Bulatlat - The Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine

This story was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 5, March 5-11, 2006

Artists Urge Unity vs. Repression

A number of the country’s artists and cultural workers have come together to protest what they describe as “threats to the freedom of expression.” This, they say, stands even as Proclamation No. 1017 declaring the country as being in a state of national emergency has been lifted.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat

It is important for artists to defy repressive measures, said historical conservationist Trixie Angeles, who is also a lawyer. “Without freedom of expression, there can be no artist,” she said in a March 3 press conference at the Newsdesk Bar and Cafe in Quezon City.

Citing an alleged conspiracy among elements of the opposition, the “extreme Left” represented by the CPP-NPA-NDFP (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army- National Democratic Front of the Philippines) and the “extreme Right,” represented by “military adventurists,” Proclamation No. 1017 invokes Sec. 18, Art. 7 of the Constitution, which enables the President to call on the armed forces to “prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion or rebellion,” as well as Sec. 17, Art. 12 which states that: “In times of national emergency, when the public interest so requires, the State may, during the emergency and under reasonable terms prescribed by it, temporarily take over or direct the operation of any privately-owned public utility or business affected with public interest.”

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had issued Proclamation No. 1017 a few hours after Philippine Army Chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon announced on television that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had thwarted a coup attempt by a group of officers allegedly led by Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and Col. Ariel Querubin, both members of the original Young Officers Union (YOU), which also figured in a coup attempt in 1989 against then President Corazon Aquino. At the time that Proclamation No. 1017 was issued, rallies commemorating the 20th anniversary of the first People Power uprising, which are also calling for Macapagal-Arroyo’s ouster, were being held at various points in Metro Manila by anti-Arroyo groups from different political shades.

Originally, the March 3 press conference in which the artists manifested their unity against repression was specifically about Proclamation No. 1017. The unity statement read by Julie Po of the Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP) in the March 3 press conference in Quezon City urged the junking of the said proclamation.

“We join the widespread public clamor to oppose in the strongest terms the promulgation by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of Proclamation 1017 placing the country under a state of national emergency,” the statement read. “We view this imposition as unconstitutional, oppressive, and restrictive of creative freedom. We find it just for our people to defy and junk this antidemocratic imposition.”

Among those who signed the statement were actors Roy Alvarez and Melissa Mendez; directors Joel Lamangan, Soc Jose, Mel Chionglo, Carlitos Siguion Reyna and Larry Matic; painters Adi Baens Santos, Neil Doloricon and Antipas Delotavo; screenwriter Ricky Lee; playwright and literary critic Bienvenido Lumbera; producer Marichu Maceda; musicians Eric Cabrera, Chikoy Pura, and Bobby Balingit; independent filmmaker Sigfreid Barros Sanchez; and sculptors Rey Paz Contreras and Tala Isla-Contreras.

CAP started to circulate the statement Feb. 28 and received over a hundred signatures in three days.

In an earlier statement, the broad alliance Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria) – whose membership includes the multi-media groups Southern Tagalog Exposure and Pokus Gitnang Luson (Focus Central Luzon), the poetry group Kilometer 64; and musicians Bobby Balingit, Dong Abay, and Lourd de Veyra – had called for increased defiance as response to increasing repression.

“We were able to last through the dark days of the dictatorship because there were those who lit candles to tear through the blackness of the night,” read the ARREST Gloria statement, which was issued Feb. 26.

“Let us refuse to be put to sleep by the blackness of the night,” the ARREST Gloria statement further read. “We enjoin our fellow artists and the people to light candles and with these burn the curtain of darkness now shrouding the nation.”

At around 11:30 a.m., President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced that she was lifting Proclamation No. 1017 – while the press conference was still ongoing. Someone in the crowd had received the news and blurted it out, creating quite a stir in the venue.

“But we will not stop at Proclamation 1017,” Po said. “It is not the only measure that represses us. There are other measures that prevent us from knowing the truth.”

For his part, poet and literary scholar Gelacio Guillermo, who spoke in an open forum that followed the press conference said that the lifting of Proclamation No. 1017 is “illusory.”

“Whether it is lifted or not, the effects of the proclamation are upon us,” he said. “Government opponents are being arrested and media is being monitored.”

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita had earlier admitted that the “crackdown” on “destabilizers” would continue even after Proclamation No. 1017 is lifted. Likewise, Philippine National Police chief Gen. Arturo Lomibao said they would push through with formulating editorial guidelines for media, which would be implemented whether or not Proclamation No. 1017 is lifted. Bulatlat

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