Remembering Lino NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 05/25/2010

Remembering Lino

NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 05/25/2010 It wasn’t only the text message that circulated May 22 reminding friends of Lino Brocka’s 19th death anniversary that put him on my mind. I had really been thinking of him lately, given that once again, an Aquino is presumptive president-elect. Lino in the Snap Elections of 1986 was one of Cory Aquino’s tireless campaigners; as president, she appointed him to the constitutional commission. Lino’s fondness for the new president did not last long; he walked out of her con-com. “As a founding member and the acknowledged leader of the Free the Artist Movement and the Concerned Artists of the Philippines, Lino Brocka was at the forefront of the struggle against all forms of censorship of the arts and the media. As a member of the local and international film communities, he continually stressed the right and the obligation of the filmmaker, in the exercise of freedom of expression, to shed light on social realities and the human condition. As a complainant in the Kapit sa Patalim case, he elicited from the Supreme Court a decision affirming that “freedom of expression is the rule and restrictions the exemption.” As a member of the constitutional commission that drafted the present Philippine Constitution, he is credited with introducing the phrase “freedom of expression” into the constitutional provision that now reads: ‘No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the?people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances’ (Section 9, Article 3, Bill of Rights).”?? Thus went parts of the memorial statement read during the launching of Freedom of Expression Day on Lino’s grave, on the 10th anniversary of his passing, in 2001. Lino’s friend and writer Pete Lacaba in his blogspot recalled: “A decade after the death of Brocka, the memorial statement continues, ‘freedom of expression remains beleaguered on all sides by forces that seek to restrict or repress the inquisitive mind and the creative spirit. There is as much need today as in Lino Brocka’s lifetime to uphold and defend freedom of expression as a necessary condition for a strong and vibrant democracy.’??.... MORE   Source:  The Daily Tribune   URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100525com12.html

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