The University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) commenced the implementation of the Cultural Mapping of Panay and Guimaras on September 1, 2023. This was after the release of the Sub-SARO of the project from the General Appropriations Act FY 2023 in August of this year.
The Cultural Mapping of Panay and Guimaras Project (CMPG) is a priority cultural project of Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda. Following the mandate of the recently approved Cultural Mapping Law authored by the Senator, the CMPG is a collaborative undertaking between the University of the Philippines Visayas through the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension (OVCRE), the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and the State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) of Panay and Guimaras, together with the Department of Education Region VI, and the Local Government Units (LGUs) of Aklan, Antique, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Capiz.
Complementing the start of implementation are a series of meetings with SUCs and LGU focal persons. The first coordination meeting was organized by UPV on September 18, 2023 through Zoom to discuss the roles of SUCs and LGUs towards the implementation of participatory cultural mapping activities in the five provinces. This was attended by the project coordinators and staff from the following partner SUCs:
1. Iloilo Science and Technology University for the Cultural Mapping of the 1st and 2nd Districts of Iloilo
2. West Visayas State University for the Cultural Mapping of Iloilo City and Iloilo 3rd District
3. Iloilo State University of Fisheries Science and Technology for the Cultural Mapping of Iloilo 4th and 5th Districts of Iloilo
4. Capiz State University for the Cultural Mapping of Capiz Province
5. Aklan State University for the Cultural Mapping of Aklan Province
6. Guimaras State University for the Cultural Mapping of Guimaras Province
7. University of Antique for the Cultural Mapping of Antique Province
Research Assistants will be hired by these various SUCs to assist their respective teams in mapping the cultural and natural heritage of all 108 municipalities in Panay and Guimaras.
A meeting was organized by UPV for the final composition of its project implementation and research team on September 28, 2023. The timeline of activities and expected outputs of the project were also outlined during the meeting.
The UPV team, headed by program manager Anna Razel L. Ramirez, conducted its first face-to-face meeting activity with West Visayas State University to level off and detail the terms of reference in the Memorandum of Agreement before it is signed by participating entities.
In the succeeding weeks of October and November 2023, UPV will meet the six other SUCs, LGUs, DepEd, and the NCCA for coordination meetings and discussions as part of the preliminary phase of the project that will be implemented for two years.
