Sen. Loren Legarda brings her advocacy to television with the return of the second season of “Dayaw” on October 27, 6pm on ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel and ANC HD.
A partnership between ANC and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), “Dayaw”is a six-part, 30-minute weekly documentary series that focuses on the preservation of the country’s culture and heritage.
For this season, the three-term senator will explore the arts, culture, traditions, and beliefs of various Indigenous groups from the north to the south of the Philippines to show how each contribute to the identity of the Filipino.
Legarda, one of the most respected and the most awarded broadcast journalist of her time before becoming a public servant, has been known for her advocacy of protecting the rights of the Indigenous Peoples and the preservation of traditional culture. In “Dayaw,” she hopes to showcase how knowledge and appreciation of the indigenous ways can make every Filipino whole, and how this can also strengthen love for our country, as she has experienced it herself while doing the documentary.
“My interest in indigenous peoples’ culture goes back three decades and they never fail to amaze me. Whenever I talk to IPs or visit indigenous communities, I always discover marvelous things about our culture and heritage. Doing the “Dayaw” TV series is an enriching experience for me because I continuously learn about our indigenous culture with every episode. We have a very rich culture that we must all try to learn about and I hope that through “Dayaw,” Filipinos will be inspired and encouraged to discover their indigenous roots. To me, it is not just another television show but a legacy for the Filipino people,”Sen. Legarda said.
ABS-CBN Integrated News and Current Affairs head Ging Reyes, meanwhile, expressed the network’s commitment to this project.
“As journalists and media practitioners, we in ABS-CBN and ANC have deemed it our responsibility, in fact our duty to do our part in promoting this knowledge about our past, and pushing for an enlightened citizenry. Thus this partnership with the NCCA. We are very proud to be launching the second season of “Dayaw,” Reyes said in the program’s press launch held last October 20.
Each episode of “Dayaw” promises a rich treasure trove of images, insights, traditions and beliefs from various groups, juxtaposing differences and similarities, creating a synthesis of culture.
In the first episode, the documentary zeroes in on the ways we preserve, prepare and present food – from the salt-making tradition of the North, to the Halal of the South.
The second episode tackles how the environment shapes traditional homes, and will look at the Ivatan home, the Ifugao Bale, the T’boli longhouse, the Bahay Kubo, and the Bahay na Bato.
In the third episode, the Senator will show the different rituals that employ music, chant, and dance, such as the Subli of Batangas, the Tudbulul chant of the T’Boli, and the Bulul ritual of the Ifugao.
Episode four will take on an even more spiritual route, as it surveys the rich spiritual traditions of the Agusanon Babaylan, the Mambobolo and Mananambal of Siquijor, and the Baglan of Abra.
The last two episodes, meanwhile, will focus on traditional adornments on the body, from the Kalinga batok tattoos of Whang Od, and the traditional jewelry of the Ivatan, to the heirloom beads of the Kalinga and the Gaddang, to the modern jewelry of Bulacan.
With “Dayaw” offering a grand opportunity to promote traditional Filipino culture and heritage, NCCA Chairman Felipe de Leon, Jr. said he is looking forward to more seasons of the documentary series, emphasizing how it can help strengthen unity among Filipino people.
“Even if we have 1000 Dayaw episodes, these are not enough to showcase the great variety and diversity of Filipino cultures. With 131 languages, it means we have 131 ethno-linguistic groups and the best way to know the Filipinos is really to know who they are. If you look at Dayaw, it really represents what we call the IKSP of the Philippines: Indigenous Knowledges Systems and Practices and this is the only way to bind the country. You know, any kind of society becomes united by showing them their strengths. Only the positive can unite the people; negative things only tend to divide. We have to showcase the strengths of the Filipinos through Dayaw,” he said.
Don’t miss the return of Senator Loren Legarda on TV as she takes us to another season of “Dayaw” on ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel. Explore the culture and lives of indigenous Filipinos starting October 27(Thursday) at 6pm on ANC and ANC HD.
Senator Legarda, who started her television career at age 18, was considered the most awarded broadcast journalist of her time. She was the executive producer and anchor of PEP Talk, which was the first telemagazine show of ABS-CBN in the post-EDSA era and won more than 30 awards including the Catholic Mass Media hall of fame. She was also the executive producer and anchor of The Inside Story and the anchor of the highly respected and multi-award winning news program, The World Tonight, with the late Angelo Castro Jr. before she retired from ABS-CBN to run for the Philippine Senate in 1998.
For more information on “Dayaw”, visit the official Facebook account of NCCA (https://www.facebook.com/NCCAofficial) and news.abs-cbn.com/anc, or follow ANC on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ANCalerts) and Twitter (@ANCalerts).
