May is Arts Month

On Aug. 11, 2003, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared May as the National Heritage Month through Proclamation No. 439. This was to encourage Filipinos to participate in the preservation and continuity of the country’s historical and cultural heritage.

The month-long celebration thus began last year, with Filipinos here and abroad, tourists, students and the academe, as well as business communities and the NGO’s coming together to mark May as arts month, highlighting our age-old traditions that link culture and life.

The Filipino Heritage Festival, Inc. was created to ensure the sustainability of the National Heritage Month, and along with the National Commission of Culture and the Arts (NCCA), planned various cultural activities in different heritage sites and venues. These events involved – as they now do – religious rituals and contest in indigenous arts, music, painting and photography.

All activities are open to the public.

On April 30 and May 1, the festival opens in Bohol where the historical landmark, the Church of Santissima Trinidad in Loay, will be unveiled. Following this will be a heritage tour, painting, photo and UNESCO World Heritage Sites exhibits, and an outdoor theater presentation. Brass bands and rondallas will enhance the festival atmosphere. Along with organ concerts, choirs will sing the 19th century Misa Baclayana.

A coffeetable book published by the NCCA, Tubod, The Heart of Bohol, will be launched after the High Mass at the ancestral home of the Rocha family in Bohol.

The city of Makati, jointly with the Cultural Affairs Office of Makati, will host both the opening and closing of National Heritage Month in the national capital region. To open the festive month, a "Flores de Mayo" parade will be held from Rockwell to Greenbelt Church where the Virgin will be showered with flowers.

Tibag, the authentic play from which the present Santacruzan evolved, will be staged at Makati’s Greenbelt on May 3.

On May 4, the organizers will launch the Heritage Stamp at the Central Post Office in Manila, a stamp featuring the following architectural treasures: the El Hogar building, the HSB building, the Uychanco building, the Luneta Hotel, the Metropolitan Theater, the Regina building, the University of Manila – all located in the metropolis – and the Pangasinan Capitol in Lingayen.

Exhibits will be held simultaneously on May 6, with entries to the 2003 Heritage in Focus Photo Contest to be displayed at the Ever Gotesco Mall; the 2004 Photo Competition exhibit and awarding ceremony will take place at the Shangri-La Plaza Mall on May 6.

Deadline for entries to the photo tilt has been extended to April 30 to accommodate submissions out of town. An NCCA project, the contest which is open to both professionals and amateurs, should convey the theme "People in Heritage" to express cultural values, customs and traditions through tangible heritage such as clothes, dances, jewelry, games and sports.

On May 8, the Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music will hold a special concert in Tanay, Rizal, dedicated to National Artist Antonino Buenaventura.

In the arts, the GSIS Painting Competition, to be held jointly with the Art Association of the Philippines, will be on May 21, a date which coincides with GSIS’ 67th anniversary celebration.

The Chinese community will have its own participation in the Parian Trade Fair, a two-day festival on May 15 and 16 featuring Chinese astrologers, feng shui experts, dragon and lion dancers from Chinatown, herbal medicine practitioners and Chinese cuisine chefs in Arroceros, Manila, site of the original Parian.

The Angry Christ Church in Victorias, Occ. Negros, will showcase talents in a musical concert on May 20.

An exhibit of treasure chests belonging to Babygirl Fricke, Susan Calo-Medina, Gilda Cordero-Fernando and Dr. Jaime Laya, among many others, will be featured in Mga Lihim ng Baul from May 22 to 29 at the 4th floor of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong.

Concluding the celebrations on May 31 will be a concert featuring the saga of the Filipino people embodied in love songs from different periods of our history. The concert, titled Pag-ibig, Pag-ibig at Pag-ibig Pa Rin will be at the Nuestra Señora de la Gracia Church in Guadalupe, Makati.

A food festival of Filipino cuisine will be on for the entire month of May. Participating will be members of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines: Komiks Café in Ermita, Blue Bacon and Green Eggs, EDSA Shangri-La, Century Park Sheraton Hotel, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, InterCon Hotel, Hyatt Regency Hotel and Marco’s Restaurant on Tomas Morato Ave., QC.

The foregoing activities have been culled from the various announcements made at the press conference held last Monday noon at the Bahia, Inter-Con Hotel.

The San Miguel Master Chorale will perform at the Coconut Palace on June 1 at a dinner formally ending the National Heritage Month.

Altered Light Exhibit

Noel Barrameda’s collection of manipulated photographs of religious images in Iloilo curated by Alberto Avellana is on exhibit at Inter-Con’s lobby Art Café until April 30. Proceeds will go into funding Inter-Con’s community projects.

Palafox’s World Distinction

Palafox Associates is the country’s only planning and design firm that has made it to the London-based World Architectural Magazine’s top 300 architectural firms in the world. The magazine conducts an international survey of the leading design and architectural firms worldwide – for the top 300 design firms. Palafox Associates improved its rank among the world’s best – from 220 in 1998 to number 122 in 2003, and number one in Southeast Asia.