MILF: Maguindanaons from SouthMin join Bangsamoro cultural heritage assets inventory

Posted to the MILF Website (Dec 25): Maguindanaons from SouthMin join Bangsamoro cultural heritage assets inventory



With the aim to impart their knowledge about their own cultural heritage, Maguindanaon traditional leaders, Imam, youth, women and professionals from Southern Mindanao joined in the University of the Philippines (UP)-led Bangsamoro cultural heritage assets inventory.

Through a round-table discussion, the participants shared their knowledge on the status of existing tangible and intangible cultural heritage assets as well as their efforts on how they strive to preserve the Maguindanaon culture and tradition in their localities.

The activity was facilitated by Asian Center-UP Faculty Team in cooperation with Mindanao State University-Gensan and Moro Visual Artist Al-Nezzar Ali from the National Commission on Culture and the Arts held last Wednesday at Sydney Hotel, General Santos City.

The research team gathered information about the existing cultural bearers in the area, their issues and concerns, as well as recommendations on how to strengthen the initiatives already practiced with regards on preserving the Maguindanaon culture and tradition.

During the discussion, it came out that there are still cultural bearers such as sculptors, kulintangan players, and Malong weavers, mostly aging, that can still be tapped to be able to share their skills with the younger generation.

The participants suggested the establishment of schools of living tradition where cultural bearers can teach their young ones of their expertise. It was also recommended that the government should somehow provide pension to cultural experts for such endeavor.

The researchers were impressed with the initiatives from the local governments of Sarangani Province and General Santos City where culture and traditions are showcased during local festivals.

One issue that surfaced was the strong opposition from the Muslim religious leaders on certain traditional practices of the Moro people which are viewed as unislamic.

The participants proposed that there should be dialogue between the Islamic religious authority and the Moro community members to thresh out which among the Moro traditional practices are explicitly not acceptable in Islam.

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/new/item/753-maguindanaons-from-southmin-join-bangsamoro-cultural-heritage-assets-inventory