Pangasinan Fourth District Rep. Christopher de Venecia lauded the leadership of the House of Representatives for supporting House Bill No. 101078 or the proposed Philippine Creative Industries Development Act.
De Venecia underscored the importance of creative arts, cultural heritage as well as history, which he said, could create tremendous opportunities for tourism thereby fueling local economy as he urged the country’s 81 provinces, 146 cities and 1,488 municipalities to fully maximize all these in their own localities.
In a privilege speech on Monday, Nov. 29, De Venecia stresssed that the most direct link that culture can have is tourism.
He noted that there are many local communities in the Philippines that offer a variety of creative and cultural experiences not only for visitors and tourists but also their own residents.
HB 10107 which De Venecia sponsored is expected to be passed on third and final reading soon.
The Pangasinan lawmaker is the chairman of the HOue Committee on Arts, Culture and Creative Industries.
“When people visit a cultural site in a community, apart from the fees that they are going to pay, they also spend on food, inter-city transportation and other important services that can be found around in that cultural site, thus creating a multiplier effect as a development model,” he said.
According to De Venecia, apart from the direct, indirect, and induced income generated from tourism activities, culture can have a positive impact on the local economy through the other economic channels.
De Venecia told his fellow congressmen: “Whenever we’re asked about what makes our legislative districts unique and special, I would bet that our answer will likely include creative or cultural assets, whether we realized it or not.” This as he revealed that there is no denying that each locality in the Philippines has something special; about its culture and heritage and history that can not be found elsewhere in the country and the world.
Maintaining that creativity is the link and mediator between culture and social-economic development, De Venecia argued that the only way by which culture can lead to economic activities is through the strategic deployment of creativity in the provinces, cities and municipalities.
“The uniqueness of each province, city and municipality in the Philippines must be discovered, documented and maximized through a strong network of organizations and institutions in the creative industries. They must then be given an enabling physical environment, provided with opportunities for skills development and introduced to catalyzers in finance and technology and assisted in the pivot to the online and digital space,” De Venecia echoed. The congressman cited the Biker’s den in Barangay Immalog Sur in San Fabian town in his own Fourth District of Pangasinan which he built that has become a good study case of how highly communicative collaborations between the government and the infrastructure and environment sectors can positively impact communities. “Now the Biker’s Den has become the town’s welcome center and pit stop for growing biking community, inviting positive development around it. Local restaurants can now be seen perched beside the structure and more events are being held nearby to build a consistently vibrant community, he added.
He said in this example, one can see how creativity can impact and change the culture and behavior of people, adding that the project has the potential of not only uplifting a community’s economic situation but also in boosting the people’s collective morale.