I recently spoke at a small RH forum in De La Salle University where Carlos Antonio Palad, Philosophy doctorate from UP and ardent opponent of the RH Bill, while accompanied by his companion from Defensores Fidei, said that though he might not agree with what I said, he would defend to death my right to say it.
I therefore would like to humbly ask for the good professor’s promised aid in this latest case of CBCP censorship. Their chosen organization for distancing and deniability this time is Pro-life Philippines, with the effort being personally spearheaded by its president Eric Manalang, who has been demanding that an art exhibit containing, among others, the work of Mideo Cruz in the Cultural Center of the Philippines be taken down.
“By Thursday afternoon, we will file a case if they do not stop the exhibit and if they do not also make amends because stopping is not enough. The damage has been done,” Eric Manalang, president of Pro-life Philippines, said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines news site on Tuesday.
“Relics”, one of the works by Mideo Cruz
To address their demands, CCP set up an open forum this Friday, inviting the general public and concerned parties to come and openly discuss the issue.
Pro Life Philippines’ response to this invitation has been to ignore it and any other attempts at dialogue, then threaten a lawsuit if the exhibit was not taken down by Thursday afternoon, the day before the open forum which was organized in large part for them.
Since the start of this year, the CBCP and its allies have taken down this fast food commercial with its obviously demonic children, as well as the society destroying pectorals of the Philippine Volcanoes rugby team. Having taken on the imperialist capitalist conspirators Mcdonald’s and Bench Apparel, perhaps they now finally feel confident enough to crush the greatest threat to the cultural heritage of the Philippines: the, er, Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Not that the CBCP or its allies would ever stoop to interfering with free expression and political discourse, of course. They have after all continually assured us that they seek only to create a space for them to practice their faith without interfering with that of others.
Perhaps Defensores Fidei felt that in threatening to sue us if we did not take down a video of their speaker at a public forum saying that the tsunami in Japan happened because the Japanese used artificial contraceptives, they were defending the right of their own to be cruelly insensitive and not be criticized for it.
I am also sure that when Eric Manalang and his friends told the ladies from Catholics4RH at another open forum to have their mothers abort themselves on the steps of Manila Cathedral, he too was expressing his right to be as crassly insulting as he wanted to his fellow Catholics.
Even good old Rizalito David was perhaps only expressing his right to threaten and then smack someone he didn’t like in the face, and then, together with Father Melvin Castro, was only exercising his right to quietly walk out of Congress and get away with physical violence while later calling the whole thing a non-issue.
Given all of this, I am glad that Dr. Palad has apparently promised his support for us in this endeavor to preserve the right of this one artist, Mr. Mideo Cruz, to express himself. After all, its not like there should be one standard for the Catholic church to express itself and another standard for any other Filipino citizen. I look forward to to Dr. Palad’s prompt and sincere reply.
[…] pretending to be mum about these issues has only aggravated the problem. Not to mention that it leaves us incredibly onion-skinned when somebody does raise a […]
This came from my young mind, church and politics should not coincide. That's one of the reasons Rizal and many others died, right? Just sayin'.
While the freedom of expression, the right being exercised by the artists, I presume, is guaranteed by our constitution, that right is not absolute! As one's right of expression already infringes on another's right, or when it is already against public morals or reasonable norms of propriety, or when it already offends the sensibilities of others, then that right ceases to exist without consequences! It's that simple, regardless of its religious, cultural or historical nature. This is the reason why pinoys worldwide have bombarded countless commentators, tv hosts or personalities for their anti-pinoy, racial or religious slurs.
If an artist, in his own interpretation of his artistic mind, depicts in a painting pinoys as nothing more than sluts or domestic helpers, wouldn't there be a similar outcry? Or if the artist used as a subject of his painting the god of another religion? Or if another painter used as his subject Mideo's mother and portrayed her in a manner that any decent person would find objectionable?
While this issue may have nothing to do at all with the RH bill or the cbcp controversies, as some corners want to imply, there simply has to be a limit to one's freedom of expression!
Ano nga bang pinaglalaban MO??
Hindi ito pagtatalo ng “If art is art.” What made this a trending topic is the absurdity of Mideo taking advantage of the crowd pro-RH bill to support his FILTH, and DISRECTFUL Art. Kahit ako na pro-RH bill ay nabastusan, nababuyan, at nagulantang sa pinaggagagawa niya sa aking relihiyon. Not all catholics are against RH bill; pero sana, hindi isang tao na may relihiyon ang lumalaban na tama ang pambababoy sa isang relihiyon, maging anu pa man ito..
Asaan ang turnilyo mo kaibigan..maxado na atang pinaikot ng pagsuporta mo sa isang bagay na di mo kayang ipaglaban kaya dinadaan sa magulong usapan.
Ano nga bang pinaglalaban MO??
Hindi ito pagtatalo ng “If art is art.” What made this a trending topic is the absurdity of Mideo taking advantage of the crowd pro-RH bill to support his FILTH, and DISRECTFUL Art. Kahit ako na pro-RH bill ay nabastusan, nababuyan, at nagulantang sa pinaggagagawa niya sa aking relihiyon. Not all catholics are against RH bill; pero sana, hindi isang tao na may relihiyon ang lumalaban na tama ang pambababoy sa isang relihiyon, maging anu pa man ito..
Asaan ang turnilyo mo kaibigan..maxado na atang pinaikot ng pagsuporta mo sa isang bagay na di mo kayang ipaglaban kaya dinadaan sa magulong usapan.
*Is vandalism an art?
*Does human values come only from the “CATHOLIC religion?”
*Is the CHURCH the only imposing body for human to do good?
–I believe: not at all.
The Catholic Religion does not make any MONOPOLY for FILIPINO CULTURE and VALUES. Because if that would be the case, there shouldn’t be any prisoners convicted because of a crime. A person DECIDES, and work, equipped WITH HIS OWN FREE WILL; the Church only teaches you (take note: teaches, not IMPOSES) on how to choose what is morally right and wrong.
*Is vandalism an art?
*Does human values come only from the “CATHOLIC religion?”
*Is the CHURCH the only imposing body for human to do good?
–I believe: not at all.
The Catholic Religion does not make any MONOPOLY for FILIPINO CULTURE and VALUES. Because if that would be the case, there shouldn’t be any prisoners convicted because of a crime. A person DECIDES, and work, equipped WITH HIS OWN FREE WILL; the Church only teaches you (take note: teaches, not IMPOSES) on how to choose what is morally right and wrong.
This bears repeating: the Filipino culture and value system is NOT a Catholic monopoly.
Let it be to the
Cultural Center of
Philippines’ wit that
BLATANT DISPOSITION of arts
has never been a culture
of the FILIPINOS. That is, if they really are the Philippines’ CULTURAL CENTER.
Fight for your RH BILL; but never to the extent of playing DIRTY TACTICS.
I live in the Philippines. I was born and raised here. And the prevailing culture that I see is a culture of submission. It is being practiced in almost every institution imaginable, whether forcefully or covertly.
Perhaps the style used to create the art works are not originally Filipino but they certainly have now been integrated into the Philippine culture, just like the English language and many other religions, since they were put into practice in the creation of art by Filipinos. So I guess with this reason the Cultural Center of the Philippines has the right to show such artworks to the Philippine public as a part of Philippine culture.
For the acquisition of such techniques used in the art works, perhaps you can blame globalization, education, cross-cultural communication, or even personal enlightenment of the original proponent/s ( I can't think of any other term) of the technique, because without such/ these it will not be learned by others, shared, and be integrated into a culture.
In terms of the art works being related to the topic of the RH Bill, if it really is directed towards that topic, then the artist has every right to say what he wants to say in any method he wishes to do so. Such a freedom is entitled to everyone regardless of social status and belief.
If such a work of art is slanderous in nature, or by any other reason fathomable, since it has now become a public issue, then let the court of law decide about that, after all, as my teacher taught me, may he rest in peace, we have a government of laws and not of men.
Freedom of speech is a double edged sword. And like any other weapon wielding it requires a lot of discipline and practice. In the hands of a lesser person it will cut back at it's wielder.
true, how many free expressions has the cbcp made that totally backfired? xD
Oh man I did not know you were at a forum at my University recently. I wish I knew and have attended your forum.