OTSO ORAS

Heto na, Heto na!

Heto na ang pinakaaabangang produksyon ng karatula ngayong tag-araw, ang Otso Oras. Katatampukan ng mga dulang Bakya ni Hernando Ocampo, Pambansang Alagad ng Sining sa Biswal, at Kalatas ng Manggagawa ni Dir. Bonifacio Ilagan, Palanca Awardee.

Abangan ang mga pagtatanghal nito sa mga ss: 

April 29 - Krus na Ligas Covered Court, Diliman, Quezon City

May 4 - Libis Covered Court, Caloocan City

May 10 - Pier 2, Moriones, Tondo, Manila

sa mga karagdagang detalye, magpost lang ng mensahe sa baba. 

karatula statement on NPC mural issue

Visually, repression is usually portrayed as a person bound, gagged and blindfolded. Violence or the threat of violence is a key element. But repression is not just about a gun pointed to your head. It is so much more. And a new visually artistic(?) method has come up.

On Oct 26, 2007, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo unveiled a new mural in the Headline Restaurant to celebrate the 55^th anniversary of the National Press Club (NPC). The NPC commissioned the Neo-Angono Artists Collective to create the mural on the history of Philippine press freedom. But the mural that was unveiled was not the mural the artists’ group created.

Before the unveiling, the Presidential Security Group (PSG) inspected the 8×32 painting and questioned certain “leftist marks”. Roy Mabasa, the president of the NPC, then called the Angono artists to retouch the mural. Since none of them were available, he tapped another artist to retouch the mural overnight.

The Neo-Angono Artists Collective condemned the alterations and listed them as follows:

1) The erasure of a big portion of the newspaper held by the central figure, containing the statement of the International Federation of Journalists regarding the perceived effects of the anti-terror law on press freedom, and replaced by a hideous bird-monster in a cage;

2) The alteration of the headline of the newspaper Jose Rizal is holding from "Press Freedom Fighter's Son Abducted" to "Press Freedom Fight Is On" and the defacement of Jonas and Edith Burgos's pictures as well as the erasure of Jonas's name;

3) The change of the tattoo on Andres Bonifacio's left arm from the alibata "K" to a sappy red heart pierced by an arrow;

4) The erasure of the name of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) from the banners of the rallyists;

5) The lengthening of the hair and beard of the figure identified as academician- columnist Prof. Randy David beside columnist Conrad de Quiros;

6) The addition of beard and mustache and the change of hair color from white to black of the pugo and balut vendor identified as columnist and Martial Law detainee Juan Mercado.

This incident is shameful in several ways.

1) The alterations mock the original theme of the mural. The history of Philippine press freedom is a history of struggle. Getting rid of the “leftist marks”, not only alters the painting but it also skews history.  Press freedom was fought for by our greatest heroes and continuously defended by the best of our journalists and media workers. It was repressed by our conquerors: Spanish, American and Japanese; and openly attacked by laws like Marcos’ Martial Law and Arroyo’s Proclamation 1017. And when it was repressed and attacked, the people and the members of the press fought back; with biting criticisms, underground newspapers and mass movements.

2) The Neo-Angono Artists Collective’s Freedom of Expression was violated. The press freedom mural was a unique work of art and not a mass-produced copy. It alone expressed the Artists ideas on a theme given by the NPC. Every color, line and stroke has meaning. For the NPC to suddenly alter the mural without the permission of the Artists Collective is a form of vandalism and censorship. The NPC may have ownership of the mural but it has its limits. A person’s freedom ends where another person’s freedom begins. The NPC’s right to its property met the Artists right to their freedom of expression and crossed it.

3) Malacanang meddled in arts and culture.  The mockery of the history of Philippine press freedom and the violation of freedom of expression would not have occurred without the intervention of Malacanang.  The PSG has suddenly become an influential art critic whose questions can make a president of the NPC agree to immediate changes. When did that happen and by whose power did that come from? Art was not meant to please a single person but to send a message for the many.

But this incident is not just another shameful incident in a regime without shame. It demonstrates the many forms of repression the US-Arroyo regime will commit. A gun to the head is just the tip of the iceberg in repression. Violence can easily be seen but beneath that is a mountain of strictures influencing our very culture itself.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo stands on shaky ground. She does not hold the trust of the people. Her opponents in the field of politics are getting more numerous, especially with the emergence of the ZTE deal and impeachment manipulations. Her recourse is to prevent people from exercising their freedom or from even thinking about exercising their freedom.  Because the people’s freedom would lead to her loss of power.

What is so deadly to Arroyo from “leftist marks” in a mural inside the building of the NPC that the PSG would protect her? Is the face of Jonas and Edita Burgos physically poisonous to Arroyo? Or is it something more? This alteration manifests a state policy of cultural repression. The state edits and censors different forms of expression to make it palatable to the state. It denies artists and cultural and media workers their message and also prevents the people from hearing what that message is about.  Don’t think, don’t act, says the Arroyo regime. The state has censored the movie made by the Free Jonas Burgos Movement and it is trying to get a firmer grip on the National commission on Culture and the Arts. The threat in leftist marks lie in what it symbolizes: an alternative.

The corrupt Arroyo regime cannot stand when people express their outrage at her abuses. Karatula stands with the Neo-Angono Artists Collective and other artists in condemning this attack on the freedom of expression. We encourage the NPC and other media workers to emulate the courage of all of their brothers who struggled for press freedom and even gave their lives to be able to report the truth.

Political repression exists when a people cannot exercise their freedom. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt grandly categorized them into four: freedom of expression, freedom of belief, freedom from want and freedom from fear. The US-Arroyo regime deny us our expression and manipulates our beliefs. Our people are hungry and afraid. To obtain genuine freedom, we must fight for it.

KABATAAN APRIL-MAY CALENDAR

Malugod namin kayong iniimbitahan sa: 

Ano: Party ng Kabataan
Kailan: April 24
Saan: Araneta Ave., Brgy. Tatalon

Ano: Muzikabataan Concert
Kailan: April 28
Saan: University Belt, Manila

Ano: Sayaw Sayaw Kabataan Dance Party
Kailan: April 30
Saan: Sampaloc Manila

Ano: Muzikabataan Jam

Kailan: May 02
Saan: Purple Haze Bar, Tomas Morato
*Entrance fee at Php100

Ano: Muzikabataan Tour
Kailan: May 04
Saan: Dapitan Sports Complex

Ano: Muzikabataab Tour
Kailan: May 08
Saan:  San Fernando Pampanga

Tayo na't makisaya sa Kabataan! Kitakits!

WANTED ACTORS

Calling all the attention of Theater Artists and members of Theater Collectives. On  the 4th day of April we will have a SINAKULO play at Payata, Quezon City.

This will show the continuous sacrifice of the people of our nation and the declining situation of our communities because of poverty. Its objective is to relate Jesus Christ's situation at present condition of the Philippines and to reiterate the role of the people especially the youth to maintain unity and struggle against poverty.

In line with this, we are still searching for characters of the said play. For more information contact us at 09283411901 0r email at karatula_national@yahoo.com 

Bayan Muna tops likely party-list poll

Bayan Muna tops likely party-list poll
winners–survey
By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 02:28pm (Mla time) 03/19/2007
MANILA, Philippines — The Bayan Muna
party-list group of detained
Representative Satur Ocampo is likely to
regain its three seats in Congress in
the May mid-term elections, according to
an independent survey released Monday.

With an over-all voter preference of
11.9 percent, Bayan Muna could muster
"more than enough" votes for three seats
in the House of Representatives. It also
leads 13 "probable winners" in the
party-list race, Pulse Asia Inc. said.
Ocampo was arrested last Friday on
murder charges filed before a Leyte
court over an alleged purge of suspected
communist members.
The study polled 1,800 respondents
nationwide from February 28 to March 5.
It has a margin of error of +/- 2
percent and a confidence level of 95
percent.
Other party-list groups who could win
three seats are:
Anakpawis (8.0 percent)
Akbayan Citizen's Action Party (7.0
percent), and
Gabriela Women's Party (6.4 percent),
Pulse Asia said. Party-list groups that
are likely to win one seat are:
Aangat Tayo (3.6 percent),
Angat Antas Kabuhayan Pilipino Movement
(2.8 percent),
Angat Ating Kabuhayan (2.7 percent),
Alyansa ng Sambayanan para sa Pagbabago
(2.4 percent),
Kabataan Party (2.3 percent),
Ahon Pinoy (2.2 percent) and
Citizen's Battle Against Corruption (2.2
percent).
The study also revealed that awareness
of party-list groups dropped to
49 percent in March from 55 percent in
January.

Suck the marrow out out of life!

Iboto, KABATAAN Partylist!
makeURL(”http://kabataanpart y.com”,”eHNsL2J1bGxldGluLnhzbA==”);http://kabataanpart y.com
—————————————————————————————

Kabataang Artista para sa Tunay na
Kalayaan is encouraging your schools,
communities, artists organizations,
individuals and other groups who
supports KABATAAN to popularize our
jingles and maximize to use all our
skills and talents in the world of art
to highly propagate and vote our beloved
Party List.

sining, sigaw, sandata

muli, ipakalat natin at hikayatin ang ating mga miyembro na sumali sa ating yahoogroups (kabataanpartylist@ yahoogroups. com) at sa ating friendster account (kabataan.national@ gmail.com)

sa may mga blog, ilagay na ang logo ng kabataan sa inyong blog o sa mga may friendster, gawin na itong primary photo ninyo o/at gawing main featured friend ang kabataan.

inaayos pa rin po ang ating website but as soon as maayos na ito, ipakalat na rin natin ang web address.

gawin natin ang lahat ng paraan para mai-project ang kabataan partylist sa cyberspace.

Sa lahat ng mga jingle at mga artworks regarding kabataan party o patungkol sa isyu, usapin at katangian ng kabataan, mangyaring kumontak lamang po sa inyong lingkod 09283411901 o i-mail sa karatula_national@yahoo.com.

Ang lahat din ng interesado sa KARATULA, mga katanungan at impormasyon ay maaring makipag-ugnayan sa ating Tagapangulo DONNA-09103549517 at Pangkalahatang Kalihim CARLO-09223883738.  

Escudero tells youth: Country needs you now

Inquirer
Last updated 07:58am (Mla time) 02/05/2007

BAGUIO CITY — Courting the support of the youth, Sorsogon Representative Francis "Chiz" Escudero spoke at a student forum here and urged the youth to take a more active role in shaping the future of the nation.

"Kalimutan na ang sinabi ni Rizal na ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan. Ang dapat maging sigaw at bagong panawagan ng kabataan ay 'Maaasahan na ako ng bayan — ako, ngayon at dito (Let us forget Rizal's words that the youth is the hope of the motherland. The youth's new call should be 'My country can depend on me — here and now),'" Escudero told some 150 students and members of militant groups at the forum on Saturday at the University of Baguio.

He also discussed the plans and prospects of the political opposition in the 2007 elections.

"Part of being young is wanting to change things even when others tell you to accept things as they are, and believing that even though earlier generations had failed, our generation is different, our generation can do it," said Escudero, a senatorial candidate with the opposition.

He said the youth should not waste their right to vote as it is only during elections that all Filipinos become equal and are given the opportunity to chart the country's future.

He said the youth must be recognized as active partners in the transformation of the country.

Escudero also stressed that Filipinos needed to change and learn how to follow laws.

"The orientation and views of Filipinos must change," he said, noting that change must begin with the top leaders of the country.

He said the solutions to the nation's problems were already in the country's body of laws.

"There is a law for everything that is prohibited. The law just needs to be implemented and followed," Escudero said. Donna Demetillo with reports from Sweden Bognalbal, Inquirer Northern Luzon

Kabataan PL WITH Sanlakas-Youth UNDER jv ejercito..

By Tarra Quismundo
Inquirer
Last updated 02:29am (Mla time) 02/01/2007

MANILA, Philippines — After months of negotiations and deliberations, the United Opposition (UNO) yesterday announced "the end of the Third Force" with the near completion of its list of senatorial candidates for the May 14 elections.

UNO officials announced eight of the 12 candidates in a press conference at past 1 p.m., leaving the rest of the slots to "coalition partners."

The lineup is a slightly revised version of the roster earlier released by the opposition's recognized leader, ousted President Joseph Estrada.

"This is the only opposition slate … In which case, there's no room for a Third Force. With this announcement, we are ending the issue of the Third Force," Makati Mayor and UNO president Jejomar Binay said in reference to the supposed middling senatorial lineup being formed by other groups.

Loren Legarda, a former senator and an independent candidate, is the only woman in the UNO slate composed of aspiring returnees to the Senate, graduates of the House of Representatives, and scions of politicians.

Also in the slate is Estrada's son, San Juan Mayor Jose Victor Ejercito, who said his senatorial candidacy was "the nation's clamor."

But barely two hours earlier at the signing of a youth covenant at the Bahay ng Alumni building in the University of the Philippines campus, where he was asked to seek a Senate seat, Ejercito told the Inquirer: "I am elated and honored by this endorsement. However, I have not decided yet if I will run for the Senate."

UNO spokesperson Ernesto Maceda said the other four candidates would soon be announced by partners in the Senate. (Officials said there were four sure candidates but refused to name them.)

Maceda said the remaining negotiating member-parties were still selecting four out of six contenders.

Binay added that UNO would make "a formal and official declaration of the lineup" and then engage in discussions of the coalition's platform.

Electoral protest pending

Legarda was the running mate of Estrada's late best friend, opposition standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr., in the 2004 presidential election. Her electoral protest against Vice President Noli de Castro is still pending.

At the Senate, she was among those who pursued the impeachment case against Estrada.

Also on the list is incumbent Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who served as Estrada's national police chief, and who had changed his mind about seeking the post of Manila mayor in the coming elections.

Seeking a return to the Senate as well is John Osmeña of the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC), who also ran but lost in May 2004 under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's party.

Of that experience, Osmeña told reporters: "I admit, I made a mistake. That was my biggest mistake. What happened will never happen again."

Making up the "youth sector" in the slate are Representatives Francis Escudero (NPC, Sorsogon) and Alan Peter Cayetano (Nacionalista Party, Pateros-Taguig) , brother of incumbent Sen. Pia Cayetano and son of the late Sen. Rene Cayetano; Ejercito; Rep. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III (Liberal Party, Tarlac), only son of former President Corazon Aquino; and Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, son and namesake of the incumbent senator who heads the minority in the chamber.

'They dropped themselves'

The list of eight is a corrected version of an earlier lineup Estrada had announced, and which included Senate President Manuel Villar and former senator Vicente Sotto III.

Sotto has defected from the UNO and is reportedly being considered for the administration slate.

The only addition to the partial list is Aquino, who may have wrested the slot from his aunt, former senator Tessie Aquino-Oreta, who also recently left UNO.

"As you've seen from the … list, we would even thank the two (Sotto and Oreta) because they opened up two seats to accommodate others," Maceda said, adding:

"We didn't drop them. They dropped themselves."

Former Vice President Teofisto Guingona is another dropout, having decided not to run for the Senate.

Maceda said Guingona — an Arroyo critic who, as senator, led the impeachment of Estrada — had "begged off" as two in his family would be joining the local election race in Bukidnon province.

Binay had earlier said Guingona was sure to lead UNO's senatorial roster. Maceda said yesterday that, while out of the list, Guingona had vowed to actively participate in the campaign.

Campaign activity

At the UP Bahay ng Alumni, Lloyd Zaragoza, lead convenor of the Kabataan Para sa Bayan, said his group believed that JV Ejercito would be "a good champion for the youth in the Senate" as he would "fiercely advocate legislative measures to greatly improve the lives of all young people of the land, ang pag-asa ng bayan (the hope of the nation)."

Kabataan Para sa Bayan is a coalition of youth groups that drafted the Kartilya ng Kabataan, which contains the needs of the youth today, like access to quality education, freedom of expression and from discrimination, and employment.

The coalition includes the Kabataan party-list group, Sanlakas-Youth, and College Editors' Guild of the Philippines, among other groups.

The event appeared like a campaign activity, with the crowd chanting "JV! JV!" as the mayor entered the building.

After the endorsement in the latter part of the program, tarpaulins bearing Ejercito's picture and the words "JV Ejercito para sa Senado" were unfurled, and the crowd erupted in cheers.

The mayor then went to the podium, thanked his audience and said he had not yet decided on his candidacy.

He also denied to the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he was testing the waters of his possible voter base, the youth.

Nevertheless, participants were later handed giveaways such as calendars and rubber wrist bands bearing Ejercito's name. An aide of the mayor said the wrist bands came from the Kabataan Para sa Bayan, which Zaragoza later confirmed.

Team Unity

The top man of the ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats party yesterday declared that the administration coalition would add "enlightened, moderate and constructive" candidates from the opposition in its senatorial slate.

In an interview with reporters in Malacañang, Speaker and Lakas president Jose de Venecia said: "We need to have a constructive, enlightened opposition. We have to develop the moderates in the country as against the extremist and the radicals."

Asked if former senators Sotto and Oreta would fall into this category, De Venecia said: "That is the grist of moderation."

Michael Defensor, Ms Arroyo's chief of staff, said there was "no stopping" the formation of "Team Unity" — the administration slate that would include candidates from the opposition — for the upcoming polls. With reports from Miko L. Morelos and Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. in Manila; Yolanda Sotelo-Fuertes, Inquirer Northern Luzon

artists corner

mga kaibigan, kapamilya at kasama

andito na ang karatula para magpasabog ng mga makabayang lagim ng mga likhang sining at kultura. Hihintayin ang mabilis na pag-ugnay ninyo sa amin para ipangalandakan ang mga kulturang nagsisilbi para sa sambayanan