The fight for our nation’s soul needs our artists
I was invited to speak at the opening of a special art exhibition entitled “Dekada ng Sama-Samang Pag-alala” at the Ateneo de Manila University last week. The exhibit is a moving commemoration of the 10th year since former President Rodrigo Duterte unleashed his bloody “drug war” in 2016.
The exhibition is on its second run. It was first launched at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City last August 2026. Among the works exhibited are the gripping photographs of crime scenes taken almost immediately after the killers left, bloodied bodies of victims just moments after they were shot, and the heart-wrenching faces of inconsolable family members as they learned of the killing of their loved ones. The photos were the works of brave and intrepid photojournalists, led by Raffy Lerma and Vincent Go, who risked their lives documenting the killings as they piled up.
The exhibit includes an assemblage of clothes and personal belongings of fallen victims, recreations of the interiors of a composite house of a victim’s family, as well as paintings, drawings, and art installations of artists who visually denounce what was a war against the poor.
I emphasized in my talk that the trial in the International Criminal Court is a mere partial aspect of our fight to right the many wrongs committed by Duterte. A second aspect of that fight is to repair our moral compass. He gave legitimacy to the seriously twisted belief that killing and violence are legitimate solutions to our societal problems, like the menace of illegal drugs. Duterte poisoned our culture by turning upside down our people’s sense of right and wrong, and he gained so many blinded converts in this regard.
We’ve seen from Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial that even if the pieces of evidence are abundant and strong, the mass support for the Dutertes remains robust. The dysfunctional culture that Duterte preached has developed deep roots in our culture, and no amount of factual truth, logic, or rational thinking can totally uproot the resulting degenerative thinking. We need our creative talents to launch a visceral fight as part of a multipronged battle to save our nation’s soul.
During the fight to end the Marcos dictatorship, one of the battles that contributed immensely toward ending the regime was the one waged by the creative and artistic sector of our society. There were many books, poems, other literary works, paintings, songs, photographs, art installations, films, theater plays, protest chants, and other forms of art that were produced and that immensely contributed to the eventual peaceful revolution that ousted the dictatorship. Many of these artistic outputs became classics and now form an integral part of our cultural heritage.
There were 3,000 reported killings during the Marcos dictatorship, while 30,000 were reportedly murdered during Duterte’s reign. Why were there so many classic works in the creative fields during, after, and about the Marcos dictatorship, while there are relatively few that portray and confront the even more brutal years of Duterte? Is it because many of the Marcos dictatorship victims belonged to well-off families, while the Duterte victims belong almost entirely to the poorest of the poor?
It has been 10 years since Duterte unleashed his death plague all over the country, and four years since he stepped down. Our creative and artistic people must join the fight to purify our poisoned culture. Otherwise, the memory of the thousands of Duterte’s brutal killings will be largely forgotten as more years are allowed to pass. Songs, films, paintings, sculptures, books, poems, and other creative works that artistically denounce the brutality of those years must become part of our cultural heritage.
The pitch battles online and the impeachment proceedings have minimally dented the degenerative culture of Duterte, largely because of disinformation. This is why it’s important for artistic creations to be employed in the battle because creative outputs are immune from disinformation. And the culture of violence espoused by the Dutertes has limited capacity to churn out a contra crop of artistic works. A blossoming of artistic outputs will be instrumental in winning the hearts and minds of our young generation, and will save them from falling under the spell of the culture of violence.
The Dekada exhibit should become a traveling exhibit shown in schools all over the country. It should inspire similar projects involving more artists and victims’ groups. Our living national artists, such as Virgilio Almario, Nunelucio Alvarado, Benedicto Cabrera, Ryan Cayabyab, Imelda Cajipe-Endaya, Ricky Lee, Kidlat Tahimik, and others should lend their artistic voices to these projects. Famed social realists and future national artists, such as Jeho Bitancor, Elmer Borlongan, Leslie de Chavez, Charlie Co, Mideo Cruz, Alfredo Esquillo Jr., Emmanuel Garibay, Renato Habulan, Mark Justiniani, Dengcoy Miel, Jose Tence Ruiz, among others, must also add their visual voices. Kung hindi tayo lalaban, sino ang lalaban? Kung hindi ngayon, kailan pa?
—————-
Comments to [email protected]
