Homage for Inday

Presidential candidate Raul S. Roco is right: COMELEC is practicing pre-censorship by advising the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines to cancel its forum for presidential candidates on the ground that would constitute premature campaigning which is prohibited by the Fair Elections Act.

Mr. Roco was reacting to the claim of Nicanor Gatmaytan, the blind lawyer running for the Senate under Roco’s Alyansa ng Pag-Asa, over Gatmaytan’s DZBB radio program that the COMELEC had practised pre-censorship.

I agree with the former senator and secretary of education that COMELEC would not be able to determine in advance what the candidates would say during the forum. This pre-censorship is a violation of one’s right to freedom of the press, which allows individuals to express themselves through publications and dissemination –which is "part of the constitutional protection of freedom of expression".

It’s pretty difficult to draw the line between expressing one’s opinion on certain issues and campaigning for political office. One has the right to comment on what one believes to be wrongdoing on the part of government officials and what reforms should be made to change the system. The determining point of violation is when a candidate says outright that he is running for an elective position. If he is asked the question, though, "Are you running for office?" his answering "yes‚ does not mean he is violating the election prohibition.

We’ve had three senatoriables talking about what’s wrong and the changes they want to make at the weekly Bulong-Pulungan sa Westin Philippine Plaza. I don’t think they were campaigning, although everyone knew they are running for office.

This noon, four senatorial candidates from the opposition will be the Bulong-Pulungan resource persons: former Senators Juan Ponce-Enrile and Aquilino Pimentel Jr., and two Muslim candidates – Congressman Dingalen, and Amina Rasul. The public is invited to attend; the buffet lunch will be P150.

The irrepressible artist Elsie Reyes-Cadapan, or Inday, passed away January 7 after a long bout with cirrhosis of the liver. Inday, an alumna of Silliman University, was a late bloomer and self-taught. She held her first one-person show at the now defunct city gallery at the Luneta in Manila. This was followed by 25 solo shows and countless group shows. Her last show was at Alliance Francais where she had two previous solo shows of her paintings and sculptures.

Inday had a terrible fear of flying, but after she overcame that, she travelled for three months in Europe, staying for a while in Germany, where her younger sister, Carmina resides. Last November, she and Carmina went back to their hometown, Bayawan, Negros Oriental, where Inday received the "Outstanding Bayawanon Award" in the field of culture and arts.

Norma Liongoren, one of Inday‚s enthusiastic admirers, says that Inday was a "talented, prolific visual art exponent" whose works bore a "social message," making her "a pillar of the country’s modern art sector."

She is survived by her husband, Rudy, an engineer, her only daughter Magel and her husband Paul Vitug and her two grandchildren, Sam and Karola.

Norma recalls that a few days before Inday passed away, Inday told artist-friends meeting in Norma‚s house in Antipolo, that her "parangal" given by her hometown made her feel ecstatic. Indeed, that was her last hurrah.

Noel Versoza of Nanuet, New York, pointed to a typographical error I committed in my last column. He wrote; "There is no such thing as a gender-free judge. A human being is either male or female. You probably meant judges with no gender bias." You’re right, Noel. I meant "gender-fair" judges.

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