Pamana:&nbsp;The Filipino&amp;#8217;s Love For Each Other and Their Country
Receiving press launch invitations were a joy to us because it denotes a seal of confidence in the things that we love to do. The press were greeted by a yellow-themed reception with a delightful dinner at PETA Theater Center last 25 July 2013. Here&amp;#8217;s to first time, I have no expectations when I arrived and my only knowledge embodies of what I&amp;#8217;ve read in the press releases posted in online. This eventually made me think to consider learning about theatrical performances too, since I&amp;#8217;m given the opportunity now, along with our OPM advocacy. Thanks to Sir Toots. The challenge now is to how I can actually sum up tons of information regarding this historical docu-musical and to how I can spread the deeds of heroism effectively.
More photos from the Pamana press launch HERE.
Present that night is Noel Cabangon who&amp;#8217;s in full support to Pamana&amp;#8217;s campaign. The press launch forum started after the media&amp;#8217;s excerpt viewing which brings me to the streets of EDSA, an incredible place to witness such fascinating life story of Ninoy and Cory dwelling in every Filipino&amp;#8217;s lives. &nbsp;I&amp;#8217;ve learned a lot from the excerpt and the panel who answered questions generously, it&amp;#8217;s like history class but very entertaining. Do you want to know the answer to &amp;#8216;How Ninoy and Cory really affect Filipino&amp;#8217;s lives?&amp;#8217;, then catch Pamana. Here are more reasons why you must watch Pamana:
&amp;gt; For the youth to understand the significance of sacrifice just like what Ninoy and Cory did, having a high regard for the dignity and being of others and faith in God for pursuing the path of truth. To experience their legacy of choosing to love your country and neighbor as a response to God&amp;#8217;s love in a docu-musical set-up.
&amp;gt; To attest to the humane life of Ninoy and Cory who spent their lifetimes trying to change a country and to grow awareness from the epic journey in storing democracy and how it affects the lives of the Filipinos. It also gives the young generation an opportunity to witness history, an occurrence that the youth will not encounter anymore or that history books can&amp;#8217;t contain.&nbsp;It&amp;#8217;s a chronicle that we should keep remembering and reliving in perpetuity.. &nbsp;
&amp;gt; To inspire Filipinos to become the Ninoy&amp;#8217;s and the Cory&amp;#8217;s in their own ways and be able to vigorously use their blessings to be part of the change that they wish to see in this country, a transformation for a better life.
Pamana is an effective way to recognize and experience Filipino heroism during the struggle for democracy again. Being able to feel the great emotions which established and transpired the EDSA revolution through this medium will be life changing.
The Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation, Inc. (NCAF)
Present in the launch is NCAF Executive Director Rafael Lopa who presented an introduction to The Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation, Inc. (NCAF) leading to the story of Pamana. The Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation is the continuing effort to honor the memory of the late Sen. Ninoy Aquino and the late Pres. Corazon Aquino which promotes sustainable society and people empowerment. NCAF believes that this nation needs selfless Filipino heroes.
&quot;The Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation traces its roots from the Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Foundation established in 1983 after the assassination of then Sen. Ninoy Aquino. Few months after the passing of Tita Cory in August of 2009, we who were left behind agreed that we should have been called the foundation to Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation. Primarily because we believed that the foundation is really all about promoting the legacy of these two people. To share the country specially to the next generation of Filipinos the relevance of their lives as we continue to shape our country&amp;#8217;s history,&quot; opens Rapa Lopa.
2013 marks the 30th anniversary of Sen. Ninoy Benigno Aquino&amp;#8217;s martyrdom. Remembering when Filipinos begun their journey on the road to democracy after over a decade of Marcos dictatorship on Aug 21, 1983. Filipino spirit prevailed at the EDSA People Power Revolution which ousted the dictator and gave rise to Cory Aquino&amp;#8217;s reign. Accompanied by the nation&amp;#8217;s ups and downs, the spirit of heroism remained constant in Filipino even after 30 years later. The persistence specially among the youth were able to turn better community transformation and advocacy.&nbsp;
Pamana: A Tribute to Ninoy and Cory Aquino
In celebration of 30 years of Filipino heroism, NCAF in partnership with Indie.go Media and the Philippine Educational Theater Association, Inc. (PETA) proudly present Pamana &amp;#8212; an original docu-musical about three generations of a Filipino family with resisting views on the effects of the EDSA Revolution to their lives. Mr. Lopa once stated, &quot;Pamana, a tribute for Ninoy and Cory Aquino, the Filipino people and their love story with each other and their country,&quot; an earnest and very distinct contextual definition.
&quot;Pamana is a story of love that started between a man and a woman who&amp;#8217;s love for each other lead them to get their lives to people who found in them the father and a mother that loved them unconditionally. Pamana is a story of people who have been moved by the realization of such love and affection responded by the call to sacrifice for each other and found collective courage to achieve the course for country&amp;#8217;s stern. Pamana is a story of hope for the new generation of Filipinos who have found inspiration from the lessons of the past and the opportunities presented to them,&quot; adds Mr. Lopa.
Video director and executive producer Jun Reyes of Indie.go Media agrees with what Mr. Lofa has put forward in commemoration of the martyrdom and he wants to promote and propagate this cause for people to watch it and get reminded of the efforts of these 2 iconic Filipinos. &quot;This is also one of my advocacies to actually perpetuate the legacy of this two selfless individuals,&quot; says Mr. Reyes as he believed in Pamana&amp;#8217;s brilliant script, fantastic music creation and PETA&amp;#8217;s organizational expertise.
Maribel Legarda, speech director of Pamana and artistic director of PETA tells about her experience touring with the Aquino&amp;#8217;s journey in 1986 when Peta produced a play called Panata Sa Kalayaan which is about the story of Marcos regime and its downfall during the people&amp;#8217;s revolution. &quot;We toured that for 10 months to North America and Europe which is our way to tell Filipinos overseas as well as the international community what happened to the Philippines in those 20 years. 20 years later, I also directed Walang Himala to celebrate the 20 years of EDSA Revolution,&quot; says Ms. Legarda as she continues to tell us that Mrs. Aquino actually watched the play. She also recounted her conversation with Cory Aquino when she ran to offer a paper cut luminario with Ninoy Aquino&amp;#8217;s face in it as a gift. &quot;No thank you, I&amp;#8217;m glad I watched the play, it made me feel like this country still has hope,&quot; answered Mrs. Aquino to her.&nbsp;
&quot;And so it&amp;#8217;s really quite amazing to me that now on 2013, I&amp;#8217;m again directing another play that will now try to reconstruct how to tell this epic story of love of a man and a woman and their love for their country. Let&amp;#8217;s just look at the act, that selfless act to what we&amp;#8217;re trying to say here and why we keep on trying to save this story in different ways in every generation because that is what were trying you to be inspired and to be more than who we are,&quot; narrates Ms. Legarda as she kept on animating the values learned from the Aquino couple&amp;#8217;s lives and on how she&amp;#8217;s grateful of being part of Pamana.
Ms. Maribel runs over Pamana&amp;#8217;s synopsis for the media, &quot;We&amp;#8217;ve decided to tell the story through the eyes of &nbsp;a simple family: Lola Azon, her son Edgar and Trina. Lola Azon is a Metro Aide sweeper in the 70s, her son Edgar will eventually go abroad as migration is happening now in the country and Trina stays with her and gets inspired by her stories and how they changed. We decided to take the view point of every man. A simple street sweeper who tells the epic story of all the events that transpired through EDSA and the other great streets of this nation. It&amp;#8217;s really very simple. We have 3 monologues that are going to be woven in and that becomes very intimate and then slowly opens up because we have a chorus of 20 theater artists as well as the Viva Voce who&amp;#8217;s also performing or us.&quot; We actually watched an excerpt of it, scene 1&amp;#8217;s intimate storytelling with a re-enactment of a huge chorus that Ms. Maribel was talking about.
&quot;I feel for Edgar,&quot; says Jett Pangan who portrayed the role of Edgar and who also shares his stories of being dissolution to the country he lives in. &quot;A Ninoy dies, A Cory tried, ba&amp;#8217;t parang gan&amp;#8217;un pa rin?&quot; he continues to demand as he explains how he is greatly involved with his character in Pamana.&nbsp;He also states on how honored he is to be part and be chosen for this production.&nbsp;
Script written by Rody Vera and music by the Maestro Ryan Cayabyab and Manoling V. Francisco, SJ., Pamana stars Malou de Guzman as Lola Azon; Bodjie Pascua as Turo, Lola Azon&amp;#8217;s husband; Jett Pangan as Edgar, son of Lola Azon and Trina&amp;#8217;s father; and Kakki Teodoro as Trina, grand daughter of Lola Azon. It will be supported by the Viva Voce chorus and a powerful 20-piece ensemble. Completing the artistic and creative team of Pamana: Melvin Lee (associate stage director), Vince de Jesus (musical director), Batche Tan (choreograper), Boni Juan (set Designer), Carlo Pagunaling (costume designer), Jonjon Villareal (lighting designer and technical designer).&nbsp;
There will be 2 large 9X12 LCD screens in which we can catch the existing documentary footage and photography of both Ninoy and Cory Aquino as their genuine representation. &amp;#8220;We choose not to create a Ninoy-Cory character onstage because I think and I feel that their voices captured in sound and the visuals captured in moving pictures and in photography will be stronger voice for this particular piece,&amp;#8221; ends Ms. Maribel.&nbsp;
Pamana Screenings
All performances will be held at the Meralco Theater, Ortigas Center, Pasig City on the following dates:
21 Aug 2013 at 7pm22 Aug at 8pm24 &amp;amp; 25 Aug at 3pm &amp;amp; 8pm
For tickets, call Peta Theater Center at 725-6244 or (0906)4817333. Tickets are also available through Ticketworld at 891-9999 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph.&nbsp;
For more details, please visit&nbsp;iamninoy.iamcory, Journey album,&nbsp;NCACL&nbsp;on Facebook.&nbsp;
Also prompting everyone that The Last Journey of Ninoy returns to the big screen, a documentary of Sen. Benigno S. Aquino III&amp;#8217;s life, on 14 Aug 2013 in celebration of his 30th Anniversary of martyrdom. It will be shown in the various theaters of including SM Megamall, SM North EDSA, SM Manila, SM Fairview, Glorietta, Trinoma, Rockwell Powerplant and Robinsons Galleria. www.iamninoy.com Checkout the trailer below courtesy of &nbsp;acttheword.
