DAET promotes Millennium Goals thru art convention

Daet town in Camarines Norte will take the center stage today until Feb. 9 as it holds its second World Art Experience (WAE), an annual art convention organized by the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) to promote art and creativity and “the global initiative of human well-being to all Filipinos.”

Daet Mayor Tito Sarion said the WAE specifically aims to convey the global agenda of “Bringing the Millennium Development Goals Closer to the People” to the national level.

“The main objective is to promote the MDGs like the eradication of extreme poverty; ensuring environmental sustainability; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other diseases; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women; improving maternal health; reducing child mortality; and developing global partnerships that promote development,” Sarion said in an interview.

The United Nations set the MDGs as a priority undertaking by all nations, to be accomplished by the year 2015.

Sarion said the government, through the LMP, came up with the novel idea of promoting these development goals to the Filipino people in a medium that anyone can appreciate – art.

He said an effective way to communicate the significance of the MDGs to Filipinos is through the creativity of Filipino artists.

Sarion said his own artistic inclinations led him to hold the World Art Experience that concentrated on visual arts. He is an impressionist painter, with landscapes as his favorite subject, and gets his inspiration from one of the National Artists, Fernando Amorsolo, a native of Daet.

Daet has a lot of excellent artists led by award-winning screenwriter Ricky Lee and the late Ramon Obusan.

For the World Art Experience, each of the eight development goals will be showcased through a certain form of art and a featured artist.

Poverty eradication will be showcased through the visual arts of Hermes Alegre; environmental sustainability through the dance of the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group; disease prevention through the architecture and literature of Domingo Tablizo et al; universal primary education through the thematic artwork of Asing Wong; gender equality through the films of Ricky Lee; maternal health through the songs of the Mabini Colleges Bicol Ambassadors Band; child mortality reduction through the photography of Elmer Baclagan; and global partnership for development through the sculpture assemblage of Dr. Raul Palencia.

Renowned painter and sculptor Joey Velasco will give a talk on his paintings, Hapag ng Pag-Asa and Hapag ng Pag-Ibig, modern retakes of the Last Supper showing street children dining with Jesus Christ.

Sarion said there have been efforts to achieve the MDGs in Daet through the Gawad Kalinga initiative, which has GK villages in the barangays of Alawihao and Bibirao.

President Arroyo is the guest of honor at the event.

Fr. Fernando Suarez; Binalonan, Pangasinan Mayor Ramon Guico Jr., LMP national president; Senators Loren Legarda and Miguel Zubiri; Philippine Tourism Authority general manager Robert Dean Barbers, and painter and sculptor Joey Velasco, are among those expected to grace the event.

“Everyone is invited to visit the 2nd World Art Experience in Daet and while you are there, see the other tourist spots in Daet like the Bagasbas Beach, a known destination for surfers,” Sarion said.

Daet is known for producing the sweetest pineapple variety called “Queen Pineapple” and is the second largest gold producer in the country.