Biggest Search for Documents in UNESCO Philippines’ Memory of the World (MoW) Registers

MANILA 30 April 2025 – A nationwide search for documents that can be listed in the UNESCO Memory of World Registers was launched by the National Memory of the World (MoW) Committee under the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines on 29 April 2025. According to National MoW Committee Chairperson, Professor Nick Deocampo, a document is a record of something produced by deliberate intellectual intent. Documents keep memories of the past alive.

Documents may disappear in time and with their disappearance our memory as a people vanishes with them. For this reason, the National MoW Committee launches the country’s biggest campaign to create public awareness of the importance of documents to Filipino life.

Stakeholders in-charge of the country’s are enjoined to spread the awareness of documents in preserving the knowledge kept inside documents. Constituting the country's documentary heritage are all forms of printed literature, cinema, recorded sound, maps, syllabary, and other artifacts and cultural ephemera.

At present, Filipino film heritage has been decimated with the loss of hundreds of films due to neglect and inadequate archival facilities. Ancient indigenous texts with native alphabets inscribed on bamboo and barks of trees have disappeared. Even photographs are hard to find in their original format. Every disappearance of a document comes with a loss of memory, whether personal, communal, or national.

Since its creation in 2006, the Philippine MoW registry has successfully enlisted nine documents in the international, regional and national registers. Among the more popular ones are Radio Broadcasts of the People Power Revolution, Doctrina Christiana, Eddie Romero’s “Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon?” and The FPJ Film Collections. 

Each of the inscriptions represents a vital part of the country’s identity and contributes to a  broader understanding of Philippine and world history.

But more needs to be done to recognize the rich documentary legacy that the nation has gathered over centuries of its growth. In the list of nominations for inclusion in the existing list are Jose Rizal’s novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, a collection of ethnographic films by folkloric dance master Ramos Obusan, three oldest books printed in the country, and a community newspaper representing early act of community journalism in Iloilo.

Archivists, librarians, cultural organizations, academics, and researchers are all enjoined to spread awareness of the significance of documents in preserving historical and cultural memory. END