Chongqing-based Filipinos revisit roots of their culture in Dr. Anton Juan’s ‘Will. Memory. Action. 

 (Top left) Consul General Flerida Ann Camille P. Mayo delivers opening remarks and introduces the lecturer, Filipino playwright and director Anton Juan at the hybrid Lecture-Workshop titled Will. Memory. Action. Both online and offline attendees actively participated in the workshop where they presented monologues on forgotten objects and places (top center and right; bottom left). The participants express their appreciation for Dr. Juan at the end of the session (bottom center). The event, which is part of the Consulate’s Gender and Development advocacy, was well attended by a predominantly female Filipino community who gained fresh insights on the important role of women in shaping culture and societies. (Chongqing PCG photo)

CHONGQING 15 December 2021 – Dr. Anton Juan conducted a hybrid Lecture-Workshop on Philippine cultural history entitled Will. Memory. Action. which the Philippine Consulate General in Chongqing hosted offline on 12 December 2021 at the Radisson Hotel and online via Zoom for Filipino communities in its consular jurisdiction. 

In her opening message, Consul General Flerida Ann Camille P. Mayo likened the lecture to a journey to the Filipino core with the eminent Dr. Juan guiding the participants “to forgotten places in our people’s distant past and deep within our own selves.”

In his presentation, Dr. Juan utilized semiotics to bring to the fore the nexus of signs, symbols and language in the shaping of the Filipino identity.  Dr. Juan also illustrated gender equality in early Filipinos with both women and men contributing to the survival and growth of the societies by performing complementary roles. He urged the participants to remember their roots and celebrate their heroic spirit lest the Filipino nation lose its collective memory and direction.  “Each one has their memory and looking back to the past is essential to act and move forward,” he explained.

Following the lecture, Dr. Juan conducted a workshop where participants were made to remember a forgotten object or place, let the object or place speak to them, and deliver the object’s message as a monologue. Various objects and places – from forgotten diaries to an improvised maracas for Christmas caroling, flat irons and oil lamps, paper dolls, turbans and kawayan, as well as an old mango tree in Batangas, the Farmer’s Market food court in Cubao and a Benedictine monastery in Bukidnon – cried out for remembrance of their worth.    

DThe program culminated in a music video of Pilipinas Kong Mahal directed by Dr. Juan which prompted participants to sing along to a love song to their country and people.

Dr. Juan is a tenured professor at Notre Dame University, Illinois, USA, and a continuing visiting professor of the University of the Philippines.  He has reaped various accolades and awards, including the Alexander Onassis International Award for Theatre and the Special Jury Prize for Screenplay from the CineManila International Film Festival, for his body of works.   He completed his Ph.D. in Semiotics at the Kapodistrian and Panhellenic University of Athens with the mark of ARISTA (Excellence).  Dr. Juan is also an accomplished playwright, as well as film and stage director. END

For more information, visit https://www.chongqingpcg.dfa.gov.ph.