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.