What's your GCash Story?

It was a hot day but nothing that could hamper us from watching #GCashStories. I'm sure you've got your own GCash stories too but today it was about a new individual who definitely pulled heartstrings at the venue.

The first one was about a man who lost his job and resorted to drinking. He was lost, but his family suggested to put his love for coffee to good use and made it a business. GCash made it easy to accept payments, buy stocks and rebuild his life again. It was about hope and perseverance. 

There are about 79 Million+ GCash users here and around the globe who also have stories of their own.  His remarkable story inspired a lot of people to post their own stories. They knew every story, big or small should be told.

The new one is about Alma (who was also there at the venue). She's a humble photocopier from Ateneo. Her love for students who she treats like her own was a story of love and care. When typhoon struck, she got her home flooded. Students who she cared for her where obviously was looking for her, but she couldn't go to work since she needed to clean up with her family. The students knew about it, and organized a fundraiser to help her get back on her feet. She was able to fend for her family because the people she cared for helped her back. She went back to work and got surprised as everyone was there to welcome her. She also got to build a new home. It was certainly a touching story. 

We can relate to Alma at one way or the other, and just like her you too have your own story. Believe it or not, her panggas were also there in the GCash event to see her story immortalized by Antonette Jadaone. She helped change their lives, and they changed her life too.

How about you? What's your GCash story?

EMILIO ROSO in Manila for Vision Of The Bible

Emilio Roso is in the country to share the good news from his spiritual journey. He's a director, producer, actor and author based in Hollywood in the US. This time, he's taking you to a visual and audio spectacle of the Holy Bible through an app called Vision Of The Bible.

This one takes those heartwarming stories, teachings, various chapters and verses be accompanied with audio and video effects that make you feel a different experience, especially if you haven't been to Israel or different sites where it all happened. Roso feels everyone deserves to see where these stories happened and help connect the words to reality, something he is glad to share with Filipinos.

He thought about it while on a trip in the US, and this move to Manila beckons localizing the app's content so it would be adept to subscribers from the country, which he did. The quality of videos are courtesy of over 30 of the world's top cinematographers set to follow their footsteps, and tell their stories through their lens and more. The app also features the voice of award winning Rendy Towes and a multitude of voice actors interpreted in English and Spanish. Take the opportunity to download the app today which is available at Google Play or the App Store. See how you can become part of the journey to the holy land without leaving the Philippines today!

Saving Dying Dialects: Lessons from HULAGWAY

I took the lovely trip to Cinema 76 at Anonas in Quezon City to see Director Alvin Yapan's latest work called HULAGWAY: Dokyumentaryo ng mga Wika at Kulturang Filipino (A documentary of Filipino Language and Culture) a few days ago. Dr. Yapan was tapped by the National Commitee on Language amd Translation under the offices of NCCA (The National Comission for the Culture and the Arts) to direct this film. 

Hulagway means "a portrait" and this film lengthily has taken a look at the person, how one lives, how they communicate with their peers or the community. There are also a lot of metaphorical representation of their struggles, even if they're literally not working with a script, the conversations was molded off how language was used as a tool to enrich lives with stories, songs and poems deeply rooted in culture. 

 

Needless to say, he's a genius when it comes to really complex artsy topics like these and interpreting it for cinema must have been a tall task. His treatment in telling this one is like a documentary. He anchors it with two characters Consuelo (played by Sue Prado) and Robert (which is played by Kalil Almonte). They took the long hard trek to far flung communities in the eastern side of Isabela (up north) and islands off Palawan. 

Imagine, they started this in 2018 and had to work together with only 15 other crew carrying with them loads of equipment to capture unadulterated views, communities and the few men and women who still have a grasp of the dying languages Dupaninan Agta and Tandulanen Tagbanua. This is officially the most difficult film Alvin Yapan has ever made, he made mention of this during the talk we had after the screening. Initially, they had planned to include 6/7 of them (dialects/languages) but the material was too precious to cut off the block. It was also a little too tedious as it involved time consuming research, with little information from various universities (mostly from outside the country) who have conducted studies about them in previous years, they roughed the process of filming and took on talking to the few descendants left who still have a grasp of the language. My favorite scene was the boat traversing a line of mangroves in Palawan, they talked about that on the video.

 

Here's the press conference in two parts where they explained the film and the cause of saving the dialects from these two regions.

During the latter part of the press conference I asked about what concrete plans they have about saving the dying dialect, and they replied that this is just the first step, to become aware, educated, and acknowledge that there is something precious to save. 

The plan is to also have this film be viewed by educational institutions to not just prove its existence, but to formulate a way to find ways to have people teach these dialects and pass on to the next generation. To not lose their identity as IP, and celebrate their uniqueness, their differences, which makes them cool. If this sparks efforts to do so not just from the government, but the citizens of this country, then this film made its mark. Make sure to coordinate with NCCA if you want your school to be part of the film's tour in the coming months. There's more languages/dialects to save in the country, and telling their story is essential.

Make sure to watch it. It'll be life changing!