BALANGA CITY – The Bataan Peninsula Tourism Foundation Inc. in coordination with the provincial government of Bataan has officially launched the cultural mapping project aimed at discovering and preserving the rich cultural heritage of the province.
“In this modern time when there is globalization, rapid integration of goods and services between nations, there is this fear that we may lose our identity,” Gov. Albert Raymond S. Garcia said. The governor said that the youth engrossed into social media may soon forget and learn nothing about the past.
“We have to do something to preserve our identity, culture and heritage,” he said. Garcia said the province is opening its economy but at the same the citizens should learn who they are to have complete development.
“We should not be like a headless chicken or a lost soul,” the governor said. Associate Prof. Eric Zerudo, director of the University of Santo Tomas Center for Conservation of Cultural Property and Environment in the Tropics, lectured on cultural heritage that he said Bataan has plenty to be proud of.
He made mention for example of the cenaculo or street play on the Passion of Christ as part of Bataan’s cultural heritage that has to be brought to national and even international attention. Zerudo described heritage mapping as restoring memories of each town, a process of identifying natural and cultural heritage resources of a specific locality.
Techie Banzon, consultant for the Bataan Peninsula Tourism Foundation, said in October to November this year, public school teachers will be busy making the rounds of communities to record unique recipes, oldest man and woman, old cemeteries, undiscovered caves, falls, etc., in addition to old churches and monuments already documented.
Also, the numbers of rivers, mountains, beaches respective localities have and so with classic animals, birds and so on. Mrs. Vicky Garcia, the governor’s mother, is chair of the tourism foundation.
