The Department of Education (DepEd) and local government units (LGUs) in Antique will use the province’s compilation of yearlong cultural mapping as heritage reference material.

Dr. Eleonore Dagala, DepEd Schools Division of Antique Education Program Supervisor for Araling Panlipunan and the focal person on cultural mapping, said in an interview on Thursday that the compendium, composed of six books on natural, tangible, and intangible heritage, significant personalities, and cultural institutions in the province, would be launched on Friday.

“The cultural mapping received a funding of PHP7.8 million from the DepEd Central Office through the initiative of Senator Loren Legarda,” Dagala said.

The cultural mapping was implemented in collaboration with the University of the Philippines in the Visayas, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and Antique’s provincial government, which provided technical support and intensive training on teachers, who served as cultural mappers, she added.

“There were also experts on culture and history in the province of Antique who helped,” Dagala said.

The project started in January 2021 during the height of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Even with movement restrictions, teachers identified as cultural mappers did their best to inventory the cultural properties within the 22 school districts under the DepEd in the 18 municipalities of the province during weekends.

Engineer Jonathan de Gracia, among the experts consulted during the cultural mapping, said one of the cultural properties is the bust monument of Andres Bonifacio found in a crossing beside the Sibalom town plaza. It will turn 100 years old next year.

“The Andres Bonifacio Monument is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, cultural property in Antique,” de Gracia said.

The Provincial Board, through Ordinance 2021-279, declared the monument a historical and cultural heritage of the province in 2021. (PNA)