Punchline
When art is a responsibility
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
THE pretentious artists just don’t get it…just like the pseudo journalists among us.
The brouhaha over the controversial, if I may add, criminal exhibit of trash titled Kulo at the Cultural Center of the Philippines by a pseudo artist by the name of Mideo Cruz, is a sad reflection of our sore lack of sense of decency as a people and, worst, our serious misconception of the meaning of freedom.
I find it obnoxious, arrogant and ignorant on the part of those who pride themselves to be referred to as artists, to invoke freedom of creative expression as a right to malign a person, a sect or a people. And to them, that anything that curtails that expression is censorship by myopic minds. Duh?
Freedom is never absolute in any democratic country. Freedom must be taken in the context of what is legal and morally acceptable standard for a people and a nation, and responsibility is always inherent in its application given by the set of laws crafted to deal with abuses and misuse of freedom. There is a penal code that underscores responsibility by those who enjoy it and, therefore, conditionally restricts the enjoyment of such freedom. For instance, one has freedom and the right to possess a firearm but that does not give one the freedom and the right to kill with it.
In journalism, the freedom of the press (and of speech) is enshrined in our constitution. It tells our people that no one can stop anyone from writing and reporting on matters of public interest and welfare. But that freedom is limited by provisions in law on libel and slander. Journalists are not protected by the freedom of the press if they maliciously malign or lie about a person’s acts, character or physical attributes or clearly impute malice in reporting an activity of another, etc. In fact, as jurisprudence now tells us, truth is not necessarily a defense in libel. My colleagues might as well know that describing someone as ugly because the person is, indeed, ugly merits a jail term. So the so-called journalist who invokes this freedom yet violates the libel law goes to jail and pays up.
Now, let’s look at the case of the so-called artists who think they are so special as to be guaranteed protection by the so-called freedom of creative expression and, therefore, are free to malign anyone by their “creative expression”.
Freedom of creative expression? There’s no such animal in the statutes. It’s not protected by the constitution. That jargon is used only in the context of the academe to connote free expression of ideas for intellectual exchange within bounds of decency and civility. For instance, discussion and illustration of pornography and morality in public forums or inside classrooms can very well fall under the ambit of creative expression but a professor or organizer who exhibits a film on sheer pornography can find himself/herself arrested in no time. Show me a journalist photographer who sets up a photo exhibit on the street showing his parents copulating or a self-portrait of himself masturbating in front of a Koran and he will be promptly hauled to jail.
Artists are encouraged to be creative for it is a gift but mind you that even in the context of the creative expression, an artist can still find himself charged in court if one of his peers feels vexed by having his face and that of his mother made the subjects of “Kulo” instead of Jesus Christ and Mama Mary.
In sum, the artists are not immune from legal suits and public sanction. Art can never be a license to vilify and malign others just as press freedom can’t. If Jesus Christ and Mama Mary were alive today, our law says they would have every right to charge Mr. Cruz in court. (Fortunately for the artist, the penal code only allows living persons to file cases so I surmise a case awaits him in life after death). But still others can. They who feel their faith was grossly maligned and wronged by the misrepresentation of their beliefs.
Like journalists who do not have to be licensed to practice their craft, artists are expected to observe a code of decency to deserve a respectable place in a society. I don’t believe that the true artists would be happy to see themselves perceived as filthy perverts, pornographers and a deranged lot on the loose. But sadly they are close to being one today for making the public think that Mideo had done nothing wrong as an artist. He committed a crime against Catholics and Christians. Just as journalists have to be accountable to their readers, artists need to accept their responsibility to their audience.
Remember the guy who happily thought of a practical idea to dry a puppy that had just been bathed by hanging it on the clothesline with laundry clips as one would with wet clothes? He maintained it didn’t hurt the dog but the public felt otherwise. He was quickly admonished and sentenced to do community service. I am certain even the sensitive artists joined the outcry for the dog. Yet now, the same so-called artists demand that Mideo and the bunch of misguided administrators at the CCP be left alone even after they blasphemed the revered Jesus Christ and Mama Mary with hell’s images. Ano sila, sinuswerte?
Instead of sympathizing with Mideo, the local artists should consider redeeming their lost respectable status as artists (no thanks to Mr. Cruz!) by condemning the malevolent work being passed off as work of art, for it is nothing but an exhibition of Mr. Cruz’s vile expression of contempt for everything that Jesus and Mama Mary represent to him.
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NO KILLER PUNCH YET. The fight that Dagupan Mayor Benjie Lim started against his perceived political enemies in the education sector early on by calling them “tax cheats” in public has escalated into a major legal battle and public debate that the city government can ill-afford to lose in court or in the bar of public opinion.
From where I sit, it’s a no-win, no-gain situation for Mr. Lim right now. The legal arguments are stacked against him what with the battery of the schools’ law deans loading these against mere hubris and arrogance of city hall occupants.
If the Lim administration is determined by the court to be illegally exacting taxes on the people, heads will not only have to roll but the city will find itself in serious financial trouble. The city will not be in a position to refund the schools for the illegally collected business taxes without public services suffering to a fault. Then, Mr. Lim can kiss his next reelection goodbye and his son Brian can forget his dream to be mayor some day.
And if the Lim administration determines it cannot win in a legal suit, it will likely negotiate for a compromise settlement before a judge renders a verdict. Since the city hall can never be in a position to refund anything, perhaps the only acceptable compromise is a public apology from Mr. Lim and a leave of absence for 6 months and the sacking of the city administrator and the city legal officer. A lot of political blood drawn by the aggrieved school owners.
But if Mr. Lim is upheld by the court, the private schools will simply continue to pay their business taxes and forget about a refund that they have long given up on anyway. No blood given or taken.
No wonder PUNCH columnist Gonz Duque continues to hold back on his left-right-left hook combination. He still wants to give his former friend a chance to ponder his options before he and his peers troop to the city hall for the knock-out punch.
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ILLEGAL BUILDING. The establishments operating inside the Metro Plaza may not be aware of it but the information I have is that the building still has not sufficiently complied with the legal requirements for its construction. This means, the building can be closed at anytime as an illegal structure.
According to the resolution issued by the Ombudsman in the case filed by the building owners against City Engr. Virginia Rosario for refusing to issue the permit, a council resolution was necessary to obtain a building permit. Apparently when the Lim administration went about facilitating the release of the building permit surreptitiously last year by ordering an OIC in the engineering department to issue it soon as City Engr. Rosario went on leave, someone forgot about the resolution.
Greed has its consequences.
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