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Saturday, August 05, 2006
Feature film of Candaba swamp birds picked to join int'l festival
KAAKBAY's short video documentary titled "Wings in the Water - The birds in Candaba Swamp" made it as a finalist at the 2006 Moonrise Festival of documentary films about the Philippine environment, culture and social issues.
But with the achievement also comes sad news.
Ralph Nuñez, 35, the lead editor and one of the videographers of the documentary, was gunned down last week during a robbery in Caloocan City. Ralph sustained two gunshot wounds and was declared dead on arrival when he was rushed at Tala Hospital. He just withdrew P35,000 from a Metrobank branch in Lagro, Quezon City and was on his way home when two unidentified robbers pointed their guns at him and forcibly took his bag containing the money. The robbers shot him when he refused to give the bag. The incident took place just near his house. He was about to lend the money he withdrew to a friend who was in dire need of money. Ralph is survived by his wife and his four-year-old son.
The documentary is thus dedicated to Ralph who put all his heart and mind to its perfection, meticulously improving it until the very night before his life was taken on July 28... With great pride, he eagerly looked forward to seeing this video, his first documentary, be shown in Gateway Cineplex in Cubao on August 19 as an official entry in the 2nd Moonrise Festival, as a contribution to the conservation of the environment.
Alain Del B. Pascua, executive director of Kaakbay Citizens' Development Initiatives Inc., said the documentary is a continuing project.
"As soon as we could get other volunteers and would-be sponsors and fund grantors for provisions of long/zoom lenses, better and more powerful video and still digital cameras, editing machines, indigenous and original musical scoring, resources for long documentations, etc., we will be undertaking a full feature production," said Pascua.
He also said they will be producing initial and final DVDs and VCDs for education/information purposes for schools, NGOs, LGUs, and other interested viewers as he solicited help for the undertakings.
Candaba Swamp in Candaba, Pampanga, is home to more than 90 species of migratory, resident, and endemic birds. It is a significant part of the East Asia-Australiasian Migratory Flyway which includes Alaska, Russia, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand.
The Candaba Swamp is an important staging and wintering area for migratory birds from October up to April of every year. Bird Migration starts as early as August and September. Peak Migration season usually occurs from January up to March
The 2006 Asian Waterbird Census recorded more than 11,000 birds and more than 80 species in the 70-hectare Candaba Swamp and Wildlife Reserve in just about 3 hours of counting.
The Candaba Swamp has been included as an Important Bird Area with IBA code PH007. It is one of the 6 priority wetland IBAs in Luzon for the protection of congregatory waterbirds and threatened species.
The presence of numerous birds is considered to be a good indicator of the overall biological diversity of an area. Birds help in eliminating destructive insects and pests. Birds also spread seeds of plants and trees. (Press release)
(August 5, 2006 issue)
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