Impact Stories

Imagining a Greener Future

Posted on October 10, 2014

Values are caught, rather than taught. 

Believing that theater and music are powerful tools for the call to the environment’s rescue and that creative advocacy for the environment is a vital mechanism in influencing the communities of Davao to create initiatives and attain significant achievements for the protection of the environment, the Mindanao People’s Caucus and the Kaliwat Performing Artists Collective, Inc. in Davao City spearheaded this project to advocate environmental consciousness, especially among the in-school youth of the city. 

Davao City is the biggest metropolis in Mindanao and is the regional center for Region XI (Davao). Despite being a city, it is blessed with natural resources including a fertile soil and natural advantages like being outside the typhoon belt. With its flourishing flora and fauna, pristine beaches, and mountains including Mt. Apo, Davao region is a popular eco-tourism destination. It is also a center of culture and learning with vibrant artistic and academic communities.  

Creative workshops in the selected ten public schools in the city were held. After the musical and theatrical production workshop, students watched an actual performance. In so doing, students experienced the creative process through a participatory approach on their perspective on global warming and their response to the call for global rescue. About 500 pupils in Grades 5 and 6 in each of the five targeted elementary schools, and 500 freshmen and sophomores in each of the five secondary schools or a total of 5,000 students were reached by this project.  

The students were then tasked to produce their own album and stage their own play with an ecological theme. The album, which also served as the play’s soundtrack, and the actual stage play were toured all over the city. To ensure the widest possible audience reach, public places like shopping malls and parks were selected as venues of the musical and theatrical performances. The proponent prepared press briefing materials which were distributed to the media covering the performances.  

In any campaign, the subtle relaying of the message is always superior over simple hard-sell. The proponents are in the right track of its advocacy of environmental protection and the amelioration of people, especially indigenous peoples (IP), through creative expressions and processes.  

In the final analysis, only when the young are able to imagine a greener and better future can the community and society lay today the foundations of a more ecologically sound and sustainable tomorrow. 

Realization Starts with Imagination

Established in 1987, the Kaliwat Performing Artists Collective, Inc. traces its roots from the staff of the Mindanao Community Theatre Network (MCTN) whose main task was the implementation of its Research, Evaluation and Publication Services (REAPS). After immersing in communities and discovering the richness of the stories culled from the people they reached out to, the collective was born and became a catalyst for linking communities through the stories shared and told in music, dance, and theater. 

The collective functions as a cultural institution that works mainly with grassroots communities, specifically amongst IP using its Cultural Action Methodology. But while the collective works with rural communities in the pursuit of community development, Kaliwat’s goal for artistic excellence is also achieved. Its continued community development work has provided the collective the opportunities to continue its artistic endeavors. Thus, Kaliwat’s theater productions are borne out of its community linkages and immersions. Kaliwat continues to sustain its advocacy work for the protection of the environment and respect for IP, the very wellspring and wisdom of its artistic practice. It continues to promote artistic excellence and integrity, and equity for artists. 

The Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC) is a grassroots network of IP, Bangsamoro and Christian communities and leaders who have common vision for peace in Mindanao. MPC is known to have stood up for the struggle to finally resolve the age-old armed conflict in Mindanao through a negotiated political settlement that contains the essentials acceptable to both negotiating parties and that addressses the historical oppression and forced marginalization of the native inhabitants and IP of this island. 

As such, MPC is actively working for the strengthening of the participation and engagement of the tribal and grassroots constituency in the Mindanao peace process so as to allow their recognition as self-determining peoples who can develop and govern themselves in the economic, political, social, and spiritual spheres of development.

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Originally published in the Foundation for the Philippine Environment Annual Report 2011.