ARTISTS SUPPORT CALL TO FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS WITH “POLDET” SHOW

­­­­­ON DEC. 3, 2011: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF POLITICAL PRISONERS

ARTISTS, CULTURAL WORKERS SUPPORT CALL

TO FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS WITH “POLDET” SHOW

click to watch e.g.yolk production's coverage of POLDET

“Mr. President, we are not criminals.”

Former “poldets” (political detainees) Bonifacio Ilagan, Judy Taguiwalo, Angie Ipong, Axel Pinpin and health workers of the Morong 43 joined artists and cultural workers in a multi-media show calling for the release of all political prisoners in the country, in commemoration of International Day of Political Prisoners today.

“POLDET: Panata sa Kalayaan ng mga Detenido Politikal,” a play first staged by the Free Ericson Acosta Campaign and Alay Sining last September in UP Diliman is adapted for the performance space at the Access Point Bar in Quezon City by director Donna Dacuno.

The show highlighted the plight of currently detained artists – songwriter Ericson Acosta, UP film student Maricon Montajes, and poet Alan Jazmines.

“POLDET introduces audiences to the wealth of prison literature since Martial Law until the present, and hopes to make the public aware of the plight of its incarcerated authors,” said Dacuno. Like Acosta, Dacuno was once chairperson of the youth cultural group Alay Sining in UP Diliman.

“There are more than 350 political prisoners languishing in different detention centers in the country today – at least 78 of them, Acosta and Jazmines included, were in fact arrested under President Aquino’s watch,” according to Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) Sec-Gen Angie Ipong.

Acosta’s songs and poetry, which earned him a nomination as finalist in the prestigious 2011 Imprisoned Artist Prize at the Freedom to Create Awards Festival in Cape Town, South Africa last November, is featured in POLDET.

Artists and cultural workers from the Anino Shadowplay Collective, Karatula, Los Indios Bravos, UP Silip, e.g. yolk productions, Sinagbayan, Nuno ni Nena and KM64 Poetry Collective, have pooled their talents in this PinoyMedia Center production of “POLDET.”

Human rights watchdog KARAPATAN defines political prisoners as those who were arrested, detained and imprisoned for acts that further their political beliefs. They are arbitrarily denied their liberty and due process of law. They are charged with political offenses such as rebellion and sedition. More often, they are charged with criminal offenses like murder, arson, kidnapping, robbery-in-band and illegal possession of firearms to deny the political nature of their alleged offenses and to reduce them into plain criminals. President Aquino’s own father Ninoy was martyred during the Marcos dictatorship as an exiled political prisoner.

Acosta and other political prisoners in Southern Tagalog and Compostela Valley are currently staging hunger strikes to demand their immediate release. Human rights groups call on President Aquino to free political prisoners before Christmas. POLDET will have another show at the Access Point Bar on Dec 10, International Human Rights Day.