Tourists visit the town of La Trinidad in Benguet province to see the strawberry and flower farms, and buy fresh vegetables. Now, there is another reason they make the trip from Baguio City.
And, that is STOBOSA Hillside Homes Artwork, the largest community artwork in the country and the first in the Philippines.
The project is a component of the Department of Tourism-Cordillera Administrative Region’s Rev-Bloom (REV-UP, REVIVE, REVISIT, REVITALIZE) Urban Redevelopment Tourism project supported by Davies Paints.
STOBOSA stands for Stonehill, Botiwtiw, and Sadjap—the three sitios on which the artwork now stands.
The 200 houses that line the Stone Hill on Km. 3, La Trinidad previously formed something akin to a confusing wall overlooking the Balili river. It has now been transformed to an 18,000-square meter collective canvas brilliantly painted by 520 residents and volunteers. They started the work in January this year.
The result is a testament to the Bayanihan spirit kept alive among Filipinos.
Davies Paints, the country’s no. 1 paint exporter and also no. 1 in colors, provided environment-friendly paints as part of its advocacy to beautify the Philippines. The company gives back to communities and brings color into people’s lives.
The local government of La Trinidad provided paintbrushes and rollers, and built scaffolding.
Tam-awan artists, led by Jordan Mang-osan, designed the connective landscape. The residents and volunteers executed the artwork beautifully, motivated by community spirit.
“More than the mural, more than the beautification, you will see the community has bonded together to spruce up their areas,” DOT-Cordillera Regional Director Venus Tan said.
Johnlee Garcia, president of Davies Paints, said, “Davies has always been passionate about finding ways to help improve communities in whatever way we can and this project is a great opportunity to create a big impact in the area. We have a long history of engaging in CSR programs and beautification efforts in the country; we’re proud to be a major part of this project and we plan to continue these efforts in the future.”
The project was inspired by the Favelas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The STOBOSA community has pledged to make the project sustainable by touching up the artwork as often as necessary.
Working together has also inspired representatives of the households—mostly women—to endeavor other efforts to beautify their area by keeping it clean and infusing life by planting greens.