DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM — REGION III
PAMANA
Parangal sa Manlilikhang Natatangi
A regional recognition program honoring the master weavers, carvers, healers, and other culture bearers who have spent a lifetime keeping Central Luzon’s living traditions alive — and teaching them forward.
In partnership with, and funded by, the HANN Foundation
Program operations by Iconopixel Multimedia Production
01 — ABOUT THE PROGRAM
What is a PAMANA recognition?
“Pamana” is the Filipino word for heritage, or legacy — something passed down as an intergenerational tradition from one’s ancestors.
Pamanang Gitnang Luzon (PAMANA) identifies and celebrates culture bearers — among them master weavers, carvers, and traditional healers — who have dedicated decades of their lives to practicing and teaching their ancestral crafts.
Every nominee is evaluated on three things: how their community recognizes them, how deep their technical mastery runs, and how ethically they pass their knowledge on to the next generation. The program closes each cycle with a public awarding ceremony featuring cinematic tributes and a custom-crafted trophy for every honoree, and it feeds into a permanent digital repository documenting these skills for the region.
02 — KEY TERMS
Words worth knowing before you begin
- Culture Bearer
- An individual formally recognized by their community as a practitioner and custodian of a living folk art. A culture bearer does not just perform or produce the craft — they actively pass on its knowledge, technique, and meaning to others. PAMANA recognizes two types: Master Artisan and Emerging Artisan.
- Folk Art
- The traditional, handmade, physically performed practices of a community, carried forward through generations as a way of life. Folk art reflects a people’s identity and history, and its makers follow a pedagogy rooted in the community itself, even without formal training.
- Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
- Living expressions inherited from ancestors and transmitted across generations — oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, and traditional craftsmanship. UNESCO describes ICH as at once traditional, contemporary and living, inclusive, representative, and community-based.
Source: UNESCO, “What Is Intangible Cultural Heritage?”, 2011. - Dossier
- The full compendium of documents — essays, forms, photos, and supporting files — a nominator assembles to present a culture bearer’s practice for recognition and safeguarding.
03 — OBJECTIVES
What the program sets out to do
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Recognize and honor culture bearers in Central Luzon for their excellence, authenticity, dedication, and transmission of traditional folk arts.
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Safeguard and sustain indigenous knowledge, living traditions, and community-based practices by supporting the transfer of skills to the next generation.
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Promote wider appreciation of Central Luzon’s cultural diversity, and contribute to policy that supports grassroots cultural practices.
04 — CATEGORIES
Every nomination is filed under one category
A nominator selects the single category that best fits the culture bearer’s practice.
05 — ELIGIBILITY
Who can be nominated
- A Filipino citizen residing in Central Luzon.
- Practicing a folk art that is a living intangible cultural heritage of their community — weaving, pottery, epic chanting, woodcarving, traditional healing, ritual performance, and the like.
- Has practiced the folk art for decades, either as a pioneer of the craft locally, someone who brought it from elsewhere, or someone who inherited it through family or community transmission.
- Recognized and respected by their community as either an emerging or a master artisan of the tradition.
06 — EVALUATION
Two honoree types, two rubrics
Every nomination is scored against one of two rubrics, chosen by the nominator based on the culture bearer’s level of mastery and standing in the community. Each rubric totals 100%.
Master Artisan
living archive, apprentice lineage25%
grammar of the form preserved20%
custodian, dispute resolution20%
the why and when20%
sourcing, ecology, toolmaking15%
Emerging Artisan
Note: it is the nominator who decides which of the two the culture bearer is being nominated for.
07 — WHO CAN NOMINATE
Nominating a culture bearer
For the 2026 cycle, PAMANA nominations are coordinated through each city or municipality’s Local Government Unit (LGU). It is the LGU — through its tourism or cultural affairs office, down to the level of a barangay captain or kagawad — that identifies the culture bearer, assembles the complete dossier on their behalf, and collects the required endorsements from people who know the nominee well.
There is no paper version of the nomination form. Nominations are accepted only through the e-nomination page on this website — the LGU completes and submits the full dossier digitally, with all supporting files uploaded there directly.
08 — THE DOSSIER
What a complete submission includes
The dossier is submitted digitally through the PAMANA website. All nine items below are required.
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Nomination FormDuly accomplished, using the DOT-III template.
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Proof of identityA scanned PSA Birth Certificate or valid government ID, as a separate JPG or PNG.
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Bionote300–500 words, English or Filipino, in Google Docs. Times New Roman, single-spaced, 16pt title / 12pt body, A4 size.
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Ten pieces of visual evidencePrior photos of workshops, apprenticeships, or community activities, taken with the culture bearer’s approval.Every image needs a source citation — e.g. “Pedro Lopez during the woodcarving festival, Paete, Laguna, 2003. Photo by Juan De La Cruz.”
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Two Endorsement FormsCompleted by people who know the culture bearer well — a family member, friend, neighbor, co-worker, or peer — and collected by the LGU on the nominee’s behalf.These may be filled out and signed on paper, then scanned or photographed and converted to a single PDF for upload — a signed digital copy, not the physical original, is what gets submitted.
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Video filesAny existing documentation or archival footage (if available), plus a required interview with the culture bearer about their practice, capped at two minutes and ideally submitted raw.Chanting, traditional healing, and ritual performance nominees additionally submit a narrated three-minute demonstration video — see note below.
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Supporting documentsCertificates from workshops, seminars, or competitions, or news coverage of the culture bearer, as separate JPG or PNG files.
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Profile photoA recent portrait-style, vertical photo — formal or a candid “while working” shot.
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The essay1,500 words on the culture bearer’s background, why they deserve recognition, and the significance of the ICH in their community. Includes two to three landmark works (title, year, patron if any, materials, current location). Same formatting as the bionote: Times New Roman, single-spaced, 16pt/12pt, A4, images embedded in the document.
For chanting, healing, or ritual performance nomineesAn additional three-minute video is required, showing an authentic demonstration (archival footage may be combined with recent recordings) with a narrated voice-over on the practice’s cultural value, history, and significance to the nominee’s life.
09 — HOW NOMINATIONS ARE REVIEWED
The selection process
PAMANA is not a competition — culture bearers from different towns practicing the same craft are never pitted against one another. Each dossier is assessed on its own merits against the rubric for its honoree type.
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Secretariat review
The DOT-III Secretariat checks every submission for completeness. Only complete dossiers move forward.
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Panel assessment
A regional panel of cultural workers, artists, scholars, and government representatives evaluates each eligible nomination.
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Rubric-based scoring
Nominees who pass panel screening are scored against the Master Artisan or Emerging Artisan rubric.
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Field validation
Interviews or site visits may be conducted as needed to verify authenticity and cultural significance.
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Recognition
Qualifying culture bearers are notified and formally honored at a public awarding ceremony, and may be engaged in future DOT programs.
10 — TIMELINE
Program milestones
The awarding ceremony date is still being finalized and will be announced through official DOT-III channels.
| Milestone | On-site activity | Online / virtual activity |
|---|---|---|
| Launch | September 7, 2026 | September 7, 2026 |
| Call for nominations | September 7–15, 2026 | September 7–15, 2026 |
| Deadline of submission | September 15, 2026 | September 15, 2026 |
| Assessment / interview / deliberation | November 2–10, 2026 | November 2–10, 2026 |
| Preparation for the awarding ceremony | December 1–12, 2026 | December 1–12, 2026 |
| Awarding ceremony | Being scheduled soon | Being scheduled soon |