Exorcizing hate speech
ON the evening of Nov. 1, the president re marked to officials gathered for a disas ter management briefing in Cauayan, Isabela that he thought the Catholics are “tarantado (crazy)” for observing two successive holidays to venerate saints, with many of the faithful not even knowing which ones were “gago (fools)” and “lasenggo (drunkards)”.
To audience laughter, the president suggested that Filipinos can just simply put his photo on their altar and pray to “Santo Rodrigo”.
The day after the president’s disjointed messages, Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David asked Roman Catholics to pray for the president and the nation, both of which manifest signs of “sickness”.
David, vice president of the Catholics Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, observed that “to be a Christian is to be ready to be branded as a ‘fool for Christ’,” according to a Nov. 4 report on rappler.com.
The latest discourse involving Duterte and Roman Catholic leaders reprises the president’s brand of “hate speech,” which he wields consciously and consistently against critics and other targets of his ridicule, contempt, and hatred.
The UP academics established that, contrary to the perception that the presidential “irreverence” is spontaneous and impulsive, there is a “pattern” and “consistency” in the use of profanity and other slanted statements that “dehumanize, impute a crime, create a social wedge, and advocate hostility” against the Church, an outspoken and persistent critic of Duterte’s War on Drugs and the spike in extrajudicial killings during his administration.
Church officials’ responses, which generally focus on issues and deflect criticisms against personalities, fail to counter the “amplification” of the president’s “hate speech” by government media and social media influencers magnifying the “sensational, antagonistic, and manipulative” messages and tone of the president’s pronouncements.
The overall effect is to create a perlocutionary effect, which occurs when a communicative act persuades the audience to take action. When echoed by the powerful, hate speech can be “weaponized” against social critics.
THE 5th International Rondalla /Plucked String Music Festival officially opened in Silay City gathering twenty-one groups of more than 250 musicians from November 3 to 11, 2018, to participate in a celebration of the world’s shared heritage of plucked string music.
The Philippines hosts ten foreign groups who flew in from France, India, Iran, Israel, South Korea, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam, Taiwan and Portugal. Eleven local groups, selected through a rigorous screening process, come from Metro Manila, Bogo City, Dipolog City, Municipality of Candelaria, Dumaguete City, and host city, Silay.
The Opening concert, held at the Natalio G. Velez Sports and Cultural Center in Silay City (Silay City Gym) featured messages delivered by Hon. Mayor Mark Andrew Golez of Silay City, Virgilio S. Almario, National Artist for Literature and the Chairman of the National Commission for Culture (NCCA) and the Arts, and Dr. Ramon P. Santos, National Artist for Music and the Festival Director.
The International Rondalla/Plucked String Music Festival 2018 is a collaborative undertaking of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) through the Asian Composers League Philippines and the Silay City Government with the support of the Office of Senator Loren Legarda, and in partnership with the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental, the Department of Education - Silay, University of the Philippines College of Music and the National Music Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA).
The Opening of the festival, which was held on November 4 at the Silay City Gym, featured performances by Silay’s award-winning ensemble the The Kabataang Silay Rondalla Ensemble, Barrocade-Naya Ensemble from Israel, the Taiwan Bamboo Orchestra, the Taipei Guzheng Ensemble from Taiwan, and Hope to Hop Africa of Uganda. The Finale Concert will be on November 10, 2018, also at the Silay City Gym at 6:00pm.
Another highlight of the Festival during its nine-day run are the daily concerts that will feature musicians from all corners of the globe coming together to perform a formidable repertoire, which includes folk, classical and modern music from different plucked string music traditions.
The daily concerts will be on November 5, 6, 8, 9, with matinee (3:00pm) and evening shows (7:00pm). All concerts will be held at the Silay City Gym. All shows and concerts are open to the public, but tickets must be reserved. Please contact 09956218152 or 09982664706 for ticket reservations.
The Festival was deliberately scheduled to be part of Silay City’s celebration of Al Cinco de Noviembre or Negros Day, a commemoration of the historic event when Negrenses won a battle against the Spaniard conquistadores. The battle was won when Filipino soldiers made the Spaniards surrender and retreat from battle by using fake canons and rifles to deceive their colonizers.
On November 5, aside from the concerts at the Silay City Gym, the Festival musicians will be performing at 2:00pm and 5:00pm in the following ancestral houses: Hofilena House, Jose Corteza Lcosin, Balay Negrense, Mariano Montelibano, Pitong Ledesma and German Unson.
Throughout the week, there will also be outreach concerts around Negros including Bacolod, Manapla, Cadiz City, Bago City, Escalante City, Toboso City, San Carlos City to name a few. Please