MANILA, Philippines — Carlos Celdran, the cultural activist and tour guide who stirred up controversy for staging a protest at the Manila Cathedral in 2010 against the Catholic Church’s opposition to the Reproductive Health law, has died. He was 46.
Celdran “passed from natural causes,” his wife, Tesa, said in a Facebook post Tuesday.
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“As the family is making arrangements to bring him home, no details can be announced yet,” Tesa wrote.
Born in 1972, Celdran studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design. He was known for creating works that use Manila as the primary subject.
According to Celdran, his “most shocking work” was his ”performance piece” called the “Damaso” — a protest he staged in September 2010 at the Manila Cathedral where he dressed up as Jose Rizal and held up a placard with the word “Damaso” before then-Papal Nuncio, Gaudencio Rosales, several bishops and attendees of the ecumenical service.
“Damaso” is a reference to the villainous friar Padre Damaso in Rizal’s classic novel “Noli Me Tangere,” a character regarded as a symbol of oppression and corruption by the church during the Spanish occupation.
Last year, the Supreme Court upheld Celdran's conviction for offending religious feelings.
Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle in 2015 said that Celdran had been forgiven by the church for the incident. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral