THE RECENT fire that engulfed the Notre Dame De Paris has generated reactions urging the cathedral’s rehabilitation, which should reaffirm that historical edifices are a cultural patrimony.
But sadly enough, many Filipinos who are well-acquainted about the damage to cultural heritage brought about by the Paris fire are oblivious if not apathetic to the continued loss of tangible and intangible heritage of their own country.
The irony is that while we’re celebrating National Heritage Month this May, there are a few to no sustained and concrete efforts to save our cultural heritage.
While Filipinos grieve over Notre Dame, they seem unaware that their own churches are in danger.
San Sebastian Minor Basilica in Manila, the only steel gothic church in Asia, is suffering from rust and heavy corrosion. A residential high-rise could jeopardize its nomination as a Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site.
Unlike the Notre Dame, there were little to no assistance and funds to help the basilica. We have big, sympathizing hearts for the Catholic cathedral across the world but we could not show even the slightest empathy for our own churches and heritage sites.
The Philippines is home to various architectural and engineering marvels but the lack of concern among Filipinos has allowed these structures and landscapes to become irrelevant and mere reminders of the past, if not to be demolished and wiped away.
In a newspaper opinion piece, architect Felino Palafox Jr. wrote that heritage takes a backseat to development in the Philippines, very different to the practice of European countries where “heritage [is allowed] to blend well with modernism.”
He said various historical and monumental structures in the country became the victims of government, businessmen and those at the forefront of industrialization.
Palafox said private development and government laxity might have resulted in key buildings and other forms of tangible heritage “stripped of any cultural identity for commercial purpose.” He cited the demolitions of the Jai Alai Building on Taft Avenue, the Crystal Arcade and Philippine National Bank in Escolta, the old Meralco head office on San Marcelino Street.
“[These buildings are] reflections of the lifestyle, history, culture and values of the time then,” the architect wrote. “It is the blending of heritage and modernism which breathes life to identity, economy of tourism and patronage, and sense of patriotism and nation.”
Corollarily, Filipinos are apathetic about their own languages, multicultural traditions, and indigenous cultural communities.
We have allowed silent ethnic and linguistic cleansing to plague our heritage, diminishing the historical and cultural significance of various cultural groups and their respective vernaculars.
Filipinos pride themselves for their alleged cultural diversity, but they seem unaware that whole languages are being lost because of educational and cultural policies and programs that are anti-Filipino. They seem ignorant of the fact that their multiculturalism owes exactly to the diversity of Philippine languages.
The Department of Education has implemented the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education program, in which schools were are mandated to teach the child’s first language first. But Philippine languages continue to decline because of Filipinos’ colonial mentality.
In Pampanga, for instance, majority of the people I know do not how to speak in Kapampangan. They said their parents opted to talk to them either in English or Filipino, thus they never learned the language.
Denying the young of learning the native language and not passing in down to younger generations may result in the imminent death of the distinct linguistic –and cultural—identity of the region.
Meanwhile, indigenous groups such as the Lumads in Mindanao battle against big mining companies who that want to take over their ancestral lands. Alleged “paramilitary attacks” and human rights violations continue to displace them in Mindanao.
The preservation of culture is tantamount to the preservation of our identity as a nation. Thus, Filipinos should labor towards the preservation of our cultural heritage. We must learn how to preserve and embrace our own identity – history, culture, heritage and languages – not just for ourselves, but for the future generations.
We have been colonized for more than three centuries by different countries who have influenced our identity, but amid these years of influence, we have created our own identity and it is up to us to preserve that.
The historical and heritage sites, the variety of dialects and diversity of cultural groups and multicultural traditions in the country separated us from all the influences we have undergone as a nation. We must not let our cultural heritage to be taken away from us from our failure to save that which is our own.
