Tuesday, December 23, 2008 Porac folk turn garbage to lanterns
PORAC -- Village folk at the Model Community in Barangay Pio here not only want to clean the environment but also to make something useful this holiday season and they did - by making trash into lanterns.
Melchor Canlapan, a layman of Christ Light of the Nations Parish, said that what started out to be a beautification drive turned out to be something more that what they have expected.
Canlapan said he and Rev. Fr. Regnel Fuertez first thought about holding a contest on whose home is the brightest and most decorative at the Model Community as part of welcoming the holiday season.
He said their plans changed when they noticed that a lot of residents here have "unused materials" such as bottled, paper, old compact discs, bottle caps and other garbage which have become "eyesores."
"So instead of making the contest on who will have the most number of light bulbs or expensive Christmas décor, we decided to hold a contest for the most beautiful lantern made of indigenous materials. In this way all can enter the contest it does not matter if you're rich or poor, what matters is you have the talent and imagination to make something out of indigenous materials found in every household," Canlapan said.
The contest held last December 15 drew in 18 entries, which were all displayed in front of the parish church here.
Winners of the indigenous lanterns include: 1st place Warren David with a cash prize of P5,000; 2nd place Ronel Garcia winning P3,000; and 3rd Codie Dimalanta winning P1,000 and P300 consolation prize for non winning entries.
Fr. Fuertez told Sun.Star that this is the first ever indigenous lantern making contest held in the Model Community, adding that he hopes to make this a yearly event in order to exhibit the talents and ingenuity of residents.
Councilor Dexter David has expressed support for the contest, saying he will suggest to Mayor Roger Santos and his colleagues at the Municipal Council that the contest be adopted in a municipal level where every barangay will have the chance to exhibit their entries. (Chris Navarro)
