Benguet’s favela dreams emerge in design drawing

AN ARTIST’s rendition of what the proposed mural project would look like after it is finished CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—The government’s giant mural project simulating Brazil’s favelas has unveiled its landscape design to homeowners, who have volunteered their homes for use as a mountainside canvas to become the province’s newest tourist attraction.

Over 150 houses at Sitio Botiwtiw, Sadjap and Stone Hill in Balili village here will soon take on the appearance of a portrait spanning 1.8 hectares, painted with strawberries and sunflowers under a rainbow.

Gloria Agasen said her house will form part of the rainbow, which project proponents hoped would draw the attention of tourists driving to the Benguet capital of La Trinidad.

The mural was designed by artists of the Tam-awan Village in nearby Baguio City who were commissioned for the Department of Tourism’s “Project Bloom,” a beautification program pursued by its Cordillera director, Marie Venus Quinto-Tan, for Baguio and neighboring Benguet towns.

It was inspired by Brazil’s favelas (slum communities in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo) which were turned into murals in 2005.

Agapita Dongla, a Stone Hill resident, said her house appeared to be the future section of a sunflower or a strawberry as she studied the design at a gathering of homeowners at the town hall on Wednesday.

“I am really not sure but my house would probably be painted into that section of this strawberry,” she said.

Project Bloom tried to address all potential problems to ensure that the mural would stay for years. One of these is how laundry days could proceed without laundered clothes blocking the view.

Dongla said volunteer households were told to cover their clothes lines with colorful materials, such as wooden boards, to hide clothes from tourists.

“The front of our houses facing the road is the most suitable area for us to dry our clothes because it is the area exposed to the sun,” she said.

Agasen said tourists may not even notice the laundry, which should blend with the colorful design.

Homeowners did not sign any contract requiring them to remain part of the mural until 2021. “We were told that the painting is free and our contribution is the labor,” Agasen said.

But most homeowners gave their word not to mess with the artwork.

“I do not see any problem if we keep the paint for five years. If the paint can last that long, then it’s good,” she said.

If the paint wears off, she said her family expects the project proponent to spend for repainting.