Biñan, Laguna – The 13th reiteration of the Local Historical Committees Network (LHCN) general assembly and the fourth Confab on Local History and Heritage takes place at Sentrong Pangkultura ng Biñan through August 25 to 27 during the History month. Prior to the start of the assembly and conference, there was a Biñan Heritage zone Tour for the LHCN member-affiliates, observers and conference speakers with guests on August 24.
The 13th LHCN General Assembly was held at the Mabesa Hall, Sentrong Pangkultura ng Biñan graced by no less than the city mayor Angelo Alonte with National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) chairperson Regalado Trota Jose Jr. There were cluster reporting from Luzon, student and national organizations, with northern, central and south Luzon with island clusters along with the Visayas and Mindanao cluster. Some important discussion was taken as business of the day including the nomination of the 2025 History month theme and the venue for the next LHCN assembly and confab.
Meanwhile the 4th Conference on Local History and Heritage features six sessions with various themes and speakers. Session one is about historical roots and memory politics in Philippine diplomacy with Dr. Vicente Villan, Dr. Kristoffer Esquejo and Dr. Maria Nela Florendo. The second session dwells on diaspora, memory and transnational belonging with Prof. Melchor Orpilla, Jan Marlon De Vera, Joel Logroño and Komaruddin Nursi Kasman Abdul Rahim. Session three tackles regional and city diplomacy in the perspective of public history with Jonathan Balsamo, Christian Joseph Bonpua and Dr. Bryan Jayson Borja.
In addition, the fourth session talks about public history and cultural diplomacy with Tamim Umar Herdiyanto, Br. Aaron James Veloso, Atty. Jehan Lepail and Girard Jeune Bauyon. Moreover, the fifth session is on archipelagic sovereignty and borderland histories in times of conflict and crisis with Prof. Michael Angelo Doblado, Raffy Tima, Rohollah Al-Husseini Alonto with Eufemio Agbayani III. Finally, the sixth and final sessions is about Perspectives on Islam in Southeast Asia, Filipino Viewpoints on Indonesia with Kelly John Robillos, Juhary Dimasindel, Luzsil Angelica Sophia Roble and Nixe Camandan.
By Randy T. Nobleza, Ph.D.
