Walang Paalam Screening
UP Film Institute Cine Adarna
February 26, 2015
WELCOME REMARKS
By Danilo Arao, Associate Dean
Isang mapagpalayang gabi sa ating lahat. A liberating evening to all of us.
What we will be watching tonight is a series of three short films which can be described as three faces of the thousands of victims of enforced disappearances since the imposition of Martial Law. Under the current administration, there are said to be 25 victims of enforced disappearances, or an average of five victims per year since President Benigno Aquino III assumed office in 2010. Consider this a coincidence, but this is the same number of journalists and media workers killed in the line of duty under the Aquino administration.
It is interesting to note that only three years ago, Republic Act No. 10353 or the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012 was signed into law. This is reportedly the first in Asia and has been hailed as a landmark legislation. Then again, this has not stopped the incidences of human rights violations in the country despite the so-called restoration of democracy in 1986 when we ousted the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos.
Yesterday (February 25) was the 29th year of the event popularly known as People Power 1 or EDSA 1 and it is, to use the term again, interesting to note that those promoting and upholding the people’s basic rights like freedom of assembly and of expression were among those blocked by the police in going to the EDSA Shrine.
These are interesting times indeed. Even in the field of media, we denounce time and again the various forms of harassment and intimidation done against journalists and media workers, not to mention threats against press freedom and free expression.
It comes therefore as no surprise that the College is open to partnerships like this with various human rights organizations. The campaign to end the culture of impunity which gives rise to human rights violations, after all, is not a sectoral concern. No thanks to the massacre in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province in 2009 which claimed the lives of 58 people (including 32 journalists and media workers), the day of the massacre (November 23) has been hailed as the International Day to End Impunity since 2011.
That impunity continues to reign in the country is manifested by the presence of what we commonly describe as desaparecidos, or desap to use colloquial language. For tonight, we remember the long list of human rights victims as we watch the stories of Erya, Celio and Hermon. The title “Walang Paalam” is most appropriate to describe the inherent failure of the desaparecido to say goodbye to their loved ones for reasons beyond their control. While it is expected that what we will watch can be both distressing and depressing, we should, at the end of the three short films, translate our emotions to collective action. As we remove the tears from our eyes, we should clench our fists in defiance and link arms with the others who are oppressed and exploited.
Given Walang Paalam’s running time of 1 hour and 52 minutes, the three short films can only go to the extent of describing social reality to us. It is up to us to answer the question posed by Lenin which serves as the title to one of his books: “What is to be done?” Of course, the film gives us a hint that there are qualitatively unchanged conditions as far as the human rights situation is concerned, and we should take it from there.
After the three short films have been shown and exchanges of ideas have been made, we hope to leave the theater with a renewed sense of purpose: Much still needs to be done. There is justice to demand, a social system to fight and a world to win.
Let us all work together in promoting and upholding human rights. Maraming salamat po. Thank you very much.