Photo Exhibit for Ayta Scholarship Program

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — In observance of Indigenous People’s Month, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has launched an exhibit of photographs of Ayta tribesmen in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone to help fund its Ayta scholarship program.

SBMA Chairman Roberto Garcia said the exhibit has been put up by the SBMA Public Relations Department as a fund-raising project to benefit 10 Ayta children currently on full scholarship at the Olongapo City National High School.

“We’re enjoining the public to support in this worthy cause,” Garcia said during the opening of the displays on Monday.

“The exhibits are designed not only to raise funds, but also to raise consciousness about our Ayta brethren and how we can help uplift them to be part of the mainstream society,” he added.

The IP Month celebration organized by the agency will also serve to emphasize how both the SBMA and the indigenous people in the Subic Bay Freeport have looked after each other through the years, Garcia said.

SBMA public relations manager Armie Llamas said the photographs will be on display and be available for bidding at Harbor Point Ayal Mall’s Zen Garden until October 28.

The photographs were taken at the Ayta villages of Pastolan in Hermosa, Bataan and Kanawan in Morong, Bataan by members of the Vantage Point Photography in Olongapo City headed by Alan Fabricante.

The two photographers donated their collection of work for the project.

Llamas said that bidding forms will be available at the exhibit area during the two-week exhibit. The minimum bid will be P1,000 per photograph.

Bidders should write down the number of the photo, bid price, name of bidder, and contact details on the bidding form and place the filled up form in the drop box provided at the exhibit area.

Winning bidders will be notified on October 29 so that they can collect their photographs at the SBMA-PRD office, Llamas added.