Students urged: Watch plays on Digong, drugs

Education agencies are encouraging students to watch a play about a man who, after his teenage son is killed in an antidrug operation, wonders if he did right in voting for President Duterte.

In separate advisories, the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) urged students in private and public schools, including higher learning institutions, to watch “Ibinoto Ko si Digong (I Voted for Digong),” a play written and directed by indie filmmaker Mel Magno.

The DepEd advisory said  the play tackles “a poor man’s reason for casting his vote for the incumbent President.”

Magno told the Inquirer  his play,  “Ibinoto Ko si Digong,” was about a Duterte supporter whose 14-year-old son, a runner for drug dealers, was killed. After the boy’s death, the father wondered if he voted for the right candidate.

The playwright in a phone interview said he came up with “Ibinoto Ko si Digong” and another socially relevant play, “Kalakal (Trade),” after hearing Education Secretary Leonor Briones encourage filmmakers and playwrights in an interview to come up with presentations that the youth could learn from, specifically which would teach about the evil of illegal drugs.

“Kalakal,” which the DepEd also recommended to students, is about four children involved in drug dealing.

Magno said, “I took the liberty, as an artist, to put endings to their (characters’) stories.” The playwright is a University of the Philippines Theater Arts graduate and was a student of the late actor-director Behn Cervantes.

Magno said his plays were  derived from the experiences of real families. “It was not easy to interview them and collect (the stories) of their lives.”

By presenting the plays to students, he said, theater groups want to share with the youth the dramatic arts, teach art appreciation and develop social awareness.