Docu-series on Panay cultural heritage launched at the Senate

Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda is launching today a series of documentaries on the intangible cultural heritage of Panay Island in the Senate as part of celebrating National Arts Month in February.

The ‘Maaram, Isla ng Panay’ features the lives and communities of Panay and tackles the performative traditions of the komedya and the taltal, the Visayan counterpart of the Tagalog senakulo;  the exquisite craft of weaving, including the procurement and circulation of raw materials; the Hudas-Hudas ritual, a tradition unique to the province of Antique as it exists alongside the intense veneration of saints during the Semana Santa; and the binanog, the ritual dance of the Panay Bukidnon.

The docu-series,  a project of the Philippine Studies Association, in partnership with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the office of Legarda, was formally launched on February 22, 2023, at the University of the Philippines (UP) Visayas in Iloilo City.

It is through Legarda’s initiative that ‘Maaram’ is brought to the Senate, where she currently chairs the Committee on Culture and the Arts.

“Maaram tells the stories of our people in many far-flung regions, where creative expressions have a life-enhancing function and where culture bearers and masters are exercising all possible deeds to make these traditions alive in the face of modernity,” Legarda said.

“Embedded in the intangible cultural heritage of Panay is the expression of important values such as resilience, diligence, dignity, and integrity — virtues that should form the weft and warp of our moral fabric as a people,” she added.

As a staunch advocate of preserving and promoting Philippine culture, Legarda has filed various legislations, such as SB 241 or the proposed Philippine Handloom Weaving Industry Development Act of 2022, which aims to continuously empower Filipino weavers and to mainstream government programs in developing our local textile industry; SB 622 amending RA 10066 or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 with the integration of cultural mapping at all levels of government; and SB 836 or the Philippine Music Industry Act of 2022 that aims to boost the music industry’s contributions to Philippine cultural landscape, societal development, and economic growth.

“Through my office, I promise you proactive legislative action in the area of art, culture, and heritage promotion. I hope to strengthen the position of intangible cultural heritage in national policy formulation,” said Legarda.

The ‘Maaram’ project’s outputs, which include the USBs of the documentaries and the ‘Maaram’ Teachers’ Resource Manual, are expected to complement the teaching of core subjects in the senior high school program, particularly the subjects of Contemporary Philippine Arts in the Region (CPAR), Understanding Culture, Society and Politics, and Media and Information Literacy.