Laiko wants organizers of CCP exhibit sued
MANILA, August 9, 2011―With reports about the closure of the so-called offensive and obscene art exhibit at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the executive secretary of Sangguniang Layko ng Pilipinas Edgardo J. Tria Tirona said he appreciates the decision of the authorities at the government-owned institution.
However, he said there is a need to continue the prosecution of people involved in the exhibit because “a lot of damage” has been done to the Catholic and other Christian churches.
“Prosecuting those behind the exhibit will teach them a lesson so that no such ugly episode will be repeated,” he told CBCPNews Tuesday morning.
Tria Tirona said the approach to create a come-on to exhibits has already been used time and again, adding that “kumita na ang pa-kontrobersyal na approach sa exhibits.”
He said it is imperative that the organizers be made to pay for their offensive behavior.
Meanwhile, the University of Sto Tomas has issued a statement condemning the art exhibit of Mideo Cruz, an alumnus of the pontifical university.
“We (Theology professors) strongly denounce the work [of Mideo Cruz] as spiritually outrageous and demeaning, blasphemous and sacrilegious, offensive, educationally confusing, misleading, and even scandalous, particularly to the Catholic faithful and the Thomasian community,” said Allan Basas, secretary of the Institute of Religion, in a news report from the Varsitarian.
UST Rector Rolando de la Rosa also said Mideo's interpretation of freedom of artistic expression has gone overboard.
Whether inside or outside the University, Thomasians should “behave according to the Catholic values imbibed [as] students, and one of these values is the sense of decency,” de la Rosa said.
(Melo Acuna)
