Sen. Angara expressed his intentention to seek Spain’s help for RPs heritage conservation

By Jason de Asis

MADRID, Spain, November 1, 2010-Senator Edgardo J. Angara, who is set to receive the Premio Casa Asia award, expressed his intent to seek Spain’s help for the Philippines persisting heritage conservation efforts inspired by Spain’s success in preserving their cultural treasures.

The cultural arm of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Casa Asia) will award the Senator for his exceptional efforts in reawakening the Philippine-Spanish relations, citing the creation of RA 9187 which declares June 30 as the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day.

Angara will accept his award tomorrow when he plans to draw the attention of the Casa Asia members towards one of his main advocacies regarding the ongoing preservation and rehabilitation of the country’s historical sites.

He said millions of people visit their country because of their well-preserved historical sites and we must learn from them effectively, adding that the Philippines has a great potential for tourism industry.

The people of Spain can teach us in terms of hotel construction, training manpower, networking with tourism organizations and building a strategic tourism plan aside from promoting potential tourist attractions in which according to Angara, these initiatives would benefit and provide tourism boost to the economy and more jobs that it will create.

He explained, it is accurate to tap new markets and create more opportunities that would generate income and employment for the people, calling the attention of many historical and anthropological documents on colonial Philippines which stored in Spain’s archives and libraries.

Irreplaceable Spanish colonial documents can be found in the country, which could prove invaluable for historians from both countries.

“However, some of these documents are poorly stored in our museums, so we need Spain’s expertise in archival preservation and digitization. Also, these documents remain out of reach to most local historians fewer Filipinos can speak Spanish,” he lamented.

It could be remembered that he passed earlier this year in the 14^th Congress the law that provides a comprehensive set of guidelines for the identification, preservation and restoration of old documents and artifacts, as well as monuments, old buildings, shrines, landmarks and other sites and items of historical value in the Philippines which he authored and known as the National Cultural Heritage. (Jason de Asis)