Category Archive for: pulitika

komentaryo

A Senate coup #Sept19

Anyare?

It was an otherwise expected Monday at the Senate, televised live for all of the world to see, with Senator Alan Peter Cayetano again being given the “privilege” to speak about things he had already spoken about at last week’s Committee on Justice Hearing with witness Matobato.

It was Senator Leila De Lima who had brought this witness to the Senate, who really only reminded us all of the Davao Death Squad and how (1) it does exist, and (2) it had connections with then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in Davao. That this witness was in an inquiry on the PRESENT extrajudicial killings, with Senator De Lima not even really drawing clear connections between then and now, Davao and Manila, Mayor Duterte and President Duterte, might have been her own undoing.  (more…)

kultura

Liza Diño, FDCP workers, martial law #culturalcrisis

Let me call it now.

With 12 members of the staff terminated in the first week of her leadership, Liza Diño has put the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) under a version of Martial Law.

And because Martial Law is about silencing critics, too, I hear that the search is on for who exactly my sources are. This, instead of Diño actually replying to these allegations — I would gladly be disproved after all. But what I’m looking at are not just 12 employees given pink slips by Diño. I’m also looking at five other staff members who have tendered resignations given how Diño’s running the FDCP .

And lest you think we’re talking about consultants with huge paycheques ala Joel Rocamora’s NAPC, what I’m seeing is a list that includes drivers and cinematheque projectionists. I’m looking at staff of the National Film Archive of the Philippines (NFAP) and the Cinematheque.  (more…)

kultura

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…)

kultura

Notes on an arts and culture agenda: a lack of representation

One of the reasons I became hopeful about having President Duterte as our country’s leader was the fact that I’ve heard him speak consistently about better treatment for workers via such measures as an end to endo, tax reform and the streamlining of government services, as well as his stance on making oligarchs and capitalists also responsible for treating workers better.

I knew this would redound to the benefit of cultural workers as well. (more…)

kultura

Freedom of anti-information

A little over two months since we elected a new President, there is no day that I do not reel from the change that has come, for good, better, worse – depending on where you stand on issues.

It is the latter of course that has become the more critical question. “Where do you stand?” after all seeps into our daily engagements on social media: it is measured by the headlines we share on our Facebook walls and Twitter feeds, and what we refuse to speak about.

And while we like to be sure about where we stand, I have found freedom in being shaken by this President. By the fact that he requires that I read up on the South China Sea crisis on one day, and climate change on another; the drug crisis in the country on a Monday, poverty and oligarchs on a Wednesday, and then back again. (more…)