3. Cultural Heritage is an expression of the
ways of living developed by a community and
passed on from generation to generation,
including customs, practices, places, objects,
artistic expressions and values. Cultural
Heritage is often expressed as either
Intangible or Tangible Cultural Heritage
(ICOMOS, 2002).
Source: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/illicit-trafficking-of-cultural-property/unesco-database-of-national-
cultural-heritage-laws/frequently-asked-questions/definition-of-the-cultural-heritage/
4. As part of human activity Cultural
Heritage produces tangible representations of
the value systems, beliefs, traditions and
lifestyles. As an essential part of culture as a
whole, Cultural Heritage, contains these visible
and tangible traces form antiquity to the
recent past.
Source: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/illicit-trafficking-of-cultural-property/unesco-database-of-national-
cultural-heritage-laws/frequently-asked-questions/definition-of-the-cultural-heritage/
6. Located in the continent of Asia,
the Philippines is the second largest
archipelago in the world after Indonesia.
There are more than 7,100
individual islands counted within the
Philippines’ borders, of which only
about 2,000 are inhabited.
The islands are clustered into
the three major island groups of Luzon,
Visayas, and Mindanao - while a further
5,000 islands are yet to be named.
The Philippines covers 115,124 square
miles of land and 706 square miles of
water, making it the 73rd largest nation
in the world with a total area of 115,830
square miles.
7. • Natural Heritage
– Environment
Natural Landscape
Landforms
Coastal and Inland Water Sources
– Flora and Fauna
Terrestrial
Marine
8. • Man-made Built Heritage
– Cultural Landscape
– Archaeological Sites
– Historic Urban Sites / Heritage
Groups
– Monuments, Buildings or Structures
9. Tubbataha Reefs Natural
Park
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Heritage Park, 2015
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) World Heritage Site, 1993
Location: Middle of the Sulu Sea, 181 kilometers southeast of Puerto
Princesa, Palawan
Tubbataha is every diver's heaven.
It is, after all, right smack in the center of the
Coral Triangle, the global center of marine
biodiversity. Housed in almost 100,000
hectares of the reef ecosystem are over 350
species of coral, almost 500 species of fish,
and various kinds of whales, dolphins,
sharks, and turtles. It also protects one of the
few remaining colonies of breeding seabirds.
It was the first-ever national marine park to
be declared in the country after it was
established in 1988 by former President
Corazon Aquino.
10. Mount Hamiguitan Range
Wildlife Sanctuary
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) World Heritage Site, 2014
Location: Mati, San Isidro, Davao Oriental, Philippines
Forming a mountain ridge running
north-south along the Pujada Peninsula in the
south-eastern part of the Eastern Mindanao
Biodiversity Corridor, the Mount Hamiguitan
Range Wildlife Sanctuary has an elevation
range of 75–1,637 m above sea level and
provides critical habitat for a range of plant and
animal species. The property showcases
terrestrial and aquatic habitats at different
elevations, and includes threatened and endemic
flora and fauna species, eight of which are
found only at Mount Hamiguitan. These include
critically endangered trees, plants and the iconic
Philippine eagle and Philippine cockatoo.
11. Mayon Volcano
Location: province of Albay in Bicol Region, Philippines
Beautifully symmetrical Mayon
volcano, which rises to 2462 m above the Albay
Gulf, is the Philippines' most active volcano.
The structurally simple volcano has steep upper
slopes averaging 35-40 degrees that are capped
by a small summit crater. The historical
eruptions of this basaltic-andesitic volcano date
back to 1616 and range from strombolian to
basaltic plinian, with cyclical activity beginning
with basaltic eruptions, followed by longer term
andesitic lava flows. Eruptions occur
predominately from the central conduit and
have also produced lava flows that travel far
down the flanks. Pyroclastic flows and
mudflows have commonly swept down many of
the approximately 40 ravines that radiate from
the summit and have often devastated populated
lowland areas. Mayon's most violent eruption,
in 1814, killed more than 1200 people and
devastated several towns.
12. Puerto Princesa
Subterranean River
National Park
Inscribe in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1999
Location: Saint Paul Mountain Range on the northern coast of
Palawan
The Puerto Princesa
Subterranean River National Park
features a spectacular limestone karst
landscape with its underground river.
The river is unique because it flows
directly into the sea, and its lower
portion is subject to tidal influences.
The area also represents a significant
habitat for biodiversity conservation.
The site contains a whole ecosystem --
- from mountain to the sea; and
protects forests, which are among the
most significant in Asia.
13. Chocolate Hills
Location: Bohol, Philippines
The Chocolate Hills form a rolling
terrain of haycock-shaped hills – mounds of a
generally conical and almost symmetrical
shape. Estimated to be from 1,268 to about 1,776
individual mounds, these cone-shaped or dome-
shaped hills are actually made of grass-covered
limestone. The domes vary in sizes from 30 to 50
metres (98 to 164 ft) high with the largest being
120 metres (390 ft) in height. Bohol's "main
attraction", these unique mound-shaped hills are
scattered by the hundreds.
During the dry season, the grass-
covered hills dry up and turn chocolate brown.
This transforms the area into seemingly endless
rows of Hershey’s “chocolate kisses”. The
branded confection is the inspiration behind the
name, Chocolate Hills
14. Baroque Churches of the Philippines
Inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993
These four churches, the first of which was built by the
Spanish in the late 16th century, are located in Manila, Santa Maria,
Paoay and Miag-ao. Their unique architectural style is a
reinterpretation of European Baroque by Chinese and Philippine
craftsmen.
1. Church of the Immaculate Conception of San Agustin
(Manila)
2. Church of La Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion
3. Church of San Agustin (Paoay)
4. Church of Santo Tomas de Villanueva
15. San Agustin Church
Location: Intramuros, Manila, Philippines
Built in 1587, the San Agustin Church is the
oldest stone church in the Philippines, the only one that
remains as the original evidence of the 16th century
Spanish architecture. It has defied several earthquakes
and the heavy shelling of both Japanese and American
forces in 1945 and now stands as a reminder of the
grandeur of the past.
The structural design of the church is
extraordinary. It boasts of the only example in the
country of a barrel vault, dome and arched vestibules,
supporting its choir loft, all made of stone. Its façade is
notable for its two pairs of columns – the lowest pair in
Doric style, the upper pair in Corinthian topped by a
pediment surmounted by a Cross. The main door,
carved out of Philippine molave, has a bas-relief of St.
Augustine and his mother, Santa Monica. San Agustin
Church represents the art and technology of Spanish,
Chinese, and native cultures fused together “to suit
human sentiments and faiths that found expression in
customs and traditions that were evolved through the
centuries.”
16. Nuestra Señora de la
Asuncion Church
Location: Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur
The Church of Nuestra Senora de la
Asuncion in Santa Maria is unique for its utter
disregard for the traditional Spanish urban plan of
constructing the church to face the plaza, and less
imposing religious and official buildings grouped
around. It also has a citadel appearance as the
church, with its convent and bell tower, stands alone
on the crown of a solitary hill encircled by a
stonewall, with stone stairways leading to the
church.
It is the only church in the Philippines
exuding the ambience of a Mediterranean hill town
with its convent built parallel to the church façade
and its bell tower detached from the main church.
Evoking a Chinese pagoda, the bell tower of
octagonal shapes of decreasing diameter is crowned
by a small dome, tapering to the sky with an oriental
grace.
17. Church of San Agustin
Location: Paoay, Ilocos Norte, Philippines
Paoay’s San Agustin Church, built in
1604, is one of the most outstanding variants of
“earthquake baroque” in the Philippines, where
the primary consideration was to design the
structure for earthquake protection.
The façade of San Agustin Church is
astounding but its most prominent feature is the
phalanx of buttresses that juts out perpendicularly
from the sidewalls, purposely to strengthen the
walls – and the entire structure – against
earthquake damage. Fourteen massive S-shaped
buttresses rise in rhythmic cadence from the
ground to the roofline.
The church is an eye-catcher as it
emerges from a beautiful open space, unlike
many other churches located within urban
settings.
18. Miag-ao Church or
Church of Santo Tomas de
Villanueva
Location: Iloilo, Philippines
Built in yellow-orange sandstone, the large
fortress-church of Miag-ao was completed in 1797. It
served as a fortress against raids of marauding Moro
pirates.
The church is amazingly beautiful because
of its two asymmetric pyramidal towers and its finely
sculptured, yellow sandstone façade. Its façade’s
carving is the pinnacle of Filipino naïve art, in which
craftsmen abandon all restraints to interpret Western
decorative styles in the local folk idiom. The central
element in the façade is Saint Christopher, clad like a
Filipino farmer with rolled-up trousers. He carries the
Christ Child on his back while holding on to a lush
coconut tree for support. Beside him are guava and
papaya trees, flanked by ornamental urns. The scene
merges Western Catholic iconography with a folk
interpretation of coastal Iloilo countryside
19. Historic Town of Vigan
Inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1999
Location: Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines
The 16th century town of Vigan is “an
exceptionally intact and well-preserved example
of a European trading town in East and East
Asia.” Its architecture reflects the fusion of
cultural elements from the Philippines, China and
Europe, resulting in a culture and townscape that
has no parallel anywhere in East and Southeast
Asia.
Seemingly impervious to time, spared
from rebellion and the ravages of war, Vigan has
remained unchanged and its many preserved
historic sites – more than 180 edifices – make it
look like “a piece of Spain.” With its grand
cathedral, massive mansions with red-tile roofs
and spacious balconies, narrow cobblestone
streets, horse drawn carriages, and friendly faces
peering out of large windows, Vigan is a place
where “time stood still.”
20. Rice Terraces
Inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1995
Location: Ifugao Province, Cordillera Region, Philippines
The 2,000-year old Banaue Rice Terraces –
the most extensive anywhere in the world – were carved
into the mountains of Ifugao by ancestors of the Batad
indigenous people. The terraces are located
approximately 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) above sea level
and cover 10,360 square kilometers (about 4,000 square
miles) of the mountainside.
Known as the “eight wonder of the world,”
the terraces were carved with only simple tools and bare
hands. They are fed by an ancient irrigation system, an
ingenious complex of bamboo pipes and canals,
drawing water from streams created by bubbling
springs located in the mountain rainforests.
Considered as a monument to man’s genius
in turning a rugged and forbidding terrain into a source
of sustenance, the rice terraces stand to be the most
awe-inspiring man-made landscape in the Cordilleras.
They are also invariably called “The Stairway to the
Sky.”
21. Magellan’s Cross
Location: Cebu City, Philippines
Magellan’s Cross holds a
very big part of the history of Cebu.
It is believed to be a Christian cross
planted by the Portuguese and
Spanish explorers headed by
Ferdinand Magellan. It was planted
upon their arrival in Cebu on March
15, 1521. That day also marked the
birth of Christianity in the land.
22. Batanes
Location: Batanes, Philippines
Characterized by a complex of terrestrial,
wetland and marine ecosystem, the Batanes group of
islands consist of 10 small islands bounded by the
Eashi Channel on the north, by the Pacific Ocean on
the east, by the South China Sea on the west and the
Balintang Channel on the south. It is one of the last
remaining areas in the Philippines having unique
natural physiographic features (wave-cut cliffs, cave-
like outcrops, secluded white sand beaches) resulting
from its position where strong winds and fast currents
have etched out its distinct morphology. It is an
important flyaway for many migratory bird species,
and the deper portions of the marine environment are
the few remaining sites where pink and red corals
(Corallum sp.) are found. The site is the only area in
the Philippines where traditional architecture is of
stone in response to the wind and monsoon stresses
rather than of the more typical, tropical, impermanent
materials (wood, bamboo, thatch) commonly used in
village architecture. Due to its isolation from the rest
of the country, the traditional culture of the area has
likewise remained intact.
23. Rizal Park
Location: Batanes, Philippines
Still widely known as 'Luneta' (its
name until the 1950s), Manila’s iconic central
park is spread out over some 60 hectares of
open lawns, ornamental gardens, ponds, paved
walks and wooded areas, dotted with
monuments to a whole pantheon of Filipino
heroes. As the place where José Rizal was
executed by the Spanish colonial authorities,
it's also of great historical significance.
The Rizal Park Visitors Centre provides a map
detailing some 40 sights within the park.
Rizal Park an atmospheric place to
take a stroll, particularly late afternoon, early
evening and on weekends. Here you'll find
the Rizal Monument, fronted by a 46m
flagpole and guarded by sentries in full
regalia, which contains the hero’s mortal
remains and stands as a symbol of Filipino
nationhood.
25. Hudhud Chants of the Ifugao
Inscribed in 2008 (3.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage of Humanity (originally proclaimed in 2001)
The Hudhud consists of narrative chants
traditionally performed by the Ifugao community, which
is well known for its rice terraces extending over the
highlands of the northern island of the Philippine
archipelago. It is practised during the rice sowing season,
at harvest time and at funeral wakes and rituals. Thought
to have originated before the seventh century, the Hudhud
comprises more than 200 chants, each divided into 40
episodes. A complete recitation may last several days.
Since the Ifugao’s culture is matrilineal, the
wife generally takes the main part in the chants, and her
brother occupies a higher position than her husband. The
language of the stories abounds in figurative expressions
and repetitions and employs metonymy, metaphor and
onomatopoeia, rendering transcription very difficult.
Thus, there are very few written expressions of this
tradition. The chant tells about ancestral heroes,
customary law, religious beliefs and traditional practices,
and reflects the importance of rice cultivation. The
narrators, mainly elderly women, hold a key position in
the community, both as historians and preachers. The
Hudhud epic is chanted alternately by the first narrator
and a choir, employing a single melody for all the verses.
26. Darangen epic of the Maranao
people of Lake Lanao
Inscribed in 2008 (3.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of
Humanity (originally proclaimed in 2005)
The Darangen is an ancient epic song that
encompasses a wealth of knowledge of the Maranao people
who live in the Lake Lanao region of Mindanao. This
southernmost island of the Philippine archipelago is the
traditional homeland of the Maranao, one of the country’s
three main Muslim groups.
Comprising 17 cycles and a total of 72,000 lines,
the Darangen celebrates episodes from Maranao history and
the tribulations of mythical heroes. In addition to having a
compelling narrative content, the epic explores the underlying
themes of life and death, courtship, love and politics through
symbol, metaphor, irony and satire. The Darangen also
encodes customary law, standards of social and ethical
behaviour, notions of aesthetic beauty, and social values
specific to the Maranao. To this day, elders refer to this time-
honoured text in the administration of customary law.
Meaning literally “to narrate in song”, the
Darangen existed before the Islamization of the Philippines in
the fourteenth century and is part of a wider epic culture
connected to early Sanskrit traditions extending through most
of Mindanao. Though the Darangen has been largely
transmitted orally, parts of the epic have been recorded in
manuscripts using an ancient writing system based on the
Arabic script. Specialized female and male performers sing
the Darangen during wedding celebrations that typically last
several nights.
27. Tugging rituals and games
Inscribed in 2015 (10.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage of Humanity
Tugging rituals and games in the rice-farming
cultures of East Asia and Southeast Asia are enacted
among communities to ensure abundant harvests and
prosperity. They promote social solidarity, provide
entertainment and mark the start of a new agricultural
cycle. Many tugging rituals and games also have
profound religious significance. Most variations include
two teams, each of which pulls one end of a rope
attempting to tug it from the other. The intentionally
uncompetitive nature of the event removes the emphasis
on winning or losing, affirming that these traditions are
performed to promote the well-being of the community,
and reminding members of the importance of
cooperation. Many tugging games bear the traces of
agricultural rituals, symbolizing the strength of natural
forces, such as the sun and rain while also incorporating
mythological elements or purification rites. Tugging
rituals and games are often organized in front of a
village’s communal house or shrine, preceded by
commemorative rites to local protective deities. Village
elders play active roles in leading and organizing younger
people in playing the game and holding accompanying
rituals. Tugging rituals and games also serve to strengthen
unity and solidarity and sense of belonging and identity
among community members.
28. Buklog, thanksgiving ritual
system of the Subanen
Inscribed in 2019 (14.COM) on the List of Intangible Cultural
Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding
National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Philippines, 2018
Buklog is an elaborate thanksgiving ritual system
of the Subanen, an indigenous people in the southern
Philippines. The head of a host family, usually a village chief
called ‘timuay’, plans the ritual system to express gratitude to
the spirits. The rituals ensure harmony among family, clan
and community members, as well as among the human,
natural and spiritual worlds. They include asking the spirits
for permission to gather materials from the forest, presenting
coin offerings, inviting the spirits of the departed to feast,
invoking spirits of water and land, and music and dance.
Afterwards, participants dance on an elevated wooden
structure called the ‘Buklog’ – a sacred and social space –
which resonates with a sound believed to please the spirits.
This is followed by a community dance marking the renewal
of spiritual and social relationships within the community.
Though the ritual system remains the community’s strongest
unifying force, there are several social, political and economic
threats that compromise its viability, notably the influx of
other cultures into the Subanen’s traditional homeland,
changes in family dynamics and economic constraints.
Therefore, although the Subanen have developed highly
adaptive mechanisms to ensure their culture survives, the
Buklog is now regarded as highly vulnerable, facing several
severe interrelated threats and constraints
29. Ati-Atihan Festival
The Ati-Atihan festival is celebrated
every January, culminating on the month’s
third Sunday. 800 years old, the festival is
known as the oldest festival in the country and
the precursor to both Cebu’s famous Sinulog
festival and Iloilo’s Dinagyang — all of which
are held today in honor of the Santo Niño (a
statue of The Child Jesus). But despite its
Catholic affiliations today, the roots of this
festival had nothing to do with religion at all.
30. Sinulog Festival
The Sinulog festival is one of the grandest and
most colorful festivals in the Philippines with a very rich
history. The main festival is held each year on the third
Sunday of January in Cebu City to honor the Santo Niño,
or the child Jesus, who used to be the patron saint of the
whole province of Cebu (since in the Catholic faith Jesus
is not a saint, but God). It is essentially a dance ritual
which remembers the Filipino people’s pagan past and
their acceptance of Christianity.
The festival features some the country’s most
colorful displays of pomp and pageantry: participants
garbed in bright-colored costumes dance to the rhythm of
drums, trumpets, and native gongs. The streets are usually
lined with vendors and pedestrians all wanting to witness
the street-dancing. Smaller versions of the festival are
also held in various parts of the province, also to
celebrate and honor the Santo Niño. There is also a
Sinulog sa Kabataan, which is performed by the youths of
Cebu a week before the Grand Parade.
Aside from the colorful and festive dancing,
there is also the SME trade fair where Sinulog features
Cebu export quality products and people around the
world flock on the treasures that are Cebu.
