By Abigail L. Ho-Torres
ENVIRONMENTAL causes used to be hard to sell. After all, people do not see the ill effects of their actions until much, much later. But recent events, including typhoons that have led to massive floods, as well as increasing evidence of plastics killing marine animals, have sparked conversations and movements to be more conscious of everyday actions that may have far-reaching adverse effects on the environment.
But we still have not reached the “if we build it, they will come” stage, where most members of the population are making a conscious decision to preserve the environment for future generations. A large number of people, particularly those in the lower socioeconomic brackets, have yet to see how mundane acts like throwing trash in their proper place can have a positive impact on them. So how can you make the issue of environmental preservation more relatable to the masses?
In 2017, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), a government agency seemingly unlikely to champion an environmental cause, came up with the idea of promoting the once-dead Pasig River as “a space for cultural identity and collective memory.” The environmental aspect of the campaign was, at first, incidental, but later on became a crucial cog in the advocacy. Because how could a river continue to “tell” its rich stories if it were dead?
The Philippine Educational Theater Association (Peta) later came on board as the implementing partner of the campaign, which was dubbed Taga-alog. This cemented the strategy of using the arts as a means to educate the public about the importance of restoring the Pasig River to its old glory and, at the same time, protecting the environment.
The Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC), a government entity formerly chaired by the late environmentalist Gina Lopez, is also one of the main proponents of the campaign.
The power of the arts
“The Taga-alog campaign uses arts advocacy as its main strategy because we believe in the capability and power of the arts to influence and educate. We consider the arts as a form of language, and we are using it to communicate and express Taga-alog’s mission and vision,” said seasoned thespian and Taga-alog 2019 Project Director Raul Alfonso.
The campaign uses different art forms—including film, dance, literature, and song—as a means to educate people about the cause. Instead of just coming up with their own materials, the different Taga-alog partners hold workshops and competitions to drum up interest about the campaign and to increase public involvement.
In 2018, the Taga-alog campaign launched the following projects: songwriting, story writing, filmmaking, theater arts, dance, basic museum curation, architectural heritage appreciation, and visual arts workshops; songwriting, komiks creation, filmmaking, and theater arts competitions; Lakbay Baybay experiential tours; kickoff caravan and festival of performances; site enhancements through visual arts; stakeholders’ conference; and research and publication.
These activities, Alfonso said, enabled Taga-alog 2018 to “build awareness and capacities, initialize partnerships, and innovate models and cases for public engagement.”
“The campaign successfully developed and launched prototypes of workshops, events, and interactive activities that could be adapted by the communities and partner organizations. In fact, Taga-alog 2018 surpassed its quantitative targets, and produced outcomes that are indicative of a sustainable program that can really make a difference,” he added.
Better-curated lineup
Using learnings from last year’s campaign launch, Alfonso related that the group streamlined this year’s programs and activities, focusing on those that had the most impact on the achievement of campaign objectives.
Shortly after the Taga-alog 2019 kickoff event in mid-August, the Wisik filmmaking workshop was held, with participants composed of mostly high-school students from the different local government units that the Pasig River traversed. At the end of the workshop, the participants produced short public service announcements focusing on care for the river.
The Lagaslas story writing workshop and competition soon followed, with Taga-alog partner Lampara Books to publish the winning young adult fiction Budi written by Khamille Ann Linsag.
Another Taga-alog partner, PhilPop, held the TampisAWIT songwriting boot camp, led by award-winning composers Jungee Marcelo, Trina Belamide and Noel Cabangon. Taking this year’s TampisAWIT plum is Suzanne Samson with her song “Ilog Pasig Laban,” while Paul Arcega and his song “Patuloy” bagged the Maynilad Viewers’ Choice Award.
Dance was another medium that Taga-alog 2019 used as part of its advocacy. Dubbed Indak Patak, the dance workshop was facilitated by veteran performers Gio Gahol, JM Cabling and Teetin Villanueva.
Apart from the workshops and competitions, Taga-alog 2019 also held a series of lecture-performances in 10 Metro Manila cities. These events featured workshops, talks, partners’ booths, and the centerpiece lecture-performance combo that sought to both educate and entertain viewers.
Lakbay Baybay Adventure Tours, self-guided tours designed to educate the public about the Pasig River through fun and creative challenges, were also held in Mandaluyong and Marikina. Aside from spreading awareness on how to rehabilitate the Pasig River, this is also seen as a way to promote local tourism, food and culture.
A fluvial concert featuring Taga-alog Ambassadors Cabangon, Aicelle Santos, and Ben&Ben was also held to serve as a showcase of all the Taga-alog 2019 workshop outputs, and to further rally the public to do their share to take care of the Pasig River and the environment.
Anyone can be a partner
According to Alfonso, anyone can be a taga-alog.
“Any person can become a taga-alog by helping us raise awareness about the campaign; by getting involved in discussions about the Pasig River, may it be in person or online; by sharing our activities online; by learning about the Pasig River; or by simply being kind to the environment,” he related.
He added that this creative advocacy could possibly expand outside of the Pasig River in the future.
“The vision of the Taga-alog campaign is to see a Pasig River that is truly clean and alive once again. To achieve this, it is imperative that its tributaries and other bodies of water connected to it must also be clean and alive. So expanding the campaign to cover these other water bodies may be a possibility in the future,” he said.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier organization for PR professionals around the world. Abigail L. Ho-Torres is AVP and head of Advocacy and Marketing of Maynilad Water Services Inc. She spent more than a decade as a business journalist before making the leap to the corporate world.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your questions or comments to askipraphil@gmail.com.