UNESCO head coming for World Theater Congress / Pundaquit performances

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts will coordinate significant events scheduled for May – according to this exclusive news release.

UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura will be in Manila this May to attend the 31st UNESCO International Theater Institute (ITI) Intercultural World Congress and Theater Olympics of the Nations. This was announced by Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, Executive Director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the Philippines’ cultural agency. Alvarez is also President of ITI Philippines.

"Director General Koichiro Matsuura," announced Alvarez, "will be here to preside over the Leaders’ Forum and the Inaugural Ceremony, a very significant development because the National Organizing Committee is working towards the signing of a Framework of Agreement between the UN Family of Organizations and the ITI UNESCO."

Matsuura was first appointed on 12 November 1999 to serve a six-year term as Director General of UNESCO by the Organization’s General Conference. Born in Tokyo on September 29, 1937, Matsuura had served as Japan’s Ambassador to France since 1994. He was educated at the Law Faculty of the University of Tokyo and at the Faculty of Economics of Haverford College (Pennsylvania, USA) and began his diplomatic career in 1959. He is married to Takako Kirikae with whom he has two sons. He speaks English, French, Spanish and his native Japanese.

Before his appointment as UNESCO Director General, Matsuura was Director-General of the Economic Cooperative Bureau (1988) and Director-General of the North American Affairs Bureau (1990), both under Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He had also served as Chairperson of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee for one year, until November 1999. When his first term as UNESCO head came to an end, he was re-elected for a second four-year term on 12 October 2005.

A cornerstone of Matsuura’s stewardship of UNESCO is the priority he has given to heritage conservation. In tangible heritage, he is mainly responsible for the global partnership to institutions working for heritage conservation. On the other hand, Matsuura is also primarily responsible for the ratification of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which will enter into force on 20 April this year. Forty-six states have already ratified the Convention. According to Matsuura, "the implementation of this Convention which strongly emphasizes the role of communities and groups as bearers and transmitters of intangible cultural heritage, will greatly contribute to the promotion of cultural diversity and human creativity."

The 31st UNESCO ITI World Congress will be held in Manila from May 16-29 this year, which includes the UN Celebration of Cultural Diversity and Development Week and the Philippines’ Heritage Month. This year’s theme is "Ancestral Roots to New Artistic Routes of Expression: Mobilizing Cultural Diversity to Achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals."

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are to be achieved by 2015 to respond to the world’s main development challenges. The MDGs are drawn from the actions and targets contained in the Millennium Declaration that was adopted by 189 nations and signed by 147 heads of state and governments during the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000. The eight goals are: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.

The event is a country project unanimously affirmed by a UNESCO General Conference ASEAN and the Group of 77 countries; it is the first time in the 58-year history of the ITI that the World Congress and Festival of Nations will be held in Southeast Asia and presided by UNESCO Director General Matsuura for its inaugural Leaders’ Forum. The UN Resident Coordinator in the Philippines, Ms. Meleema Noble, is also assisting the program, which has been welcomed by the Millennium Development Campaign Office of UN Secretary General Kofi Anan.

In a written message to the organizers of the event, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said it was "an honor for the Philippines to be the first country in Southeast Asia to host the World Congress and Festival of the Nations."

"Culture is a key," stated President Arroyo, "to fostering peace and sustainable development. Harnessing the unique values, beliefs and traditions of peoples, indeed, makes it easier to attain the UN Millennium Development Goals, foremost among them the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger. Through culture, development programs are not only made meaningful, they can also be more widely accepted and more effective." President Arroyo herself chaired the interfaith, intercultural meeting of Heads of States at the UN General Assembly last year.

Reference: Jeffrey Tel.: (+632) 527-2193

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In 1994, violin virtuoso and former prodigy Alfonso "Coke" Bolipata founded the Center for the Arts (Casa San Miguel) with the family’s extensive mango orchard in San Antonio, Zambales, as headquarters. Coke then organized an orchestra, recruiting as its members not only music students but also musically inclined children of farmers and fishermen. Coke’s aim was to promote among the participants the necessary self-esteem and positive attitude toward their work as well as toward family and community members.

The orchestra eventually became the Pundaquit Virtuosi. On April 14, Good Friday, the ensemble will perform the traditional concert featuring Haydn’s "Seven Last Words". On April 15, Black Saturday, Casa San Miguel will unveil the community mural and the Borlongan Art Collection under the Tagtaganepnep Program.

Featured visual artists are Plet Bolipata, Marc Cosico, Carlo Gabuco, Leeroy New Zaniel Mariano, Daniel Querijero, Don Salubayba, Paeng Zamora, CJ Tayoto, Michaelangelo Tayoto and Brendale Tadeo.

The 13th season of the Pundaquit Festival counts with the support of Siemens, Citigroup and Metrobank which enable the organizers to make the concert free to the public.