Workers, NGOs to “Paint the Town Red”

CEBU, Philippines – A non-government organization, which seeks to promote health and safety development in a workplace, together with workers, artists and other groups will “paint the town red” on Wednesday, April 28, in commemoration of the Workers Memorial Day.

The Institute for Occupational Health & Safety Development (IOHSAD), a non-profit organization based in Manila, is here in Cebu to collaborate with other NGOs, workers and artists to create a graffiti piece, a project entitled, “Paint the Town Red.”

IOHSAD, along with other NGOs, will join the worldwide commemoration of the Workers Memorial Day. The themes for this year’s commemoration are “Unions Make Work Safer” and “Ban Asbestos Use Now” that aim to underscore the need for a safer work environment for all workers and the need to ban asbestos as it is proven to have ill-effects on people’s health.

IOHSAD executive director, Noel Colina, said in an interview that they are using graffiti as a medium to communicate their message to reach out to young workers.

“Maraming workers na bata at wala silang union, we use graffiti to reach out to young people because they easily get the message, the colors, the lines and the images,” he explained.

According to him, the energy and the dynamism of graffiti art offers a different vantage point of the issues they try to forward.

The Workers Memorial Day is an annual event worldwide that happens every April 28, a day of remembrance for those workers killed, injured or maltreated in their work.

Colina pointed the recent tragedy in a mall that is being constructed in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City that killed 5 people and left many injured and what happened in IT Park in Barangay Apas as examples of very unsafe work environment here in the Philippines. “Yung buhay ng mangagawa isa lang, it cannot be replaced,” he added.

He also said that issues of a safer work environment are only highlighted when someone dies or injured in an accident. “Safety should be a prime concern in a work place.”

Conveying the issues they try to advance in an artwork is a first for IOHSAD, Colina said that they will try the same approach in the Smokey Mountain, a large landfill in Manila.

“Cebu has a big acceptance with art, especially graffiti,” stating why they decided to do the piece here in Cebu.

The graffiti piece, located at R.Duterte St., Banawa, covers a 3-storey high, 50-foot wide wall that depicts mourning and death of the victims of unsafe work surroundings.

The UBEC Crew, a group of street artists, is the group responsible for the art. IOHSAD is also in collaboration with the Australian People for Health, Education and Development Abroad (APHEDA), Asia Ban Asbestos Network (A-BAN), and the Visayas Human Development Agency, Inc. (ViHDA).

Kidlat, the artist-name of a member of UBEC, said the inspiration of the art is a collaboration from all of them and is based on their experiences and what they want to communicate.The team aims to finish the artwork by today so it can be unveiled tomorrow.

Colina said that they will be having a candle lighting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday with the different unions of workers and some victims. — May April M. Jimenea, UP Mass Comm Intern/WAB