The new ‘historical’

Mozart Pastrano

UPON the recommendation of Dorothy Jean B. Pabayo, chair of the City Tourism Council of Cagayan de Oro, the membership of the City Historical and Cultural Commission has been reconstituted.

Here’s the new composition of the City Historical and Cultural Commission: Erlinda M. Burton, Ph.D., chair; Rev. Fr. Jose Daniel D. Coronel, SSJV; Glory Sarmiento-Magdale, Ph.D.; Nicolas P. Aca Jr., and Rene Michael D. Baños.

Dr. Burton is, of course, the long-time curator of the Museo de Oro at Xavier University. She has been a prime mover of the wellegarded Research Institute on Mindanao Culture (Rimcu). Recognized for her scholarship in Mindanao studies, Dr. Burton commands respect locally, nationally, and internationally.

A prize-winning poet, Fr. Coronel is the point person in the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro when it comes to the revival of the traditional homage to the Birhen sa Kota. His sense of aesthetics has moved him to experiment with a makeover of the image of the said Birhen to better present her to today’s parishioners.

Dr. Magdale had just left the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) when she became the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Liceo de Cagayan University. There, she became a beloved champion of the renowned performing arts groups on campus.

Aca is principally a visual artist, but he has emerged as an icon in the Cagayan de Oro arts circuit for his performance art. He courageously and fearlessly performs in the city’s streets and stages, notably without clothes and footwear, sometimes caked in mud and body paint. The resident artist at the Museum of Three Cultures at Capitol University, he is very successful in arts marketing.

Baños continually writes about Cagayan de Oro, and his writings on local history. He is active in the City Tourism Council. As a public relations specialist, his clients include the city’s who’s who.

These five personalities, presumably representing the best of the city’s minds and sensibilities with regard to history, heritage, and culture, begin to serve as the City Historical and Cultural Commission on Feb. 10.

Congratulations to them and to Dorothy Jean B. Pabayo!