Kalentong

Sa isang panahong
pinag-aawayan sa loob ng jeep
na may plakang
Tanggo,
Bravo,
Charlie 701-
ang student at senior discount

pati na ang singkwenta sentimos
na sukling nalimutang ibigay-

Nakatakdang ibulsa
ng ilang greedy group
at isang couple
ang multi milyong patong.

Ganitong milyon kay ganito.
Ganoong milyon kay ganoon.

And so on, and so on.

At ang ating pina-uusapan
ay hindi milyong palakpakan
o milyong confetti
o multi milyong plankton.

We’re talking in dollars.
Millions.

Multi milyong singwenta sentimos
na hindi maibibigay
sa mga mamamayang
habangbuhay nag-aantay ng sukli.

ART FOR OUSTS’ SAKE

 

Artists’ ARREST
Protest Night

The name of the program is borrowed from the title of art scholar Lisa Ito’s
article of the same title. Published in 2005, Ito observes in this article that
“as the rallies for GMA’s removal grow exponentially, so does the resolve to
find more creative forms of articulation and expression grow.” Three years later
and with more reasons to remove Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from office, prose,
poetry, paintings, music, dance, performance and other art forms continue
to be defined by dissent. This event, as it name implies, is thus dedicated to
how the (intensified) call for the ouster of Arroyo is rendered through art.

Featuring:
The Wuds
Republika de Lata
Babes Alejo and Roselle Pineda
Jeff Pagaduan

Performance art:
Bunch Garcia

Poetry:
Kilometer 64 poetry collective
Lourd de Veyra

Video/Film:
2nd volume of Rights
Sampaguita music video (rough cut)

Street Art:
Pilipinas Street Plan
ARREST visual artists

*In lieu of Easter which comes a day before the event, free “ouster eggs”
and stickers will also be given out. We also encourage those who have OUST
Gloria merchandise to bring their stuff and sell during the event.

Fernando ‘Nanding’ Josef Resigns from CCP as support to Jun Lozada

By Lito Zulueta
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:13:00 03/17/2008MANILA, Philippines – Stage and film
actor Fernando Josef has resigned as
vice president and artistic director
of the Cultural Center of the
Philippines after the CCP board voted
to deny the request of a group of
artists to stage a concert to raise
funds for the “sanctuary fund” of
national broadband network (NBN)
corruption scandal witness
Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada.

Josef said he had supported the
proposal of the artists’ group in the
name of artistic freedom.

He added he is also “Lozada’s friend.”

But what made him resign was not the
CCP board’s decision, which he said
he “totally respects,” but because a
board member “attacked Lozada” after
the vote was made March 11.

“I don’t think it is proper to
criticize someone whose life is
obviously in danger,” Josef said.

He added that artists were trying to
raise money for Lozada’s sanctuary
fund because he and his family faced
threats for telling what he knew about
the $329 million controversy.

Josef explained he decided to resign
as “a public apology” for Lozada
from “an artist and a cultural worker.”

Josef refused to name the board member
who attacked Lozada.

The CCP board is chaired by Emily
Abrera. Members are Nestor Jardin (who
is also president), Behn Cervantes,
Lorna Kapunan, Jaime Laya, Martin
Lopez, Teresita Luz, Ruperto Nicdao,
Zenaida Tantoco, Nestor Torre Jr. and
Isabel Caro Wilson.

Laya was not present during the
controversial board meeting.

Established in 1989, the CCP is a
performing arts venue attached to the
Office of the President and under the
umbrella of the National Commission
for Culture and the Arts. Its board
members are all appointed by the
President.

Lozada’s friend

Josef said he was a friend of Lozada.
In fact, he said he was among those
who waited for Lozada at the Manila
airport for his arrival from Hong Kong
on Feb. 5.

Josef added he was among those whom
Lozada frantically called through
mobile SMS when he was picked up by
men who turned out to be police
operatives sent by Environment
Secretary Lito Atienza.

Lozada has since called the incident
an abduction, saying the
administration tried to stop him from
testifying in the Senate inquiry on
the NBN scandal involving multimillion-
dollar commission allegedly being
demanded by then Commission on
Elections chair Benjamin Abalos,
reportedly with the blessings of the
President’s husband, Mike Arroyo.

The government has denied the charges.

Josef said he frantically texted back
Lozada for his whereabouts, but did
not get any reply until many hours
later when Lozada had apparently found
refuge in Catholic nuns and brothers
who shielded him from government
operatives.

“He texted ‘I’m okay na,’” Josef
said. “‘Please tell Violet and my
family I’m okay. I’ve decided to do
the right thing.’”

Josef said he had thought Lozada would
commit suicide until the witness asked
him later to organize the press
conference on the early morning of
Feb. 7. Facing the press finally,
Lozada tearfully recounted his ordeal
when he returned from Hong Kong and
finally blew the whistle on the NBN
case.

Sincere and honest

Josef said he first met Lozada in his
capacity as CCP official looking for
ways to provide housing and livelihood
assistance for artists and cultural
workers.

He said Lozada, who was then the
president of the Philippine Forest
Corp., had thought of converting idle
lands into artists’ colony.

“I was impressed with his honesty and
desire to help the people,” Josef
said. “I was struck by his sincerity
in getting rid of corruption. Even
then, Jun was complaining that greed
and corruption were anti-poor, anti-
Filipino.”

He said last December Lozada had
confessed to him he was getting
threats because of his role in the NBN
case. (Lozada, an Electronic and
Communications Engineering graduate
from UST, was dragged into the case
after then….

Students to Defy UPLB Ban on Lozada

STUDENTS from the state-run University
of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna,
announced they would proceed with their
program welcoming the visit of National
Broadband Network whistleblower, Rodolfo
Noel “Jun” Lozada Jr. to speak about the
deal and other alleged shenanigans in
the government.Lozada is set to visit UPLB students on
Tuesday, on the invitation of its
student council, according to Union of
Student Councils (USC) president Leo
Fuentes.

Fuentes is also one of the lead convenor
of Youth for Truth and Accountability
Now or Youth Act Now.

Fuentes said UPLB officials have been
blocking their invitation on Lozada if
they would not allow a pro-government
personality to speak in the same forum.

Since testifying last month on the NBN
deal, Lozada has become popular and has
been on several campus tours to speak
about what he knows on the scuttled
$329-million project, while adding other
purported corrupt deals that he is also
aware of.

Alliance spokesman Charisse Berandine
Bañez said UPLB chancellor Luis Rey
Velasco even warned them to be prepared
for the “consequences” should they
proceed with the activity without the
administration’s approval.

“But we are prepared and we would not be
intimidated, Bañez told People’s Tonight
yesterday.

She added despite being deprived of the
use of the university auditorium, they
are now seeking another venue within the
campus where the forum could be held.

“It is the right of students and youth
in the (Calabarzon) region to invite
Lozada in our schools to personally hear
his testimonies.

“The side of the Arroyo administration
has long been revealed, and the youth
have already made a stand. The Arroyo
administration’s attempts to silence
Lozada only strengthen our resolve to
continue the fight for truth and
justice,” Bañez said.

Fuentes added a local church has offered
its facility as an alternative venue
where student leaders from other schools
in the region are also expected to attend.

“Technicalities such as the date of the
activity and the concept of academic
freedom are being used by the UPLB
administration to intervene in the
program, but it is clear that these
moves are synchronous to Malacañang’s
attempts to water down the issue of
corruption in the Arroyo
administration,” Fuentes added.

He noted that Education Secretary Jesli
Lapuz had earlier issued a memorandum to
public schools discouraging them from
inviting Lozada and other government
critics to speak inside their campuses.

Early this week, it was the turn of
Department of Justice Secretary Raul
Gonzalez, to warn public schools in
Iloilo from inviting Lozada. Gonzales
hails from Iloilo.

Bañez said mailboxes expressing support
for Lozada have been established in
several schools in the region, namely:
Lyceum of Batangas, University of
Batangas, St. Bridget College-Batangas
City, PUP-Sto. Tomas, Lipa Science High
School, University of the
Philippines-Los Baños, Dalubhasaan ng
Lungsod ng San Pablo, San Pablo
Colleges, Laguna State Polytechnic
University-San Pablo, University of
Perpetual Help-Biñan, Pamantasan ng
Cabuyao, Colegio de San Juan de Letran,
and Laguna College of Business and Arts.

The support messages will be given to
Lozada during the forum.

LIMANG BAGSAK