NAGA CITY – The Active Vista Human Rights Film Festival has dedicated its Wednesday premiere in Naga City in central Philippine to the memory of its former mayor and Interior Secretary Jess Robredo, who perished in a plane crash last week.
The human rights film festival traveled to Naga City where organizers screened the films “Bunso” by Ditsi Carolino and “Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa” by Alvin Yapan at the Arupe Hall of the Ateneo de Naga University.
“The screenings of Active Vista today is a tribute to Secretary Robredo who best exemplifies a life dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights,” said Active Vista Program Director, Kristine Kintana, in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
Robredo, who was a former mayor in Naga, led the city to social progress and implemented programs that provided security of tenure to the squatters of the city and institutionalized structures and mechanisms to allow democratic participation, transparency and accountability in local governance.
“While Active Vista joins the entire nation especially the City of Naga in mourning for the untimely demise of a true public servant, we also pay homage to Secretary Jesse Robredo, whose life has inspired the Filipino people. The screenings of Active Vista today in his hometown is but a fitting tribute to the man whose public service has paved the way for the people of Naga to live a life of dignity.”
Robredo was a known figure in the social movement, first and foremost, as a model public servant advocating for good governance and as defender of human rights. Among his advocacies include the right of Persons with Disabilities, the right to freedom of information and education. He was considered a reliable ally of the urban poor and marginalized sectors.
Kintana said: “Active Vista aspires to impart to our young audiences the truth about the human rights situation in our country through cinema. And hopefully, they may be inspired to follow the path that Secretary Robredo has threaded.”
She also quoted Robredo, in his commencement message for Ateneo students in 2003, as saying “it is your contribution that really matters – paying back what you owe the community that nurtured you.”
Active Vista is a human rights film festival organized by the artist collective Dakila – Philippine Collective for Modern Heroism and supported by AusAID, Movies that Matter Netherlands and the Royal Norwegian Embassy. The Naga City screenings is the 6th leg of the 20-city tour of the film festival, which started in July and will end on December 2012.
20