UNESCO Philippines’ Memory of the World (MoW) Committee Launches Biggest Documentary Heritage Program

MANILA 30 April 2025 – The National Memory of the World (MoW) Committee, under the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines, launched the country’s biggest campaign for the Philippine Documentary Heritage Program on 29 April 2025 at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Double Dragon Tower, Meridian Park, Pasay City. Invited are stakeholders in-charge of the country’s documentary heritage including those found in printed literature, cinema, recorded sound, maps, syllabary, and other artefacts and cultural ephemera. According to MoW chairman Prof. Nick Deocampo, documents are records of something produced by deliberate intellectual intent. If not preserved, these documents will disappear in time and with their disappearance our memory as a people vanishes with them.

For instance, hundreds of pre-World War II films have been gutted by war and by the lack of a film archive to preserve them. Philippine cinema is in danger of losing many of its earliest works, including those made in the present. Ancient texts with indigenous syllabaries written on bamboos and barks of trees and antiquated printing systems disappeared over time. Song and dance notations of folk tunes and dances have been lost. 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. The notion of the nation rests on the collective memory of a people.

Since its creation in 2006, the National MoW Committee has successfully enlisted local and national documents to UNESCO’s three MoW registers: 

In the International Register, the Philippines is represented by the following: 

• Presidential Papers Manuel L. Quezon – compiled writings by the Commonwealth president; 
• Radio Broadcast of the People Power Revolution – radio broadcast transmission during the four-day EDSA revolt; 
• Jose Maceda Collection – musical archive and field notes; 
• Philippine Paleographs – ancient syllabary etched on bamboo;

In the Asia-Pacific Regional Register, three significant entries showcase both historical and oral traditions: 

• Culion Leprosy Archives – museum and archives on leprosy located in Palawan Island.
• Doctrina Christiana (1593) – one of the earliest printed books in the Philippines and
• Hinilawod Epic Chant Recordings – oral narratives from Panay Island, preserving pre-colonial chanted literature. 

The National Register includes: 

• National Artist Eddie Romero’s Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon? – a film classic chronicling Filipino identity during the epochal birth of the Philippine nation, and 
• The FPJ Film Collection – cinematic legacy of Fernando Poe Jr. including his films, scripts, and photographs. 

Each of these inscriptions represents a vital part of the country’s identity and contributes to a broader understanding of Philippine and world history. The launch also called for new nominations to be submitted for enlistment in the MoW registers. END