3rd May 2022
NB. I felt it necessary to include more images than normal to give a sense of the noteworthy and unusual event..
Dear friends and colleagues
What is this decayed and crumbling building? Who are these people?
It is, or was, The Manila Film Center. These are artists off to paint a mural.
The Film Center was a prestige project of Imelda Marcos. Intended as the Film Centre for all of Asia it was built at breakneck speed. Literally. On November 17, 1981 scaffolding collapsed and workers were buried in steel and quick drying cement. For nine hours no-one was allowed into the building to attempt a rescue. The official line after that was that seven people had died. Subsequent reports suggest as many as 162 other workers and members of their families died and remain buried within the buildings. It is often seen as the beginning of the end for the Marcos dictatorship. It came to epitomise the vaingloriousness of the Marcoses. Not only vainglorious, but incompetent, dishonest and callous. There were many other architectural vanity projects – for example a nuclear power station round the corner from Playa La Caleta in Bataan which has never functioned and for which Ferdinand Marcos pocketed a sixty-million dollar bribe.
In 1990 the Film Center, which had never fully functioned, was closed down. From 2001 to 2009 the building hosted instead a drag show aimed primarily at Korean tourists – Amazing Show. Now the building is apparently derelict inside, surrounded by luxury hotels, stray dogs and child beggars. You can spy a child begging on the left of the first picture.
On May 9th there is to be a general election in the Philippines. The two main contenders are the current Vice President (VP) Leni Robredo and Bong Bong Marcos, the son of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. Understandably, the thought of another Marcos regime terrifies many. Bong Bong who has rebranded himself as BBM – a tacit admission of how toxic the Marcos name is – has with his supporters launched a massive internet campaign of disinformation and abuse. He denies having a troll factory – of course. The BBM campaign has been exceptionally vile – putting fake videos of Robredo’s daughters having sex on you-tube.
Almost everyone in the cultural industry – artists, musicians, drag queens – supports Leni Robredo and her campaign so her rallies – she does three most days – have had many famous singers, bands, dancers and comedians performing. On Saturday last at a Rodredo rally in Pasay district, Manila twenty-one artists[1] gathered to paint a mural together on stage. Initiated by artists Mark Justiniani and Joy Mallori at a week’s notice, everyone that they asked and who could, agreed to do it. They would have two and a half hours to make it.
They met the evening before to agree on how it was to be done and have a Chinese meal.
Not only artists but those very necessary people who help organise things such as the gallerists Marya Salang and Eya Beldia, and Patricia Coseteng from the VP campaign. Others were there to document it, make giant easels, dismantle them, and, as the sun set, help suspend the four panels as two vertical panels above the stage. (Yes, I know, being painted on panels it wasn’t technically a mural. But intention and function defines it as a mural.)
In the morning we gathered behind the main stage set across what is normally a major thoroughfare. Paints were mixed, easels made, tasks allocated: everyone must help paint the background very, very quickly so they could then paint their own element on top of it. Most people, in the spirit of democracy, worked in collaborative pairs.
The Chinese meal had been delicious, but had not agreed with my stomach so as we would not be painting till 1.00 PM I went back to the hotel for a while. But we suddenly asked to start. An hour and a half earlier than expected!! It took me half an hour to get back and through security so I missed the painting of the background. By the time I go on stage everyone was hard at work.
There was a massive crowd in front of us, waving fans and holding up umbrellas as sunshades. It was hot! There was music but not yet live. But the first singer, Johnoy Danao, was on stage, waiting to start.
One artist said they all felt less stressed when Johnoy was given the go ahead and live music began. There was a real performer for everyone to watch!
But before he could begin came some young performers to gee an already enthusiastic audience up.
Most of the paired collaborators were husband and wives or regular collaborators. Mike & Geraldine had never worked together before. Therefore, their work given their very different styles was more experimental.
I thought it was great that there was a mix of older and younger artists. The younger artists zapped about making smaller elements, improvising extra ones if a space looked empty. They were also to help complete the larger compositions. That by Mark and Joy was for me the key image of the mural.
How effective politically this mural is, is anyone’s guess. Has it convinced more people to vote for Leni, her vice-presidential candidate Kiko Pangilinan and seven senatorial candidates? Impossible to gauge. But the artists and helpers were participating. They became part of something extraordinary. Over four hundred thousand people are supposed to have attended. And the mood was special – more like that of a revivalist meeting than any Labour/ Tory/ Republican/ Democrat/ etc. event. With far, far more music.
Revivalist for what? For optimism: that a country that has had more than its fair share of dishonest politicians and corrupt officials can get back on track, be a better and nicer place to live and work in.
If you want to see the two completed paintings, entitled Saranggola ng Pag-asa (Kite of Hope) they are now hanging in the lobby of Ateneo Art Gallery, Ateneo University, Manila. See below:
Who will win the election next Monday?
Some statistical surveys continue to predict a BBM landslide but many assume these are just more disinformation dreamed up by those who support BBM and his VP candidate Sara Duterte (daughter of current present). There are a lot of people who have a vested interest in a Marcos/Duterte rule, in business and local government. When you have your nose in the trough you will fight to keep it there. However, other surveys at Universities give as much as 97% support for the Leni-Kiko ticket. The Catholic Church is behind her, as are all the workers organisations.
Does it matter?
Yes, a lot. For some this is an existential struggle between malfeasance and decency, between rule by a corrupt elite and an efficient democracy. BBM has never done anything as governor or senator, has not paid his taxes, refuses like Sara Duterte to show his accounts, attend debates or give interviews. Leni and her team have scrupulously done all those things. During six years of Duterte rule corruption has got worse, press freedom more constrained, the poor remain dirt poor. It could get worse.
The Philippines is, please remember, one of the biggest, most populated countries in the world, but in boxing terms it punches well below its weight. Should we not see the fight against Marcos/Duterte as parallel to the war in Ukraine, the suppression of Hong Kong, what is happening in Brazil, Hungary…. A fight against autocracy and dishonesty?
Let us see how the votes goes on Monday
Best wishes
Tony
PS if you want to see and hear what a Leni Robredo rally looks and sounds like they were all streamed live on Youtube. Try googling Leni Robredo rally or even Leni Robredo rally Pasay.
-
Full list of artists: Mike Adrao, Jessa Balag, Benedicto Cabrera, Marina Cruz, Doktor Karayom, Alfredo Esquillo, Emmanuel Garibay, Renato Habulan, RG Habulan, Geraldine Javier, Mark Justiniani, Joy Mallari, Chad Montero, Archie Oclos, Henrielle Baltazar Pagkaliwangan, Lee Paje, Alwin Reamillo, Pam Yan Santos, Jose Santos III, Rodel Tapaya, Abril Valdemoro ↑
TUESDAY IN THE TROPICS 165
3rd May 2022
NB. I felt it necessary to include more images than normal to give a sense of the noteworthy and unusual event..
Dear friends and colleagues
What is this decayed and crumbling building? Who are these people?
It is, or was, The Manila Film Center. These are artists off to paint a mural.
The Film Center was a prestige project of Imelda Marcos. Intended as the Film Centre for all of Asia it was built at breakneck speed. Literally. On November 17, 1981 scaffolding collapsed and workers were buried in steel and quick drying cement. For nine hours no-one was allowed into the building to attempt a rescue. The official line after that was that seven people had died. Subsequent reports suggest as many as 162 other workers and members of their families died and remain buried within the buildings. It is often seen as the beginning of the end for the Marcos dictatorship. It came to epitomise the vaingloriousness of the Marcoses. Not only vainglorious, but incompetent, dishonest and callous. There were many other architectural vanity projects – for example a nuclear power station round the corner from Playa La Caleta in Bataan which has never functioned and for which Ferdinand Marcos pocketed a sixty-million dollar bribe.
In 1990 the Film Center, which had never fully functioned, was closed down. From 2001 to 2009 the building hosted instead a drag show aimed primarily at Korean tourists – Amazing Show. Now the building is apparently derelict inside, surrounded by luxury hotels, stray dogs and child beggars. You can spy a child begging on the left of the first picture.
On May 9th there is to be a general election in the Philippines. The two main contenders are the current Vice President (VP) Leni Robredo and Bong Bong Marcos, the son of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. Understandably, the thought of another Marcos regime terrifies many. Bong Bong who has rebranded himself as BBM – a tacit admission of how toxic the Marcos name is – has with his supporters launched a massive internet campaign of disinformation and abuse. He denies having a troll factory – of course. The BBM campaign has been exceptionally vile – putting fake videos of Robredo’s daughters having sex on you-tube.
Almost everyone in the cultural industry – artists, musicians, drag queens – supports Leni Robredo and her campaign so her rallies – she does three most days – have had many famous singers, bands, dancers and comedians performing. On Saturday last at a Rodredo rally in Pasay district, Manila twenty-one artists[1] gathered to paint a mural together on stage. Initiated by artists Mark Justiniani and Joy Mallori at a week’s notice, everyone that they asked and who could, agreed to do it. They would have two and a half hours to make it.
They met the evening before to agree on how it was to be done and have a Chinese meal.
Not only artists but those very necessary people who help organise things such as the gallerists Marya Salang and Eya Beldia, and Patricia Coseteng from the VP campaign. Others were there to document it, make giant easels, dismantle them, and, as the sun set, help suspend the four panels as two vertical panels above the stage. (Yes, I know, being painted on panels it wasn’t technically a mural. But intention and function defines it as a mural.)
In the morning we gathered behind the main stage set across what is normally a major thoroughfare. Paints were mixed, easels made, tasks allocated: everyone must help paint the background very, very quickly so they could then paint their own element on top of it. Most people, in the spirit of democracy, worked in collaborative pairs.
The Chinese meal had been delicious, but had not agreed with my stomach so as we would not be painting till 1.00 PM I went back to the hotel for a while. But we suddenly asked to start. An hour and a half earlier than expected!! It took me half an hour to get back and through security so I missed the painting of the background. By the time I go on stage everyone was hard at work.
There was a massive crowd in front of us, waving fans and holding up umbrellas as sunshades. It was hot! There was music but not yet live. But the first singer, Johnoy Danao, was on stage, waiting to start.
One artist said they all felt less stressed when Johnoy was given the go ahead and live music began. There was a real performer for everyone to watch!
But before he could begin came some young performers to gee an already enthusiastic audience up.
Most of the paired collaborators were husband and wives or regular collaborators. Mike & Geraldine had never worked together before. Therefore, their work given their very different styles was more experimental.
I thought it was great that there was a mix of older and younger artists. The younger artists zapped about making smaller elements, improvising extra ones if a space looked empty. They were also to help complete the larger compositions. That by Mark and Joy was for me the key image of the mural.
How effective politically this mural is, is anyone’s guess. Has it convinced more people to vote for Leni, her vice-presidential candidate Kiko Pangilinan and seven senatorial candidates? Impossible to gauge. But the artists and helpers were participating. They became part of something extraordinary. Over four hundred thousand people are supposed to have attended. And the mood was special – more like that of a revivalist meeting than any Labour/ Tory/ Republican/ Democrat/ etc. event. With far, far more music.
Revivalist for what? For optimism: that a country that has had more than its fair share of dishonest politicians and corrupt officials can get back on track, be a better and nicer place to live and work in.
If you want to see the two completed paintings, entitled Saranggola ng Pag-asa (Kite of Hope) they are now hanging in the lobby of Ateneo Art Gallery, Ateneo University, Manila. See below:
Who will win the election next Monday?
Some statistical surveys continue to predict a BBM landslide but many assume these are just more disinformation dreamed up by those who support BBM and his VP candidate Sara Duterte (daughter of current present). There are a lot of people who have a vested interest in a Marcos/Duterte rule, in business and local government. When you have your nose in the trough you will fight to keep it there. However, other surveys at Universities give as much as 97% support for the Leni-Kiko ticket. The Catholic Church is behind her, as are all the workers organisations.
Does it matter?
Yes, a lot. For some this is an existential struggle between malfeasance and decency, between rule by a corrupt elite and an efficient democracy. BBM has never done anything as governor or senator, has not paid his taxes, refuses like Sara Duterte to show his accounts, attend debates or give interviews. Leni and her team have scrupulously done all those things. During six years of Duterte rule corruption has got worse, press freedom more constrained, the poor remain dirt poor. It could get worse.
The Philippines is, please remember, one of the biggest, most populated countries in the world, but in boxing terms it punches well below its weight. Should we not see the fight against Marcos/Duterte as parallel to the war in Ukraine, the suppression of Hong Kong, what is happening in Brazil, Hungary…. A fight against autocracy and dishonesty?
Let us see how the votes goes on Monday
Best wishes
Tony
PS if you want to see and hear what a Leni Robredo rally looks and sounds like they were all streamed live on Youtube. Try googling Leni Robredo rally or even Leni Robredo rally Pasay.
-
Full list of artists: Mike Adrao, Jessa Balag, Benedicto Cabrera, Marina Cruz, Doktor Karayom, Alfredo Esquillo, Emmanuel Garibay, Renato Habulan, RG Habulan, Geraldine Javier, Mark Justiniani, Joy Mallari, Chad Montero, Archie Oclos, Henrielle Baltazar Pagkaliwangan, Lee Paje, Alwin Reamillo, Pam Yan Santos, Jose Santos III, Rodel Tapaya, Abril Valdemoro ↑