Kamalayan: Art Festival for Awareness raises over ₱ 100,000 for WWF-Philippines’ coastal neighborhoods

May 2020

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Kamalayan.ph, in partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines, created a poster for their fundraiser, "Musika Para sa Mga Mangingisda." Photograph © Kamalayan.ph

In an effort to help provide a sustainable water source for the fisherfolk communities of Boca Engaño, Masbate and Donsol, Sorsogon, local music collective Kamalayan: Art Festival for Awareness raised ₱ 137,607 through a series of online fundraising concerts, entitled Musika Para sa Mga Mangingisda, for the benefit of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines.

The online concert series, which ran from April 22-24 and April 29-30, were headlined by local musicians such as Annie Lux, Paolo Sandejas, Manisha, John Robinson, Buwi Meneses, Nino Mendoza, Tirso Ripoll, (((O))) (thesundropgarden), and Top Suzara.

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20200514_artists photo collage

Here are just some of the famous local musicians to participate in the fundraiser, performing for the benefit of the fisherfolk communities.

Boca Engaño, a coastal neighborhood located in Claveria, Masbate, is the only barangay in its region that does not have its own water system, with its residents comprising 420 families relying on only one of the four deep well water sources for drinking water.

Among those who are affected by the limited water supply are the 15 teachers and 350 students of Boca Engaño Elementary School, who have to fetch water in the nearest deep well in the barangay. Due to the school’s location, which has a distance of 150 meters from the barangay proper and an elevation of around 30 degrees, water has to be transported at times via habal-habal (single motorbike) for a fee of ₱ 10 per container. During summer, the community’s deep wells suffer from drought and shortage. The coastal region of Donsol, Sorsogon faces a similar problem in terms of water source and supply.

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The acts were held over a series of days coinciding with the week of Earth Day, in late April 2020.

Proceeds from the online concert series will be used to build one rainwater tank in the Bicol region. Our goal is to be able to build a total of four rainwater tanks - two for Boca Engaño, one for Mabini Elementary School, and one for Cabugao National High School in Donsol, Sorsogon.

Kamalayan: Art Festival for Awareness has been spearheading projects and events to create sustainable change for the country since 2016. Farmer and fisherfolk communities in Sagada, South Cotabato, and Yangil, Zambales have also benefited from the collective’s initiatives.

To learn more about WWF-Philippines and to find out how we can help #ChangeTheEnding for the environment and our food-producing communities, visit wwf.org.ph, follow our official social media pages, or support our fundraisers at bit.ly/sgwwfph.

For more information, please contact:

Ms. Stephy Navarrete
Individual Donor Program Manager
snavarrete@wwf.org.ph

Mr. AJ Araneta
Digital Fundraising Officer
aaraneta@wwf.org.ph

For media arrangements, please contact:

Ms. Pam Luber
Integrated Communications Manager
pluber@wwf.org.ph