Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala

As president of the Filipino Documentary Society, the group behind premier documentary festivals Daang Dokyu and Dokyu Power, Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala give a platform for filmmakers to showcase their works that encourage critical thinking of our past, present, and future. In 2022, she produced two gripping documentaries: 11,103, which sheds light on the plight of the survivors of the Martial Law period under the Marcos regime; and Delikado, a film about the illegal logging operations in Palawan.

Alikpala says she plans to continue telling stories that deal with issues no one dares to touch. “We need to feature the hard facts and truths because we cannot be a nation of lies. People must realise they cannot be comfortable until everyone is,” she says.

Alikpala is also an advocate of breast cancer awareness, co-founding the ICanServe Foundation, which held a regional breast cancer conference called the 6th Southeast Asia Breast Cancer Symposium. With almost 2,200 participants online from over 20 countries, the summit was an avenue to spread information to people in the regions about breast cancer from experts, researchers, patients and more. She also leads the foundation’s lobby in Congress and the Senate to fund the Cancer Law of 2019 and increase support for cancer patients.