Feb. 15,2010
NCCA Exec Urges LGUs To Develop Local Talents
By Quirico M. Gorpido, Jr.

Maasin City, Southern Leyte-Malou Jacob, Deputy Executive Director, National Commission For Culture and Arts has strongly urged concerned public officials to help develop their respective LGUs talented dancers, musicians, choreographers including singers and potential actors/actresses by collaborating with her office.
The NCCA Director who was here as the guest of honor and speaker during the Sinugdan Festival presentation expressed the aforesaid statement after she personally witnessed the recent dance performances of 19 contingents from the 18 municipalities and one city. The contingents have performed a variety of dance presentations before a thick crowd of spectators from all walks of life at the Capitol Playground.
On her post-presentation speech she expressed her impressions of some talented dancers, choreographers and musicians who have to rehearse for several weeks or even months in order to come up with good performances prior to the upcoming event.Sinugdan Festival was one of the 7-day activities before the culmination of the 49th founding day anniversary celebration of the province of Southern Leyte.
“I have discovered some talents here by watching their dance presentations”, she said. “You can see the kind of discipline that they have. Really it’s not a joke. What with the kind of choreographic supervisions that each choreographer has to do for their respective groups to come up with the kind of performances that they have here together plus their colorful attires.”.
Jacob has also strongly encouraged and persuaded the interested dancers, chereograpers and musicians to regularly communicate with the NCCA office. She said her office can conduct training-workshops for them to develop and enhance their talents and skills. She enjoined them to make some proposals also as part of the NCAA’s adopted programs for its future implementations and development of the Philippines’ culture and arts.
The guest speaker pointed out that there’s a need for the various artists relating to the culture and arts “to go back to the core of our culture at the time of Jose Rizal”.
She added that it’s the NCCA’s objective to preserve and sustain “the core of our culture and arts” as our distinct identity as Filipinos. “The Philippines is one of the countries of the world that has many different cultures”, she stressed.
Earlier in the afternoon there was a street dancing starting from the Anatalio Gaviola plaza junction down to the 2-kilometer stretch of the Provincial Capitol Playground otherwise known as the Sunken Garden. The scorching heat of the sun was somewhat ignored by all the dancing contingents. The acquired discipline to dance even after the exhaustive weeks of rehearsals under hot weather condition was prevailing. Wearing colorful attires and with props their zealousness and enthusiasm were all perceivable in the way that they lively danced with gusto.
Other activities in connection with the recent 49th Founding Day anniversary of Southern Leyte were cycling competition(from Malitbog to Maasin and back),anniversary walk,inter-town boxing competition, Congressman Mercado’s Cup(badminton and lawn tennis),mountain bike circuit race(Maasin to St.Bernard en route to San Rafael-Bontoc-Sogod-Libagon),Concert At the Park,Agri-Fish Fair Garden Show, Quiz Bee, Cultural Show. (Quirico M. Gorpido, Jr.)