Report on Activities in the Video Production and Charter Dissemination

Submitted by Aleli Bawagan, Project Coordinator
OTRADEV
January 2005

Four OTRADEV members started brainstorming on a possible project to promote the charter on human responsibilities in March 2003. Since almost half of the life of OTRADEV as a non-government organization was spent with the Iraya Mangyans, the indigenous peoples of Mindoro Island, the ideas raised were mainly in cooperation with their sector. Among the proposals discussed, we finally decided to produce a video documentation on the life of the Irayas to show how they practice responsibility to their children, to their society and to the environment. This proposal was discussed in an informal meeting with more OTRADEV members in April 2004 where everyone was supportive of the idea. A small committee was tasked to take charge of the project.

Further brainstorming on the contents of the video took place in early June. Major contents would be: the Iraya family; the ancestral domain and their farming practices; the challenges they face as a group; and their responses to these challenges. The committee decided that this video will be produced mainly for high school and college students mainly for awareness raising on the life and struggles of the Irayas, not just for students in Mindoro but in other cities, provinces in the country and even outside the country as well.

The concept paper was drafted and sent out to three groups who were potential partners in the video production. We received three proposals, the committee reviewed these and finally decided on who to award the contract. Discussions with the ‘Giant Sponge Production’ took place in late June.

Two members of the committee visited Mindoro in early July to coordinate with the Provincial Government, specifically the Provincial Information Office whose current director was a former OTRADEV staff in Mindoro. They were very supportive of the project and offered whatever help they can provide. The project was then discussed with the four Mangyan communities where possible video shooting will take place. In the discussions, the Mangyan leaders proposed topics that could be included in the script, areas where filming can be done, who can be interviewed, etc. These inputs were relayed to the production team who were tasked to do the script. An initial script was drafted and was the basis for the filming which was done in late July.

From August to September, the production team worked on the video and finalization of the script. Transcipts of the interviews were given to OTRADEV so that we can choose which ones to include in the video. A rough cut was available for viewing in September. OTRADEV went through the material and gave our comments for revision. We also went back to Mindoro to get the comments of the Mangyan communities on the rough cut. They were very happy with the outcome but also had comments for improvement. Again, feedback was given to the production team on how the improvements can be done, both on content and on technical side of the production.

In November, the final video output was produced. There were just a few more exchanges between the production team and OTRADEV regarding the English sub-titles and the final credits. A few copies were reproduced for distribution to the Provincial Information Office (PIO), selected public and private high schools in four towns of Calapan, Baco, San Teodoro and Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro and selected Mangyan schools in these towns. The PIO pledged to show it to all TV cable channels in the island.

The school recipients of the video as of January 2005 are as follows:

The plan is to distribute copies of the video documentation to the following:

1. selected public high schools and some elementary schools who have Mangyan students in Puerto Galera and Abra de Ilog;
2. selected public and private high schools and colleges in the southern towns of Oriental Mindoro and in Occidental Mindoro;
3. selected public and private high schools, colleges and universities in Metro Manila;
4. NGOs working with indigenous peoples;
5. Indigenous peoples organizations;
6. Department of Education division offices in Oriental and Occidental Mindoro.