP, the prior provincial of the Philippine Dominican Province.

October is the Rosary Month on the Catholic calendar. It is devoted to the Blessed Mother under the title Our Lady of the Rosary in reference to the Rosary devotion promoted by the Dominicans, one of the most influential religious orders in the history of the Church.

After the deluge, now what?

Photo from the Philippine Daily Inquirer

Last week’s heavy monsoon rains revived memories of “Ondoy” in 2009, which had broken records, with a month’s worth of rain falling in just six hours.

Although not a typhoon, the monsoon rains affected and displaced some two million people. The death toll was not as bad as “Ondoy’”s, but the humanitarian disaster it caused was just as grave.

Lifestyle interviewed urban planners, architects and other experts on the factors that could have caused the calamity and the measures needed to solve them so as to stave off its repeat in the near future.

Did government listen?

University of San Agustin safeguards Filipino heritage in Western Visayas

Urdaneta Hall, structure that survived World War II

With a sturdy commitment of preserving Filipino culture in the island of Panay in Western Visayas, the University of San Agustin in Iloilo City has become a proponent of heritage conservation, fostering appreciation of historical landmarks and the rich Ilonggo literary and performance arts. It has also led in conserving various repositories and archives of important historical and cultural records.

The university hosted the lecture series of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ (NCCA) Angat Kabataan Camp, a major cultural event during the Heritage Month of May. The youth camp drew almost a hundred youth delegates from regions across the country.

Siete Palabras, showcase of Filipino culture and faith, on April 6

A Filipino Dominican leading the faithful in prayer during Siete Palabras

The annual Siete Palabras at the historic Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City, which has become a key Lenten broadcast on Philippine TV, will be on Good Friday, April 6.

2-volume UST history charts evolution of higher education in the Philippines

Published by the UST Publishing House, the two-volume “A History of the University of Santo Tomas: Four Centuries of Higher Education in the Philippines (1611-2011)” by the highly respected Spanish Dominican historian Fr. Fidel Villarroel, OP promise to become the most comprehensive and most definitive yet of UST, Asia’s oldest university.

Because of their scope and exhaustiveness, the history books are also a veritable history of education in the Philippines.

In the book, Father Villarroel, who systematized the UST Archives and is mentor to several historians and researchers, corrects a number of “faulty” items of history.

UST collection of ancient scripts in ‘baybayin’ syllabary shown to public

Photos of some historical treasures of the University of Santo Tomas

“DOCTRINA Christiana,” printed by the Dominicans in 1593, contains the ancient Philippine alphabet. At left, a sample of the baybayin syllabary from an ancient legal document at the UST Archives.

Formal archives education needed for heritage conservation

Prof. Jian Wang of the Renmin University

 Local archivists and other record-keepers have committed to advance records management in the country while stressing the need to professionalize records-keeping by formal archives education upon the conclusion of the 2nd National Archives Congress, Dec. 8-9, at the Colegio de San Agustin (CSA) in Bacolod City.

The meeting of some 165 archivists, librarians, university and college registrars,  and representatives from the business sector from around the country pointed several concerns, such as the lack of qualified professionals who could ably handle valuable documents.

For one, they called for “the inclusion of records and archives management in the general subjects or curriculum for undergraduate courses.”

The congress delegates also urged “collaboration between archival institutions here and abroad” and the “formulation and approval of a curriculum for archival studies.”

Dominican Missal to be launched; school of theology and homiletics established

The Dominican Province of the Philippines (DPP) will launch the Dominican Missal and Lectionary on Dec. 8, 5 p.m., at the Institute of Preaching-Philippine Dominican Center of Institutional Studies (IP-PDCIS) Bldg., Sto. Domingo Church, Quezon City.

The book is being launched in connection with the feast of the Immaculate Conception as well as the 40th anniversary of the DPP.

Shrine for Christ’s Precursor in Lian, Batangas, inaugurated

Facade of the Parish of St. John the Baptist in Lian, Batangas. Photo by Lester Babiera

He may already be tired and bruised from visiting almost every home in Lian, Batangas, and neighboring towns, but his charisma, which endears him to the faithful, is far from fading.

Such is how Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of the Archdiocese of Lipa described Lian’s patron, St. John the Baptist, in his homily last Aug. 29 after the official declaration of the very first shrine of the Precursor of Christ.

La Naval’s 76-year-old pipe organ to be restored

The historic musical instrument at Sto. Domingo.

The Shrine of Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario, La Naval de Manila, at Santo Domingo Church features a musical masterpiece with much historical value—the 76-year-old organ that makes use of over a thousand pipes. The musical instrument, a cultural heritage, is set to undergo restoration.

To raise funds for the expensive restoration, the officials of the shrine, headed by Fr. Giuseppe Pietro V. Arsciwals, OP, launched the adopt-a-pipe project.

The cost to  complete the project amounts to P3.5 million. The Diego Cera Organbuilders, Inc., curator of the world-famous bamboo organ of Las Piñas, has been commissioned to execute the restoration.

Antonio Hila, historian and former choirmaster of the Tiples de Santo Domingo (1987 2000), the Philippines’ oldest boys choir, says the restoration is a must.

“It’s about time [to restore the organ],” he explains. “For a church as big as Santo Domingo Church, we need that organ for the massive sound that would accompany the choirs so that the music would be more appreciated.”

Limits drawn on heritage law’s coverage of Church’s cultural properties

The Philippine Roman Catholic Church’s cultural patrimony is shielded from the controversial National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 (Republic Act 10066) because of the constitutional principle of separation of Church and state; the Church’s own canon law; and the Concordat between the Holy See and the Philippine government on Church cultural heritage.

“While the Church unites with the state in the national policy to protect, preserve and promote the nation’s cultural heritage, the law should not prohibit and penalize necessary works on churches,” said Jo Imbong, a lawyer of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Examples of “necessary works” are the construction of chapels and additions to the church rectory or other facilities that are inherently necessary to worship and liturgy.

Imbong was speaking in a forum on the National Cultural Heritage Law at the Angelicum College in Quezon City, with National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Commissioner Regalado Trota Jose and former NCCA commissioner Fr. Harold Rentoria, OSA.

Theme was “Kaban ng Nakaraan, Yaman ng Kasaysayan: RA 10066: National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009.” It was held on Aug. 8, feast day of St. Dominic, the founder of the Dominicans, which own and run the Angelicum.