PEOPLE EMBOLDENED TAKE ACTION

FOR SOCIAL GOOD:

PETA AND ITS ADVOCACY
By Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA)
2017 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee

Presented at the 59th Ramon Magsaysay Awards Lecture Series

5 September 2017, Manila, Philippines

Presented by Maria Gloriosa Santos-Cabangon, PETA Executive Director

The arts perform many functions in societycommunication,

entertainment, advocacy, education, social interaction,
community organizing, networking and cultural development.
Art can catalyze critical thinking, inspire individuals to work
together, create visions, heal. This paper focuses on the power
of the arts, specifically of theater, in transforming people and
communities. It narrates the journey of the Philippine
Educational Theater Association (PETA) and the creative
programs and strategies it employed in pursuit of various
advocacies towards empowering people to take action for social
good.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

PETA and Theater for Advocacy/ Development

Cecile Guidote-Alvarez founded the Philippine Educational

Theater Association or PETA in 1967 with a vision of a theater
for the nation. From the onset, PETA has recognized the
integral role of theater in the development of people and society.
As a performing company, it has on its roster more than 500
plays, utilizing the Filipino language and various theater forms
and styles, tackling local and universal themes that are relevant
to the times. As an educational institution, PETA has conducted
thousands of workshops that use the communicative and creative
power of theater and the arts to unleash creativity and
imagination towards personal discovery, meaning making and
community action.

PETA has had a long history of working with schools,

communities and grassroots organizations using theater for
transformative action. In the 70s and 80s, the organization was
at the helm of conducting theater arts workshops all over the
country to popularize the use of theater as a way to combat the
culture of silence which was very pervasive during the martial
law period. Through its productions, the oppressive conditions
and realities of Filipinos under martial rule were put on stage.
Theater became a venue for audience awareness and
consciousness-raising. Through the workshops, various
communities and sectors organized their respective theater
groups that became cultural agents in exposing the atrocities of
the regime. As more and more theater groups got organized,
PETA spearheaded the formation of a national theater

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movement to consolidate the cultural initiatives taking place all
over the country.

In the 90s, PETA immersed itself in the praxis of Theater for

Developmentthe use of theater in pursuit of genuine
development and democratization processes. PETAs Theater
for Development is the companys creative response to
globalization. In the classical mode of development where
emphasis is on the acceleration of economic growth, opening up
to the free market system and modernization, PETA recognizes
that many people are left in the periphery, cultures are
homogenized, society is fragmented and that social and human
development are often set aside.

PETA adopted human rights as its overarching framework for

doing theater for development. Crucial in this belief is providing
spaces and opportunities for marginalized people to be heard
and seen, to participate and to transform policies, practices,
ideas and values towards equality, tolerance and inclusion.
PETA has pursued various advocacies via its creative campaigns
e.g. Human Rights, Violence Against Women, Children's
Rights, Positive Discipline, Censorship, Disaster Risk
Reduction, etc. These campaigns resulted in significant action
from various stakeholders. Today, PETA continues to be an
educational theater company, synergizing teaching and
performance for peoples development. PETA continues to serve
its partners by offering alternative methodologies for teaching
and learning as well as creative strategies for advocacy and
community mobilization in various areas of development work.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

CHILDRENS RIGHTS ADVOCACY THROUGH
THEATER

If our vision for our children is for them to grow up as healthy,

confident, caring and responsible individuals, it is therefore
important that they be reared in a nurturing environment.
Hurting our children in the guise of discipline is not an option.
Lifes lessons are best understood not by fear and violence but
rather in the spirit of trust, openness, respect and love.

PETAs unique contribution to development work for children is

a culture-based approach to promoting the rights of the child and
enhancing their participation and empowerment.

The ARTS Zone Project, which began in 2010, stands for

Advocate Right to Safety Zone for Children. It is a cultural
advocacy project against corporal punishment of children as a
form of child abuse and violence. It utilizes the combined
strategies of theater performance, training and partnership
building designed in an integrated manner to educate and inspire
children and young people, teachers and school personnel,
parents, and local authorities on the right of children to be
protected from physical and humiliating forms of punishment as
well as advocate for positive discipline. It also aims to generate
greater public support and understanding of the proposed anti-
corporal punishment (later called positive discipline) bill filed in
Congress, and the Child Protection Policies issued by the
Department of Education. The ARTS Zone Project was
implemented in around 70 schools and barangays in the eight

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cities/municipalities of Metro Manila-Rizal as well as in the
provinces of Albay, Dumaguete and Ozamis, and with key
national childrens networks.

Why use THEATER to advocate for Positive Discipline? The

advantage of theater is that it touches not only the intellect, but
more importantly, the heart; that through drama, concrete human
stories unfold before the audience, making them empathize, get
angry, laugh, fall in love, cry with the characters and in the end,
allow them to process the shared and unique experience they had
in the theater performance.

Given the sensitive nature of the issue being discussed (corporal

punishment), a theater play was seen to be less threatening and
potentially more effective.

In the case of the ARTS Zone Project, PETA developed an

original advocacy play entitled Rated PG, designed to explore
alternative and more progressive parenting options to corporal
punishment. The story was based on a typical Filipino family
confronted with the daily challenges of family life. Playwright
Liza Magtoto based the story on the sharing of parents, teachers
and children during the workshops conducted by PETA with the
partners. PETAs project partners became the sources of stories,
characters and dialogue.

The choice to focus the play story on what is typical and

ordinary Filipino is a deliberate one. While it is more dramatic
to depict a story of a child who almost died of battering by

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

parents, PETA opted to choose a simple story with which
audiences could easily identify. PETA did not want to alienate
the audience by only showing extreme cases of corporal
punishment. It was PETAs intention to show that the act of
disciplining children is a difficulty shared by many parents; that
corporal punishment takes place in many homes but there could
be alternatives that could be explored.

To make the play more accessible to its target audience, it

utilized the Filipino language as its medium of theater
communication. From the beginning, PETA has always given
premium in the use of the Filipino language as a way to
democratize and expand the reach and potential impact of
theater. PETA believes that the audience can better appreciate
and understand theater and its meanings if it is communicated
using the language which is closest and most familiar to them.

In terms of artistic elements, PETA also used music, multi-

media, comedy and drama that are popular forms to its target
audiences. In the process of learning through a theater
performance, the audience is also entertained and dazzled by
the production spectacle and quality of performance. Recall of
key information and messages are also made easier through
songs and music.

At the end of every performance, a de-briefing session was held

with the audience members. The objective was to gather initial
reactions and insights from the viewers and engage them in a
deeper discussion of the story and its key messages. The de-

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

briefing was also an effective way of gauging how the play
came across to the audience. It also served as a venue by which
children and parent audiences were able to dialogue on the issue
of corporal punishment.

Rated PG was performed to almost 60,000 audiences in Metro

Manila and Rizal Province. According to the research conducted
by Ochoa, Yacat and Torre , Rated PG was effective in
promoting positive discipline among its children and adult
viewers; that the play contributed in reducing the endorsement
(by the audience) of corporal punishment as a way of
disciplining children.

Factors that contributed to the plays effectiveness include

familiarity of story and characters, accessibility of language, use
of popular artistic elements and symbolic images and
expressions, and post-performance dialogue with the audience.
The Rated PG performance combined with creative
workshops and local action on positive discipline constituted an
effective learning experience for children and adults in
understanding childrens rights and upholding the best interest
of the child. Partnership building with schools, communities and
local government units ensured participation and project
sustainability.

RESILIENCY EDUCATION: PSYCHO-SOCIAL

PROCESSING & DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
THROUGH THE ARTS

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Hazards are both man-made and natural; hazards can both be a
combination of big events like Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) or
continuing stories like threats posed by development aggression
in the South or wars in Mindanao. Hazards have become part of
our NEW NORMAL.

But not all hazards will result in disaster. While a hazard is a

necessary condition for a disaster, when people are prepared and
capacitated, a disaster can be avoided.

A disaster is the serious disruption of the functioning of society

causing widespread human, material or environmental losses,
which exceed the ability of the affected communities to cope
using their own resources. A disaster occurs when a community
cannot cope with the deleterious effects of a hazard. Most
vulnerable to these disasters are the poor, the marginalized,
especially the children. In PETAs DRR education and advocacy
work, we view disaster as an end state. The opposite or desired
alternative end state is RESILIENCE.

PETA has an ongoing creative campaign focusing on

community managed disaster risk reduction and resilience
education towards developing a culture of safety in the
community. The project, dubbed as LingapSining, is being
implemented in Palo, and Dulag, Leyte in communities that
were affected by Typhoon Yolanda. At the heart of the
LingapSining project is rebuilding the human infrastructure and
capacitating them to become resilient. In partnership with
schools and communities, PETA toured the play Padayon and

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

conducted creative workshops to equip the target participants
audiences (children, teachers, parents, local government
officials, peoples organizations) with basic knowledge and
skills in disaster risk reduction and management. Psychosocial
processing through the arts was also conducted for survivors to
process their traumatic experience and feelings of anger,
anxiousness, helplessness and sadness. An important component
of the campaign was the local action response that target schools
and communities would implement as their direct contribution to
building resilient communities. The creative campaign
culminated in a conference participated in by the stakeholders
and a publication to share the lessons and strategies developed in
relation to community managed disaster risk reduction.

For the psychosocial processing, PETA facilitators conducted

creative workshops with children and adults to help them
process their trauma, facilitate their healing and bring out
their strength and resiliency. The general curriculum design
covered the following modules:

Module 1: Establishing Safety;

Module 2: Telling and Retelling Stories;
Module 3: Finding Commonalities and Reconnection;
Module 4: Group Action. Modules followed the themes: I AM, I
HAVE, I CAN, and I WILL.

In organizing the content of the sharing of the participants, the

PETA facilitators utilized the Well-being and Circles of Life
(BilogngBuhay) Frameworks.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

According to LingapSining Program Director Abigail Billones,
PETA adapted the BilogngBuhay framework and utilized the
integrated theater arts approach in the workshop. Using arts
and creative processes, the participants and communities are
able to release and express the psychosocial and personal
impact of the disaster experience (kalooban), how it affected
their relationship with their families, communities and their
environment (kapwa), what they have discovered about their
capacities and what helped them to recover (kakayahan) and
how they make sense/meaning of the whole experience
(kabuluhan/ kahulugan). This entire process of assessment and
reflection allows one to discover and identify ones needs,
capacities and resources towards healing and recovery.

To this date, thousands of children, parents, teachers and school

personnel, and barangay officials have participated in the
LingapSining project in Leyte. Many of them have become DRR
advocates in their respective families, schools and communities.
DRR measures and plans have been developed and integrated in
school and barangay programs. LingapSinings disaster risk
reduction and resiliency education and advocacy was successful
as it employed creative, experiential and participatory teaching
and strategies.

Instead of heavy lectures, PETA managed to share DRR

concepts using various art activities. This made the experience
participatory, more enjoyable and conducive to participants
learning. Activities were also grounded in the local context and
culture of the people of Leyte. PETA recognizes the indigenous

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

knowledge of communities. Communities have accumulated
local knowledge about hazards and know how to react to an
adverse situation. The PETA project also bolstered peoples
imagination and resourcefulness, encouraging people to veer
away from a culture of dependence and to think not only by the
day but to think ahead.

LingapSining provided a platform by which different

community stakeholders can dialogue and work together
towards building safe and resilient communities. Through
performances and creative workshops, theater became an
effective approach in processing post-disaster experiences,
helped bolster community spirit and unity as well as facilitated
community participation, understanding and management of
disaster-related issues.

Knowledge starts from the Heart, affects the Mind and mind
affects the Body to ACT and MOVE. If we keep on practicing the
habit and values, we can do it in real life. Theater indeed is a
Rehearsal for Life.Lingap Sining Workshop Insights

ENGAGING THE MEKONG: BUILDING CREATIVE

COMMUNITIES FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

In 2004, PETA engaged the Mekong arts community by setting

up a program on Arts for Advocacy. The program aimed to
mobilize the creative communities in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia,
Vietnam and Yunnan, China (also known as the Greater Mekong
Sub-Region) and build partnership and support for social issue

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

advocacy through theater and the performing arts. From 2004-
2008, the focus of the advocacy was gender, sexual health and
HIV/AIDS. From 2009-2012 the focus is childrens rights and
migration related child poverty.

The program had two core components: the Performing Arts

Laboratory and the Arts for Advocacy Fellowship.

The Mekong Performing Arts Laboratory is a three-week

intensive training program geared to strengthen and enhance
capacities of performing artists within the Greater Mekong Sub-
region in using theater and the performing arts for social
advocacy. The training utilizes creative approaches to study and
learn meanings of gender, sexual reproductive health, childrens
rights, migration, etc. At the end of the laboratory, participants
are given the chance to develop new artistic works integrating
the content tackled. Five (5) laboratory workshops have been
implemented and hosted in the participating countries i.e.
Manila (2005), Vietnam (2006), Cambodia (2007), Thailand
(2008) and Manila (2010).

The annual Arts for Advocacy Fellowship program seeks to

facilitate the development of creative expressions through
support for performances, outreach program, and networking.
The fellowship is essentially a grants program to enable
individual artists and cultural groups to do advocacy
performances in their communities.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

In 2009, PETA organized the Arts and Media Festival and
Conference in Cambodia, showcasing the artistic outputs of the
program through the years.

Insights From the PETA Mekong Performing Arts Laboratory

(1) The laboratory was a celebration of the diverse cultures and

identities in the Mekong Region. In the laboratory, the
participants were exposed to a variety of art forms (spoken
drama, puppetry, contemporary and traditional dance, circus
theater, contemporary drama) as well as theater making
practices within the region. The curriculum was multi-cultural
and inter-disciplinary. Exposing the students to different artistic
forms and practices opened their horizons to a bigger world.
Awareness is a prerequisite to developing appreciation and
respect for other cultures.

(2) The arts is an expression of the artists self and identity.

Appreciating diversity begins from knowing and valuing ones
self, ones culture. According to Hwa Young Carusos article
Critical Cultural Inquiry and Multicultural Arts Education
(2005), developing sensitivity to others begins with a sense of
self. As a multicultural arts education program, it was
important for the Mekong laboratory to begin from an
understanding of the I (self), then, a recognition of who
They are (others), then a reflection of who am I am in
relation to They and who are We. How are we the same,
how are we different? What can we do together?

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

(3) Valuing diversity as well as managing differences is a
process founded on trust and respect. The laboratory recognized
that cultural differences are potential sources of tension. During
the laboratory, opinions raised on each others works and ways
of doing things sometimes led to disagreements (and judgments)
as the participants were coming from different perspectives,
different performance standards and practices.

Multi-cultural arts education program like the laboratory

demands sensitivity and skills in managing cultural differences
and dynamics from all parties involved (teachers and students).
One must be cautious of power dynamics and cultural
dominance that may take place in the workshop. Establishing a
safe space throughout the process is vital so that the students
will feel safe as they take the creative plunge in the various
exercises as well as overcome their fear of working with
others who are different from them.

Likewise, nurturing a creative process founded on openness and

respect was crucial in managing cultural differences.

Ensuring effective communication across differences is also

valuable.

Language is a major concern in any multicultural arts education

setting. Sessions of the laboratory were facilitated in English and
simultaneously translated in six (6) other languages. In the case
of the laboratory, the artistic processes helped mediate the
language differences. PETAs integrated theater arts, which

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utilizes elements of drama, visual arts, music, movement and
creative writing, is an effective approach that facilitates
communication beyond words.

(4) Reflecting on the differences and how these lead to tensions

and conflicts provide a new way of seeing things. This, we
believe, is a necessary process for people coming from diverse
cultures, to genuinely work together. The intention is not to
erase or resolve the differences but rather, to provide a more
insightful way of seeing things.

And this is where drama education is most powerful for it allows

us to step into someone elses shoes and see things from a
different perspective. In the PETA laboratory, the participants
get to experience ones culture through the eyes of a neighbor.
A critical interpreting and re-interpreting of ourselves, our
identity, our biases nurtures diversity and helps manage
differences. (Espallardo, 2011)

(5) Artists coming from diverse cultures and backgrounds can

work together towards transformative cultural action. The
laboratory was an opportunity to examine inter-connection of
issues across borders as well as explore and build cross-cultural
relationships between and among the performing arts
communities. The laboratory provided opportunities for artists to
work together and meaningfully build a partnership of equals in
the common pursuit of arts for social advocacy.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

In 2009, a Mekong Festival was held in Cambodia, celebrating
years of creative partnerships on Arts for Advocacy. The PETA
laboratory fostered a group of artists who shared a vision of
transforming lives through their art; a collective of artists who
are dedicated to developing excellent performances that tackled
social issues pertinent to the region and pushed for social reform
agenda on gender, childrens rights and human rights. The
PETA Mekong program was most successful in employing a
multicultural, cross-disciplinary approach to arts for advocacy.

CONCLUSION

The arts play a vital role in social development. As seen from

the experience of PETA and its partners, arts in social
development is premised on the belief that the arts have a role to
play in society and that it is an integral component of peoples
development and nation building. However, the arts and culture
should not be merely seen from a utilitarian view but rather
should be recognized as a distinct force with its own identity,
dynamism and development.

What made PETAs Theater for Advocacy and Development

effective?

(1) It is all about the VISION. It is all about our belief in theater
that is inextricably linked to people and society. It is about
believing that theater has an important role and contribution in
shaping peoples minds, in providing a voice for those who are
in the margins, in creating discourse, in providing hope amidst

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

apathy and despair, in moving people towards action. This
vision and concept of theater define PETAs MISSION and core
being. Doing theater in the service of people and society is our
mission. Our vision has been our anchor in the last 50 years.

(2) EXCELLENCE in artistic craftsmanship. In comparing the

similarities between advertising and pop culture, Jib Fowles had
this to say: Only when the individual viewer experiences the
communication as artistic, where symbols artfully reach through
cognition to the layers of feelings and do so in an ultimately
pleasurable way, is that individual likely to be touched
significantly by the content. The same can be said about
theater.

(3) PEOPLES THEATER PEDAGOGY: One of PETAs

greatest treasures is the participatory, creative, fun and dialogic
nature of its pedagogy that unleashes the creativity and
imagination of its participants. PETA has always believed that
developing peoples capacities for creative imagination and
unafraid expression emboldens people to take action for social
good.

(4) Giving value to its SOCIAL CAPITAL i.e. the PETA artist-
teachers (members), Board, leaders, staff, networks, partners,
sponsors and funders, media, public. PETA would usually say
that its greatest wealth is its members, staff and network with
shared values, passion and commitment to meaningful theater.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

(5) COLLABORATION AND PARTNERSHIP: Theater is a
collective process. Continuous partnering with national and
international artistic, educational, cultural and development
organizations has allowed PETA to share its experience and
expertise in theater and education, as well as deepen its
knowledge of and relationships with various communities,
organizations, artists and educators and the larger social
movements.

(6) Organizational VALUES: PETA has always strived to be

efficient, professional and transparent in its dealings with
partners as well as with its systems and operations. Important in
PETAs organizational and creative processes are integrity,
openness and respect.

(7) The end does not always justify the means. PROCESS is
crucial in the organization and its advocacies.

(8) Learning from ones MISTAKES. Mistakes can be very

expensive. Thus they are valuable.

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