Art should be enjoyed by the public, instead of being locked away to rot in dark shelves.
This was the rationale of the University of the Philippines - Los Baños campus' Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts (UPLB-OICA) for its "Pasubli" or art-loaning program.
In a recent article published by UPLB’s Horizon magazine, the OICA bared that it had been loaning art pieces under its collection to various offices inside UPLB for the enjoyment of students, staff and the general public.
“Pasubli” was started by two interns inside the OICA – BA Communication Arts students Gene Dominic “Dom” Diolanda and Christian Dela Cruz – last July 2026.
The program came about as part of their task to formalize OICA’s art loaning system and bring out its large collection of artworks, which have been left at the basement of the DL Umali Hall.
Some of these artworks, which have been collected through decades of art exhibitions at the Sining Makiling Gallery, have either gathered dust through years of neglect or were damaged by natural calamities such as floods.
Diolanda and Dela Cruz envisioned Pasubli with a simple belief that art should be shared with the community, and placed where its message can spread and its image can be seen, cared for, and lived with.
They now continue to implement this vision as student assistants at OICA.
“…through yung loaning program, mas nakikita natin yung mga story ng mismong art. And then siyempre, yung mga artist din natin na-shoshowcase natin kung ano yung mga ginawa nila,” Dela Cruz said in the Horizon article.
The two also shared their belief that in retrieving and sharing these artworks, the true essence of art – of self-expression by the artists who created them – is fulfilled.
“‘Yung narereceive namin na art is sinusubukan naman naming ibalik sa community ng [UPLB],” Diolanda said.
At least 27 works of art have been released by the OICA through the “Pasubli” program to several university offices, including the Makiling Film Lab, the College of Public Affairs and Development, the Quality Assurance Office, the Media and Communications Office, among others.
“Nag-express sila ng tuwa na hindi naman nila alam na pwede pala humiram ng artwork sa OICA,” Dela Cruz said.
According to OICA Director Moses “Moi” Villanueva, Pasubli is one of the several sustainable projects under the UPLB Culture and Arts Roadmap, a series of programs and sustainable projects to support the culture and arts initiative of the university.
(With report from UPLB Horizons Magazine/OpinYon News Team)