POSITIVE CONTENT. Veteran actor Leo Martinez encourages local bakers in Cuenca town, Batangas province to make use of social media platforms to actively promote their products and cultural heritage in this Aug. 12, 2024 photo. He said Batangueños must take pride in the province's tourist destinations, local delicacies, and national heroes to counter the toxicity in social media. (PNA photo by Pot Chavez)
BALAYAN, Batangas – Batangueño veteran actor and director Leo Martinez is partnering with schools and local government units in the province to produce audiovisual content materials under his "Doon Po Sa Amin" (DPSA) advocacy promoting what is “good, beautiful, and noble” in the country.
In an interview on Wednesday, he said the project aims to counter the toxicity in social media by highlighting positive audiovisual content such as promotion of local products or brands, tourist destinations, among others.
“We should study its implementation in one's own province, which is why we are partnering with municipal and city government, as well as educational institutions in Batangas to form a group of locals who will be trained as ‘videolantes’,” said Martinez.
Under his advocacy, he said a content-creation workshop is set to be conducted at the Batangas State University on Aug. 19 to educate students in producing audio-visual content promoting unity and cultural diversity.
Meanwhile, the municipal government of Cuenca will also set up another workshop to pay tribute to its bakery heritage through content creation as the town celebrates its founding anniversary in November.
Martinez, a former director general of the Film Academy of the Philippines, also hopes to continue the digital film festival launched in 2022, in partnership with the Provincial Tourism and Cultural Affairs Office (PTCAO) and Batangas Forum for Good Governance and Development Association.
He is encouraging local businesses to feature their popular products in each town such as lechon from Balayan, eggs from San Jose, bread from Cuenca, cattle from Padre Garcia, and "kapeng barako’" (coffee) from Lipa City, among others.
A sustainable development initiative can be cultivated through an economy driven by Filipino creativity and intellectual property, he noted.
“What we only need is a sustainable program with accessible platforms such as social media to increase available creative materials,” he said.
This initiative will ignite the development of the creative industry by fostering a culture of creativity and visual storytelling, following the Philippine Creative Industries Development Act (PCIDA) of 2022, he said. (PNA)
