Benguet to craft School of Living Tradition masterplan

By Susan Aro

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- A provincial School of Living Tradition (SLT) master plan will be crafted which will serve as blueprint in sustaining teaching of skills and techniques of traditional art or craft passed on to generations.

Cultural masters, cultural bearers, recipients and proponents of National Commission on Culture and the Arts- assisted projects and other cultural stakeholders  discussed this in a three-day seminar workshop from March 1-3.

Topics were: Enhanced Schools of Living Tradition by NCCA representative Ivy Buenaobra; Culture and Cultural Analysis by Cultural Master Belmer Yano; Visioning also by Yano; Strategy Formulation by Dr. Ryan Guinaran; Master Planning and Small and Medium Enterprise Development Services by Department of Trade and Industry-Benguet. Workshop sessions will follow after the lectures.

The Non-Timber Forest Product-Enterprise Program Philippines, a non-government organization funding non-timber and non-concrete structures, together with NCCA gave a briefing on support of organizations. 

The master plan will pave the way for sustaining an SLT center which will be established in Datakan, Kapangan, according to Provincial Tourism Operations Office Chief Clarita Prudencio.

The center, which will be used as convergence site of SLT activities, would be a simply designed structure built out of traditional or indigenous materials, she said.

The center site was selected based on provincial recommendation and validated by NCCA, said Prudencio.

SLT is where a living master/culture bearer or culture specialist teaches skills and techniques of doing a traditional art or craft. The mode of teaching is usually non-formal, oral and with practical demonstrations.

The site maybe the house of the living master, a community social hall, or a center constructed for the purpose.

In related development, the provincial government will undertake the improvement of barangay hall in Datakan which will showcase the woven and embroidered product of the area called “pakda”, an NCCA assisted project.