Benildean tops SineDisipulo filmfest in Cebu

Wazzup Pilipinas!

 

An award-winning student filmmaker from De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde added another feather to her cap after her newest short film recently led the winners of the SineDisipulo X Film Festival in Cebu.

Dan Verzosa’s “Gapos sa Kadenang Walang Kandado” bagged the Misha Boris Anissimov Award, named in honor of the pioneer of SineDisipulo, which was previously just a film exhibition.

SineDisipulo provides filmmakers and film enthusiasts alike an opportunity to show and witness the talents of young filmmakers and artists. The film festival is organized by CINEMATA, a film organization based at the University of San Carlos.

In the film, a mother listens to her daughter’s cassette tapes one morning, months before the Philippine presidential elections. She recounts and reimagines the events that happened during her child’s thesis defense as she listens to the audio recordings from years before while waiting for her daughter’s return.

Verzosa recently received a Film Ambassador Award from the Film Development Council of the Philippines after her short animation “IAMANNIKA” bagged the Southeast Asia Audience Award at the third Craft International Animation Festival.

“Gapos sa Kadenang Walang Kandado” follows the heels of “IAMANNIKA” and “Malapit Na, ‘Nay!” (Almost There, Mother), her short film on extrajudicial killings, which dominated the 2019 CineMorayta Film Festival, 2020 Karapatan at Kabataan Film Festival, and 2020 CineMapua Film Festival.

Similar to her other works, Verzosa considers her latest project, which she made for her film production class, as more than just a film. “It’s a message. A message and a reminder that given the country’s upcoming presidential elections, we need to look back on history, the truth told by the people, and consider the past in order to make a choice for the future, our future, and the future of all.”

“This election has been stirring up dark memories of the nation’s past, the martial law imposed by the late President Ferdinand Marcos marred by violence and numerous human rights violations. Similarly, President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs resulted in numerous human rights violations and extrajudicial killings,” Verzosa added.

The filmmaker wanted to use film to talk about “how history seems to be revised and changed by society and the people in power and yet for the family of the victims, it will never be forgotten.” She made her film at a time when Duterte’s term is coming to an end and with Marcos, Jr. running for president.

As Jesh’s song, “Dahil Tao,” goes in the film, “Tayo raw ay malaya, ngunit bakit may tali.” (They said we are free, but our hands are tied.) This film is a reminder to open our eyes and wake up from the false illusion of freedom and make the right choices for the future of all,” she concluded.

The film “Si Ketchup at Si Mayonnaise” took home the Artistic Visionary and Aesthetic Excellence Awards while “11:11” was adjudged the Most Viewed Film at SineDisipulo X.

The jury is made up of filmmakers and artists Chloe Veloso, Kris Villarino, and Katherine Rivera.

Vibal Foundation Launches Colección Iberoasia Imprint with Dolors Floch’s Martín de Rada

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Vibal Foundation, Inc. (FVI) commemorated women’s month with the launch of the first book in its Colección Iberoasia series: Martín de Rada (1533–1578): Scientist, Missionary, and Spanish Philippine Diplomat to China by Dolors Folch, an eminent Spanish scholar of East Asian Studies.

This landmark volume has a Spanish edition as well as an English-translated edition.

About Martín de Rada (1533–1578): Book Highlights

In this first volume of VFI’s Colección Iberoasia imprint, sinologist and professor Dolors Folch recreates the ideals, life, times, and works of Fray Martín de Rada, both a man of science and a man of the cloth, who arrived in the Philippines in 1565 with Miguel Lopez de Legazpi’s expedition that established a Spanish colony in the islands.

An expert in astronomy and mathematics, indispensable for the invading Spanish missionaries and conquistadors, he was not just a witness to the first two decades of colonial rule in the Philippines, he was also the first to describe China to Spanish readers.

Although Fray Martín’s only surviving portrait depicts him as the quintessential scientist, he was, for his more than twelve years in the Philippines, also an author, a critical observer of the plight of native Filipinos, a missionary, and, most importantly, an ambassador to China in 1575.

Martín de Rada (1533–1578): Scientist, Missionary, and Spanish Philippine Diplomat to China explores the milestones in the man’s life that made him one of the most important players in Spain–China relations. It chronicles his early years as an Augustinian missionary in New Spain (Mexico) who was commended for his administrative talent, as well as his mathematical and scientific mastery, leading to his selection as part of the royal expedition to the Philippines under the command of Miguel López de Legazpi. 

De Rada’s stay in the Philippines, as recounted in the book, proved crucial to the evolution of his beliefs about the real situation of the native population at the hands of the Spaniards who,  as he reported to the Mexican viceroy, abused and left them impoverished. 

The book also gives an account of his evangelization of the natives as he carried this experience to accompany a delegation to Ming-era China, a country that left an indelible impression on the Augustinian. He shared his experience of the country in his renowned Relación, which succeeding scholars would use as a primary reference on China.

About the author

Dolors Folch, professor emerita of the Department of Humanities of Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, was dean of the Faculty of Humanities from 1992 to 1999 and director of the School of East Asian Studies.

Aside from supervising the groundbreaking research La China de España Elaboración de un corpus digitalizado de documentos españoles sobre China de 1555 a 1900, she also curated the landmark 2007 exhibit Els grans viatges de Zheng He at the Museu Marítim de Barcelona. 

Folch is the author of Els grans viatges de Zheng He (Angle, 2008), La Construcción de China (Península, 2002), La Fundació de l'imperi xinès (Empúries, 1991), and Wang Wei, Vell País Natal (Empúries, 1986).

About Vibal Foundation

Founded in 2007, Vibal Foundation is Vibal Group’s philanthropic arm. Its vision is to engage Filipinos in intellectual discussion of Philippine history, culture, and the arts by providing beautiful and insightful print and digital materials.

Its institutional partners are the Ateneo Art Gallery, Biblioteca Historica, Galleria Duemila, Gallery Genesis, International Rice Research Institute, National Historical Commission of the Philippines, National Museum of the Philippines, Philippine Departments of Labor and Education, Premio Zóbel, San Agustín Museum, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, and the UP Jorge B Vargas Museum.

Colección Iberoasia is Vibal Foundation’s first global publishing imprint offering digital and printed titles available on Amazon.

Martín de Rada (1533–1578): Scientist, Missionary, and Spanish Philippine Diplomat to China will be available in major bookstores, Shopee, Lazada, and Vibal Shop in May. Please follow Vibal’s FB page for announcements: www.facebook.com/vibalgroup

SM Turns to Rain Water Harvesting a key to Living Flood F

Wazzup Pilipinas!?


Climate change is real and Filipinos are among those who can attest to the devastating effects it brings to everyday life. Faced with about 20 typhoons a year, the Asian Development Bank reported that the total impact from storms have reached about US$20 billion from 1990 to 2020. It causes a temporary disruption due to mass evacuations which bring about an average of 2-8% reduction in gross domestic product annually.

Despite the reoccurring devastation felt during calamities, Filipinos still manage to see the humorous side of life and are often reported as one of the happiest people in the world. However, this may soon be tested as, according to the latest report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, things are about to get worse as the planet heats up, accelerating the effects of climate change and making the Philippines more vulnerable to drastic changes in weather patterns.

On average, the Philippines receives about 2,400 millimeters of rainfall each year, one of the highest in the world. While this poses a problem for the country, there is a silver lining, as it can also be the solution for water scarcity. However, currently the Philippines only harvests around 6% of its rainwater compared to India which harvests around 60% of the 700-millimeter average rainfall it receives each year.



Rain Water – a friend or a foe?

Water is a scarce resource. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 6 identifies access to clean water as one of the global priorities to be achieved by 2030. Aligned to its environmental responsibility programs, SM takes a closer look at the use of water and how it can be turned from a foe to a friend.

SM builds its malls and integrated lifestyle cities with resilience and sustainability in mind. Understanding the value of water, SM builds rain water catchments in its malls to harvest large volumes of rain water particularly in flood prone areas.

“We approach it two ways: resilience – to help communities be flood free; and sustainability – to optimize water which is a scarce resource so we can use it for other purposes rather than just waste it,” says Architect Fides Garcia-Hsu, Vice President at SM Engineering Design and Development.

Vermont Park and Vermont Royale are two communities that once saw rain as a foe. Every time it rained, their neighborhoods ended up under water, damaging their homes. Today, home owners welcome the rain as water that can be harvested and stored for future use. The reason? SM City Masinag’s rain water catchment facility! It has a 17,681 cubic meter water capacity. The two communities connected their drainage systems to the mall which is equipped with three 30HP submersible pumps which are used to pump out accumulated rain water.

“Wherever SM is, we try to help our communities become resilient to changing weather patterns,” explains Arch. Garcia-Hsu. “Nationwide, we have 20 malls equipped with rainwater catchment facilities that help rain water management to avoid flash floods for surrounding communities.”

As a company SM invests 10% of its capital expenditure to integrate disaster resilient and sustainability features in its malls and integrated lifestyle city designs. “We take a long-term view on resilience and when we talk about sustainability, we look at how we can address perennial problems like flooding and address systemic change,” Arch. Garcia-Hsu expounds.

Serving as pioneers in the installation of rain water catchment facilities, SM was instrumental in the passing ordinances and inclusion of the installation of water catchment facilities for developments by regulatory bodies. In recent years, Senator Manny Pacquiao passed the ‘Rain Water Harvesting Act – Senate Bill 1309’ mandating the establishment, maintenance and management of rain water harvesting systems in the country.

“Aside from building resilient infrastructure, we also build the resilience of our stakeholders by providing disaster preparedness training through our SM Cares programs,” shared Chito Bauzon, SM Cares Marketing Asst. Vice President. “We have programs targeted to senior citizens and those with special needs as they are the ones left most vulnerable during times of calamities.”

With the threat of climate change looming, typhoons are only expected to get stronger with intensified rainfall. With more Filipinos moving to urban centers, the Philippines will need to retrofit its cities for resiliency or build new sustainability cities to finally live flood free.