An expression of interest and unity
Unless it’s a holiday and inevitable, it’s few and far between that I accept an invitation to go to Quezon City. “We need to have a transient visa,” is the standing joke among us, who find it a bit tiresome to cross over to this part of the metropolis.
Lest I be misconstrued here, I long to explore the innards of Quezon City, the new restaurants and the nice places like the Las Casas de Acuzar in the heart of Roosevelt Avenue. It’s the horrendous traffic that prevents me from doing this activity.
The Lenten break, which reduced the number of vehicles plying the major thoroughfares, gave me the flexibility to cross over to the City of Stars – visit the expanse of UP Diliman campus, the nearby environs, and savor Manong's "tusoktusok (a skewer delight of fishballs, squidballs, tokneneng and Kwek-kwek).
While relishing the ease of going through the stretch of Katipunan, a 300 feet long mural – a guy wearing Tubao, a headscarf traditionally handwoven cloth made by indigenous peoples of Mindanao, with the phrase "120M Filipinos" and the faces of Filipinos from different walks of life, captured my attention. If you’re going to UP Diliman, the mural is on the left side of Katipunan.
This calls to mind the lecture of my Humanities Prof. Anton Juan (I crossed enroll in the Fine Arts Department) about murals and its inferences. This piece of graphic artwork painted to a wall or ceiling is a medium for political and/or social commentary. Additionally, mural enlivens an otherwise drab, blank space as well as represents historical events.
The mural fueled my curiosity. Is the mural an expression of concern?
From what I’ve gathered, CQC Visual Arts painted the mural in collaboration with Kami Naman, a non-government organization and a movement of concerned citizens for true unity.
And rightfully so, the mural is an expression, It's a call for solidarity. It’s an echo on the sentiment of the people for our leaders to unify in order to address the needs and concerns of the people in the face of the continuing rise in the prices of basic commodities and high interest rate environment.
High inflation and interest rates impact on productivity, manifested by the uptick in the unemployment rate to 4.50 percent in January from 3.10 percent in December 2023.
Moreover, disruption in the supply chain remains sticky and we continue to grapple with the lingering effects of the pandemic that pushed the country’s debt-to-gross domestic product ratio to higher levels.
The debt ratio will remain elevated with the government planning to tap the domestic as well as bilateral and multilateral creditors to raise some ₱2.46 trillion to address the budgetary gap this year.
While the Marcos administration is doing its best, committing to no new taxes, such leaves little wiggle room for financial maneuvering. The prevailing differing political view on various issues is not helping any. And this is where “Kami Naman’s” unity and solidarity call comes in.
As an economic journo, my assumption is that the “Kami Naman” mural is a reflection of the group’s desire for a government that genuinely champions the people’s interests. This, too, is my aspiration. Talkback to me at sionil731@gmail.com