Movement for the Oceans Draws Wide Support

CEBU CITY, May 6 – The "blue heart fever" is spreading fast. Following its successful launch in SM City Cebu last February 15, the I-Love-the-Ocean Movement, whose symbol is the blue heart, will formally accept members from Metro Manila beginning June 4 at SM Megamall, Pasig City. As in Cebu, the opening of "Our Seas, Our Life," a traveling exhibit conceived in connection with the International Year of the Ocean 1998 (IYO), will serve as the Movement’s launching pad in the Philippine capital.

          The IYO is a global initiative spearheaded by the UNESCO’s International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) to draw the attention of the world community to problems facing the oceans. The Philippine celebration of this special year is being coordinated by the National Committee on Marine Sciences (NCMS), UNESCO’s national focal point in the Philippines, in cooperation with the Coastal Resource Management Project (CRMP), a technical assistance project implemented by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

          The I-Love-the-Ocean Movement was conceived as a vehicle for social mobilization that would sustain itself not only for the IYO but for the longer term. "Through this Movement and the exhibit, we hope to get the general public involved in the movement to save our seas," CRMP Chief of Party Catherine A. Courtney said. "There is a large segment of the population that may not be as connected to the ocean environment as the fishers are, people who may not be directly affected by whatever is happening to our marine resources but who nonetheless can influence national policy and want to help. These are the people we want to reach with this type of activity."

          In Cebu, the Movement’s launching triggered a string of other ocean-related activities, beginning on February 15, the launch day itself, when several special events put the ocean’s cause on centerstage. A major highlight of the day was Cris Villonco’s debut performance of Ang Dagat ay Buhay (The Sea Is Life), the Movement’s theme song. Villonco, a 14-year-old recording and performing artist of BMG Pilipinas, primed the crowd with her rendition of popular songs and soon had them singing along to the easy-to-follow melody of Ang Dagat ay Buhay, a Vehnee Saturno composition. An even livelier program capped the day’s events as Banco Filipino’s Happy Savers Club converged at the mall for the awarding of winners of a "Save The Ocean" on-the-spot painting contest held on Valentine’s Day. Villonco joined Camille Prats, another young performing artist, and Viva Record’s Butch Montejo in entertaining a crowd of mostly young people and their proud parents.

Since then, it’s been one red-letter day after another: On February 26, Davao del Sur (Digos) launched its own IYO celebration and the I-Love-the-Ocean Movement. In March, the Blue Tapestry was launched in Masbate. The Blue Tapestry is a community arts project using sewing and fabric arts and crafts as a way to bring people together and mobilize them for the ocean’s cause. In April, President Ramos signed the Ocean Charter, a document drafted by the United Nations expressing the commitment of governments to pursue policies that enhance the sustainability of ocean resources. In May, CRMP organized a series of training workshops for facilitators in preparation for the first general assembly of the I-Love-the-Ocean Movement, which is set for June.

The nearly two-month (June 4 - July 20) showing of Our Seas, Our Life at SM-Megamall is seen as one of the more crucial legs of the traveling exhibit as it is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors. It is one of two highlights of the ongoing IYO celebration for the month of June. Also this month, an executive order declaring the yearly celebration of May as the Ocean Month will be presented to President Ramos. If signed by the President, this executive order will help ensure that the growing movement to promote the sustainability of our seas is carried on by more people in more places over the long term.