The first and last time I was told that the military was looking for me was in 1971, reportedly because I did a mock ad for the souvenir program of the musical “Hair”.
I drew a portrait of President Marcos with neat page boy tresses, based on the beguiling Breck shampoo ads that featured beautiful girls with perfectly combed hair.
The head and copy said: “Unruly hair? Try Martial Law Tonic.” We heard it from the grapevine.
The producer of “Hair,” Jun Olalia, who was later to become a judge, was invited for questioning probably because the play was speckled with expletives against the military.
So were the international versions. It was the tumultuous 60s and 70s after all, and the youth everywhere were restless - though they were more communitarians than communists.
Baril o Utak
I was an art student and, later, an art teacher at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, identified by the Department of National Defense as one of the colleges that breed NPAs.
UPCFA, led by Dean Mitzi Reyes, a former student of mine, has spoken up against this dangerous and false accusation.
Two former deans, Neil Doloricon and Doi Rosete, who I am proud of, were also my students, katagayan, and kaututang dila.
It was Neil who jested: Bawal papasukin sa UP ang may baril; ang pinapayagan lang pumasok ay yong may utak.
The NPA I Knew
The only NPA I knew when I was a student was Nagkakaisang Progresibong Artista, a group of talented men and women that espoused that art should be used for dissent or depiction of social injustice.
I had disagreements with them. My standpoint was nobody, not the State, not any group, can have a last say on what art should be used for.
Art is the noblest of human expressions and must be allowed to bloom free from preconceived notions. From there, it could seek its own power in speaking for or to the people.
The resulting form could be as diverse as the works of Spain’s Picasso, Mexico’s Diego Rivera and our own Junyee.
De Ja Vu Feeling
I was a “liberalist pig,” a label thrown by many national democratic adherents at people who had no patience for teach-ins but sought wider discourses on ideologies.
I got into campus politics by an unfortunate circumstance on my second year.
I formed my own party on my junior year just to able to open a forum on ideologies, at least in my college. We won by a landslide.
But otherwise, we marched on the streets together and participated in dozens of rallies to protest a plethora of issues, foremost of which was the growing militarization of the government.
A de ja vu feeling.
Kapit bisig! Apat-apat! Ang panglima, ahente!
What Academic Freedom Is
We might have differed on principles and strategies, but we agreed on who the common enemy was. And this were those who sought to trample on our freedom.
With strong resolve and calm in her voice, my ex-girlfriend, on the other side, called for a truce and said that our enemy was larger than us differing student groups. To which I listened.
When I became a lecturer, I got to meet more wide-eyed truth seekers whose viewpoints I might not have subscribed to but was fascinated to hear.
That is what academic freedom is – an arena, nay, a garden for ideas, theories and practices.
Life, A Learning Process
Sometimes, those who won arguments were not necessarily those who were right but just had loud and aggressive voices.
But the purity of purpose and the superiority of ideas always seize the finest hour.
There have been deviants and demons. There were “reactionaries” who became progressive thinkers as there were activists who became assholes.
Life is a learning process.
With Honor, Excellence
I dare say that, by and large, we from UP have conducted ourselves with honor and excellence.
I have seen and experienced UP as a student, as a teacher, as an active alumnus, and now, as a doctorate enrollee.
I believe we are like sleepers.
Assets that stir up and bolt in when there is a fatal threat to our liberty and basic rights.
Communists At WPS
So, we ask: Why is the present government warring against its intellectuals?
Why is it looking for communists in schools, when it is, by overwhelming indication, the biggest coddler of communists?
Has it not allowed the communists to seize our islands in the West Philippine Sea and, by all indications, allow them on Benham Rise? With the military doing nothing about it?
Has it not welcomed communists to set up gambling and other businesses all over the Philippines, letting thousands of them in - together with suspected communist military officers in our midst?
Has it not confirmed that illegal drugs are from this communist country, yet has failed to stem them?
Drugs and gambling, fear and ignorance will destroy our youth. Not the capacity to speak up.
A Tighter Hold On Ph Economy
Is the government not trying to alter our Constitution to allow communists to have a tighter hold on the Philippine economy?
Has it not groveled for aid and loans for supposedly development projects that will be ran by communists?
Has not the military allowed communists to set up communication towers in its camps?
Why should the regime be afraid of students when it is spooning the enemy inside the kulambo?
Terribly Missing
Or has it become the true enemy?
To be fair, the military has had honorable gentlemen who, when called on to be patriotic, did the right thing.
But they seem to be terribly missing.