CCP officials won't resign, blame media for outrage over art show

MANILA, Philippines - Officials of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) said yesterday they would not resign from their respective posts and cited the media for triggering public outrage over the controversial exhibit “Kulo” at the CCP main gallery.

Chris Millado, vice president and artistic director of the CCP, welcomed the filing of a criminal case against them by some Catholic groups before the Office of the Ombudsman, saying they believe they would be exonerated.

“The court is part of the discourse. It is good that the discussion about artistic expression becomes a legal dialogue now. In court we can better defend the freedom of expression,” Millado said in a press conference at the CCP.

He said calls for their resignation because of the controversy have no basis and their only fault – if it can be called such – is that they defended artistic freedom.

The official criticized the media for focusing solely on the controversial items in Mideo Cruz’s art installation, especially a wooden penis on the face of Jesus.

Cruz’s work drew a firestorm of protests from religious groups and some government officials.

The exhibit opened June 17 and was originally scheduled to run until Aug. 21.

Cruz’s installation was part of a group exhibit of 32 artists. The main gallery that housed Kulo was closed last Tuesday.

“One of the realizations in the past few weeks is that it is actually you the media who have shaped the discussion of this controversy. We feel that the media was able to take a frame of those who were offended by it, take a frame of some politicians who reacted or overreacted to it,” Millado said.

“There were 31 other artists in that exhibit. We’re talking not only of idolatry, they were talking about the situation of our OFWs, the youth who are absorbed by the media,” he said.

Millado invited members of media for a tour of the CCP on Wednesday when they can engage with the artists.

“We’re acknowledging the power of the media in shaping what will happen in the future and in educating the people,” he said.

“I would say we stand by the choice of Karen (Flores) and the group of curators when they did that exhibit. It is just that it was not safe anymore to open it to the public because it was being threatened in terms of destruction,” Millado said.

On Wednesday, CCP Visual Arts director Karen Ocampo-Flores resigned.

CCP executives earlier claimed to have received death threats from people offended by the exhibit.

Some religious groups led by lawyers Jo Imbong and Manuel Dayrit of the Kapatiran party-list filed charges against the CCP officials in relation to Article 201 of the Revised Penal Code.

Imbong named 10 respondents from CCP: the center’s chair Emily Abrera, its president Raul Sunico, and board members Florangel Rosario Braid, Jaime Laya, Isabelo Caro Wilson, Zenaida Tantoco, Cristina Turalba, Antonio Yap, Carolyn Espiritu and Flores.

“The CCP officials are liable because the artist could not have held the exhibit without their permission,” Imbong said.

Another religious leader, Eusebio Dulatas Jr., a preacher at the Christ is the Answer church of Liciada, Bustos, Bulacan and a lawyer by profession, yesterday lodged the latest complaint against Sunico, Abrera, and Cruz.

Dalutas said Sunico and Abrera should be held liable because they “knowingly exhibited images, pictures and crafts which are indecent, immoral and offensive to the Christian Church.”

Lawmakers: Freedom of expression has limits

But some lawmakers said the outburst and subsequent legal case could have been avoided had the CCP officials been more circumspect in staging the exhibit.

“I think the whole brouhaha could have been avoided with a warning for the public posted at the CCP that some of the artworks might offend the sensibilities of some,” Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, chairman of the House committee on higher and technical education, said.

“But it looks like it is in the courts now with the filing of cases,” he said.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, chairman of the House committee on public information, said it was clear the CCP officials “failed in their obligation to supervise the activities.”

“I think the so-called art went overboard. So it can’t be said that their rights were trampled upon. While I respect freedom of expression, any right has its own limitation and corresponding responsibility,” Evardone said.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, vice chairman of the House committee on justice, maintained that freedom of expression must be exercised “sensibly.”

“We are a Catholic country and any such expression, especially in a government-owned facility like the CCP, has to be exercised responsibly. If it were a private museum, it would have been different. Minors go to the CCP and if they see something like the questioned exhibit, it might traumatize them,” Fariñas said.

He said the government has the power, if not the duty, to protect the public from such offensive material in a government facility.

“Neither would any responsible media publish or broadcast such. Not even in a billboard would such be exhibited in the name of freedom of expression,” he said. – With Paolo Romero, Michael Punongbayan, Perseus Echeminada