On November 23-25, 2021, the National Archives of the Philippines (NAP) conducted Phase 1 of the Local Community Archives (LCA) program in the Municipality of Boljoon, Cebu. This project is part of NAP’s commitment to assisting local communities to establish LCA by documenting their experiences and collecting their own records. 

NAP Executive Director Victorino M. Manalo said during the opening ceremony of the program that the objective of this project is not only to assist communities in collecting official records but to also help them identify records that are important in their community. He also noted that records about their collective experiences will become a part of their community history. 

“The aim of this seminar is to set up a Local Community Archives. The idea is to take care of records, and make them available for people in the community and also outside,” Manalo said. 

Boljoon Mayor Merlou Derama also recognized the importance of the LCA project and assured the cooperation of their local government for the establishment of the program in their town. Derama described the project as “timely” and “fitting” as they strived to be the “Heritage Frontier” of Cebu island.  

The establishment of the LCA program is divided into four phases. The first phase of this project is the Seminar-Workshop on Basic Records and Archives Management (BRAM). The second phase includes seminar-workshops on Community Archives, technical assistance on Inventory of Records and Formulation, and Approval of Records Disposition Schedule.

The third phase includes training-workshops on Participatory and Inclusive Archival projects for the establishment of LCA, and the last phase includes the Enhancement of Archives Facilities and the possible Transfer & Accession of copies collection to NAP. Earlier, the NAP had successfully launched LCA partnerships with the Municipal Government of Anini-y in Antique, and the Municipal Government of Jimenez in Misamis Occidental.