By Kathrine A. Licerio, BA-Comm 4 OJT

Vice President Leni Robredo holding the Pink Wave surfboard token at the “Pink Wave Ha Este: Grand People’s Rally”.

Centralian, Daniel Ledesma Tinagan, made a design for the Pink Wave surfboard token which was handed to Vice President Leni Robredo by the volunteer organizers and local government unit during her grand rally in Borongan City, Eastern Samar, on March 29, 2022.

Daniel Tinagan, a 29-year-old artist, attended Central Philippine University as a Mass Communication student. According to him, he used to draw anything on the back of used test papers that his parents would bring home to discard. As the eldest, he used to tell his younger siblings stories through the illustrations that he made. He believed that creating quirky stories in your mind daily would exercise your imagination and keep you from losing your inner child. These days, his love for weaving his own stories is being reflected in his works of art.

During his stay at Central Philippine University, Daniel joined Central Echo and became the Literary Editor as well as the Digital Artist for the organization. It was during his time with Central Echo that he was given a chance to showcase his work and rediscover his fondness for art with ink and paper. Currently, Daniel is working as an advertising manager for the company dubbed as the “largest search engine.” On the side, he runs a clothing brand called BKNWA, pronounced “Bakunawa.” He also accepts design commissions on top of that and does his art by employing both digital and traditional mediums. His designs for BKNWA became popular and admired by many people that when presidentiable Leni Robredo, is scheduled to visit Borongan City to hold the first-ever beach-side rally in Eastern Samar, dubbed as “Pink Wave Ha Este: Grand People’s Rally”, Daniel was tapped to make a design for the Pink Wave surfboard as a token for the presidential candidate Leni Robredo. The Pink Wave surfboard token symbolizes Eastern Samar because the city hosted the biggest surfing competition in the Philippines back in 2019. The design in the Pink Wave surfboard is called “Alab,” wherein Daniel emphasized the burning heart by placing it in the middle of the surfboard. According to Daniel, it is a nod to a line from our national anthem, “alab ng puso, sa dibdib mo’y buhay.”

“I saw how powerful the lines were back then and I am seeing it again with how VP Leni can ignite the hearts of the masses to move towards a common objective,” Daniel added.

The Pink Wave surfboard token nailed the Best Token award by Olympinks, an organization created to highlight and give recognition to every city’s campaign rally supporting Vice President Leni Robredo’s presidential candidacy.