NCCA and the Art of Telling the Truth About Rapu-Rapu

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ccording to The Mayon Times, the National Commission on Culture and the Arts sponsored recently two storytelling sessions in Rapu-Rapu. The first was held in the morning at Rapu-Rapu Central Elementary School and the second, in the afternoon at Carogcog Elementary School. Beauty queens were the storytellers. The stories were “Si Miriam asin an Saiyang Samhod, Panlampaso, Pantrapo asin Panhaklot”(Miriam and Her Broom, Floor Scrubber, Duster, and Dustpan) by Carlos A. Arejola and “Kan Magutom si Buchok” (When Buchok Got Hungry) by H. Francisco V. Peñones, Jr.

We inform the NCCA and remind RRPP that Rapu-Rapu is a story too. As such, it must be truthfully told to the children. It is the story of environmental destruction and economic injustice – the children’s environment and the children’s economic plight. It is a story that they must know. Is RRPP ready to tell that truthfully?

We remember how, in the days of early American colonial rule, our grandparents were lulled into rosy dreams of progress under the spell of American literature and cinema. We gradually assimilated American aspirations and many Filipinos were diverted from nationalist ideals. The Thomasites came to “educate” us. Thus the Americans conquered our minds and hearts that to this day many Filipinos would look to America for deliverance from poverty notwithstanding America’s role in the impoverishment of our people amidst a plentiful land.

Art and culture are powerful tools. Even the armies of Genghis Khan vanished through cultural assimilation. RRPP personnel know this. We in the anti-Rapu-Rapu mining advocacy  also know this. Thus, we call the attention of the unwary to be careful of this recent ploy of RRPP – using art to divert the children of Rapu-Rapu from the reality into which their island was thrust. We hope that when they grow up, they will not be blind to the discolored creeks, the decline in fish catch, the silt that flows to their seashores, to the migration of their parents to other places just to find jobs. All these are happening because people in power continue to allow mining in their island, because foreigners enjoy the liberalized economic policies, because local junior partners benefit from the unjust state of affairs.

The works of fiction by Arejola and Peñones are fine but the NCCA must know the true story in Rapu-Rapu. We challenge their artists to immerse in the communities, live there for a week, and not just let beauty queens drop by the island for a day and recite stories about the “good and the beautiful.” The NCCA should not allow art and culture to be used like a palliative pain killer that does not root out the tumor, or as a means of escape from an unjust reality, lest RRPP drags the NCCA down the drain to the abyss of local community condemnation and there together await the day of reckoning. Art and culture should be used as tools of emancipation from injustice. What matters today is the true story of Rapu-Rapu Island’s immense natural resources, RRPP’s gargantuan profits, the irreversible damage to the environment, and the residents’ ever worsening poverty.

Save Rapu-Rapu Alliance

May 16, 2012