(APR. 10) – Scholars from UP Diliman (UPD) and UP Manila (UPM) reflected on UP’s historic transfer from Manila to Diliman 70 years ago at a forum on Mar. 29 at the Bulwagan ng Dangal Heritage Museum.  

The forum “Routes in Place-making: History, Memories and Stories of UP Manila and UP Diliman” is said to attempt “to foreground the various lenses and approaches in the study of place-making, as well as to generate new insights on the university’s history.”

Director of the Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts (OICA) Prof. Cecilia S. dela Paz, PhD said the forum is about place-making or how to make sense of a place. 

“We always make it a point that each exhibit or forum would correspond to the topic … and the two places we are looking for is the space of UPD as a campus and a community, and the space of UP Manila (UPM) as a community and its own history,” Dela Paz said.

Invited speakers were professors Ricardo T. Jose of the Department of History, Joseph Palis of the Department of Geography and Monica Santos of the Department of Anthropology who were all from UPD, and professors Celia M. Bonilla, Honey Libertine Achanzar-Labor and Rosemarie O. Roque, who were all from UPM Department of Arts and Communication. 

Jose discussed “UP Diliman in History and Memory: Personal Reflections,” Palis, “Sagisag Magpakailanman: Processes and Practices of Place-making in UP Diliman” and Santos, “Community-making UP Diliman: Stories from Moving Bodies and Embodies Spaces.”

Meanwhile, Bonilla discussed “The Old Buildings of the University of the Philippine Islands: Beyond Reified Views,” Achanzar-Labor “BA Philippine Arts-Cultural Heritage and Arts Management Program (CHAMP): Championing Heritage in Manila” and Roque “Unibersidad ng Pilipinas sa Sakada (1976): Paglulugar sa UP sa alaalang sinematiko at pakikibakang kultural.”

The forum formally closed this year’s celebration of UPD Month. — Mariamme D. Jadloc, images by Leonardo A. Reyes