The Manila Times Internet Edition | OPINION > Cultural dialogue for global peace

The Philippines supports the ASEM vision for promoting dialogue among civilizations and stepping up cultural exchanges and cooperation between Asia and Europe. In ASEM’s long-term plan to respect cultural diversity, we must utilize every opportunity for its expression to respond to the challenges for its preservation and sensitive evolution. To this end, the Philippines under President Gloria Arroyo fully supported the staging of the 31st Unesco-International Theater Institute Congress and Theater Olympics of the Nations Reflecting Ancestral Roots to New Artistic Routes of Expression on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

It was an occasion for Unesco Director General Koitchiro Matsuura who presided over the Leader’s Forum to launch a global movement to mobilize cultural diversity as an important vehicle to communicate, inform and motivate nations to collectively work for our commitment to cut poverty in half by 2015 by addressing the needs of gender equity, the prevention of child mortality, providing education and health for all, promoting indigenous peoples heritage as a security net amidst globalization and confronting the dangers of global warming.

The International Theatre Institute (ITI) Philippines Center designated Asia Pacific Bureau of the Unesco-ITI Chair has demonstrated the possibilities of undertaking Theatre for All through its cultural care-giving poverty alleviation program of democratizing the right to culture. It is a creative strategy for reaching out to the grassroots and the least developed municipalities with free arts training for capacity and confidence building of marginalized groups, such as the handicapped, the rural and urban poor, the street kids, the delinquent youth, indigenous groups and trauma victims of abuse and armed conflict.

In furtherance of this goal, with the cooperation of the Philippine ITI/Earthsavers Dreams Academy (Unesco Artists for Peace), SMTV and the Asean-COCI Secretariat, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts organized the Interdisciplinary Performance and Media Arts Workshops among the 10 Asean countries with creative teams that interacted and collaboratively produced performance and joint presentations of short films, radio, TV modules comics version and a Theater Festival hosted by St. Paul University on the Millennium Development Goals last August 2007 for the 40th anniversary of the Asean.

The Philippines hosted the Second Asean Ministerial and Experts meeting on Media Content Industry (with Japan as dialogue partner) which forged a Manila Action Plan on the subject which we trust will be fleshed out significantly here in Malaysia as it is scheduled to host the Third Meeting this year.

The initial support of Asia-Europe Foundation to the CineManila International Film Festival, now on its 10th year, has been a vehicle for cultural exchange through films. This year, the festival will be an Asia-based extension of the Director’s Fort Night of Cannes. Belgium and Netherlands, a close partner in holding a special workshop within CineManila in Boracay for independent filmmakers with a cash prize to help the winner continue with a film project.

The NCCA has established within CineManila an ASEAN prize for documentary on heritage and feature films on the MDGs. This we hope will provide a continuing arena for the creation, dissemination and cross-fertilization of methodologies through broadcast, webcast and cinema. In the field of performance, our chorale, dance and theatre groups have participated in many festivals and competitions in Europe and Asia, getting international focus with their experience.

We would like to offer now to ASEM the Philippine Festival of the Arts held every February in Manila as an avenue for participation of Asia and Europe in performances, joint training and exhibitions. Just last month in the observance of the Unesco-ITI World Theatre Week preceded by the celebration of World Water Day, we have significantly harvested good practices of using the arts for social transformation, employment enhancement and values education.

The Philippine Summit on Cultural Caregiving on the MDG’s has produced an Action Agenda that will draw interagency participation as well as involvement of the community of artists in a decentralized approach to reach the vulnerable groups, including our overseas workers and their families with a relevant cultural experience to serve as a mirror to forge not only our national identity, but also our regional solidarity and cultural understanding among European countries. We submit the report of the Summit Resolutions to the Ministers as a status report of Philippine initiatives since the Second ASEM Meeting in Paris.

In promoting the creative industries, particularly of our indigenous communities, we are helping forge cooperatives among 110 indigenous groups linking schools for living traditions to regional arts schools in the Department of Education and utilizing state universities and colleges as a cultural bank to identify and preserve essential indigenous heritage for incorporation in a curriculum module to help in the mainstreaming and appreciation of the wealth of traditional arts and indigenous wisdom in living in harmony with Mother Earth.

We feel that meaningful exchange in the field particularly of documentation, restoration, dissemination, museum and archival methodology can re-enforce our common efforts for the protection of intangible and tangible cultural heritage with guarantees for intellectual property rights. We have finalized with the government of Spain, an Escuela Taller, a school for out-of-school youth, a vocational training program for heritage sites, restoration and conservation techniques, using Intramuros, our walled city, as the venue for learning.

For the Fifth Centennial of Fray Andres Urdaneta born 500 years ago in Ordizia whose return route discovery paved the establishment of the galleon trade between our country and Spain via Mexico, the commemoration is being applied by the Philippines as an occasion to focus on the current global situation of seafaring to advance the rights of our mariners and sailors.

We consider this meeting of Asia-Europe cultural ministers on this Unesco Year of Languages as a significant event in invigorating and realizing the action plan for cultural diversity. We conclude with expressing our affirmation for the programs to be agreed upon to realize our united vision of harnessing cultural diverse treasures and expressions as a powerful force to promote peace, social justice, defense of the environment, gender equality and sustainable development among our people.

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