International heritage experts will be here Monday to share expertise during a series of seminar-workshops for the fine-tuning of the Bohol Arts and Cultural Heritage (BACH) Code that will serve as an institutionalized policy in preserving and revitalizing Bohol cultural heritage. Organizers set the activity in two days, December 10 and 12 where officials from the province of Ifugao and Vigan City will be among the speakers to share their insights and experience in preserving their respective heritage sites. During the event, expert heritage scholars and policy-makers will also tackle law-making practices for heritage preservation. It has also been designed to provide a venue for provincial stakeholders in culture and tourism to participate in the formulation of the BACH Code.

Main organizers of the event are officers of the Bohol Arts and Cultural Heritage Council, Center for Cultural and Arts Development (CCAD) of the Office of the Governor, and the Provincial Board Committee on Arts and Culture chaired by PB Member Amalia Tirol, who also co-chairs the BACH Council. It will be participated in by members and officers of BACH Council, elected and appointed provincial officials, municipal mayors and cultural leaders from each town, members of the Tagbilaran City Arts and Culture Council, BITGAP and BOFETTO of the Bohol tourism sector, members from the Diocesan Commission for the Cultural Patrimony of the Church, BCCI and BAHRR of the business sector, representatives from the Department of Education and the academe, and the Bohol media.

On the opening program Monday at the UB-IRC, Bea Zobel de Ayala Jr. of the Ayala Foundation will give a special message, while CCAD Head and BACH Council Executive Director Enriqueta Butalid will explain the conference design and process. Governor Erico Aumentado will give an overview of the Bohol Cultural Development. Then GSIS Vice-President Dr. Eric Zerrudo, who is also the director of MET and GSIS museums and head of the NCCA International Affairs Office, will give a keynote lecture on Heritage and Development. To represent Ifugao Governor Teddy Baguilat, Ifugao Rice Terraces Cultural Heritage Office Head Rebecca Bumahit will talk about the Ifugao experience in protecting Banawe Rice Terraces as a world heritage site. Representing Vigan City Mayor Eva Medina, Councilor Ever Molina will discuss the Vigan experience in protecting the heritage of Vigan City as a world heritage site. Molina chairs the Committee on History and Education of Vigan City. There will be group discussions on the lectures.

The second part of the series will be held at the Meridian Hotel in Tagbilaran City where the authors- -German Torero, Mitzi Ibaya, and Boni Quirog, will present the first version of the BACH Code as approved by the Provincial Board on first reading. A people's referendum workshop on the BACH Code will then discuss the inputs, comments and reactions, including the provisions on the themes- -Built Heritage, Intangible Heritage, Education, and Sustainability. As the “provincial government sees the strategic role of arts and culture in our development programs,” the inputs from the series of seminars will be important in enhancing the envisioned BACH code, according to Aumentado. (PGMA)