Marinduque Triannale x ICH Trifecta

Boac, Marinduque – The Provincial Government of Marinduque through the Provincial Tourism and Cultural Office organized a “Heritage Symposium on Moryonan” right before the Holy Week, last March 28 (Saturday). The preliminaries was punctuated by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Liking Yaman on Marinduque’s intangible cultural heritage such as tubong, moryon and kalutang. 

The first speaker was the retired priest, Msgr. Rolando Oliverio who grew up in Mogpog and devoted countless hours in pursuit of the establishment of the parish of Mogpog and Fr. Dionisio Santiago’s role on the inception the moryonan practice as it is known today. Then, the foremost oral historian, culture bearer and keeper of traditions in the town who also happens to be the current local chief executive Senen Livelo Jr. He entertained some questions right away as he had to leave early for another occasion. 

Instead of having a break, James Liwanagan, an heir of the local legend Buddy Liwanagan traced the origins of moryon mask carving and the contemporary expression of the moryonan practice. The last speaker, Gian Luigi Malangis, presented a rather different but related paper on decoloniality, agency and a cultural framework how to make sense the moryonan practice in a larger context of the Philippine archipelago. He made use of the H. Otley Beyer papers on Marinduque pioneers at the University of the Philippines and the Mga Kasaysayan ng Marinduque original typescript of Pedro Madrigal.

During the open forum, there was a lively discussion about the appropriate moryonan practice within the religious setting and beyond the Holy Week. There was a point raised if moryonan can be practiced all year round. The provincial tourism officer, Rino Labay moderated the exchange and sough the position of the Diocese of Boac. Likewise, there was an input about the moryonan practice outside Semana Santa, especially in welcoming guests and during tourist events. Dr. Karen Raza from the Marinduque State University Tourism Management department also recasted some of the debate about cultural appropriation of moryonan. Meanwhile, legislators such as the Boac municipal councilor Nic Solomon and no less than the Vice Governor Jun Bacorro also expressed support to legislative measures of safeguarding the lenten tradition. 

In the end, PTCO Gerry Jamilla also provided some suggestions about the moryonan practice such as a code of conduct within the moryon groups like in the case of the Samahang Moryon ng Mogpog which they already emplaced an ordinance. Other suggestions is to have a specific registration number for the safekeeping of the culture bearers themselves to track their years of panata or sacred vow. It was also put forward that MarSU is developing a mandatory course for Marinduque Island Studies with moryonan in front and center.