Filipino Values Month: NCCA announces Filipino culture 'shorts,' November projects
MANILA, Philippines — The National Commission for Culture & the Arts (NCCA) lined up a series of media projects for the "Bálay Pinoy" celebration of Filipino Values Months this November.
In accordance with Presidential Proclamation No. 479, every November, the Philippines celebrates Filipino values and ideals that are "pro-God, pro-people, pro-country, and pro-nature, and mobilizing all Filipinos for nation-building."
Through research conducted by the National Economic Development Authority in 2019 and 2020, the NCCA has identified 20 core and shared values which serve as an anchor for every Filipino to our roots and identity as a people.
This 2022 the NCCA's "Bálay Pinoy" celebration — introduced last year as a digital campaign because of the pandemic — carries the theme "Halagahan, ang puso ng pagka-Pilipino" to put a spotlight on the importance of rediscovering these values.
"Bálay Pinoy" will be a hybrid celebration this year, beginning with an opening program in Rizal Park on November 6 and highlighted by three major projects.
Values series
First among these projects is the "Heneral Tuna" animated series by RocketSheep Studio as headed by director Avid Liongoren and illustrator Carlo Vergara.
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The titular character is an alien from Planet Mingming attempting to take over Earth, but is just too cute to be taken seriously and ends up learning about Filipino culture and values in his conquest.
NCCA Digital Communications Director Yan Abeledo said in a virtual media conference for "Bálay Pinoy" that the series "frames narratives that showcase findings of Filipino values research in an entertaining way."
"Heneral Tuna" has seven episodes that are three minutes each, which will be presented in short vertical video format so it can be consumed as a YouTube short, Instagram reel, and Facebook MyDay.
The reason behind such distribution is because of its increased consumption by Filipino youth, although Abeledo pointed out that they only considered presenting via TikTok because such a platform is only better when there is a person presenting.
Filipino and English closed captions will be provided during the episodes, but Abeledo shared that the NCCA is eyeing a possible storybook adaptation in different Filipino languages in collaboration with Aklat Alamid.
Another produced series is the "Project Destination" teleserye which highlights specific cultural values across the country's major islands, dramatizing them in human and social conflicts.
Digital hub and Sine Halaga
In the same virtual media conference, filmmaker Elvert Bañares introduced the Sine Halaga short films program where he is the director and the NCCA's digital Learning Hub.
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The Learning Hub is a one-stop shop for the NCCA's education resources, ideally made for teachers but built to be used by everyone.
Teachers' resources (free syllabi, intstructional materials), educational programs by the NCCA, and Arts Month workshops and shows can be accessed on this online portal, which currently has no mobile version yet.
Also accessible on the Learning Hub are short films under the Sine Halaga program, which have been praised for its film quality, educational values, systematic implementation, and audience reach that amounted to five million people.
Apart from short films like the Cinemalaya 2022 winner "Black Rainbow" by Zig Dulay, free films for educators, featuerettes, roundtable discussions, and lecture series on film literacy can be accessed through Sine Halaga.
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