The Story of Papa Gong tackles the importance of keeping the environment clean and proper garbage disposal. It was created in January 2018 by The EstrawngHeroes, an Iloilo-based youth-led network at the forefront of creating collaboration with the government and establishments, and cooperation among citizens towards achieving a sustainable single-use plastic-free community through environmental leadership and governance.
The story started with the characters of the children, Juan and Maria who play near the seashore and do not mind their surroundings, throwing their plastic bags and plastic straws away without proper disposal. The plastic garbage reached the sea and the marine animals. The story featured how the marine animals, whose characters are named Papa Gong, Luz Bangus, Patty Pating, and Doktora Pugita, see the plastic garbage as colorful and shiny things that attract them. Papa Gong felt hungry and went near the garbage and one of the plastic straws stuck inside his nose and the story goes on until the ending wherein Juan and Maria’s community was flooded with water and garbage and later on learned their lesson.
In an interview with one of the authors, Jonalyn L. Favila, she said that aside from their organization’s advocacy, the storybook was inspired by the viral video of the tortoise with a plastic straw stuck in its nose.
The Story of Papa Gong was published by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) and was distributed to children around the Iloilo Province as part of the organization’s environmental literacy advocacy. Aside from this, the DENR-EMB also conducted The Adventures of Papa Gong Storywriting Contest last August 2020 as part of their Climate Conscious Choices Campaign.
The storybook aims not only to reach the target audience of the same age group as the EstrawngHeroes members but also to reach the younger generations, particularly children aged six to twelve years old, with their environmental advocacy so that they may know the importance of the environment at an early age.
You may watch the animated version of the Story of Papa Gong created by the DENR-EMB Environmental Education and Information Division at: https://fb.watch/9N9Xecz5f2/ (Brisbane Q. Titular, MSDC-II)
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