IF FRANCE HAS EIFFEL TOWER
    ‘PHL should build 10-story balanghai’

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    CLARK FREEPORT – The Eiffel Tower for France, the Opera House for Australia, the Statue of Liberty for the United States, the Petronas Towers for Malaysia, the Taj Majal for India. And for the Philippines, a 10-story high “balanghai”?

    This, at least, is what is being pushed by the National Commission on Culture and Arts (NCCA) which has sought the help of senators and other sectors to also approve and finance a unique landmark that would identify the Philippines in the world map.

    The balanghai or balangay is a wooden sailing boat used by the early, pre-Hispanic migrants to the Philippines. The name was adopted later to refer to the well-organized independent villages that Spanish colonizers later found in the country in the early 16th century.

    The proposal for a landmark balanghai building surfaced anew here yesterday as the NCCA announced its hosting here the fourth “Taboan: Philippine Writers Festival, which will be held from February 9 to 11.” Taboan, a Visayan word which means marketplace, is one of the seven flagship projects under Philippine Arts Festival (PAF) of the NCCA.

    In a press briefing, NCCA chair Prof. Felipe de Leon said the proposal to construct a gigantic 10-story high balanghai was voted on during a meeting held recently in Cebu amid the need for a “national symbol or identity.”

    He lamented that unlike other countries, the Philippines has no landmark associated with it.

    He said that during the NCCA conference in Cebu, the balanghai was voted as the most appropriate symbol for the country, winning over the rice terraces and the Philippine eagle.

    “My idea is to have it constructed at the site of the Nayong Pilipino Park in Manila or the wildlife park in Quezon City,” he said, adding he would not object to the landmark being constructed in Pampanga if any local personality would finance it.

    De Leon said the structure would also house a museum.

    He admitted the need for funding sources for the proposal as he noted that the NCCA’s P230 million budget for this year would be adequate only for its previously lined up projects for the entire 2012.

    At the same time, Dr. Juliet Mallari, head of the Taboan writer’s festival, said the event to be held here would be participated in by “the country’s poets, playwrights, essayists and fictionists from different parts of the Philippines.”

    “The NCCA has been hosting the conference for the past three years in pursuit of its goal to harness the skills of today’s writers and to highlight the importance of history and culture in Philippine literature,” she said.

    NCCA literary arts head Dr. Priscilla Macansantos said the festival will zero it on the promotion of literature in the vernacular, noting that English literature among Filipinos already has a niche of its own.

    ”Taboan will feature panel discussions, lectures, literary readings, performances and a book fair,” Mallari said.

    Mallari noted that “the Philippine Arts Festival is held every February in celebration of the National Arts Month, in accordance with Presidential Proclamation No. 683 signed in 1991.”

    Mallari said that while the literary component of the festival will be held only for three days, the entire festival would be month-long.

    “It will banner the flagship projects of the seven committees of the NCCA’s Subcommission on the Arts (SCA), embracing architecture, cinema, dance, literature, music, dramatic arts and visual arts,” she said.

    This year, popular television and film icons Boy Abunda and Dingdong Dantes, who were involved in last year’s festival, would be joined by Piolo Pascual as NCCA culture ambassador to further popularize the festival.

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