(contd)There is no doubt that in the matter of tourism marketing, cultural identity sells. Awareness of one’s culture could then stimulate pride among a people, in the process even instil a desire and commitment to preserve and protect that culture, isn’t that so?
Paving the way for the promotion of a higher level of awareness on Marinduque’s historical and cultural heritage was the idea for the holding of a ‘national conference’ on Marinduque. The proposal to hold such a conference was hatched during a history seminar I attended in Vigan in November 2007. Commitments to provide technical support and top level participation from the NHI, the National Museum, NCCA, and the Philippine National Historical Society, all represented in the Vigan conference, were conveyed to me right then and there.
So it was just a matter of finding a local venue, date and sending formal invitations for the proposed Marinduque conference. The municipal government of Mogpog under Mayor Senen Livelo, a 'culture-vulture', was only too eager to host and hold the two-day event at the Mogpog Central School. 
SOME OVERTURES Confirmations were obtained from the high calibre lecturers. But I also got a phone call from one who informed me that no action was being undertaken by his boss on the provincial government’s invitation because “somebody called...”, and that he was so flabbergasted, but deciding that he would participate in the conference anyway, even as he would not be allowed to go on official travel. He said, “how could some people be so against holding such a Marinduque historical conference? I am volunteering to come!”
Such overtures are not uncommon in Marinduque. I have, since 1992, when I started doing my bit as a community theatre organizer have my own similar encounters and bouts. “I was a political activist once, and could not tolerate this sort of thing... to think that this is just about history”, that sympathetic man confided to me later on when he finally arrived. I felt so humbled, but so ineffective before him in expressing how much I appreciated his gesture. 
The Mogpog Central School conference hall was packed with teachers, students, government workers, and local historians. That seminar-workshop undoubtedly would go a long way not only in strengthening the Marinduqueno’s identity but, I guess, in the pursuit of that common vision for this poor province.
(The lecturers shown here with now Congressman Lord Allan Jay Velasco)The National Conference on Marinduque, an offshoot of the Oral and Local History Conference held in Vigan, had as lecturers Dr. Augusto de Viana, Phd, Chief, Research Division of the National Historical Institute; Dr. Emmanuel Calairo, PhD., Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, De la Salle University; Joseph Garcia and Eduardo Conese, Underwater Archaeologists and Researches, Archaeology Division, National Museum, and local historical researches Patrick Henry Manguera and Myke Magalang. The success of the Marinduque conference inspired the NHI to consider holding the following year’s Oral and Local History Conference here in conjunction with the Battle of Pulang Lupa celebration. This, however, had to be held elsewhere for some reason.
The attempt was all worth it to also stimulate the study of Marinduque society and in the process understand, eventually solve some social dilemma that continue to beset us. Guess who would go against that, if any.
("We all may acquire and comprehend the world around us as our experience of physical objects, but it would be a mistake to limit ourselves to the conventional thoughts indentured by our stubbornness towards change." - Swapnil Srivastava on an interpretation of the Allegory of the Cave)
