Category Archive for: panitikan

kultura

Notes on the intellectual in the time of Duterte

Wrote this for the book launch of “Na Kung Saan” by Teo Marasigan, February 6 in UP Diliman. The task was to talk about intellectuals in the time of Duterte, na nakapaloob sa forum na “Kamalayan at Kultura sa Panahon ng Pasismo.”  

I met Teo in college, in the 90’s, but only built a relationship with him in the Gloria years, in the late 2000s, when so many of us, my Nanay Angela and myself included, ended up using the internet for blogging. This was pre-Mocha, pre-paid mob, pre-Facebook boosting and trolling.  Then, people were still writing long-form articles, well-threshed out yet open to discussion, in fact begging for a discussion, naghahanap ng makakausap tungkol sa mga isyung panlipunan. May biruan pa, may collegiality. These were the years of the Arroyo presidency, before Facebook and Twitter took over the internet — and a chunk of our intellectual culture.

But of course there were many other reasons for the death of blogging and critical-political thought. There was the fact that many of the critical bloggers during GMA’s time were absorbed into PNoy’s three-headed communications team. I remember two years into PNoy’s leadership, being told by one of those writers who had ended up in Malacañang: kayo na lang ng nanay mo ang hindi pa namin nakukuha, ang hindi pa bilib sa’min.” Or something to that effect.

Natawa ako, na nadismaya: ‘yun pala ang ginagawa ng gobyerno, “kinukuha” “pinapabilib” ang mga kritiko-intelektuwal, isang paraan ng pagpapatahimik. (more…)

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Death of culture (3): Lizaso’s vision for stagnation

The shameless conservatism in Nick Lizaso’s press release about his plans and vision for the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), is ironic when one considers that we have a President who questions Catholicism and dogmatism time and again, and who insists on his freedom of speech – if not his freedom to offend – over and over.

President Duterte unilaterally installed Lizaso as CCP head. But even the President himself would not pass the rules and regulations that Lizaso is set to make for culture, given how he considers this “mission to be almost Pentecostal for it is all about Apostolate for Art and Culture.”

Yes, to the cultish feels of Lizaso’s statements. And yes, he will go so far as to push for censorship, because he has done it before. As member of the CCP Board in 2011, Lizaso stood for the closure of the exhibit Kulo at the CCP Gallery because of Mideo Cruz’s work “Poleteismo,” a critique of conservative ideologies such as Catholicism, which mainstream media had spun into a controversy. Conservatives filed a case against Cruz and the CCP Board – except for Lizaso, because he had stood for the closure of the exhibit. (more…)

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Death of culture (2): Cultish leadership for CCP

President Duterte’s installation of Nick Lizaso as head of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) is painfully ironic – if not dangerously so.

On the one hand, it is clear that this President doesn’t care much about culture, so one wonders why he would appoint any of his men to these cultural leadership positions. On the other, one can see this as a statement in itself about what Duterte thinks about culture: anyone can lead it, never mind that he is incredible, never mind that he is unproductive, never mind that he speaks about art like it’s the 1940s, and likens the work he must now do to  building a Church.

“This mission is almost Pentecostal for it is all about Apostolate for Art and Culture. I enjoin every Filipino citizen to help me in this Apostolate – spreading the good news of art to all the corners of this archipelago. For it is art that will save us as a nation, as a people, as one humanity.”

That comes from Lizaso, Duterte-installed CCP Head. Apparently out to build a religious cult while he’s at it. (more…)

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Dear President Duterte,

The details are scant, but there is an agenda to be presented to you based on a National Development Meeting for the Arts Summit that happened on September 5.

Sadly, if those kinds of exclusive, by-invitation only meetings continue, then this agenda cannot even begin to represent the arts and culture sectors it promises to speak for.

As a private endeavor by Njel De Mesa, there’s no way to insist that he open up the summit to all cultural workers; he was financially limited to inviting arts and culture organizations and trusted that reps from these groups actually speak for a majority of us in the sectors.

That of course is not true. There is no one organization that can claim to represent a majority of writers or dancers, theater workers or visual artists, musicians or heritage workers, across generations, different media, and various areas of expertise. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realize that the formality of organizations goes against precisely the freedoms that artistry, creativity, innovation are premised on and which these demand. (more…)

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Stand against a Dept of Culture

It could be the lack of a real functional communications team, or maybe just the general disinterest in what happens to the cultural sector, but none of President Duterte’s moves so far has been about doing right by culture.

While we might think the downward spiral started with the self-proclamation of Freddie Aguilar as head of the non-existent department of culture, which according to him meant being offered the position of National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) head instead, I tend to see the downward spiral to have begun with the appointment of Liza Diño into the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP).

All that I have said about that appointment stands: the mandate and functions of that office are clear, the requirements for an appointee, too. Diño has none of those credentials, and by agreeing to this appointment pretty much pisses on the law that created this office to begin with. (more…)