Group brings environmental advocacy to Lipa

A STUDENT paints a wall of Kolehiyo ng Lungsod ng Lipa on Monday to create awareness of taking care of the environment. MARRAH ERIKA LESABA/INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON

LIPA CITY—The group called Dolphins Love Freedom Network has almost lost count of the number of murals its members have done since going around the country in 2010 to paint on walls of public places to generate awareness of conserving and protecting terrestrial and aquatic resources.

But mural artist Amado Guerero Saño, 37, also called AG Saño, who founded the group in 2010, said they must have painted more than 300 walls that counted on the participation of 26,000 people in 25 provinces north to south of the country.

On Monday, the group was joined by 80 students and some teachers of the city college—Kolehiyo ng Lungsod ng Lipa—in Barangay Dagatan, Lipa City, in Batangas for the painting of trees, animals and flowers on the school’s walls that measured 250 meters long and 2 meters high.

Before the mural painting, a discussion was held with the participants on the importance and role of animals in the environment, said Jessie Delos Reyes, coordinator of the group’s Conserve and Protect Oceans project.

The group has painted murals in Calatagan in 2010, San Juan and Taal in 2011, and Nasugbu this year.

Saño said the group had also painted in Singapore and Indonesia along with other environmental groups.

He said he chose murals as a medium to deliver the message to the people on the importance of dolphins and other endangered animals because “in painting, you can convey your message, and the people would notice.”

Saño said painting a 250-meter-long wall required 100 liters of paint. For the mural painting at the city college in Lipa, Mayor Meynard Sabili donated the liters of paint.

Rona Jean Ortigoza, 19, a student of biology science at the city college, said she joined Monday’s activity so people would understand the importance of marine and terrestrial animals.