The MMA Capstone Plenary: SEQUENCE took the stage at the 5/F ARG Theater of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde’s Taft Campus, gathering an audience ready to witness the senior students of the Multimedia Arts (AB-MMA) program present their most ambitious works to date.
The plenary marked the final beat of a longer sequence—preceded by SEQUENCE: Capstone Exhibit, a three-day showcase, where selected Capstone projects were first introduced to a larger audience.
Three finalist projects, Budol Fight!, BalikGabayan, and Kasya Bra?, stepped forward to make their case—each research-driven and each shaped by years of creative formulation inside of Benilde’s most dynamic program. “SEQUENCE,” as a theme, spoke to something that all the students knew well: that good work comes into fruition step by step, until the whole picture finally comes into view.
Lights on!
The afternoon began with remarks from Mr. Gosh Mangampat, himself a former Capstone plenary finalist and a Benilde AB-MMA alumnus, who took the stage with the awareness of the full-circle moment. “Who would've thought that years later, I'd be standing here again, not as a finalist,” he reflected, before turning to the panel of judges, industry veterans Annel Ramones, former Benildean Press Corps layout staffer, Nori Hernandez, and Mags Sandoval and thanking them for their willingness to engage with the students’ works.
His message underscored the feelings of conviction emerging from his own experiences. “As creatives and designers, we hold a unique kind of power—the power to change the narrative," Mr. Mangampat said, framing the plenary against a backdrop where fake news and corruption have embedded themselves into everyday life.
With that, the program moved into its main event. One by one, the three finalists took their turn, each presenting an explainer video of their Capstone project, followed by a ten-minute Q&A with the panel.
The closing remarks were delivered by Mr. Rexcel Cariaga, a Capstone Head and MMA Program Professor, invoking Newton’s first law and turning it into a question. “An object stays at rest unless acted upon by an external force, after you graduate, what's going to happen to your Capstone project? Will it stay at rest, or will you submit it to competitions?” This urged the graduates to think beyond the stage, and the social problems it sought to address beyond the plenary room.
In focus
The SEQUENCE Plenary welcomed three finalists, each with a different story to tell and a different problem to solve, all united by one conviction—that multimedia, wielded with intention, could change something.
Budol Fight!, created by ID123 AB-MMA students Ashley Cansanay, Erika Ong, Johna Osea, Rada Pedrozo, and Michael Togle, took on impulse buying in the age of social media. It is an educational board game accompanied by a website that stimulates the all-too-familiar experience of online shopping, such as peer pressure and limited time offers, into something relatably fun to play. The challenge, as the team navigated, was to educate without being preachy, and to meet their audience exactly where the budol culture already lives.
Meanwhile, BalikGabayan, by Gail Catalla, Divine Perez, Ma. Gianaysia Ramos, Cherene Reyes, and Jewel Sanchez—all AB-MMA ID123 students, turned its lens toward one of the Philippines' most quietly felt realities, which is the emotional distance between OFWs and the children they leave behind. The project takes the form of an infographic website built specifically for families with children aged 7-10. It offers interactive storybooks with parent-child co-reading versions, guided activities, and motion graphics designed to encourage open communication across the miles.
Kasya Bra?, by ID123 AB-MMA students Jupiter Morta, Elisa Oandasan, Ella Oreta, Jarlette Pagaduan, and Helen Pajutagana, brought into focus a conversation that the mainstream has overlooked—the experience of plus-size women navigating a bra and lingerie industry that were rarely designed with them in mind. Through videos, a journal, and the digital hub website, the project takes a broader look at the state of the plus size lingerie market in the country.
Eventually, the judging ended and the awards reflected the range and strength of all three projects. BalikGabayan took home Best Video Project and Best New Media Project. Kasya Bra? earned Best Web Project, Best Art Direction, and Best Writing for New Media. And Budol Fight!, whose mission to serve and educate ran through every mechanic of its design, received the Serbisyo Benildyano Award.
Beginning at the end
When the deliberation ended and the results were read, it was BalikGabayan that closed the day as Best Capstone Project. For the team, the win landed somewhere between disbelief and gratitude. "Nagulat talaga ako. Super unreal," Ramos admitted. "Hindi talaga namin ine-expect na kami ang mananalo, since ang gaganda rin talaga ng project ng fellow finalists."
The project had always been rooted in something personal, as “what children miss is not just communication, but quality communication," Perez explained. "Kahit may chats or video calls, hindi lahat napag-uusapan in a meaningful way."
In the moments before the announcement, the team had quietly made peace with whatever outcome awaited them. Perez shared that “Bago pa man kami sumali sa plenary, lagi lang akong bumabalik sa purpose ng project namin—para sa mga OFW families. Hindi lang siya basta output o requirement.”
Meanwhile, for Reyes, simply being a finalist alongside the other two was already its own kind of win. “Standing beside our fellow finalists already felt like a win in itself. At that point, what grounded us was the thought that we had already poured everything into BalikGabayan with love and for the love of the project.”
Their message to future MMA students carried the same clarity. "Stay grounded in your purpose," Perez said. "As multimedia artists, we are not just creating visuals, we are creating experiences and connections."
Reyes added a charge that felt bigger than the entire program itself, sharing that “let your heart be generous enough to sit with the realities of our society. Our realities—whether migration, distance, or emotional gaps—should not only be painted as issues, but as crevices where empathy, design, and sustained connection can be nurtured.
And Ramos, in true BalikGabayan fashion, closed with something equal parts humor and heart: "What used to be our joke turned into a reality. Never underestimate yourself and the words you say out loud. Always say positive things and claim it like it is already yours."
A boardgame about budol. A co-reading platform for OFW families. A digital space for plus size women who deserve to be seen. SEQUENCE may have closed its curtains—but the stories these students chose to tell have a way of staying open long after the stage does not.
