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.
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