PETA: Review of GEN G: GG NA ITO!: Campaigning for Choice and Change

September 17, 2026

It was April 24, 2028. Youths were divided into groups to form various Balangay Gen Zones. In Balangay Gen G, the members were team leader Achi (Francheska Andaya), documentarist Chloe (Camille Fabian), handyman Dex (Johnrick Noynay), and volunteer Sid (James Lanante). All the adults (called Gabay) of the community were asked to leave until May 8, 2028, so the youths could think, decide and fend for themselves for two weeks. 

However, when May 8 came, there was no sign of the adults coming back. The kids waited impatiently for the rest of the day, but the adults really never came. Gen G was visited by a "New Character" (Lyle Viray), who was one of the guys from Balangay Gen A. He wanted to see if there were other balangays where the adults also have not returned. Before he could leave, a sudden flash flood inundated their area, setting their balangay afloat. 

This latest project of PETA is in partnership with the Move to Change Foundation, an organization led by Ms. Liza Abaya that aims to inspire the youth of the country to effect positive change in our society. This play is a part of Project GG: Game Changers for Good Governance, a civic education campaign to impart this message to the youth so they will learn that their opinions do matter, and their participation makes a difference.

This show opened with an introduction by Zoe (Damag). She was the narrator of the story, as well as an audience coordinator during those interactive parts during the play when the characters ask for the audience's opinion on what to do next. An example was when the New Character appeared, she asked the audience to decide that gear he should bring and what his vibe was, and even what his name should be (in our show, his name was Rodrigo). 

These are the parts where the show will vary every time, because different decisions made by the audience for each show. I imagine the cast has to be ready to improvise accordingly. At one part, she would actually interact with the kids of Balangay Gen G as people in the kids' lives who may have influence on the decisions they make. Damag went through quick changes onstage to play the cousin of Dex, then Achi's mother, then Sid's colleague. 

The cast is composed of young and energetic new actors. They were each playing flawed characters who were getting frustrated and angry at their groupmates, so sometimes things do get too frenetic or too intense -- until they learn their lessons and wise up. The young audience up front enjoyed "shipping" characters, like Dex with Achi, or Chloe with Rodrigo, and the actors knew how to play up the "kilig" game to amp up the fun and engagement.  

The colorful stage and characters -- Damag, Lanante, Viray, Noynay, Andaya and Fabian

After the cast took their curtain call at the end, Zoe came back onstage to moderate an open forum session with the youth in the audience. Some of the young  people who volunteered to speak up during the preview show that I caught were quite impressive as to the insights they shared. One commented on the audience decision to go for Sid's suggestion to rest. Another one piggybacked on the audience decision to make Rodrigo a critical type of dude. 

According to the press release, this show will be touring at least 12 schools from September to December 2026. This is just part of a bigger campaign to foster conversations about global citizenship education, narrative change, youth participation. Hopefully, the youth can actually act on the initiatives that emerge from these discussions in order to bring about the social change which PETA advocates for. With this in mind, PETA is inviting interested parties who share their vision to partner up with them to achieve these noble ends.