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Published April 2, 2025 10:51am
Dulaang UP is currently staging "Mga Anak ng Unos" bringing the conversation of climate crisis to another platform, and to whole new set of audiences.
The theater stage may seem like an unlikely outlet for an issue as technical as climate change but Greenpeace Philippines campaigner Jefferson Chua thinks otherwise.
“The reality of the climate crisis is that it's usually something that's too overwhelming to talk about, even think about. Which is why we need artistic representations to facilitate our understanding of what it really means to be in the climate crisis,” the environmentalist told GMA News Online in an interview.
The environmental organization collaborated Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (DUP) with an “effort to collect signatures to drum up support for various climate actions done by and for Filipino communities.”
"Mga Anak ng Unos" is a twinbill production, comprised of two plays. "Sa Gitna ng Digmaan ng mga Mahiwagang Nilalang Laban sa Sangkatauhan" tells the story of an alliance among bathalas and other mythological creatures to punish humans for disrupting the natural balance, while “Climate in Crazies” looks at the global climate emergency and zooms in on the local and more personal experience of the crisis, highlighting the personal and collective efforts to address it.
According to “Climate in Crazies” dramaturg Nikka De Torres, art has its way to use scientific data to communicate the climate crisis.
“Because the issue of the climate crisis deals with scientific data, mahirap siyang ilapat at ipaintindi sa tao. So I think important 'yung art to bridge those kinds of information and para mas madali sa mga taong maintindihan,” she said.
“Sa Gitna ng Digmaan ng mga Mahiwagang Nilalang Laban sa Sangkatauhan” dramaturg Gaby Asanza stressed the importance of exhausting all platforms to campaign for the environment.
“For me, any kind of platform is important. And using this platform for something this serious is a need as years go by,” he said.
He noted how there is so much power in storytelling to convey a message: “Kung may mapupulot man tayong lesson from depicting these indigenous people, never underestimate the power of storytelling.”
Climate Urgency
The climate crisis is an “alarming” concern that people should act on right now, especially those in the Global South like the Philippines, Chua said.
The Philippines “is one of the worst countries to be in terms of climate risk” at number 10 in the world, citing figures from the 2025 Climate Risk Index (CRI).
“We are usually at the top of the list when it comes to climate risk. What does this mean? Increased risk of extreme weather events in the form of heavier rainfall, extreme heat, instances of tropical cyclones that are getting actually less but more intensified and unpredictable,” Chua said.
Beyond figures, Chua stressed that the most pressing issue of the climate crisis is the “lack of accountability” of big businesses.
“The reality is that all of these big corporations do not have phase out plans. They do have net zero plans. They have plans to cut down their emissions, but not one corporation has talked about phasing out,” the campaigner said, adding there are pathways forward, like renewables.
"How do we facilitate that movement to more sustainable systems? Even investments are still at a low, even though renewables have become cheaper,” he added.
Chua stressed how important it is to join campaigns that demand accountability from these corporations, enumerating ways on how they can contribute to the cause.
“We can do this through lobbying for strong policies. We can do this by filing cases against big corporations, which are happening at an unprecedented rate worldwide. So what we want is to get more of that. Have more efforts to hold the biggest polluters accountable,” he added.
Chua goes back to the arts: “I think that art serves an essential function in the climate crisis. It helps us say what is unsayable, see what is unseeable. And there is no future without the integration of art in addressing the climate crisis.”
Dulaang UP's "Mga Anak ng Unos" runs until April 13 at the IBG-KAL Theater, University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City. Tickets are priced at P1,000, with discounted rates at P800 for senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs), 750 for non-UP students, and P650 for the UP community. Tickets available on Ticket2me, Katipunan Theater Pass, or here. — LA, GMA Integrated News
