PIA Press Release
2008/03/26

DepEd Camiguin leads environmental education program via arts

by Restituta Y. Almunia & Bazil T. Sabacajan

Cagayan de Oro City (26 March) -- THE Department of Education-Division of Camiguin announced it collaborated with the Enigma Arts Circle in its bid to help promote the island-province of Camiguin as a major eco-tourist destination in the country.

Lately, Enigmata artists visited the Yumbing National High School in Mambajao town to train select students and teachers in the art of making plastic mosaic and paper mache out of waste, as well as weaving works of art using recycled bottles.

The activity taught participants the basic principles of recyling wastes.

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), along with the Art Asia Foundation, selected the Yumbing National High School as the breeding ground for traditional musicians.

Ten students were sent to the Enigmata Training Center in Maubog, Barangay Balbagon, Mambajao to learn the basic techniques of playing "kulintang" and other traditional Filipino musical instruments. Trainers came from the Barasoain Kalinangan Foundation Inc.

After the week-long training, the participants joined hands with counterparts from higher education institutions in the province and formed the group "Islakwatsa."

To cap the training, the Islakwatsa made a campus tour, showcasing their musical production called "A Music and Journey to the Heart of the Earth."

The concert was documented on video by some students from public secondary schools who were trained on film making last January 2008.

The aspiring filmmakers are coming up with a video documentary that attempts to depict the value of nature and instill among the people in the island-province the vital importance of its preservation and protection.

In a related development, Prof. Michael Parayno of Berkely University in California, U.S.A. spent a week with public secondary school students and teachers in the province, teaching them how to turn junk materials into bird cages that would serve as temporary shelters for weak and wounded birds. (DepEd-Camiguin/PIA-Camiguin i-Net) [top]