SMC, together with the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) Department of Social Sciences and the University of Hong Kong, held a cine-forum “Rising to the Occasion: Father-Carers in Transnational Families in the Philippines,” at the College of Arts and Sciences Annex Building on November 29, 2019. The event marked the public launch of the documentary on father-carers in the Philippines and a space for discussing the dynamic changes and transitions of Filipino families affected by international labor migration. Prof. Zoilo Belano, Jr., Chairperson of the Department of Social Sciences welcomed the participants to the event.  As a background to the documentary, Dr. Lucy Jordan, Co-Investigator of the Child Health and Migrant Parents in Southeast Asia (CHAMPSEA) research project, presented key findings on the health and welfare impacts of parental migration on the left-behind children and carers.  Dr. Maruja M.B. Asis of SMC spoke about CHAMPSEA findings which pointed to the role of left-behind fathers as carers while their wives work overseas.  SMC thought of sharing these findings through a documentary to reach a wider audience. The launch of the 11-minute documentary was made more meaningful by the presence of one of the families which shared their experience. Mr. Marino Tubigan and his children, Vince, Edzeilyn and Elliah Mari graced the screening and the forum. Members of the UPLB community— Asst. Prof. Maria Victoria Rodriguez, Mr. Renato Dumagco, Jr., Ms. Sairah Mar Saipudin and Assoc. Prof. Girlie Nora Abrigo— provided thoughtful reactions to the CHAMPSEA findings and the documentary. Dr. Mark Oliver Llangco served as program anchor.

The support of Wellcome Trust, the Ministry of Education of Singapore and the University of Hong Kong to the CHAMPSEA project is gratefully acknowledged. The documentary may be accessed here.