Miss Philippines-Earth 2017 bets promote care for environment through reading

Five 2017 Miss Philippines-Earth contestants joined the Inquirer Read-Along session on Saturday, May 27, 2017 (from left): Lea Audrey Laano (Tayabas City), Cheysen Capuno (Dauin, Negros Oriental), Pamela Grace Janson (Mati City), Anne Krishia Antonio (Porac, Pampanga), and Sofia Jane Panapanaan (Parañaque). (Photo by JOHN PAUL R. AUTOR / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

For these aspiring beauty queens, children can learn to take care of the environment by adopting habit for reading.

The second special session that celebrated Inquirer Read-Along’s 10th anniversary on Saturday morning featured Miss Philippines-Earth 2017 candidates Pamela Grace Janson (Mati City), Lea Audrey Laano (Tayabas City), Anne Krishia Antonio (Porac, Pampanga), Sofia Jane Panapanaan (Parañaque) and Cheysen Capuno (Dauin, Negros Oriental).

They retold to some 70 kids the story “Ang Zimbragatzee ng Planeta Zing” by Rene O. Villanueva. It is about the Zimbragatzee creatures who, after losing their unique noses due to extreme pollution, learn to rehabilitate their planet to have their noses back.

Meanwhile, Inquirer Read-Along ambassador and TV broadcaster Cathy Untalan-Vital read another story by Villanueva – “Si Emang Engkantada at ang Tatlong Haragan,” which is about three stubborn children who learn to care for nature.

Capuno, an environment operations engineer, said kids should learn to value nature while still young.

“Preserving the environment would also lead to maintaining good health,” she said.

But environmental awareness must be taught in a way that could be understood easily by children.

“Storytelling is one way of inculcating in their minds the values why we should take care of our environment,” Janson, a grade school teacher, said.

Meanwhile, Panapanaan, a secondary education graduate, emphasized the importance of reading at a young age: “It does not only open one’s mind to what’s happening now but it also develops one’s well-being.”

Laano, a flight attendant, said that, while kids could also learn something educational from their gadgets, they should also visit libraries to develop further their interest in reading.

Antonio, an executive search consultant, said she hoped that children from all walks of life would get access to various books by providing them the necessary resources.

Other featured storytellers during the two-hour session were child actors Miggs Cuaderno, Micko Laurente, and Marc Justine Alvarez, and professional storyteller Rich Rodriguez of Ang Pinoy Storytellers.

For the past decade, the Inquirer Read-Along program has been attended by over 20,000 children ages 7 to 13 from more than 50 cities nationwide. It has featured over 400 celebrities and role models as storytellers.

Hosted by Junior Inquirer editor Ruth Navarra-Mayo, Saturday’s session at Inquirer main office in Makati was held in cooperation with Sed Genecera of Miss Earth Foundation and Marinel Cruz of Inquirer Entertainment. /atm