Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco congratulates Iloilo City for its inclusion in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Creative Cities Network (UCCN) for Gastronomy on Wednesday (Nov. 1).
โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ช๐ญ๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐บ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏฬ๐ข๐ด, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ. ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ช๐ญ๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ,” Secretary Frasco expressed regarding this significant achievement.
Secretary Frasco further emphasized, โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช-๐ฅ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ค๐ถ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด’ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ช๐ญ๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ณ๐ต๐ด ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ข๐ด.โ
Iloilo City, in the company of 54 other cities announced by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, officially joined the Creative Cities Network on World Cities Day on October 31, 2023.
This designation reflects Iloilo’s rich culinary heritage and reinforces its role in preserving and promoting Philippine food culture. The city is renowned for signature dishes such as La Paz Batchoy, Pancit Molo, local favorites like K.B.L. (Kadyos, Baboy, at Langka), the charcoal-roasted native chicken Darag, as well as its famous giant siopao and fresh seafood.
The DOT’s Region VI Office recently launched the “Slow Food in Western Visayas” culinary and rural tourism event program in Iloilo City in September.
DOT Regional Director for Western Visayas, Crisanta Marlene Rodriguez, announced that the Regional Office is developing itineraries to actively promote slow food experiences for tourists, enabling them to engage in and observe food preparation and ingredients farming.
Other food and creative industry projects of the DOT Region VI include the Western Visayas Sugar Heritage Trail, Boracay Food Crawl, Cultural and Film Tourism, including promotional projects for Antique, CineKasimanwa, CineIsla, and the Departmentโs flagship program: Philippine Experience: Culture, Heritage, and Arts Caravan.
Iloilo City has made history by becoming one of the Philippine cities, alongside Baguio and Cebu City, to join the prestigious UCCN. Baguio City has held the UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art title since 2017, while Cebu City was recognized as the country’s inaugural UNESCO Creative City of Design in 2019.
With these latest additions, the UNESCO Network now boasts 350 cities across more than one hundred countries, spanning seven creative fields: Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts, and Music.
Launched in 2004, the UCCN primarily aims to foster collaboration among cities that recognize creativity as a fundamental catalyst for sustainable urban development.
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