‘Rak’ gives back
Since its humble beginnings in 2014, Rak of Aegis has been a means for awareness raising campaigns and fundraising initiatives of various civic groups and charity organizations
Philippine Educational Theater Association’s (PETA) Rak of Aegis celebrated its 400th show last 15 August, with a special performance to launch its creative advocacy campaign, “Sulong!
Lusong!” Taga-alog 2019, a partnership project with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission which aims to promote the Pasig River as a space for cultural identity and collective memory.
Since its humble beginnings in 2014, Rak of Aegis has been a means for awareness raising campaigns and fundraising initiatives of various civic groups and charity organizations.
The show has helped raise funds for educational institutions like the Phinma Foundation and the Gerry Roxas Leadership Awardees Inc., and scholarship programs for private schools and universities like Miriam College, Xavier School, Poveda College, La Salle Green Hills, Philippine Science High School and La Consolacion College.
Through Rak, medical foundations like the Kythe Foundation, Philippine Children’s Medical Center and Philippine Society of the Pediatric Cardiology have collected donations for the medical needs of indigent children with cancer and other chronic illnesses. Known for celebrating the resilience of the Filipino spirit,
Rak has also helped grow resources of disaster-response groups like the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center, which provides community-based disaster management trainings and psychosocial support services for blighted communities. In 2014,
Rak also enabled the social enterprise brand Human Nature Philippines to raise funds for the construction of 100 homes for families who lost theirs to Typhoon Yolanda.
Celebrating PETA’s Unsung Heroes
On 26 August, PETA celebrated National Heroes’ Day by staging a special show, “PETA Gives Back,” as a way of thanking its partner communities and organizations, who were all instrumental in keeping PETA’s mission and vision alive for over 50 years.
“We succeed in our mission of entertaing and educating through our art because of our engagement with our partners. As artists, we teach and learn; and then we bring that back on stage when we perform. Our partners have always inspired our work and their stories are a wealthy resource of our narratives,” shares PETA’s artistic director, Maribel Legarda. “Rak of Aegis alone is an example of how our groundwork has inspired the narratives and characters we portray on stage. The story of Rak was inspired by our post-Ondoy psychosocial debriefings and relief efforts in Biñan, Laguna, back in 2009.”
“Our community partners from Infanta who have lost most of their families after Typhoon Winnie brought about major landslides in 2004, were inspirations for Noli at Fili Dekada Dos Mil, a modern retelling of Rizal’s masterpieces written by acclaimed writer and academic, Nicanor Tiongson,” she adds.
Apart from inspiring the company’s thought-provoking original Filipino plays, PETA’s partners have helped the company in developing its unique brand of national theater: one that is immersed in current social realities and uses the power of the arts to raise awareness and empower communities to bring forth social change.
“We’ve been successful through the help of our partners and funders who believed in the role of arts in development. Our advocacy campaigns on children’s rights, women, gender, health and sexuality, youth, environment and disaster risk reduction and human rights, would not have been possible without their support. That’s why we want to dedicate our special show on National Heroes’ Day for them. They are PETA’s unsung heroes,” shares PETA’s executive director Beng Cabangon.
Present on 26 August were Arts Zone Project’s positive discipline partners from Valenzuela and Pasig, Lingap Sining program partners on mental health, psychosocial support and human rights education and advocacy; and arts education community partners from urban poor and sectoral organizations and school-based theater partners. Also present are PETA’s partner local government unit’s and funding partners.
“Rak of Aegis has been a gift to PETA and to many people that it has touched. It is the play that keeps on giving. So, we are inspired to do just that — to give back and recognize the many nameless faces who have inspired us to use theater to transform more lives,” Cabangon adds.