National Heritage Month 2025 Focuses on Empowering Communities

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts is set to lead the country’s celebration of National Heritage Month 2025 this May, with a focus on empowering communities through heritage to keep traditions alive and relevant.

With the theme “Preserving Legacies, Building Futures: Empowering Communities Through Heritage,” the NHM 2025 celebrations will emphasize the role of empowered communities, particularly the youth, indigenous groups, and local artisans, while calling for the preservation of cultural traditions, stories, and practices passed down through generations.

The monthlong celebrations will kick off in Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte, on May 1 and 2, in partnership with the city government and Jose Rizal Memorial State University.

Activities lined up for NHM 2025 include flagship programs to empower heritage workers throughout the country, such as:

• Seminar workshops on library resource preservation, restoration, digitization, and digital preservation in the context of cultural heritage (May 7), with the National Library of the Philippines;
• Bicol Association of Museums Summit (May 7 to 8), with the Bicol Association of Museums;
• Forum on vulnerabilities of ecclesiastical archives and cultural heritage to biodeterioration, climate change, and political conflict (May 20 to 22), with the Society of Ecclesiastical Archivists of the Philippines;
• Writeshop on translocal and transregional links in the history of Region 8 and the Visayas (May 20 to 21), with Eastern Visayas State University;
• Training program for the preservation and conservation of heritage structures (May 27 to 28);
• Basic archives and digitization of records training (May 27 to 30), with Mindanao State University-Marawi; and
• Archiving and collections management workshop for artists and art galleries (May 31), with Estancia Mall.

The NHM celebrations will end with a closing program on May 27 and 28 in Sorsogon City.

NCCA chairperson Victorino Mapa Manalo said the strong emphasis on training and capacity-building this year aims to ensure that local communities are empowered to preserve and maintain their heritage.

“These initiatives are designed to empower local communities and cultivate a deeper understanding of our cultural heritage through a skill- and capacity-building approach. By providing access to community-based training and resources, we aim to equip individuals with the skills and knowledge needed to preserve our cultural identity,” Manalo said during a press conference Monday, April 28.

NCCA deputy executive director for operations Bernan Joseph Corpus said the focus on capacity-building reflects a “shared responsibility” over cultural heritage.

“Heritage conservation thrives on collective effort. By blending traditional knowledge with modern techniques, communities can create innovative and sustainable preservation strategies, educational forums, hands-on training, and interactive exhibits when we equip individuals with the skills to become active stewards,” Corpus said.

Maria Teresa Rayos del Sol, head of the commission’s Committee on Art Galleries, said NHM 2025 programs target trainers, including teachers and cultural sector workers.

“With many Filipinos, we are more than 100 million, what we target is like a ‘training the trainers,’ including Araling Panlipunan teachers and, of course, the youth. The trickle effect of these trainings is in the thousands,” Rayos del Sol said.

She added that the initiative complements existing cultural programs, including local cultural mapping efforts.

“We don’t know our cultural assets, that’s why we don’t take care of important assets like buildings and old houses, and they just get demolished. The younger ones wouldn’t know their history. From there, we have cultural mapping, because we wanted to know the assets of the city, and we are with the local government units in doing this,” she said.

“These committee projects are to inspire everybody to do the same. We focus on different areas because we want to reach all the islands of the Philippines,” she added.

The annual NHM celebrations were instituted through Presidential Proclamation No. 439, signed by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, designating May as National Heritage Month to promote awareness, appreciation, and preservation of the nation’s rich cultural heritage.