News Roundup 13 August 2022
Aug 13, 2022 • 5 min Read
Authors unbowed after gov’t ‘purge’ of books | INQUIRER.NET – The authors of five Filipino-language books that stopped printing or were ordered pulled from shelves for being “subversive” by the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF) have vowed not to cower in silence, as outrage rose in the literary community over the commission’s directive. Rommel Rodriguez, writer of “Kalatas: Mga Kuwentong Bayan at Kuwentong Buhay,” one of the discontinued titles, said the KWF’s decision only emboldened him further to write stories about the Filipino people. “Censorship is my muse,” he told the Inquirer on Friday, adding: “The more an artist or writer is prevented from writing, the more enthusiastic we become and the more we want to write.” Rodriguez, a professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman’s Filipino and Philippine literature department, said he felt “very challenged” by the KWF’s actions but also “afraid [for] my security and safety because of the Red-tagging,” with his writings being linked to the communist insurgency. He acknowledged that his book, a social-realist anthology of flash fiction, contained political themes. “I used the word ‘revolution’ in my work. But I did not tell my readers to take up arms and fight the government,” Rodriguez said. Don Pagusara, another writer whose work, “May Hadlang ang Umaga,” was dropped by the KWF, said in a statement issued by the artist group Tanggol Wika that the parts of the book considered subversive by the KWF were not even meant to be historical accounts. “It was fictional but based on true events that happened inside the YRC,” he said, referring to the Youth Rehabilitation Center, a former maximum security prison at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City. “May Hadlang ang Umaga” is a play about life in the facility, where many political dissidents were incarcerated during the brutal dictatorship of President Marcos’ late father and namesake. The other books that the KWF stopped printing were “Teatro Politikal Dos” by Malou Jacob, “Tawid-diwa sa Pananagisag ni Bienvenido Lumbera: Ang Bayan, ang Manunulat, at ang Magasing Sagisag sa Imahinatibong Yugto ng Batas Militar 1975-1979” by Dexter Cayanes and “Labas: Mga Palabas sa Labas ng Sentro” by Reuel Aguila. In a joint statement on Friday, the five authors demanded that the KWF commissioners, as well as the hosts of pro-government media network SMNI who called their works subversive, recant their allegations. “What is this travesty? Their claims are libelous and would put our lives in grave danger,” they said. “We believe that censoring the different experiences and stories of the Filipino people is a form of violence and harassment. We believe it is a form of terrorism when a (group of) people can dictate what books should be written and how they should be written,” the authors said. In a Facebook post on Friday, National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario, a former chair of the KWF, called on the commissioners not to involve the arts in their squabble. “The vigor of the national language and literary freedom are among the nation’s sacred aspirations. Leave them out of the power struggle within KWF and its rotten bureacracy,” he said in Filipino. On Friday, Arthur Casanova, the embattled KWF chair, defended the five books, saying they had all passed the commission’s review process.
Writers’ groups join outcry over KWF move | INQUIRER.NET – Some of the country’s most prominent writers’ groups are up in arms over the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino’s (KWF) order to cease the publication and distribution of several titles it deemed to have “subversive” content. “It is alarming and we must be vigilant against the constant Red-tagging of writers and their books on a recent TV program,” according to the largest of the groups, the Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng Pilipinas (Umpil), referring to a show on the pro-government network SMNI that aired materials describing the five Filipino-language titles as antigovernment. “The writers, including the late National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera, were connected to allegedly radical and terrorist action under the antiterrorism law,” the group said in a statement in Filipino. On August 9, KWF Commissioners Carmelita Abdurahman and Benjamin Mendillo Jr. issued a memorandum to cease printing of the “political, subversive and creative literary works with subliminal ideologies that encourage to fight the government.” The five books are “Teatro Politikal Dos” by Malou Jacob, “Kalatas: Mga Kuwentong Bayan at Kuwentong Buhay” by Rommel Rodriguez, “Tawid-diwa sa Pananagisag ni Bienvenido Lumbera: Ang Bayan, ang Manunulat, at ang Magasing Sagisag sa Imahinatibong Yugto ng Batas Militar 1975-1979” by Dexter Cayanes, “May Hadlang ang Umaga” by Don Pagusara, and “Labas: Mga Palabas sa Labas ng Sentro” by Reuel Aguila. Three of the books – ”Teatro Politikal Dos,” “Kalatas” and “May Hadlang ang Umaga” – had already been published by the commission and featured in the “KWF Publikasyon Paglulunsad 2022” on April 29. The KWF commissioners had halted the printing of the books so that it would not be held “accountable” under Republic Act No. 11479, or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, which the Supreme Court ruled constitutional except for two provisions. The Umpil statement said creative writing and research were legitimate actions in a society that values democracy, freedom of expression and productive discourse, the only ways to raise the level of critical thinking and responsible citizenship. Aside from the need to defend the free discussion of information and ideas as well as the rights of creativity and academic research, the group called for discernment in information being used as a basis to Red-tag individuals, calling flagrant Red-tagging, or linking activists or critics to the communist movement, counterproductive to any goal of unity.
Over P1 roll back in oil prices next week | PHILSTAR.COM – Another rollback in fuel prices is seen next week, with possible cuts of more than P1 per liter for diesel and less than P1 per liter for gasoline. Oil industry players said there are indications of another reduction in pump prices coming which, if implemented, will be the seventh consecutive week for diesel and second straight for gasoline. Philippine Petroleum Companies Association founding chairman Fernando Martinez said the latest trend points to a P2.02 per liter drop in diesel and P0.59 per liter for gasoline. Cleanfuel, meanwhile, forecasts a slightly lower reduction for diesel at P1.80 per liter and almost the same level for gasoline with a P0.60 per liter decrease. These estimates, however, are still subject to change and small adjustments depending on the closing price for the week’s last day of trading, the sources said.
