Senator TG Guingona - Sponsorship Speech - Senate Bill 2930, Design Council

8/4/2019 Senator TG Guingona - Sponsorship Speech - Senate Bill 2930, Design Council

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MessageDesign Council

SENATOR TG GUINGONASponsorship SpeechDESIGN COUNCIL OF THE PHILIPPINESSenate Bill Number 2930August 9, 2011

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:

Today, I rise up to call for your support for the passage of Senate Bill number2930, titled An Act Creating the Design Council of the Philippines and for other purposes.

In calling for the passage of this bill and for the creation of this Council, we seekto recognize the world-class talents of Filipino designers in the various creativefields, and to harness the vast potentials of this sector.

In so doing, we tap this valuable resource for our economic and socialdevelopment initiatives, and allow it to take its rightful place in the arena ofglobal creative excellence.

And, if we dont act now, we face the specter of putting this important nationalresource to waste.

Allow me to explain the basis for this call.

Let me begin by underscoring an important fact that may have beenhidden from ou r view.

Fact: Design i s a sunrise industry.

Ladies and gentlemen, a decade or two ago, the term design simplyreferred to the creation of material products or improving its look. Ithas gone a long way since then. Today, the term Design has evolvedinto a new development paradigma discipline that several nationsnow see as a driver of economic growth, and a vital tool for shapinghuman interactions and social systems.

Allow me to illustrate.

The name of this outstanding Filipino is Kenneth Cobonpue.

Kenneth, today, is a world-renowned Cebu-based furniture designer.He has won accolades following his ingenious integration ofindigenous Philippine materials with modern production techniques.

Because of the genius of his innovative design, he is not only bringingin ordinary economic returns. His products bring in what is called ineconomic parlance as veryhigh value export earnings.

Ladies and gentlemen, I stand here awed by the possibilities. Imagineif our country could multiply these returns a thousandfold by goingbeyond just lauding the success of one Kenneth Cobonpue, butempowering and leading more young Filipinos to achieve the same.

Sayang kung hindi natin gagawin.

Heres another story of the ingenuity of the Filipino designer.

And this story is close to my heart because it impacted on the verywork of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.

During that crucial moment in our history, a group of young creativetalents called the 2720 design studio compiled news articles and factsabout the cases against the former Ombudsman, and transformed

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those into clear diagrams and graphic representations of all theevidences.

Then, the product of their creative and patriotic work was madeavailable as a downloadable PDF file online. In so doing, they not onlypromoted transparency, but it also encouraged participation from the

public, because the information was made more interesting andunderstandable.

Again, I stand in awe as the possibilities stare me in the face.

Imagine if we could use this same method to better communicate theprograms of, say, the DOH or DSWD to the common tao? After all,what use is a good government program if it is not communicated wellto its end users, the Filipino citizens? What may seem like incrementalchanges in the design of our information can actually save thegovernment money. Lots of money.

Again, sayang kung hindi nat in gagawin.

Recently, I learned about an initiative called The Bottle School Project.

A joint venture between Pepsi, My Shelter Foundation, and the localgovernment of San Pablo, the project involved the ingenious use ofdiscarded plastic bottles to build a durable and weatherproofclassroom.

The creative solution all at once answered several problems: itprovided a new classroom and reduced the cost of building one,because it used recycled materials that would have instead added tothe citys trash.

And due to the durability of plastic, it also addressed the problem ofthe vulnerability of the structure to typhoons. This is a great exampleof architecture and industrial design working for social innovation.

Another example of design at work for the common tao is this: theIsang Litro ng Liwanag project. (ad lib)

Again, I stand in awe as I imagine the possibilities. This ultimatelyshows that design can, and shouldwork for the common tao, dahil angdesign ay para sa lahat. Imagine if we could facilitate these kinds oflinkages between designers, private institutions, and localgovernments -- design-driven projects such as these could bereplicated in cities and barangays all over the country.

Sayang kung hindi natin gagawin.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is precisely for this reason that I reiteratemy call for the passage of Senate Bill Number ______. The Billproposes for the creation of a multi-sector Council that would serve asthe hub for the creative collaboration of our various design sectors sothey can be harnessed and tapped to the fullest.

I propose that this Bill be our shared and collective response to thevast opportunities right before us; to the fast changing times that welive in, where there is clearly a need to boost the competitiveness ofthe Filipino design industry, so that it can become a driver ofeconomic growth and social innovation.

These are times that call for an evolving mindset, for creative andproactive responses. The Design Council of the Philippines is one suchresponse.

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And if we do not adopt this response today, we stand to lose the vastopportunities for the kind of tomorrow we all aspire for.

Around the world, more and more countries are recognizing the needfor a new and forward-thinking strategy. And way ahead of us - theyare turning to Design.

Design is the process of taking creative ideas that are borne out oflimited available resources, and transforming them into tangible, high-value products, services, and even social systemsand this is whatthe world has always called innovation.

United Kingdom, Denmark and Finland are some of the bigger Westernfrontrunners in the field of design and innovationbut we aresurprised to find that our Asian contemporaries are already catchingup with these major players.

Singapore and Korea in particular, are the most aggressive -- earning

them top spots in the world ranking for global and designcompetitiveness.

The Singapore government is using design as a strategic tool tofuture-proof thei r country.

Meanwhile, the Korean government has already introducedDesignomics, a strategy that directly uses design to drive economicgrowth in the form of high-value products and exports.

Even Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia have already establishedofficial government bodies to boost the global competitiveness oftheir respective design industries .

But isnt creativity the very competitive edge of the Filipino race?

And are we set to put this vast national asset to waste again?

Huwag po nating sayangin.

The time for tributes to our Filipino designer, I believe, is over.

It is time we pay them a higher tribute. It is time we recognize thetremendous value they bring to our economic and social goals.

Let us join hands for the Filipino designer. Let us join hands in thisproactive step towards the future.

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Documents

Senator TG Guingona - Sponsorship Speech - Senate Bill 2930, Design Council