• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Third District of Negros Occidental takes the lead in the celebration of the National Heritage Month this May in the province, as it hosts the Youth Forum on Heritage 2023 on May 16 to 18 in Silay City, at Magikland, the region’s first outdoor theme park in Barangay Guinhalaran.
Third District Representative Francisco “Kiko” Benitez, together with the local governments of Victorias, Silay, Talisay, E.B. Magalona and Murcia, with the special participation of Bacolod City, welcomed the partnership with the Filipino Heritage Festival, Inc. (FHFI), and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
The National Heritage Month is annually observed since 2003, by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 439, and this year’s celebration carries the theme “Heritage: Change and Continuity”.
A three-day forum with sixty participants, mostly between 17 to 23 years old who will be exposed to lectures, fieldwork and workshops that will heighten awareness, understanding, and strengthen efforts towards preservation and protection of local cultural heritage.
Benitez lauded the youth forum project of FHFI and NCCA as “a great endeavor towards fostering intergenerational connections and preserving cultural legacies, and I wholeheartedly support it.”
“In the hands of the youth lies the power to breathe new life into our cultural legacy, to infuse it with their own unique perspectives and to pass it on to the future generations, richer and more vibrant than ever before. Through the youth forum on herniate, FHJFI and NCCA will cultivate the value of cultural appreciation and preservation and the vital role all of us play in [protecting and promoting our cultural heritage. I am honored to be part of these efforts,” he added.
FHFI has been conducting the Youth Forum on Heritage since 2016 through strong public and private partnerships. Experts in the field of safeguarding cultural heritage through cultural mapping are invited as lecturers and workshop facilitators.*
