EDITORIAL - September 2018

EDITORIAL

The Role of Culture in Development

It is perhaps no coincidence that the two biggest news items in this issue are about culture and business. At first glance, the two seem unrelated: one is often associated with frills and frivolity, the other considered more serious and important.  A deeper study of culture, however, will show just how essential it is to the day-to-day life of the town. What’s more, culture is often tied to the local economy in that culture brings a lot of business. 

Defined by anthropologists as “the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning,” culture is what makes us unique, inviting outsiders to take a glimpse, if not have a taste, of what we can offer to the world.

In separate addresses, Vice-Mayor Raul R. Sabangan, and Sangguniang Kabataan Federation President Gabriel Tristan P. Fernandez noted that in the many towns they have visited, they noticed a distinct cultural pride among members of the community, and for this reason, tourists flock to their place.

Bayambang may not be Baguio, Batanes or Bohol, but it has the potential attractions and the business opportunities, if we can fully mine our local culture. After all, we are known for many things: the fifth capital of the Philippines, the home of a 400-year-old St. Vincent Ferrer parish, the home of binasuan dance, the producer of the best fish buro, the holder of the world’s longest barbecue grill, the corn belt of Pangasinan, the onion capital of Pangasinan, the home of an early state-owned educational institution (PSU-Bayambang) of many firsts (the first kindergarten class, the first class for gifted children, the Philippine-UNESCO National Community Training Center, etc.). Vice-Mayor Sabangan himself stressed out that we can consider our inner qualities as a people, too. Who will not love to visit a place “where the best things happen”?

Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao’s support for the town’s tourism and cultural projects and activities is therefore very laudable. The Mayor himself emphasizes that, “Without culture, we lose our identity, and without a strong identity, we lose our ethnic pride. And as we all know, it is this pride of place that animates us to love and serve our town with all our hearts and minds.”

Indeed, under the Quiambao-Sabangan administration’s watch are such landmark cultural projects as the institutionalization of an official hymn (“Pinablin Baley”) and ceremonial dance (“Lanceros na Bayambang”), binasuan dance contest, mural paintings on the Agno River dike, cultural mapping, museum-making contest, support for the St. Vincent Ferrer Prayer Park project, and all-out support for the annual town fiesta and Tourism Month activities, among many other initiatives. 

A town that is fiercely proud and protective of its historical and cultural heritage will no doubt reap rewards not just in terms of civic pride, but also in terms of economic gains.