MANILA – A cat from another planet should learn Filipino values through the animation series “Heneral Tuna” by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
This will be broadcast every Friday from October 15th on the Facebook page of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and other social media platforms.
“The NCCA uses animation, short films and teleserye to be able to communicate (messages and values) in a subtle but effective way,” said Marichu Tellano, the executive director in charge of the NCCA, at the animation media preview on Friday.
“Heneral Tuna” comes from “Planet Mingming” and is assigned to watch the Earthlings, apparently because he is the best general on their planet. When he opened his eyes he was already in a household with family members looking after him.
The plan is to ambush the Earthlings, but “Heneral Tuna” would feel his heart soften as he watched the members’ values. “Is that what you call ‘family’?” “Is that what they call ‘love’?” are just a few of the things he would be curious about.
In the first episode, “Heneral Tuna” would see a big difference in how the Earthlings behave compared to those on “Planet Mingming”. He said that no one on his planet would take care of a guy when he got old.
He was injured when he woke up in a household. There he would notice that every family member takes care of one another, even looks after him and gives him food.
The NCCA has previously examined the main values of Filipinos. They reduced this to 20 values that the NCCA would highlight in their projects.
For “Heneral Tunfisch”, among other things, the love for family and community, faith, health and wellbeing are shown. Through research, the NCCA has learned that Filipinos also value education, being responsive to basic needs, honesty and integrity, resilience and good governance.
Last year the NCCA launched a teleserye, “Project Destination”, to get audiences to see these values without having to listen to lectures.
According to the NCCA, “Heneral Tuna” would have seven episodes and a running time of three minutes per episode. (PNA)