AMELIA LAPEÑA-BONIFACIO, University of the Philippines-Diliman, College of

Arts & Letters, Department of English & Comparative Literature: FACULTY, 1959-1996;
DIRECTOR, Creative Writing Center, 1986-95; ADVISER, Institute of Creative Writing,
1996 to date; University Professor Emeritus, Permanent Appointment from 1995 ;
PLAYWRIGHT, PUPPET MAKER & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, Teatrong Mulat, 1977 to
date. Married to U.P. Sociology Professor Emeritus Dr. Manuel F. Bonifacio, their
daughter, U.P. Associate Professor Amihan Bonifacio-Ramolete of the U.P. Department
of Speech Communications & Theatre Arts, is currently on a faculty scholarship for a
Ph.D. in Psychology. 

AMELIA LAPEÑA-BONIFACIO was born in Binondo, the eighth of ten off-springs

of Gregorio Bañez Lapeña of Bulacan and Paz Mercado Lirag of Batangas. She was
educated in government schools--Balagtas Elementary School; Arellano High School
where she was the Literary Editor of the Arellano Chronicler, graduated with honors and
was awarded the Best Writer Award; and, the University of the Philippines where she
was Literary Editor of The U.P. Collegian and The Literary Apprentice, 1953 and won
prizes for her short stories. She was only 16 when she worked on her first set design in
the Arellano High School for “The Romancers.” This was followed by set designing in
the U.P., where she designed the set for Virginia Moreno’s “Glass Altars,” a series of set
designs for the “International Dance Festival” at the 2000-seater U.P. Theatre and the
set design for the “Upsilon Jazz Concert” at the CAS Theatre. It was basically on the
basis of these acclaimed set designs that she was awarded a Fulbright-Smith Mundt
Scholarship to the University of Wisconsin-Madison (MA/Speech-Theatre Arts). As a
new arrival on campus, she was invited to watch the prize-winning plays of the
University of Wisconsin Playwriting Competition whose award included prize money
and a first production at the experimental UW Play Circle. Realizing that she would
learn more about designing for theatre if she wrote her own plays, she wrote her first
two plays, both of which won awards in two consecutive years, “Sepang Loca” (1957), for
which she did the set designs; and, “Rooms” (1958). These plays competed with 50 or
more entries in the competition. Both were premiered at the UW Play Circle and
subsequently published, the former in the Farleigh Dickenson Literary Review and the
latter as an Acting Edition of Row, Peterson & Company, New York.

Her literary output consist of 21 books, 41 plays, 146 stories, several essays which
include the results of her researches on theatre as Research Fellow of the U.P.ORC;
Zarzuela Foundation of the Philippines; American Philosophical Society – Philadelphia
Penrose Research Award; ASPAC; Ford Foundation; Toyota Foundation; UNICEF-
DSSD; NRCP; and, the Carlos P. Romulo Professorial Chair Award for Research. She
also wrote poems and songs for children and as a painter, she designed programs,
posters and book covers and was one of the founders of the Primitives.

She served as Professor of English and Chair of the Creative Writing Program where she
instituted courses in Creative Writing, especially Writing for Children, later formalizing
them as undergraduate and graduate programs. With the late fictionist NA Francisco
Arcellana and the poet Alejandrino G. Hufana, she helped in the creation and
establishment of the Creative Writing Center which she headed as Director from
November, 1986-April, 1995. She worked for the recognition of more women writers and
held workshops on children’s literature. In the last workshop she chaired in 1995, she
mixed 33 potential writers for children and 10 visual artists. That workshop gave birth
to two important organizations: KUTING (writers for children’s books) and INK
(illustrators of children’s books) that led to a “boom” in children’s books, according to
National Fellow Lara Saguisag in a lecture on Children’s Literature for the U.P. Institute
of Creative Writing. Prior to her retirement, she was elected to the prestigious group of
University Professors. The U.P. Board of Regents approved her Permanent appointment
as University Professor Emeritus. Upon her retirement, University Professor Emeritus
Dr. Gemino Abad, who succeeded her as Director of the Creative Writing Center, set up
“The Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio Literary Competition,” which has now gathered a
sizeable collection of prize-winning stories and poems from many young student writers
from the different colleges in the university.

Her plays and stories have been translated into Chinese, Dutch, French, German,
Japanese, Korean, Malay and Russian. Dubbed as “The Grande Dame of SE Asian
Children’s Theatre,” “The Philippine Aesop” and “The Professor of Stories,” she wrote,
directed and designed for her children’s plays which were hugely acclaimed in cover
stories in major magazines in the Philippines and in reviews and articles in Philippine
and foreign newspapers. 

In 1959, she started her research on the zarzuela of Bulacan which was followed by
several researches on the zarzuela of different provinces by her colleagues in her
Department. In 1972, she finished her research work, The “Seditious” Tagalog
Playwrights: Early American Occupation. According to the Encyclopaedia on Philippine
Theatre, this is the first published book on Philippine Theatre. The publisher is the
Zarzuela Foundation which sponsored her research at the Library of Congress and the
National Archives in Washington, DC. This same year she won a prize in a zarzuela
writing competition for “Ang Bundok,” (The Mountain) with the music of Fabian Obispo
and Rodolfo de Leon. Director Behn Cervantes, a member of her committee for the
remodelling of the CAS Theatre, proposed that it be named the “Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
Theatre” and chose to premier the zarzuela during its inauguration. She who worked for
the funds for this theatre and headed the committee for its remodelling, agreed to the
proposal with two other members, Professors Leticia Tison and Antonio Mabesa,
making it unanimous. 

She was awarded the ASPAC research grant to observe Japanese traditional theatre in
1973 which coincided with the 300th year anniversary of Chikamatsu who wrote the
greatest puppet plays for the Bunraku. Moved by the puppet plays of Chikamatsu that
she watched from the director’s booth, with the Director of the National Theatre, she
began her most serious work for puppet theatre in the Philippines first by researching
and selecting 10 Asian folktales for her first ten puppet plays. Also moved by the Noh
and Kyogen theatre forms, she wrote the first of these theatre forms for Philippine stage
and submitted them to a CCP Playwriting Competition. Although this duo of plays
ended a poor 3rd to the first two winning plays of her former students, Noriega and
Dalisay, her Sisa Noh surprised her by travelling for performances in Europe, the USA
and Asia and becoming the subject of a Masters thesis in Japan and a paper delivered in
UK and Italy by Professor Amparo Adelina C.Umali III and it was staged as the Filipino-
American Art Exposition’s first FilipiNOH in San Francisco where she created the Noh
mask for her Sisa.

The following year, in 1974, a Ford Foundation research grant to observe the traditional
theatre of SE Asia, opened her eyes to the wayang golek and wayang kulit puppet theatre
tradition and so followed a very busy a year of inventing the “Filipino Puppet” and
writing her first puppet musical, “Abadeja: Ang Ating Sinderela” (Abadeja: Our Own
Cinderella).

One other research fellowship from the Toyota Foundation enabled her to travel to
many countries all over the world in order to observe children’s theatre. Those included
a trip to the International Puppetry Festival in Washington, DC where she delivered a
paper discussing the possible effects of the new program “Sesame Street” on children.
Upon meeting Mr. Jim Henson, she shared with him her views on the short ad-like
teasers based on their concept that “children have very short attention span” and that
instead of encouraging this, shouldn’t they work toward the longer material which the
children will have to face as they grow up? She also complained about the wastage of
food, broken plates, etc, in their comic skits, especially the American pie-in-the-face,
which she said were unacceptable in her country and Asia.

In 1977, she founded TEATRONG MULAT NG PILIPINAS, which will celebrate its 30th
year in 2007. Only on its 2nd year, MULAT represented the Philippines in two festivals
in Russia and Japan. According to the Toyota Foundation, her work on children’s
theatre became the “motivation” for its 5th anniversary’s sponsorship “The
International Workshop on Living Children’s Theater in Asia” first held in Japan, and
subsequently in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

For MULAT, this is the first of the 28 international theatre festivals where they
represented the country. In the following years, it is for MULAT that she plunged into a
search for funds to keep her theatre above water, producing 35 original plays, some with
songs set to original music by well-known composers, Felipe de Leon, Jr., Christian
Ramilo, Rodolfo de Leon, Alex Ocampo, Verne dela Peña, Edru Abraham, Cynthia
Alexander and Joey Ayala.. Several of these plays were premiered in festivals abroad.

One of her most significant work in puppetry at this time was the designing of a
travelling program for the traumatized children who refused to talk and to laugh after
the many black days of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. Acting on the request of the U.P.
College of Medicine-Psychiatry to “make the children laugh again” – she sought and
received funding from SIDA of Sweden and an URVAN from its labor union of NISSAN
in Tokyo. With hospitals in the area as their sleeping quarters and doctors as their
guides, they performed for thousands of children around the areas devastated by
volcanic eruption and “succeeded in breaking the trauma suffered by the children.” To
reach the children, she reported how she, her puppeteers and doctor-guides had to get
down from the van to walk on broken bridges submerged in ash-muddied waters. But
she also reported how much joy they experienced because after the shows, children
chased after their van, shouting, “Magbalik kayo ulit! Magbalik kayo ulit!” (Come back
again! Come back again!).
In 1989, she and her husband purchased an old house with a 600 sqm. lot in
Matimtiman Street, Teachers Village East, two blocks away from one of the gates of the
U.P. campus and made it not only their residence but also the office, headquarters and
rehearsal space for MULAT. It is a prime location surrounded by several universities,
colleges, high schools and kindergartens. Shortly after, in 1992, at the suggestion of her
husband, they acquired another house with a 450 sqm lot, behind their residence.
Finally, she found the puppet theatre she long dreamed of. It could only accommodate
100 seats and a small second floor museum but for six years, it provided her a puppet
theatre for her experimentations in the writing, directing and designing the puppets and
sets for MULAT. For bigger audiences, she moved her MULAT puppet shows to several
theatres on campus.. In 1999, at the his inaugural speech at the NCCA, she met and
appealed to H.E., FMR President Fidel V. Ramos to help her build a children’s theatre.
He approved a PAGCOR grant which was implemented by his successor, H.E., FMR
President Joseph E. Estrada. As counterpart, her family donated the 500 sqm. lot,
additional funds from donations, MULAT earnings, their own savings, their extensive
collection of MULAT and international puppets, dolls, miniature toys, trophies, medals,
photographs, posters and other memorabilia items. After the demolition and clearing of
64 Mapagkawanggawa Street property, the construction of a three-story building, based
on the architectural plans of a U.P. graduate and a former MULAT member, Architect
Manolet Garcia, started in 1999. Finally, there was a December 19, 2005 test run for
family and former members of MULAT and in 2006 Palm Sunday, the 21st re-staging of
PAPET PASYON. This play was premiered at the CCP in 1985 through the suggestion of
NA Lucrecia Kasilag. Staged annually in various sites, it became one of the MULAT
productions that have now found a permanent home in TACT (Tita Amel Children’s
Theatre).

After supervising the construction of TACT, Tita Amel assumed full responsibility as its
interior-exterior designer, designing the sea-land-sky motif on its main steel door and
the two big puppets on its front gate and fence, its grotto and gardens. For its interior,
she planned and set up several galleries and a stage in the shape of a flower matched by
a huge over-head iron grill in the shape of a butterfly.

Tita Amel is president of UNIMA-Pilipinas (Union Internationale dela Marionnette) and

the ASSITEJ-Philippines (International Association of Theatre For Children and Young
People). Recipient of over 50 national and international literary prizes and awards, she
is cited in British, American and Indian Bibliographies, Encyclopedia of Philippine Art
and the Ency-clopaedia of Modern Playwrights.

Now in her mid-70’s, she is still active in theatre, performing for children and adult
audiences, still the storyteller for “Ang Paghuhukom” since its premiere in Tashkent,
Russia where it received standing ovations in 1979. Seen by millions of children as live
show and on television here and abroad, its puppets and puppeteers rode on a ten-
wheeler float among other floats in a puppet parade in a the wide jampacked avenue of
Quanzhou, ROC. It is still being performed 50 or more times each year.

The latest additions to what she started in 1973, toward what the Encyclopaedia on
Modern Playwrights called her ”Asianization” of Philippine Theatre were her play “Si
Bulan at Si Arao” (2000) for which she made the shadow puppets became the first
shadow play from the Philippines to join the biggest Wayang Kulit Festival held in
Malaysia. The second was her tribute to India, one of three countries where puppetry is
said to have originated -- “Sita and Rama: Papet Ramayana” (2004) for which she
created 18 beautiful puppets. Joey Ayala and Cynthia Alexander, who grew up in
Mindanao and children of her college friend, poet Tita Lacambra, composed its music
with Asian instruments. Its songs are now in CD. The play as directed by Amihan,
premiered at the CCP and has travelled for performances in international puppet
festivals in Taiwan and Thailand.

With the moral and financial support of her husband, the dedication of her daughter as
director and husband Raymund who finds time to take off from his work to be
puppeteer and technical person and two grandchildren, Aina Ysabel (7) and Rodolfo
Manuel (4) who delight audiences here and abroad, TACT has joined the ranks of family
theatres found in many parts of Asia, Europe and the USA.

And Tita Amel, who first instituted in U.P. her work in the direction of children’s theatre
and children’s literature in the country, is now assured of a theatre-museum for the
performances and preservation of her lifetime’s dedicated work for children. Still in
need of kind and generous donors for its completion, TACT thrusts Children’s Theatre
into the prominence it deserves in Philippine Theatre and is a strong assurance that
there will be training of children’s theatre directors, playwrights, composers,
puppeteers, storytellers, theatre designers and theatre workers; and, for the future of
theatre, the all important training of educated theatre goers amongst the children.

May this happy process go on and on, for a long, long time.
Dekadang 70's at 80's
Mga Kagilagilalas na Pakikipagsapalaran ng Artistang Bayan ng Dekadang 70's at 80's

ni Bonifacio Ilagan

PAGBIBINYAG SA APOY, PAG-AARUGA SA DUGO

Ang dekadang 70 at 80 ay panahon ng sigalot sa Pilipinas. Kabilang sa mga walang kaparis na pangyayaring naganap noon ay ang

14-na-taong batas militar, isang tinatawag na People Power Uprising na nagp abagsak sa

isang despotikong gobyerno, isang serye ng mga bigong kudeta, at ang pamamayani ng isangkilusang rebolusyonaryo, na

nagsisimpan ng umano’y pinakamatagal na rebelyong komunista sa Asya.

Sa alimpuyo ng mga nasabing pangyayari, isang kilusang pangkultura ang nagpakislot sa kasaysayan. Isinilang mismo bilang

rebelyon laban sa dominanteng kultura ng lipunan, ang kilusang ito ay namandila ng mapangahas na pagkilos at masigasig na

paglikha -- na kumalaban sa represyon ng estado, paghaharing militar at kaisipang alipin na kung tutuusi’y sintanda na ng panahon.

Ang sulating ito, paglalahad ng isang tuwirang sangkot, ay isang pagsisikap na arukin ang kilusan ng mga artistang bayan sa

Pilipinas nang nasabing panahon, at nagtatangka ring maglahad kung bakit maging ang rebelyong ito sa larangan ng kultura ay

namamayani.

* Pasintabi kina Katotong Domingo Landicho at Jose F. Lacaba.

BAGAMAN ikinukubli kami ng maliit na apartment mula sa patrulya ng mga pulis at sundalo, mas mabuti na ring iwasang mag-
ingay. Mga walo katao kami – manunulat, artista sa teatro, artista ng sining biswal. Bandang 1973 iyon, santaon nang andergrawnd

kung kami ay kumilos.

Abala kami sa sambuong araw na talakayan. Lagpas hatingggabi na. Umakyat na kami sa silid ng ikalawang palapag, naglatag ng

banig, saglit pang nagbiruan, at mabilis na nakatulog – ngunit mabilis ring nagising. Nagkakaingay ang mga aso sa kapitbahayan.

Alam namin, hindi simpleng dumaraan lamang ang taong bumulabog sa katahimikan ng komunidad na iyon sa Quezon City, alas

tres ng madaling araw.

Mula sa de-kurtinang bintana, sinilip namin ang mga lalaking suot-sibilyan, may taling panyo sa ulo. Armado sila ng malalakas na

assault rifles. Kami nama’y walang armas kahit ano, walang alam sa pakikipagyera, sabihin mang nakapambalibag na kami ng

patpat at bato sa ilang demonstrasyon nitong nakaraan.

Takot ang sumaklot sa amin habang pinapanood ang mga lalaking pumupusisyon sa labanan. Napapaligiran na namin kayo,

anunsyo nila. Tapos, nag-utos sila para sumuko ang dapat sumuko. Ngunit nakapagtataka: Hindi sa aming panig nakatingin ang

mga armado. Ang mga riple nila ay nakatutok sa ibang direksyon. Nakahinga kami nang maluwag nang mapagtanto namin na hindi

kami ang target nila, kundi ang kapitbahay naming diumano’y elementong kriminal.

Katunayan, isang bukodtanging lagim ang ipinunla ni Marcos sa buong Pilipinas noong Setyembre 1972. Ayon sa Konstitusyon,

hindi uubrang siya ay magtatlong termino bilang presidente, kaya siya’y nagmaniobra ng sitwasyon para mabigyang-katwiran ang

batas militar, at nang sa gayon ay manatili sa poder. Bago pa man binasa ni Francisco Tatad ang Proclamation 1081 sa publiko, ang

AFP ay larga na pala sa pang-aaresto sa mga lider ng oposisyon, kabilang ang mga nasa militanteng kilusan.

Ipinagpalagay naming kasama sa listahan ng mga wanted ang mga artistang aktibo sa militanteng kilusan. Kaya nga, sa layuning

isulong ang gawaing pangkultura sa nagbagong sitwasyon, nag-andergrawnd na kami.

Ang batas militar ang huling raket ng demokrasyang Pinoy na isinilang ng pag-aarugang Kano noong huling bahagi ng dantaong 19.

Ang pinakamatibay na resulta ng nasabing demokrasya ay ang akumulasyon ng yaman at kapangyarihan sa sandakot na pamilyang

elitistang nakakabit sa pundilyo ni Uncle Sam, habang ang mayorya ng taumbayan ay naglulunoy sa kahirapan. Naturalmente, ang

ganoong kaayusan ay napanatili lamang sa pamamagitan ng todong karahasan ng estado upang sawatain ang pag-aalburoto ng

taumbayan.

Sa simula
Freshman ako sa UP Diliman noong 1969. Para makalibre sa matrikula, sumali ako sa isang grupong panteatro na ang pangalan ay

UP Mobile Theater. Ang guru namin ay si Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero, naging Pambansang Artista. Nangangastila si Freddie, nagsusulat

sa Ingles at isinasalin sa Pilipino. Kabilang sa aming repertoire ang isang-yugtong dulang “Wanted: Muchacho” na may mga tauhang

Pinoy na sinisiklot ng tunggalian ng palipas na mga kostumbreng Kastila at nauusong kaugaliang Amerikano.

Noong panahong iyon, ang UP Mobile Theater, na nagbabayan-bayan sa pagpapalabas, ay igpaw sa tradisyon ng lehitimong dulaan

– dahil, ayon sa turong kolonyal, ang teatro, upang maging lehitimo, ay kailangang ipinapalabas sa mga prestihiyosong tanghalan,

gumagamit ng kagalang-galang na wika, kabilang na ang pagiging Ingles.

Ang ganitong artistikong paghuhusga ay nagsantabi sa sining at panitikan ng mga katutubo at ng mga mayoryang grupong

etnolinggwistikong Pilipino. Kung ang teatrong Pilipino ay masasabing teatro, iyon ay segunda klase.

Ngunit ang pinakatampok sa akreditasyon ng lehitimong sining at panitikan ay ang kung paanong ang mga iyon ay umaayon at

nagpapatatag sa status quo. Ang sining at panitikang umiistorbo sa status quo ay tinatatakang subersibo, gaya ng mga dulang

sedisyoso, may kalahating dantaon na ang nakakaraan.

Hamon ng bagong kilusang pangkultura 

Kasabay ng pagsali ko sa UP Mobile Theater, may bagong kamulatang nagkakahugis sa kampus – isang aktibismo na nagsasabing

ang sistemang panlipunan ang maysala sa siklo ng kahirapan at korapsyon na bumibiktima sa taumbayan. Inusig nito ang isang

naghaharing uri at ang patron nitong dayuhan bilang promotor ng paghihirap at nakikinabang sa korapsyon. Iginiit nito ang isang

agresibong nasyonalismo, pambansang identidad at tunay na hustisya’t demokrasya. Kung paanong ang aktibismong ito ay mabilis

na nakilala sa pagiging radikal, ganoon din iyon kabilis sa pagkabig ng mga disipulo -- isang simulaing naghihintay na maihayag,

maiguhit sa kanbas, awitin, isadula.

Noong una ay dula-dulaan lamang ng mga grupong walang pangalang artistiko. Pagkatapos ay nakilala na ang Samahang

Kamanyang, Panday Sining, Gintong Silahis, Tanghalang Bayan, Nagkakaisang Progresibong Artista-Arkitekto, Siningbayan,

Panulat para sa Kaunlaran ng Sambayanan, Tambuli at iba pang grupong pangkultura sa labas ng Maynila. Kabataan-estudyante

ang panimulang kasapian, na naging multisektoral kalaunan. At naganap: Isinilang ang kilusang pangkulturang humamon sa sining

at panitikan ng status quo sa Pilipinas.

Ang mga ideya, tema, tauhan at tunggalian ay hinango namin sa pakikibaka at pangarap ng mga karaniwang taong nagpapatakbo ng

pabrika at nag-aaruga ng bukirin. Sila ang mayamang bukal ng dramatikong materyal na nagpabulaklak sa aming panulat at pinsel.
Upang mas mainam na lumikha ng sining at panitikan, ang mga artistang bayan ay nakipamuhay sa masa, natuto sa kanila, sumali

sa kanilang digma, nakibahagi sa kanilang mga pangarap.

Ang pinagpapalabasan namin ay plasa, patyo, basketbulan, palengke, plantasyon, welgahan, pati ang gate ng Clark Airbase. Ngunit

hindi gaya ng dati kong mobile theater na nagtatanghal sa mga komunidad bilang isang outreach program, ang teatro ng kilusang

masa ay nagpapapalabas bilang gawi ng buhay. Nagpapatawa rin ang teatrong iyon. Ngunit ang mas matingkad nitong papel ay ang

paghimok sa marurungis at di-nakapag-aral upang mag-organisa, at umigpaw sa kanilang kaapihan at pagkaalipin.

Sa pagyaman ng praktika, nagawa naming iangat ang karanasan sa antas ng karunungan. Sa pagyaman ng karunungan,

naintindihan namin ang teorya at ang pagpapalawig nito para sa instruksyon at sistematikong pagsasanay.

Harangan man ng sibat 

Nakuha namin ang atensyon ng gobyerno, tiniktikan kami. Dumagsa ang mga ulat ng panggigipit. Naroong pigilan kami sa

pagpapalabas o pagdaraos ng palihan. O kung nagpapalabas na, biglang mawawalan ng kuryente. O kami’y babatuhin at

papuputukan. O aarestuhin. Ang mga ito ay tumindi sa pagbulusok ng kalagayang pang-ekonomya at pampulitika. Ubos na ang

argumento ng gobyerno. Ang ipinagdidiinan na lamang nito ay ang panganib ng isang "teroristang planong komunista."

Taong 1971, sinuspinde ni Marcos ang pribilehiyo ng writ ng habeas corpus bilang pasakalye sa martial law.

Ilang buwan bago ang deklarasyon ng martial law, lahat ng organisasyong pangkultura sa teatro, panitikan at sining biswal ay

nagbuklod sa isang alyansang tinawag naming Konsehong Tagapag-ugnay ng Rebolusyonaryong Sining (Kontres).

Pagkalipas ng panimulang pagkagimbal sa deklarasyon, pinlano ng Kontres ang pag-angkop sa kondisyon ng batas militar. Kung

paanong maiikutan ang batas militar – iyon ang nag-aapoy na usapin. Sinubok namin ang mga dulang iglap. Itinanghal ang mga ito

kung saan maraming tao, gaya ng palengke o simbahan kung may misa. Tatlo o apat na aktibista ang gagawa ng eksena na

tumutuligsa sa diktadura at mananawagan sa mga tao upang itakwil at labanan ito. Tapos, karipas na sila nang takbo bago dumating

ang mga sundalo.

Ang mas nagtagal na paraan ay ang pagbubuo ng mga bagong grupong mistulang inosente, gaya ng isang tinawag naming Babaylan,

pangalan ng katutubong pinunong espiritwal. Muling binuhay ng Babaylan ang dramang relihiyoso at ritwal ng masa, na

pinalamnan namin ng pagtuligsa sa diktadura.

Mula sa andergrawnd, naglabas rin kami ng mga publikasyong pangkultura na naging daluyan ng rebolusyonaryong sining at

panitikan. Hindi miminsang niligalig ng mga iyon ang rehimeng militar.

Paglalaon, ang kilusang antipasista ay pinasigla sa hayag ng mga grupong panteatro sa kampus, gaya ng UP Repertory Company.

Kabilang sa mga itinanghal nito ay ang mapangahas na “Pagsambang Bayan” na hayagan kong inialay sa aking kapatid na babaeng

artista sa teatro, na dinukot, ginahasa at pinaslang ng militar noong 1977, kasama ng siyam na iba pa. Ang Philippine Educational

Theater Association ay tumampok rin sa sunod-sunod na produksyon ng mga dulang kontra sa diktadura. Sa Visayas at Mindanao,

naging tuntungan ng gawaing pangkulturang antipasista ang network ng mga simbahan.

Sa kasagsagan ng batas militar noong dekadang 70, binuo ng Kontres ang maliliit na pangkat ng mga manunulat, artista sa teatro at

artista sa sining biswal upang ipadala sa kanayunan. Doon, sa piling ng masang magsasaka at katutubo, mas malaya silang

nakisangkot sa pagpapaunlad ng mapagpalayang sining at panitikan.

Sa dakilang eksodong ito sa kanayunan, at maging sa kilusang lihim at hayag sa kalunsuran, naging kawangki ang mga artistang

bayan sa paglaban sa diktadurang US-Marcos. Di-mabilang ang naaresto, ikinulong, tinortyur, ginahasa, pinatay. Isang henerasyon

ng mga makabayan at makamasang artista at manunulat ang lumikha ng tradisyon ng militansya at walang-hanggang paglilingkod

sa sambayanan.

Masigabong pag-oorganisa at pagsubok sa estetika 

Noong 1981, inalis ni Marcos ang batas militar. Alam ng lahat na kunwari lang iyon, paper-lifting, dahil ang lahat ng presidential

decree, general order, at iba pang tuntunin ng batas militar na siya lang ang may gawa ay siya pa ring sinusunod bilang pamantayan

ng peace and order at pamamahala. Lahat ng opisyal ng burukrasya na itinalaga niya, laluna ang mga galing sa AFP, ay hindi

natitinag sa kani-kanilang pwesto. At – sa kaisipan ng madla, naroong nakatanim na ang kamalayan ng batas militar bilang

kalakaran ng pamumuhay.

Gayunman, sinamantala ng mga artistang bayan sa mga komunidad ng buong kapuluan, pati na sa malalayong lalawigan ng Luzon,

Visayas at Mindanao, ang pagkakataon upang pag-ibayuhin ang pag-oorganisa at pagtatanghal sa hanay ng masa. Ang dekadang 80

ay kinatangian ng walang humpay na pagbubuo ng mga grupong pangkultura at popularisasyon ng iba’t ibang porma at obrang

artistiko sa teatro, panitikan, sining biswal, musika at sayaw, kabilang na ang sa Moro, lumad at sambayanang Cordillera. At maging

sa mga pook na naaabot ng mamamatay-taong vigilantes, ang mga artistang bayan ng Mindanao ay nagtatanghal. Gayundin,
sinimulang tanganan ng mga artistang bayan, gaya ng mga nasa AsiaVisions, ang teknolohiya ng video para sa ibayong

pagpapalaganap ng mensahe ng kilusang mapagpalaya.

Ang bunga ng kambal na dambuhalang pagsisikap sa organisasyon at produksyon ay buong-buong makikita sa kalagitnaan ng

dekadang 80.

Noong 1983, ang asasinasyon ni Sen. Ninoy Aquino ay kumumbinsi maging sa mga sumang-ayon na sa "awtoritaryanismong

konstitusyonal” na dapat ipagpatuloy ang pakikibaka laban sa rehimen -- bagay na siyang ipinupunto, sapul simula, ng kilusang

pambansa-demokratiko. Pagsapit ng 1986, ang daigdig ay sasaksi sa isang penomenon, na tinatawag na People Power, na

nagpatalsik sa diktadurang Marcos.

Sa pagluklok sa poder ng gobyernong Cory Aquino, ang mga artistang bayan ay nagbuklod sa isang pambansang network na tinawag

naming Bugkos. Ito’y binuo sa panimula, ng mahigit sa 300 organisasyong pangkultura ng mga manggagawa, magsasaka,

estudyante, kabataan, maralitang lunsod, katutubo. Pumaloob sa Bugkos ang mga panrehiyong alyansa at network ng Cordillera

(Dap-ayan ti Kultura iti Kordilyera), Visayas (Dungog), Mindanao (Mindanao Community Theater Network at Mindanao Council for

People’s Culture), Bikol (Kaboronyogan), Southern Tagalog (Makabayang Alyansa sa Sining Anakpawis), Central Luzon (Buslo) at

Metro Manila (Sining).

Maging ang iba’t ibang institusyong pangkultura sa Luzon, Visayas at Mindanao ay nagbuo ng isang samahan na tinawag namang

Consortium of Institutions for People’s Culture.

Naganap sa Bugkos ang masigabong interaksyon ng mga artistang bayan ng iba’t ibang grupong etnolinggwistiko. Sa kanilang

pagkakaiba-iba, pinagtibay nila ang pagkakawangis ng mga pakikipagtunggali ng isang sambayanang naghahanap ng pambansang

identidad, kalayaan at demokrasya. Pinagtibay rin ng Bugkos ang pagsusuri na samantalang ang bagong gobyerno ay siya nang

namamayani sa estado, ang tinatawag na power relations, at ang sistemang sosyoekonomiko ng lumang kaayusan ay naroon pa rin,

namamayani at bumibiktima sa taumbayan.

Nauna rito, ang mga artista at manunulat sa mga komersyal na daluyang masmidya, kasama ang iba’t ibang personalidad sa

pelikula, ay nagsimulang maging aktibo sa kilusang antidiktadura. Nabuo ang Free the Artist, Free the Media, na nang maglaon ay

naging Concerned Artists of the Philippines.

Pumiling sa masa, tumangan sa ideolohiya 

Hindi naging banayad ang paglalayag ng Bugkos. Sa paglawak ng kilusan ng mga artistang bayan, nagsulputan ang samutsaring
suliranin. Subalit napatunayan nito na ang ang sining at panitikan ng mga artistang bayan ay makikipagmatagalan lamang sa

panahon hanggang ang mga artistang nabanggit ay nasa piling ng kilusang masa. Kapag sila’y nahiwalay sa taumbayang kanilang

pinaglilingkuran, mahihiwalay na sila sa realidad at di-malayong maligaw. Ang mga kagilagilalas nilang pakikipagsapalaran ay

mauuwi sa kabiguan.

Makikipagmatagalan rin tayo sa panahon kung ang mga artistang bayan ay magpapakatibay sa ideolohiyang pinagmumulan ng

karapatdapat na komitment, kapwa sa sining at pulitika. Opo, taliwas sa pagkasuklam sa ideolohiya ng ibang tipong artista, dapat

tayong tumangan sa bukodtanging ideolohiyang nagliliwanag sa isip at nagpapatatag ng loob upang patuloy na makalikha maging sa

pinakamahihirap na kabanata ng buhay-at-kamatayang pagtatanghal ng ating digma at paglaya. ###

http://avhrc-kultura.blogspot.com/2007/02/pagbibinyag-sa-apoy-pag-aaruga-sa-dugo.html
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