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Friday, May 07, 2004
Group repairs Marcos bust with campaign leaflets
By Harley F. Palangchao
TUBA -- With no money to rehabilitate the 30-meter Marcos bust blasted by the New People's Army (NPA) in December 2002, Baguio-based artists, led by Kawayan de Guia, "restored" the bust using election campaign materials.
The transformation of the bust into an art-political statement aims to bring a message to Filipino voters that history could repeat itself if the voters would not be vigilant in choosing their bets.
Like other Baguio-based artists, de Guia believes that the "restoration" of the biggest bust of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos would send a message on the importance of social, artistic and political awareness of the country's past and present situation.
De Guia said the installation of an art piece on the destroyed frontal portion of the bust likewise coincides with their theme "Maskara ng Pulitiking Pinoy" in line with the May 10 elections.
It took the artists one week to design the art piece before it was pasted on the destroyed bust and unveiled Wednesday with a cañao performance.
The bust, which stood for more than 20 years within the Ibaloi land in Taloy Sur, Tuba, Benguet, was blasted by the NPA Chadli Molintas Command. The forehead and the eyes of the concrete bust were destroyed due to the strong blast.
The Chadli Molintas Command earlier said the monument should have been destroyed when Marcos was ousted by People Power in 1986 but the Aquino administration lacked the political will to topple it and instead "took a perverse policy of accommodation and connivance with the Marcoses and their cronies."
Human rights lawyer Pablito Sanidad, chair of the Free Legal Assistance Group, added several groups already contemplated blasting the bust since the Marcos regime was vanquished in 1986 but no one was brave enough to carry out the task.
(May 7, 2004 issue)
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