DoT commits to protect, promote cultural sites

TOURISM Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco fully supports the proposal of Unesco-Philippine National Commission (Unacom) to strengthen the promotion of designated and inscribed sites in highly significant locations.

Unacom Secretary-General Ivan Anthony Henares met Frasco on Monday to discuss the proposal.Henares asked the Department of Tourism's (DoT) help in promoting Unesco-designated sites around the Philippines through posters and materials placed strategically in accordance with Republic Act 11961, also known as the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009.The law encourages government support for the protection, conservation and restoration of these heritage assets.Frasco said that the proposal will help strengthen the local economy, which could be advantageous to tourism stakeholders, pointing out the DoT's inclusion of Unesco-designated sites in its flagship Philippine Experience Heritage Culture and Arts Caravan program.«This has been met with great excitement by our local stakeholders that we have visited through our Philippine Experience Program, in which we include a Unesco-declared site wherever we may go,» Frasco said.«We are very much aligned in that sense,» she added.Frasco emphasized the need to promote and recognize the worth of heritage sites and cultural assets that have already been inscribed on the World Heritage List, as well as those tentatively listed by Unesco.The Philippines has a significant number of listings that have already been inscribed by Unesco under the World Heritage Sites, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Creative Cities Network, Biosphere Reserves, Memory of the World Register, Unesco Chair in Anticipatory Governance and Regenerative Cities, Learning Cities Award and Global Geopark.Unesco Heritage Sites include the Historic Town of Vigan, the Baroque Churches of the Philippines, the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras and the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park.Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco. PHOTO BY J.