Standing up for Mother Earth

MANILA, Philippines - Tina Ryan (real name: Tina Mendiola) of 99.5 RT did a double take when she checked out one of Illac Diaz’s photos. It showed him on a bike loaded with — of all things — a washing machine!

Tina was floored (who wouldn’t?). She invited Illac to guest in her show (TNT, which airs Monday to Thursday, 8 a.m. to 12 noon) and talk about his pro-environment project. Illac not just said yes. He also asked her to listen to Stand Up, a song Kjwan’s Boogie Romero composed and Mark Lakay arranged. It is a clarion call to help ailing Mother Earth.

“I felt so small,” recalls Tina after she heard the song for the first time. “I didn’t realize the magnitude of Illac’s mission until that day he asked me to hear the song at the Asian Institute of Management (where Illac teaches).”

The sound of Joey Ayala’s guitar in the background still lingers in her mind.

“I don’t know what kind of guitar he used,” recalls Tina. All she knows is that the very Pinoy sound is enough to make her hair stand on end.

Now Tina is raring to ask all five radio stations under The Radio Partners Inc. to join hands in launching the song simultaneously in one big event by the end of the month.

She’s not alone in her crusade. Production head Fran Rebano cast 40 artists — some, like Joey Ayala and Kjwan waiving their talent fees — to join hands in singing Stand Up and appearing in a rockumentary on the environment.

Henry Posadas, the rockumentary’s director, interviewed Ayala, Epi Quizon, The Dawn’s Jett Pangan, Miguel Escueta, Viktoria and others about their love for Mother Earth and their suggestions on how to help her.

Sony Music, in a magnanimous display of social responsibility, sponsored all the recording studio time and underwrote the use of the digital recording equipment for Stand Up.

The catch? None at all. Sony bosses didn’t even ask Illac if he could include any of their artists in the rockumentary and in the song.

Preventing a repeat of the Typhoon Ondoy tragedy is enough reward for them. As Jamie Wilson, one of the artists featured in the song, says, “I vowed to myself I won’t be helpless when such disasters strike again.”

Stand Up, however, can only do so much. The long-term solution lies in building ecologically-sound shelter for Juan dela Cruz. Thus, Illac will launch a global search for the most environment-friendly house design. Open to all architects not just in the Philippines but around the world, the contest aims to find a design Gawad Kalinga can use for building 50 future structures.

It makes sense. An environment-friendly house uses less energy and is easier on the pocket. A well-ventilated, high-ceilinged house will not need an air-conditioner to cool it. A house that maximizes the use of natural sunlight will consume less electricity. This means savings galore for its owners.

Illac plans to launch this search for a “green building” soon. With Mendiola targeting an immediate date for the grand launch of Stand Up in various radio stations, chances are these efforts to go green will be heard and seen, big-time.

Big-time or not though, Mother Earth is still crying to be heard. We owe it to ourselves, and our children, to listen, and act. Now.