Southern Leyte, particularly the municipality of Limasawa and city of Maasin, will host his year’s opening of the Taoid Heritage Program Celebration, spearheaded by the Subcommission on Cultural Heritage (SCH) of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in conjunction with the 493rd anniversary today, March 31, of  the first Mass in the Philippines

 

Today’s celebration kicks off the National Heritage Month in May 2014.

 

Limasawa Island is a historical place, considered by many as the “site of the first Mass in the Philippines” on March 31, 1521.

 

Southern Leyte’s smallest municipality, Limasawa, located in the southern tip of Leyte, was visited by Chinese and perhaps Arabic traders before the arrival of the Spaniards. The island municipality  holds an annual commemoration of the first Catholic Mass in the Philippines through the Sinugdan Festival every March 31.

 

Activities start in the morning when the Santo Niño de Cebu image will arrive in the barangay of Triana via a fluvial parade, and will proceed to the barangay of Magallanes via a foot procession.

 

After a six-gun salute to the icon, the anniversary Mass will be held. Later, the Taoid heritage program will be launched by local officials as well as the NCCA.

 

In the afternoon, SCH officials will conduct an ocular inspection and technical assessment of cultural properties, sites and structures including the library, First Mass marker, schools and the municipal hall, as well as natural heritage sites.

 

The steering committee of Taoid 2014 is composed of Fr. Harold Ll. Rentoria, OSA, head of SCH and the NCCA National Committee on Archives; Stephen S. Totanes, vice head of SCH and head  of the National Committee on Historical Research; Lucille Karen E. Malilong-Isberto, SCH secretary and head of the National Committee on Monuments and Sites; Marilou P. Tadlip, assistant secretary and head of the National Committee on Libraries and Information Service; Robert Bjorn O. Santos, SCH member and head of the National Committee on Art Galleries; and Amado R. Alvarez, SCH member and head of the National Committee on Museums.

 

For more details, contact NCCA-Public Affairs and Information Office head Rene Sanchez Napeñas at tel. 632-5272192 or 0928-5081057.  Log on to www.ncca.gov.ph or e-mail [email protected].