What has happened in Vigan since inscription on the Unesco World Heritage list has evolved into a heritage success story....
As we Filipinos go about our daily lives, we are often blissfully unaware that the streets we navigate had been the sites of massive devastation about seven decades ago, during the Second World War.
The Quirino clan converged in the historic city of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, on July 21-24, for their first hometown reunion. Coming from as far as the United States, Bahrain and Belgium, the 120-strong contingent of third- to sixth-generation descendants of the patriarch Mariano boarded two buses and a dozen cars and vans early in the morning of July 21 to begin a journey of 400 km.
At UP High in Padre Faura, after the war, we read Shakespeare, notably Hamlet, which, like all the bard’s plays, teems with memorable passages like the soliloquies and lines from the dialogue, as when Hamlet tells his stoic friend, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” This, after the ghost scene.
The International Conference on Cultural Tourism of the International Council for Monuments and Sites (Icomos) will be held in the City of Vigan, Philippines, Nov. 7-8.
Year 2012 is a banner year for the Philippines in conservation and management of World Heritage properties.
The World Costume Festival 2013, to be held April 26-May 2 in the heritage city of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, is expected to be not only a pleasure trip but also an educational tour both for tourists and participants.
At the World Street Food Congress held on the first week of June, a friend griped that there wasn’t any Filipino street food mentioned, nor were there any on exhibit.
This column welcomes the appointment of Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, OMI, of South Cotabato as the Philippines’ newest cardinal. He is the first Ilocano cardinal, having hailed from Sarrat, Ilocos Norte.
Here’s one list the country would be proud to be on for a change. The Department of Foreign Affairs is calling on Filipinos worldwide to vote for the heritage city of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, in the New7Wonders Cities campaign, a global competition initiated by Swiss nonprofit New7Wonders Foundation.
