Bulatlat News
By DOMINIC GUTOMAN
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — With the official state visit of the United Nations Special Rapporteur (UNSR) Irene Khan to the Philippines, artist groups urge her to probe the new policies that attack freedom of expression and opinion.
Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP) said that certain laws in the country contribute to the deterioration of vital rights to expression, opinion, speech, and assembly.
“Our gravest concern now is the new policies which attack freedom of expression: specifically RA 11479 (Anti-Terror Law) and Executive Order 70 which created the NTF-ELCAC. This emboldened state actors, such as the police and military to commit abuses on a scale last seen during the first Marcos administration,” said curator and art educator Lisa Ito, CAP’s Secretary-General.
Notably, many civil society groups call for the disbandment of the NTF-ELCAC because it attacks free expression by blatantly red-tagging grassroots organizations.
In August 2022, the NTF-ELCAC labeled 17 novels and accused their authors as “subversives,” the same year that Popular Bookstore and La Solidaridad Bookstore experienced terrorist tagging.
UNSR Ian Fray, who is in charge of the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, recommended the disbandment of NTF-ELCAC because it operates “beyond its mandate and with impunity.”
Read: UN expert bats for disbanding of ‘anti-communist’ task force, repeal of Anti-Terrorism Act
NTF-ELCAC was also behind the abduction of environment activists Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, introducing them as “fake surrenderees.” The two activists bravely exposed in the middle of NTF-ELCAC’s press conference that they were not faked surrenderees, that they were abducted by military agents.
“Also deeply concerning are the cases of abduction, arrest or detention of artists such as Armand Dahoya in Cebu. Many remain detained, including Alvin Fortaliza, Amanda Echanis, and JP Versoza. Journalists such as Frenchie Mae Cumpio are not spared either,” Ito said.
CAP highlighted that since 2016 the cases against the creative sector worsened, and it widened in 2020, which is known for the passing of the ATL. They are also among the 37 petitioners who question the constitutionality of the ATL.
The artist group dubbed ATL as the gravest legal threat to free expression in the Philippines.
“These attacks against free expression directly affect the arts and culture community, creating a chilling effect which reverses what generations before fought for,” film director and CAP Chairperson Bibeth Orteza stressed.
Due to these attacks, CAP called for the review of the RA 11479 (ATL) and the abolishment of the NTF-ELCAC “as a concrete action over the situation of political prisoners, unresolved EJKs, vilification, harassment suits, and red-tagging.”
CAP is not the only organization that calls for the probing of the ATL and NTF-ELCAC in the context of freedom of expression and opinion.
In the #FightToExpress campaign, groups from the human rights movement such as Karapatan, Center for Trade Union and Human Rights, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, and Tanggol Magsasaka reiterate the same calls.
There are 39 national, regional, and international organizations that submitted reports to UNSR Khan to detail attacks on free speech and raise serious concerns about the right to express in the Philippines.
UNSR Khan has been in charge of promoting and protecting the right to freedom of opinion and expression since August 1, 2020. She is the first woman to hold this position since 1993.
Beyond the submission of reports, CAP and other artist groups will open an art exhibit titled “Warm Bodies,” at the UP Fine Arts Gallery on January 26, 4:30 PM.
The exhibit will feature the works from the UPCFA Permanent Art Collection by BenCab, Alfredo Liongoren, Elmer Borlongan, Imelda Cajipe-Endaya, and Leonilo Doloricon in conversation with new works by Abel Angelo & Jeune Aramburo (CAP), Boyet de Mesa, Ding Royales, George Burchett, Jef Carnay, Luke Warm, Max Santiago (BAYAN), Patreng Non, Raffy Lerma, RESBAK, Tarantadong Kalbo, Tokwa Peñaflorida, Toym Imao, and Worn Expressions.
“The exhibition activates a conversation between the UPCFA’s Permanent Art Collection and works which served as “objects of demonstration” and “disobedient objects”, unpacking the crises on human rights and reflecting on how the struggle for freedom of expression and the redress of social grievances cuts and continues through time,” CAP said in a statement.
The exhibit will be on view until February 17 at Gallery Two, UP Fine Arts Gallery, Arts & Design Building West Hall, College of Fine Arts, University of the Philippines Diliman. Gallery hours from Tuesdays to Saturdays, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (RTS) 
