Central Luzon · Region III
An Honoring Body for Living Heritage
PAMANA
Parangal sa Manlilikhang Natatangi
Pamana honors the master and emerging artisans as cultural bearers of Central Luzon — the hands that beat brass in Apalit, scrape the bamboo skin in Hagonoy, weave thread in Tarlac, smoke the tinapa in Bataan, carve santos, and keep the region’s intangible cultural heritage alive. Nominate a bearer of tradition. Help their legacy outlive them.
A tribute to those who keep tradition alive with their hands.
Pamana — Tagalog for “legacy” — is Central Luzon’s honoring body for folk artists, artisans, and cultural bearers: the individuals and communities who safeguard the region’s intangible heritage through craft, ritual, and everyday practice.
Each year, Pamana receives nominations from Local Government Units (LGUs) across the seven provinces of Region III, convenes a jury of practitioners and heritage advocates, and confers recognition on the artisans whose work best embodies continuity, mastery, and community impact. Pamana does not just award a trophy — it documents, mentors, and platforms the recipients so their craft can be passed to the next generation.
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The Intangible Cultural Heritage Pamana safeguards
Four domains of living heritage recognized across Central Luzon — knowledge and practice carried in people, not objects in a case.
Traditional Crafts
Communities across Central Luzon
From hammered bronze and hand-thrown clay to carved santos and handwoven cloth, the region’s material crafts are made and taught almost entirely by hand — passed from master to apprentice within families and barangays.
Performing Arts
Town fiestas & barangay celebrations
Folk dances, indigenous music, and oral performance — from harvest dances to epic chanting among Aeta communities — carry the region’s history in movement, rhythm, and voice.
Traditional Cuisine
Kitchens across Region III
Central Luzon’s kitchens — famed as the country’s culinary capital — carry recipes, preservation methods, and flavor traditions passed down through home cooks and market vendors alike.
Rituals and Indigenous Knowledge
Aeta & lowland communities, Central Luzon
Healing practices, planting and harvest rituals, and indigenous ecological knowledge among the region’s Aeta communities sit alongside Lenten devotions like the penitensya practiced in Pampanga’s lowland towns — heritage held in memory and the body, not in objects.
The Pamana Trophy
Every element of the trophy is made by the same hands Pamana honors — a physical record of the crafts it protects, not a generic medallion.
- A carved wooden flame — hand-shaped by a Betis santero using the same technique behind the region’s santos — sits at the trophy’s center.
- Behind it, a hammered bronze leaf, rimmed in gold, stands for the living heritage the honors protect.
- Faceted gold and gunmetal panels — worked in the pukpuk hammering technique — frame the flame and leaf.
- A hardwood base carries a brass plaque, engraved for each year and honoree.
Hann Foundation
MAJOR SPONSOR — DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM REGION III PAMANA AWARD
Hann Foundation, Inc. (HFI) — the corporate social responsibility arm of Hann Philippines, Inc. (operator of Hann Casino Resort in Clark and Hann Reserve in New Clark City) — proudly serves as a major sponsor of the Department of Tourism Region III PAMANA Award.
Originally founded in 2017 as Widus Foundation Inc. and rebranded in 2022, HFI drives community development, health, education, and environmental sustainability across Central Luzon. Through its proud support of the PAMANA Awards, HFI reinforces its core mission to champion and safeguard the region’s rich living traditions, master craftsmen, and cultural heritage for future generations.
The Jury
Nominees are evaluated by a panel of heritage scholars, cultural practitioners, and community representatives — chosen so that every dossier is read by someone who understands the tradition behind it.
Felice Prudente Sta. Maria
Food History & Cultural Heritage
Cultural heritage advocate and pioneer of Philippine food history; originator of the Philippine Food History website.
Laya Boquiren-Gonzales
Heritage Research & Safeguarding
Academic and heritage practitioner whose PhD research examined Pampanga’s woodcarving heritage and its living practices.
Seat Reserved
Third Juror · To Be Announced
A third panelist will join Felice and Laya to complete the jury; this seat will be announced once confirmed.
2025 Master Artisans Honorees
The senior class of Pamana honorees — master practitioners recognized for a lifetime spent perfecting and teaching their craft.
Willy Layug
Traditional Crafts · Betis, Guagua, Pampanga
Sculptor and ecclesiastical artist specializing in estofado and traditional sacred art.
Peter De Vera
Performing Arts · Angeles City, Pampanga
Kapampangan artist, choreographer, and founder of the Bale-Balayan Museum for the Poor.
Atching Lilian Borromeo
Traditional Cuisine · Mexico, Pampanga
Culinary artisan known for San Nicolas cookies made with antique, hand-carved wooden molds.
2025 Emerging Artisans Awardees
The inaugural class of Pamana Emerging Artisans, drawn from communities across Central Luzon.
Katrina Monseratt S. Roque
Traditional Cooking · Pampanga, Central Luzon
Traditional cook preserving Kapampangan barrio cooking over open-fire and clay pots.
Remigio E. Cruz
Traditional Crafts · Bulacan, Central Luzon
Artisan embroiderer keeping Bocaue’s kadeneta chain-stitch tradition alive.
Sonia B. Dominguez
Traditional Crafts · Bataan, Central Luzon
Broom maker sustaining six decades of tiger-grass walis craftsmanship.
Zenaida de Vera
Traditional Cuisine · Bulacan, Central Luzon
Traditional baker behind Zeny’s Minasa, a cassava-and-flour Bustos delicacy.
Jeffrey Eligio
Traditional Crafts · Bulacan, Central Luzon
Bamboo craftsman practicing singkaban, Bustos’s shaved-bamboo arch tradition.
Rosemarie Lopez Santos
Traditional Crafts · Tarlac, Central Luzon
Abellen weaver, 63, practicing buho bamboo weaving learned from her grandmother.
Maria Natividad Ocampo Castro
Traditional Crafts · Bulacan, Central Luzon
Practices pabalat, 67, the traditional Bulacan art of paper cutting.
Marichelle S. Bernardo
Traditional Crafts · Bulacan, Central Luzon
Practices puni, the traditional Bulacan art of leaf folding and weaving.
Carmelita Baluyut
Traditional Crafts · Bulacan, Central Luzon
Traditional potter, 74, shaping palayok in Gatbuca, Calumpit since childhood.
Mercy Antonio
Traditional Cuisine · Bulacan, Central Luzon
Practitioner of Empanada de Kaliskis, 87, Malolos’s signature scale-crust delicacy.
Nominate a Cultural Bearer
Nominations are coordinated through each city or municipality’s Local Government Unit (LGU). It’s the LGU that identifies a culture bearer in their locality, assembles the complete dossier on their behalf, and collects the required endorsements from the people who know them best — family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and peers.
The LGU identifies a culture bearer in their locality and confirms whether they qualify as a Master Artisan or an Emerging Artisan.
The LGU assembles the dossier on the nominee’s behalf — nomination form, ID, bionote, essay, photos, and video.
The LGU collects two endorsement forms from people who know the culture bearer well — family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, or peers.
Submit. The regional panel reviews the complete dossier and reaches out to the LGU if anything more is needed.