ARTWORKS FOR CHARITY. Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino (third from right), Mayor Edgardo Labella (left) and City Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia (right) pose with contemporary Filipino artists who exhibited their artworks for charity auction at the Oakridge Business Park in Mandaue City on Saturday (Dec. 7, 2019). Dino said the auction raised PHP50 million which will be divided between artists' associations in the country and the victims of Mindanao earthquakes and Typhoon Tisoy in Bicol. (Photo contributed by Danjick Lim)
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – A five-hour charity fund-raising exhibit of artworks by Filipino artists has successfully raised PHP50 million, half of which will be donated to the victims of earthquakes in Mindanao and the recent Typhoon "Tisoy" (Kammuri) in Bicol.
Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino, one of the organizers of the event, said the exhibit and auction last Dec. 7 dubbed “ArTabang 3” showcased the finest work of Filipino artists from all over the country.
He said the event was the “third installment” of ArTabang which aims to showcase “underrated talents” of local artists, apart from helping the victims of calamities through the proceeds of the auction held at the Oakridge Business Park, along A.S. Fortuna Street here.
“(For) every sale (that) we made (from) the auction pieces, 50 percent will go to the beneficiaries, and the other 50 percent will go to the artists’ organization. For the individual paintings that they are selling, 100 percent will go to (charity),” Dino said in a statement sent to the Philippine News Agency.
Alvin Yu, director of the board of the Sacred Heart School for Boys Batch 85 Foundation who helped organize the auction, said many well-meaning, prominent personalities from all over the country attended the event and bid for the displayed artworks.
Of around 300 paintings exhibited during the event, there were 30 “massive collaboration paintings” that were put up for the silent auction, while majority of the art pieces were auctioned off, Yu said.
The beneficiaries of the charity event were the Art Association of the Philippines, Portrait Artists Society of the Philippines Inc., Art Association of Bacolod, Orange Project, Viva Excon Organization Inc., Onse, MASS: Mobile Art and Science Space, Block 17 Cebu Artists, Inc., and Southwestern Art Club.
Dino lauded the artists who participated in the event, describing the works of the contemporary artists as “incredibly world-class paintings which you can never find these kinds of artworks outside the Philippines”.
The first and second ArTabang events were organized by the foundation which was founded in 2013.
The first ArTabang in 2013 recorded over PHP6 million-worth of paintings sold in just six hours. The proceeds were donated to victims of Typhoon Yolanda.
ArTabang 2 in 2017 raised PHP12 million which was donated to those affected by the earthquake in Ormoc. (PNA)
