Philippines’ Pacific Rim Friendship Park: Are you the Juan for it?

I was just hopping around websites earlier because I was Googling Lumix LX3 which is the camera I am aching to get right now when I stumbled on A Bugged Life’s blog and seeing one of their posts mention that their friend got into the Mabuhay Guides program of the Department of Tourism which naturally upped my curiosity and made me click the link thus ending up in Carlos Celdran’s blog and finding the purpose of this blog post. I think that was a very long sentence and I’d be followed by the grammar police now…O.o

Being the curious and stalkish (yes its not a normal word..haha) person that I am, I decided to read more about it and followed all the links I can find. So what exactly is the Pacific Rim Friendship Park? Well based from Looking for Juan:

The idea is to bring together architecture and art students from different parts of the world who, together with counterpart Filipino students, will design and build a Friendship Park under the artistic supervision of leading artists, architects and urban planners – all in 30 days.

That was what they posted back in December 2007 when they announced that they were building the park in 2009. Fast forward to 2009, the project’s construction will be started next month, May, which is just a couple of weeks from today. On May 3rd, 25 students from China, South Korea, the United States, Russia, Mexico and the Philippines will be converging in Manila to leave for Palawan on the fifth. The launching of the Philippines’ Pacific Rim Friendship Park in Puerto Princesa will be on May 30.

That’s wonderful news, isn’t it? What’s even better is that they are asking for help from artists and writer’s alike to create their own original works with a theme of “What It Means to Be Filipino.” These works will be featured as well in large tarpaulin banners that will be exhibited in a public park or space aside from being exhibited in the Philippines’ Pacific Rim Friendship Park on May 30th. The used tarps will then be donated to Trashe Bolsas which is a livelihood project that creates unique and durable bags by recycling used tarpaulins.

Aside from that they are looking for someone who can help document the building of the Philippines’ Pacific Rim Friendship Park. This individual will get to spend the entire period (May 2-31) with the group to document the progress by taking pictures and videos of it as well as blog about it each day to share to the world what’s happening behind the scenes of the Philippines’ Pacific Rim Friendship Park. He/She will be able to talk and interview the participants as well as create highlights that showcase Palawan and of course the Philippines as one of the best travel destinations in the world. Although his/her main responsibility is to document the whole project, he/she is also expected to help with the building of the park’s design. This experience will enable the chosen individual meet new people, learn about new cultures and take part in a wonderful project. Now who wouldn’t want to line up for that?

If you’re worried about expenses, CANVAS will cover your plane fare from Manila to Puerto Princesa and back to Manila, your hotel stay in Manila and Palawan, board and lodging for the whole month in Palawan and a stipend of at least around P10,000. Who else can offer you that great package where:

you can meet new people
you can experience the beautiful view of Palawan for a month for free
you can get a stipend of P10k
you can add a unique experience in your resume

Just to snoop around, take pictures/videos then blog about it which you already love?

What’s the catch you might ask. There are two.

1. You need to have your own equipment such as your camera and lenses and tripod at the minimum. They may be able to lend you a laptop in case you don’t have one.
2. They prefer to see your online portfolio and blog-writing experience (and a following).

So after listening or reading to everything I’ve been blabbering about, do you think you are the Juan for it? In case you(or someone you know) might be remotely interested in this adventure, do drop them a line at [email protected]

P.S. I would apply if I had the equipment plus a following. At the moment I only have a point and shoot camera and blog-writing experience scattered around the web. Hahaha. So even if I wanted to apply, I know there are other individuals more qualified than I am based from the equipment and following alone. ^_^