The National MoW Committee launches the country’s biggest campaign for the Philippine Documentary Heritage Program on April 29 at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Double Dragon Tower, Meridian Park, Pasay City. Invited are stakeholders in-charge of the country’s documentary heritage including those found in printed literature, cinema, recorded sound, maps, syllabary, and other artefacts and cultural ephemera. According to MoW chairman Prof. Nick Deocampo, documents are records of something produced by deliberate intellectual intent. If not preserved, these documents will disappear in time and with their disappearance our memory as a people vanishes with them.
For instance, hundreds of pre-World War II films have been gutted by war and by the lack of a film archive to preserve them. Philippine cinema is in danger of losing many of its earliest works, including those made in the present. Ancient texts with indigenous syllabaries written on bamboos and barks of trees and antiquated printing systems disappeared over time. Song and dance notations of folk tunes and dances have been lost. Even photographs are hard to find in their original format. Every disappearance of a document comes with a loss of memory, whether personal, communal, or national. The notion of the nation rests on the collective memory of a people.
Since its creation in 2006, the Philippine MoW registry has successfully enlisted local and national documents to UNESCO’s three registries: In the International Register, the Philippines is represented by the following: Manuel L. Quezon Presidential Papers – compiled writings by the Commonwealth president; Radio Broadcasts of the People Power Revolution – radio broadcast transmission during the four-day EDSA revolt; Jose Maceda Collection – musical archive and field notes; Philippine Paleographs – ancient syllabary etched on bamboo; Culion Medical Archives – museum and archives on leprosy located in Palawan Island.
In the Asia-Pacific Regional Register, two significant entries showcase both historical and oral traditions: Doctrina Christiana (1593) – one of the earliest printed books in the Philippines and Hinilawod Epic Chant Recordings – oral narratives from Panay Island, preserving pre-colonial chanted literature. The National Registry includes: Eddie Romero’s Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon? – a film classic chronicling Filipino identity during the epochal birth of the Philippine nation and The FPJ Archives – cinematic legacy of Fernando Poe Jr. including his films, scripts, and photographs. Each of these inscriptions represents a vital part of the country’s identity and contributes to a broader understanding of Philippine and world history.
The launch will also call for new nominations to be submitted for enlistment in the MoW registries.
