More "Save the Ocean" Contests Slated

An urgent call to protect our marine and coastal resources is being sounded in the staging of a series of "Save the Ocean" contests.

"Save the Ocean", a comic strip-drafting contest, will be held on Saturday, July 11, 1998 at the Cebu Beach Club in Buyong, Lapulapu City.

The Comic Strip-Drafting Contest is jointly initiated by the Banco Filipino Happy Savers Club and the Boy Scouts of the Philippines-Cebu Council. It is supported by the Coastal Resource Management Project (CRMP), a technical assistance project of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

The first "Save the Ocean" competition, an On-the-Spot Painting Contest, was held in connection with the launching of the International Year of the Ocean 1998 (IYO) in February. The Comic Strip-Drafting Contest and a Headdress-Making Contest, highlight the IYO celebration in the second semester of the year.

The Comic Strip Drafting Contest is open to all registered BSP-Cebu Council scouts who are also registered Happy Savers Club members, endorsed by their respective troop leaders and outfit advisers and whose participation are noted by the heads of their respective institutions.

Contestants will compete under two categories: elementary and high school.

The panel of judges will be composed of renowned Cebuano artists and art professors Carmelo Tamayo, Kimsoy Yap, Lawrence Vega, Renato Sagario, Jorge Lao and Al Evangelio.

"Save the Ocean" is part of an ongoing drive initiated by CRMP to increase public awareness of ocean issues and get more people involved in the campaign to save our fast-disappearing marine resources. The Comic Strip Drafting Contest aims to crystallize through art the scouts’ commitment to the protection of these precious resources, making them relate better to the issues involved.

Winning entries will be used in educational materials which will be distributed to schoolchildren in the ongoing CRMP campaign for the promotion of sustainable coastal resource management.

"Illustrations are most endearing to children, and even to adults. They help explain development concepts to the young, a critical mass in the effort to save our fast-disappearing coastal and marine resources," says CRMP Chief of Party Catherine Courtney.

"Save the Ocean" is supported by the "I Love the Ocean" Movement. Corporate partners supporting the event are Universal Robina Corporation, Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc. and Magnolia FunChum.

Boy Scouts interested to join the Comic Strip Drafting Contest may contact Zarlynn Gloria at the Banco Filipino General Maxilom Avenue Branch (JRG Bldg.), telephone 254-5225. Deadline for submission of participant application forms is Friday, July 10, 1998.