ProjectSaysay Launches, Exhibits New Posters
The first ten new ProjectSaysay (pSaysay) poster designs were inaugurated along with the portraits of the ten Filipino honorees at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) office in Pasay City on May 22, 2018, also the 5th anniversary of pSaysay. It was attended by DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and the descendants of the honorees namely: Apolinario Mabini, Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Gregoria de Jesus, Mariano Ponce, Gliceria Marella de Villavicencio, Clemencia Lopez, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Hadji Butu, and Antonio Luna.
The event kicked off the poster series dubbed as the Sentro Rizal Series, which features the words of wisdom of the aforementioned honorees. The name “Sentro Rizal” came from the official name of the country’s cultural centers found in 31 Philippine embassies: Madrid, Prague, Bern, Muscat, Los Angeles, Wellington, Vientiane, Ankara, Hong Kong, Xiamen, Berlin, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Jakarta, Cairo, Seoul, Yangon, Buenos Aires, Doha, Agana, Brunei, Milan, Rome, Singapore, Chicago, Tokyo, Washington, Manama, Kuwait, and Ottawa.
The Philippine Embassy in London is also among the beneficiaries in recognition of Vice-Consul Stacy Danica Alcantara-Garcia, pSaysay overseas flagship program head. DFA facilitated the distribution of 320 posters to the said embassies. Also benefited from this program are the Sentro Rizal Headquarters at the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in Manila, Office of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and the DFA Carlos P. Romulo Library.
This innovation in pSaysay was brought by the partnership with Ibarra Watches, a premium Filipino watch brand. The said company commissioned Mark Villanueva to paint the official portraits for pSaysay. The partnership targets to produce 50 new designs, an ample number to produce the second phase of the partnership which is to standardize the posters for distribution to various Philippine schools.
