Speech

Arsenio "Nick" J. Lizaso

Chairman - NCCA
9th Meeting of ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts
16th Senior Officials Meeting on Culture and Arts (SOMCA) and Related
Meetings
October 19 - 22, 2020 | via Microsoft Teams
(Theme: Impact of COVID-19 and Way Forward for the Culture and Arts
Sector)

Excellencies, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen:

It is my deepest honor to join everyone today as we explore different

approaches to achieve mutual prosperity and navigate our arts and culture
community along the deadly trenches of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Way back in 2015, the ASEAN member states adopted the Socio-Cultural
Community Blueprint as a guide towards providing a higher quality of life for
our people. Within this goal, we envision a community that is dynamic and
harmonious and is aware and proud of its identity, culture and heritage.
Further on, we enacted the ASEAN Strategic Plan for Culture and the Arts
(2016 – 2025), our guide to the efforts of conservation, preservation, and
safeguarding of the ASEAN community’s cultural heritage.

However, 2020 has created a new reality. The pandemic continues to threaten
the livelihood and general well-being of the culture sector, especially since
many artists, cultural workers, and the creative industries, have all been
displaced in various degrees because of lockdowns, cancellation of events, and
closure of venues. And while there is no real upside to any pandemic, this
global lockdown has challenged the sector to explore and discover new
modalities of expression in bringing its creative products to a wider public via
the digital platform.

As the de facto ministry of culture in the Philippines, the National Commission

for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) remains committed to its mandate of
preserving, safeguarding, and promoting, our country's arts and culture.
Relative to this, and in response to the "new digital normal," the NCCA
launched Padayon: The NCCA Hour, a daily e-cultural show in partnership with
the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), to underscore the relevance and
enrich the understanding of Philippine culture to Filipinos in and outside the
country. It provides news, stories and insights, entertainment, and
opportunities, relevant to the culture and arts sector in this time of the
pandemic. A recent episode of the e-talk show featured a segment on ASEAN
and the countless opportunities and benefits that it continuous to generate for
its citizens.

The CCP also launched Arts Online, a bi-weekly video stream of educational
materials for students, arts enthusiasts, and the general public. Like the CCP,
other national cultural agencies such as the National Museum, and the
National Archives, migrated relevant programs and services online, and
continue to explore new media to sustain the delivery of services and
information to the general public. It can be noted that the annual national
celebration of ASEAN Month in the Philippines also migrated online via the
Philippines ASEAN-COCI’s Sama-Sama ASEAN: We Are One (a Webinar Series
on ASEAN Awareness and Identity).

As a response to the needs of our people, the Philippines also initiated the
development of a Cultural Response and Resiliency Plan (CRRP), a domestic
and international survey and consultation with relevant parties and selected
counterparts within ASEAN and east Asia, to assess the impact of the
pandemic. The information collected are now being used to help the NCCA and
other government agencies prepare and implement immediate and medium-
to-long-term measures to sustain the culture and arts sector of the Philippines
in times of crises.

Today, as we listen to the various reports of our fellow ASEAN members in

sharing their own experience in responding to COVID-19, we are comforted by
the resolve that we can overcome the challenges and threats that we are
currently facing in the region. The healing powers of our culture and the
artistic expressions of our sector are there to give us relief and a sense of
order during these trying times. Music, poetry, dance, film, food, and other
countless manifestations of our cultures are there to recharge us and inspire
us to rise above all adversity through our resiliency and creativity.
In closing, I wish to cite the motto, as expressed in the ASEAN Charter, of One
Vision, One Identity, One Community, in addressing the call of the ASEAN Socio-
Cultural Community (ASCC) which seeks to improve the well-being, livelihood
and welfare of the ASEAN people. We stress and blend said noble motto with
our strong belief in the role of culture in the road to recovery from this
pandemic. We hope that through this meeting, we can deepen our sense of
identity and responsibility as well as our unrelenting commitment as one
ASEAN, bound by our diversities, fostering creativity mirrored by our colorful
cultures, and providing sustainable and inclusive programs to benefit our
fellow ASEAN brothers and sisters, to whom we bring messages of love and
hope at this time of the pandemic and beyond.

Maraming salamat.
Mabuhay ang ASEAN!