Smiles for the world

MANILA, Philippines - Now on its second year, the Calidad Humana project has given Filipinos more reason to smile amidst prevailing socio-political and economic challenges.

Spearheaded by embassy of Chile on the occasion of its 203rd year of independence, Mayorga says they plan to bring his brainchild Calidad Humana to the rest of the world and they are glad to have made the Philippines its kick-off point.

“We want to internationalize Calidad Humana and bring it to other parts of the world. We have started in the Philippines and we are glad that the project has been very successful here. This is the first time to bring ‘smiles’ from across the globe and it started from Filipinos,” says Mayorga.

“Its goals go beyond the boundaries of the Philippines, with the hope that, through concerted effort, the rest of the world would likewise be filled with humaneness and the joy of living,” Mayorga adds.

“The Calidad Humana project, although it is a cultural and human initiative, can complement the extraordinary campaign that the Department of Tourism headed by Secretary Ramon Jimenez is doing to promote tourism,” the ambassador says, adding that all the winning pieces of art from the competition would be showcased abroad as a tourism promotion campaign for the Philippines.

Mayorga believes that only Filipinos possess this unique characteristic that sets it apart from other countries. “Other countries export technologies, cars, perfumes but you can export humanity through your smiles. There is no doubt that Filipinos are one of the most friendly, hospitable and resilient people in the world. That is the objective of this project – to bring smiles to people’s faces.”

Mayorga says this endeavor is a long-term commitment on the part of the Chilean government and they have lined up a number of activities to be carried out in the next few months to sustain the momentum of the project.

“For this reason, we are developing ample and diversified interventions – seminars, events, a street football project, the publication of a Calidad Humana Decalogue, and other competitions such as painting, that likewise capture the Filipino smile, for dissemination to other parts of the world,” he points out.

Why Chile has led such an initiative? The answer, Mayorga says, is simple: “It is the new concept of cultural diplomacy that aims to identify the best elements of foreign culture, projecting and spreading them to the realities of peoples in other latitudes. This has been the inspiration of my embassy to pursue this project.”

Started last year with an essay writing competition where over 3,000 entries came in, the Calidad Humana project recently concluded a national competition on photography/essay writing, which drew over 600 entries.

This year’s board of judges was chaired by Oscar Lopez. Other members were Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr., CCP president Raul Sunico, University of Sto. Tomas Rector Herminio Dagonoy, University of Asia & the Pacific president Jose Maria Mariano, UP president Alfred Pascual, Ateneo de Manila University president Jose Ramon Villarin, De La Salle University president Ricky Laguda, Araneta Group president Jorge Araneta, Philippine STAR editor-in-chief Ana Maria Pamintuan; and Coca-Cola Philippines president Guillermo Aponte.

Partners of the project include Energy Development Corp., McDonald’s Philippines, Smart, Expat Magazine, Travelife Magazine, Bravo Filipino Magazine and La Isla Magazine.

Next month, the organizers will commence with a painting contest, still under the same theme ‘Smiles for the World,’ which will run until March next year.

For the Philippines’ point of view, the Calidad Humana project could be used as a venue to increase economic and diplomatic ties with Chile.

“We see the future between Republic of Chile and the Philippines looks even brighter,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said.

During the awarding ceremony held recently at the CCP, a video with the photos and messages was presented that the Department of Foreign Affairs will distribute around the world in its abridged version through their diplomatic missions.

Jimenez, on the other hand, thanked the Chilean ambassador to have had helped bring the greatness of Filipino’s smile to the world.

“Happiness is not a feeling, it is a conscious decision to make. This, in my view, sums up the unique quality of the Filipino, for happiness is not really driven by waves of good news, and our happiness comes from what continuous deliberate joy over being alive, close to family and our confidence to our merciful God.That is why in the face of setbacks that push so many others to despair, the Filipino remains focused on things that always matter,” Jimenez notes.

“This is a project open to all those who want to partake of this crucial challenge. All it requires is commitment, devotion, and faith that it is possible to generate a more humane world,” Mayorga concluded.

– By Donnabelle L. Gatdula

First Place Winner, Smiles for the World Competition

TITLE: Smiles from the Heart

Medardo Marquez

MESSAGE: We may be naked and toothless, but we are blessed; for our spirits are undaunted and our laughter pure. We are children of Filipino earth. Our smiles brighten up every dark cranny in the land.

EXPLANATION: Something in a child’s smiling face irresistibly captivates and disarms. It does not seem to matter whether one takes snapshots of happy kids in a posh urban village, in an impoverished shanty town where this photograph was taken, or anywhere else; smiles of children are essentially the same. Like many of life’s subtle mysteries, a child’s smile is universal yet unique innocent but resilient, optimistic and authentic.

We are reminded of man’s innate goodness each time we see these little ones smile, because they brim over the qualities that best define our humanity: gentleness, warmth, sincerity and exuberance. Yet their power to inspire and touch lies largely on our readiness to open our heats to rediscover the child within us all; and to view the world, perhaps for the first time, with new eyes.

TITLE: Take a Leap

Ivy Grace Rivera

MESSAGE: In this age of technology, kids of today have limited interaction and have less exercise. They get bored without tablets, mobile phones and computers. But to our surprise, left alone without any of their techie gadgets in the park, these kids laughed their hearts out by playing an old Filipino game natively called “LuksongTinik”. So who needs a techie gadget? Children really have their ways. Fun is not something we think they need to have. It is simply being with each other and finding ways to joyfully do things together.

TITLE: No Boundaries

Joel Forte

MESSAGE: Just like many Filipinos, these children believe that nothing can stand on their way when it comes to reaching their dreams.

Third Place Winner, Smiles for the World Competition

TITLE: Don’t Worry, Be Happy: Of Lines and Smiles

Arnold Jumpay

MESSAGE: Show and share the color and lines of your smile to change the world; don’t let the world change your smile!

EXPLANATION: The facial lines tell it all about the lives of these elderly Ifugao women. Days upon days of toiling the rice terraces of the Ifugao, years upon years of preserving the tribe’s age-old traditions. But they do not worry a bit – unlike the modern women of our days where each line is an indication of stress on the job. The unbridled smiles, rendering their eyes more linear as they pose for this photo, only show that they love where they are – sun-baked skin and tobacco-lined teeth yet proud with their tribal colors, all bright and welcoming. Indeed, quality of humanity no one can assail.

Second Place Winner, Smiles for the World Competition

TITLE: The Happiness In Our Skin

Hannah Maria Reyes

MESSAGE: Filipinos fluently speak the most important language – smiles

EXPLANATION: I met this lovely lola when I stayed with the Butbut tribe in Kalinga. I started telling her how brave I thought she was to endure the pain of tattooing as a young girl, and before I realized that she couldn’t understand me, she hugged me, and gave me a kindness you can give strangers – a smile. I smiled back, and it was all we needed to understand each other.

I’ve always believed that at the heart of being Filipino is the ability to smile through anything. Smiles are calidad humana in its simplest form. It’s a secret kind of bravery and wisdom that runs in our blood, and somehow binds us together. When I got a tattoo from her tribe, the mark it left wasn’t only from the ink, but from seeing calidad humana in the dignity and happiness brought about by their simple ways of living. Life marks you, and when you can smile through that, you return the mark to the world. As Filipinos, it’s the good we have to give. Through our resilient smiles, we bridge differences. We live out calidad humana. It’s in wrinkled tattoos, in smile lines, and in the happiness we choose everyday.

TITLE: Merry Footprints

on a Village Mountain

Mennie Ruth Viray

MESSAGE: Wear a smile, like the ones of a child that light up a village on the mountains and spread out like the sun in the morning

TITLE: Curing Smile

Val Bagabaldo

MESSAGE: No matter what the situation is, put God first in everything we do, combined with positive attitude. Always be happy; give a smile to everyone.

TITLE: Blissful Innocence

Richard Madrigalejos

MESSAGE: Smile and enjoy life!

TITLE: Smile Like a Child

Joceline Oliver

MESSAGE: Smile like a child and make life simple.