November 22, 2019

CEBU – The National Economic and Development Authority urged the government to bank on the innate creativity of Filipinos to promote and preserve Filipino culture, and help boost the country’s creative economy.

“The innate creativity in Filipinos cannot be denied. The government sees this characteristic of the Filipino people—this passion for the arts—as an opportunity not only to encourage, support, and promote the creative industry in the Philippines, but also to protect and value our cultural identity and heritage as a nation,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said in his speech at the DOST-NRCP Visayas Policy Forum at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City.

According to a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies in 2014, creative industries contributed as much as 4.3 percent and 5.4 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

However, given the variation in data sets and metrics used by the different studies conducted to measure the size of the Philippines’ creative economy, there is still a need to improve the development and availability of cultural data in the country to aid in development planning and the 2030 Agenda.

The Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022 is the first medium-term development plan that has a chapter on promoting culture and values. It identifies the following key strategies: (a) valuing our diverse cultures, and (b) advancing pagkamalikhain or creative excellence.

“We must create strong linkages between the academe and the creative industry to generate opportunities for arts graduates and workers. There is also a need to establish regional arts academies and create specialized programs on cultural education and arts at the secondary and tertiary levels,” Pernia said.

The National Commission on Culture and Arts is currently developing two cultural hubs in the country, particularly the Maestranza, in Intramuros, Manila and another one in Bohol. These creative hubs will help in developing the country’s pool of creative talents and create opportunities for them.

On the local level, local government units currently have a dedicated budget on culture through the Department and Budget Management’s Local Budget Memorandum no. 78, s. 2019 and that will allow Local Culture and Arts Councils in LGUs to be established in the next three years.

The creative economy comprises music, performing arts, including dance and theatre, handicrafts, architecture, visual arts, graphic arts, cartoon animation, literature, fashion, furniture and interior design, film, digital inventions including computer games, television production, publishing, and advertising.

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