on tourism and preserving our cultural heritage

something i've written on the pinoy forum

i have nothing against tourism, i know it will help our economy.. and besides theres nothing wrong in having other people appreciate our own..per se..

it's just that in the process, many of our cultural heritage and cultures get 'compromised' in the process. commercialism does take its toll on the traditional arts that in my opinion, need to be 'preserved'. the tourists actually are not the MAIN culprit, but somehow, the promotion of tourism and commercialism forcibly invades and in extreme cases eradicate these dying cultures and art.

For example, I have been visiting the cordilleras since the early 90s.. and writing about and studying their culture-- the ifugaos, bontocs, sagadans, kalingas.. i've seen buildings slowly getting near the bontoc traditional village where their traditional weavers are, and the last year, the buildings are already in front of this used-to-be-great village, now in tatters. heck i even had a hard time looking for their 'main' weaver because she had to stop weaving and tend to the grandchildren because the mother of the kids was working as a saleslady in those buildings.. arghhh.. and you know what? this weaver i'm talking about was supposed to be the next winner of the national commission for culture and the arts, national artist for this category. hayyyy...

if their main weaver is not weaving anymore, and nobody is teaching younger generation bontocs this wonderful art, this traditional art is doomed..