Year Ender Activities

ROCK THE RILES 2007

1 to 7 pm, December 9, Sunday

Cubao MRT Station

Jeepney Joyride, Toyo, FMD, Torn for Peril, Nityalila, Datu's Tribe,

Drip, Typecast,

The Wuds, Philippine Violators

Out of the Box:

Peacetahan sa Magnet-Sining at Galing para sa Karapatan at Kalinaw

7:30 pm, December 14, Friday

Magnet Katipunan, Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City

Bayang Barrios, Wake Up Your Seatmate, Radioactive Sago Project

SUNDAY OF SILENCE Part 2

4 to 6 pm, December 16, Sunday

Baywalk Area in front of Raja Sulayman, Malate Church

Rendezvous at Cebu

DAKILA went to Cebu last November 16, 2007 for the second leg of the Peacetahan 2008 launch. The event dubbed as Out of the Box: Peacetahan sa Cebu - Sining at Galing para sa Karapatan at Kalinaw, was a joint project with Sulong CARHRIHL. It was held at the Outpost Cafe, Lahug, Cebu City.

We were greeted at the airport by the warm smiles of Kathy, Dennis and the University of Southern Philippines Student Council. After a delicious lunch at Sutukil in Mactan, we proceeded to UP Cebu and USP to promote the Peacetahan event.

DAKILA would like to thank the USP Student Council, UP Cebu Student Council, USP Social Work Department, UP KASUKO, UP College of Fine Arts, University of Cebu students for the overwhelming support for our first ever Cebu activity.

Volunteerism at its best as the whole USP Student Council and the USP Social Work Department Classes were mobilized to lend their hands for the Peacetahan event at the Outpost Cafe.

DAKILA would also like to thank FIND Cebu, Partido ng Manggagawa - Cebu Chapter, KPD, Mandaue Prince Warehouse Club Union for their help in the preparations of the event.

Special thanks to Sining Dilaab, XO, Skanky Muggles, Island Joe and JR Kilat who really rocked the house and gave the crowd one hell of a party time. Even TADO can't help but dance the night away. Thanks to the OUTPOST CAFE accommodating DAKILA and to BITE Magazine for covering the event.

And, Peacetahan sa Cebu would not be possible with out the formidable tandem of Tepi and Kathy who moved mountains not only to make sure that the event would push through but also made it @#%$#&% successful!

Sa lahat ng tumulong at sumuporta sa Peacetahan sa Cebu, Daghang Salamat!

Peacetahan sa Cebu

SUNDAY OF SILENCE

PAYAPAIN ANG LIGALIG NG MAGHAPON

Hayaang salaminin ng banayad na hampas ng alon
ang papalamig na ningas ng araw;
ang tilamsik nito ay hahagod, bibigkis
sa magkadikit nating balikat.

Dakila ang payapang pagtindig.
Bughaw ang kulay ng pansamantalang pananahimik.

Silang mga namanhid, hindi nakinig
ay mabibingi sa kawalang-tinig;
at magbubunga, babangon kinabukasan
ang ningning ng sinag na naging hiyaw.

-Axel Pinpin*

*Sometime in October last year, poet Axel Pinpin found himself writing a poem for a political prisoner captured in the Southern Luzon province of Batangas; only to find out several months later that he would become a political prisoner himself. Axel or Antoy to his many friends is now detained in Camp Vicente Lim in Canlubang, Laguna. He and his group called the “Tagaytay 5” were arrested by the Philippine National Police for rebellion charges. Axel and his companions were but victims of repressive tactics of the Arroyo administration against progressive organizations
A BS Agriculture graduate, Pinpin is currently serving as consultant of the peasant organization Kalipunan ng mga Magsasaka sa Kabite (Kasama-Ka). He was abducted by elements of the PNP in Tagaytay City on April 28, 2006. Abducted together with Pinpin were other Kasama-Ka members Riel Custodio and Aristedes Sarmiento and drivers Enrico Ybanez and Michael Masayes. It took the PNP three days before presenting the Tagaytay 5 to the media in a press conference on May 1. On this occasion, there were visible signs that the detainees had suffered in the hands of their captors: Custodio for one, had his legs wrapped with bandages; Sarmiento on the other hand could not walk properly; and Pinpin looked as if he just had an asthma attack. (source: panitikan.com.ph)

Pinpin sent this poem to express solidarity for our SUNDAY of SILENCE. Obviously, he can't join us. 11 Nov. 2007. @4pm until the sun sets. Roxas Blvd stretch by Baywalk. Sit down, side by side in silence. Walang imik. Dahil WALA NA TAYONG MASABI SA MGA NANGYAYARI SA BAYAN. Come in blue.
Silent majority, have your silence felt.

ON FREEDOM AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Oppression comes in many forms.

It is not just about policemen marching down the street with water hoses, truncheons, and guns. It is not simply about unmarked vehicles and goons whisking away idealistic young men in the middle of a busy mall. Nor does it take the dark shapes of military and government officials lying through their teeth. Or when the so-called arbiters of public taste and morality slap an X mark on a small film that finally expresses the sentiment of the increasingly disgruntled majority.

When the highest leadership of this country brazenly believes that they can purchase fealty with cash bags like some small-town hoodlum, they are not only insulting us. It is an act of oppression.

When the president’s minions come to her defense with lies and excuses that are bigger insults to the people’s intelligence, they are oppressing us. They are trampling on our fundamental human right— the right not to be treated like intellectual cockroaches.

It is clear now that this moral center of this country’s leadership—of questionable nature to begin with— has finally crumbled. Government has lost all moral authority. We are ruled by deception, arrogance, and the bottomless appetite for power. The impunity by which evil is waged is simply astounding.

A government that disrespects its people has no right to hold power.

Now is not the time to assume neutral positions.

Like the concept of “oppression,” freedom also wears a multitude of masks. It is urgent that we recognize what those masks are, how they look like, and how to create them, and ultimately, how to destroy those masks.

And the first one we must destroy is our own. Because when we remove our masks we realize that we are profoundly angry, dissatisfied, and hurt. Also, because when we remove our masks we ultimately reveal what is truly noble and beautiful in all of us.

DAKILA – Philippine Collective for Modern Heroism calls on every one that now more than ever is the time to shred our masks and step up to be heroes of our times, to be noble, to be DAKILA.

*The statement was released during the launch of DAKILA's Out of the Box Project on Peace and Human Rights last October 26, 2007 at Penguin, Malate.