Award-winning film director holds seminar, workshop in Zamboanga

Award-winning film and television director William Mayo gestures as he explains the intricacies involved in filmmaking during a seminar in Zamboanga City. The seminar was sponsored by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts and partnership with Zamboanga City Representative Maria Isabelle Salazar and City Councilor Gerky Valesco and Ateneo de Zamboanga University President Fr Antonio Moreno.

(Mindanao Examiner Photo / Jung Francisco)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 26, 2009) – Some 30 participants finished a seminar and workshop on filmmaking in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines.

William Mayo, an award-winning film and television director, conducted the three-day workshop held at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University. Mayo, whose films included the epic Lapu-Lapu, discussed the various stages involved in producing a 35-mm movie and digital filmmaking.

“If you have the passion, just do it. Don’t be afraid, be imaginative and pursue your goal and produce a movie. Zamboanga is a beautiful place and it is rich in culture and history and these are very good materials for your film,” said Mayo, who is also the president of the Kapisanan ng mga Direktor ng Pelikulang Pilipino and the Philippine Motion Picture Directors Association, Inc.
Many of the participants were film students and digital filmmakers.

The National Commission on Culture and the Arts and the Film Academy of the Philippines sponsored the workshop in partnership with Zamboanga City Rep. Maria Isabelle Salazar and City Councilor Gerky Valesco and the Ateneo de Zamboanga University.

Fr Antonio Moreno, president of the Ateneo de Zamboanga, also took a brief time and visited the seminar and inspired the participants.

Valesco, himself a television director, who was responsible for organizing the workshop, said a second seminar on advance filmmaking and cinematography is now being planned, including the possible holding of the first Chavacano Film Festival in Zamboanga City later this year.

“We are opening the door to opportunities for our local talents to be known in the field of filmmaking and hopefully to include Zamboanga City among the many cities in the Philippines where filmmaking is striving,” Valesco said.

Salazar, a television documentarist, urged those who finished the workshop to pursue filmmaking here and promote not only Zamboanga, but show that local talents can also be world class. (Jung Francisco)

USAID projects praised in Zamboanga City

City Councilor Gerky Valesco speaks during the closing of the USAID livelihood skills training program in Zamboanga City.

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 20, 2009) – A member of the Zamboanga City Council praised the United States for its continuing support on various development and livelihood projects here.

Councilor Gerky Valesco thanked the United States Assistance for International Development (USAID) for funding the intermediate and advance baking and pastries production for out-of-school youth here.

The project, he said, helped spur the livelihood potentials of the locals as well as the promotion of their communities. Valesco was the guest speaker during the project’s culminating program held in the village of Santa Maria.

Valesco said the the out-of-school youth benefited from the livelihood initiative dubbed as the Technology-Based Community Skills Training (TBCST) under the Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills (EQUALLS-2) headed by Robinson Wee.

“This workshop can spell a difference in the lives of our people and is highly relevant as this will encourage sense of entrepreneurship and the importance of self-reliance to our people, at the same time, their products or outputs can verily help promote their respective villages,” Valesco said.

Valesco thanked the USAID for the consistent and well-meaning intention in equipping Filipinos with livelihood projects amid the global financial crisis. Valesco has been advocating the so-called “One Barangay One Product,” initiative, similar to the government’s One Town One Product program.

The One Town One Product is a priority program of President Gloria Arroyo to promote entrepreneurship and create jobs. Through the One Town One Product, local chief executives of each city and municipality take the lead in identifying, developing and promoting a specific product or service, which has a competitive advantage. It also supports micro, small and medium enterprises to manufacture, offer and market distinctive products or services through the use of indigenous raw materials and local skills and talents.

Valesco’s idea is focused on the potentials of the villages with the direct involvement of the people.

Also present during the Friday’s closing program were Santa Maria village officials headed Justo Lacandalo, Corazon Hericho; and officials from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority led by Maricor Santa Teresa, Joy Wee, Larilyn Lim, and municipal coordinator Nathaniel Asuncion among others. (Jung Francisco)

Zamboanga City Holds Sardines' Festival

Zambo prepares world’s longest sardines’ boodle fightZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 12, 2008) – Thousands of residents joined the much-awaited sardines’ festival in Zamboanga City in Mindanao, feasting on a long line of steamed white rice and locally-produced herrings.

Gerky Valesco, a member of the Zamboanga City Council and chairman of the tourism, culture and arts committee, said the festival dubbed as “WOW Sardinas! Deaton Este! On Saturday was successful.

Residents lined up the stretch of the Roseller T. Lim Boulevard where the “boodle fight” was held. In a boodle fight, foods are served on top of leaves laid out on a series of long tables. The participants line both sides of the table and grab the food with bare hands, enjoying the feast.

“The sardines’ festival is successful and we wanted to thank all the people who participated in this much-awaited Wow Sardinas! Deaton Este! We will surely make next year’s sardines’ festival much bigger until we are known the whole world,” Valesco said.

Five canneries, Atlantic, Universal, Columbus, Mega, and Permex, have donated 15,000 canned tomato sardines. M.Y. San also donated thousands of Sky Flakes crackers and Nature Spring Water also gave bottled mineral water.

“What’s good with the project is the spirit of ayudahan because the materials to make the tables were donated by Mega Plywood, Sunrise Corporation and by the MNS plywood company. On the other hand, students and even teachers from the Zamboanga City Polytechnic State College provided the manpower and labor to build the 417 tables.”

“Whether Guinness Book of World Records will recognize this feat or not, what is important is that the unity and determination of the Zamboanguenos can yield extra ordinary wonders.” Valesco said.

The festival was part of the week-long Fiesta Pilar celebration which ended Sunday.

Pinoy Boxing Champ Ready To Face Thai Challenger In Zamboanga Bout

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 21, 2008) – Filipino boxer Eric Canoy, the current WBO Oriental featherweight champion, is all prepared to defend his belt against Thailand’s Terdsak Jandaeng in Zamboanga City in Mindanao island, organizers said.

Organizers said the Canoy-Jandaeng bout is set on July 27 at the 12,000-capacity Zamboanga City Coliseum, where the Filipino champion also defeated Tanzania’s Rajabu Maoja in February. It will be the second time since December last year that Canoy will face a Thai boxer after he defeated Sairung Raja Gym also at the Zamboanga Coliseum.

Canoy, called “Mr. Golpe-Golpe,” which means “the brawler,” by local fans, has trained the past weeks in Cebu province, his hometown in central Philippines. Canoy has 5 knockouts of the seven wins to his career record.

Many locals have predicted Canoy to win over the 27-year old Jandaeng. But Filipino fans of Jandaeng also foresee the southpaw Thai challenger nicknamed “the Pit bull” to be the next WBO Oriental featherweight champion because of his ferocious boxing style that earned him 20 knockout wins in his 33 fight record.

Jandaeng’s fans said the Thai boxer has an edge over Canoy because of his long fighting experience. Jandaeng had brutally fought with Juan Manuel Marquez in 2006, although he lost to the Mexican boxer.

Indian astrologer Bejan Daruwalla also predicted that Canoy may win the fight. “Ganesha finds that Eric Canoy may win in this boxing match and Terdsak Jandaeng may lose, despite good performance,” the astrologer predicted in his website Ganesha.

Gerky Valesco, a member of the Zamboanga City Council, said the 12-round championship bout is sure to attract thousands of boxing fans here from all around the country.

“This fight is sure to get thousands of boxing fans not only in Mindanao, but other parts of the Philippines. This is great boost to our tourism program. This is sports tourism and we hope to bring more title fights in Zamboanga City,” Valesco told the Mindanao Examiner. (Mindanao Examiner)