Unity Statement of the Artists for the Removal
of Gloria
The nation once again faces trying times. It is confronted by a President
who cheated her way to victory in the 2004 election and continues
an anti-people brand of governance begun in 2001, so soon after she
was catapulted to power by a popular uprising. This President is facing
calls for her removal from power.
We, artists, add our voices to the growing clamor for the ouster
of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
In the short time that she has occupied the helm of Malacañang,
President Arroyo has wrought more damage to Philippine arts and culture
than most of her predecessors.
Her regime has been characterized, among others, by the most brazen
use of the different cultural venues for deceiving the people into
accepting her administration's anti-national and anti-people agenda.
She has used the various cultural avenues to project herself as a
mother of the nation while inflicting upon the people the worst forms
of violence, from the violence of economic hardship caused by unjust
policies to the violence of state terror against those seeking a decent
life.
Amid this fostering of a culture of deception, the Arroyo administration
has muzzled those artistic voices who dared expose the truth.
State forces have figured in the killings and other violations of
the rights of journalists and other cultural workers involved in crusades
against corruption and human rights abuses, and the President has
not lifted a finger to ensure that the perpetrators are punished.
If any, Arroyo through her spokespersons has at times even put the
blame on the messengers for the disasters that befall them in the
line of duty.
Censorship of artistic works highlighting the ugly realities of Philippine
society has also been a trademark of the Arroyo administration.
At the same time, the Arroyo administration's almost non-existent
budgetary allocation for legitimate cultural projects has heavily
stunted the development o f Philippine culture and ensured the present
prevalence of escapism and inanity in the nation's cultural scene.
On top of all these, President Arroyo – whose name has figured
in more than ten large-scale corruption scandals and whose government
has dealt severe punishment on whistleblowers against the big fish
in several corruption cases – would work mightily to conscript
artists into a hypocritical anti-corruption campaign, a campaign to
propagate an anti-corruption culture which teaches the people that
petty crime does not pay but high crime pays big-time.
This is the kind of anti-corruption culture promoted by a leader
who promised in 2001 to practice "government by example."
What an example President Arroyo is giving us.
The illegitimate President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in her short
stay in office, has already done incalculable damage to Philippine
arts and culture – and, ultimately, to the lives of the people.
She has been weighed, and found wanting. There is no reason for her
to continue governing the country.
ARREST Gloria (Artists for the Removal of Gloria)
July 12, 2005
Southern Tagalog Exposure
KASIBULAN Women Visual Artists' Collective
Kulturang Ugnayan ng Masang Anakpawis (KUMASA)
Kilometer 64 Poetry Group
Tambisan sa Sining
Paolo Martinez
Andrea Muñoz
Gian Paolo Mayuga
Jeffrey Ferrer
Onin Tagaro
Bobby Balingit
Lourd de Veyra
