App, workbook promote Cordillera heritage

The Ifugao State University (IFSU) has launched an app and workbook that promotes Cordillera heritage.

The still unnamed and undeployed application uses QR codes to show 3-D images of the hapiyo (shield), hagabi (prestige bench), lal-u ya luhung (mortar and pestle), pahul (shield), and bale (native house), allowing viewers to explore the Ifugao cultural tangible materials interactively.

Developers Drigo C. Gano and Lawton D. Liangna from the IFSU’s Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems Center programmed the augmented reality software with funding from the National Economic and Development Authority, according to the Philippine Information Agency (PIA).

Markers and QR codes are being installed at key locations in Ifugao to facilitate access of heritage materials from Kiangan, Hingyon, Banaue and Hungduan.

Center director Judy Baggo told PIA that their work aims to reconnect communities with their cultural heritage through modern technology.

Meanwhile, IFSU launched on 5 February the Cordillera Heritage Workbook, also known as “Cordillera Heritage 101,” an interactive educational resource designed to preserve and celebrate the rich cultural heritage of the Cordillera region.

The workbook was developed through collaborative efforts among various stakeholders, including academic institutions such as the Mountain Province State Polytechnic College. It is authored by Serafin L. Ngohayon and Noel B. Begnal, and it is available in paperbound format.

Senator Loren Legarda congratulated IFSU for the books that connect learners to the languages, art forms, traditional wisdom and ecological knowledge of the Cordillera communities.

She also praised its authors and cultural advocates for their dedication that “ensures that the voices of the Cordillera are not echoes fading into silence but legacies rising with the dawn in the hearts of those who dare to remember and honor their roots.”

The author of the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 and Integrated History Act of 2016 described the book as “both academic resources and cultural bridges, fostering intergenerational dialogue and deepening the appreciation of indigenous identities.”

Legarda called on local elders, cultural bearers, communities and organizations to broaden the reach of the immersive learning tools by sharing it to a wider audience, both within and beyond formal educational settings.