A HIDDEN MASK OF A PHILANTHROPIST

In a world full of inevitable misdeed actions that we often see in those people who commit a crime in a lower class society, there this other people who are masked with kindness and wealth but in reality are much worse than those who did a crime to survive for a living. Indeed, it is a never-ending cycle of manipulation and exploitation; but for how long we’ll let this inhumane act prevail?

The article of Suarez and Miranda, ‘176 gifts/ 176 dispossessions’, is an overview of how exploitation is being manifested by the elites or the ‘collecting class’ affecting artistic creation through political power subjected to their known names; and how it bridges economic issues in our country. Thus, it all started in the true power of privilege that is used to donate artworks to acquire growth in authority, notoriety, and wealth. We realized that in the article, the notion of philanthropy is being used with dark intentions. For a person who cannot critically think about these actions, they will just see these masked philanthropists as a good person whose intentions are for the betterment of all but little did they know that this 'collecting class' has the same mindset of using their powers, circulating their wealth to gain authority and sympathy of the people. AAG makes us believe that donating an artwork is a good deed, but on the masked perception, the person who gave the artwork benefited more from it.  This exemplifies how wealthier people and corporate entities mastered deceiving the public with their purported "acts of goodwill". They were portrayed as philanthropists, but the reality is, that they were deceiving the public and concealing their illegal wrongdoings while they accumulated a fortune by dispossessions of Filipinos.

 Consequently, as they succeed at gaining wealth and power, greediness won’t end there as exploitation from the lower class prevails. Just as how the Lapanday Food Corporation, owned by Luis Lorenzo Sr, abused the banana farmers in Tagum by giving them a class B rate for their goods and selling it to stores at a class A rate. The farmers who worked hard and waited days to harvest the goods are being paid less. Another example, of abusive treatment of companies to their workers, is how Nutri Asia gives low wages, regularization of work, and unhealthy working conditions to their employers which resulted in a strike that was illegally arrested, falsely charged, sexually harassed, and jailed for exercising their right. These just show how the economy is favored those who only have the power and are unequally treated to those who are only asking for a right and just working situation to make a living. Not to mention the dispossession caused by the Marcoses through taking advantage of our country’s wealth and annihilating our freedom and rights. The Marcoses constructed numerous facilities that were utilized to distort public perception and conceal the true conditions of the Filipino people. They were busy misleading the perceptions of the people through infrastructures to make their name renowned. By doing so, the dark side that is masked or hidden is that several Filipinos are mistreated, abused, sexually harassed, and killed especially during Martial Law. The same thing happened during the construction of the Manila Film Center, several workers were killed due to rushing the construction for an international festival. These construction workers were helplessly dying just as when the media immediately went blackout.

Unfortunately, our country’s future depends on how the person behind that power takes control of it. And for so long, this power is only circulating with the same group of people that are greedy enough to dispossess our nation, especially the Filipinos. If we’ll not assess carefully the masked reality of these people, if we continue to be blinded by the fake news and trolls they are in control of, if we let these powerful people govern our country again then the cycle of dispossession and exploitation will recommence over again.

References:

“Never again”: Labor, urban poor groups recall workers’ death at Manila Film Center. (2022, May 1). Manila Bulletin. Retrieved August 6, 2022, from https://mb.com.ph/2022/05/01/never-again-labor-urban-poor-groups-recall-workers-death-at-manila-film-center/#:%7E:text=Several%20labor%20and%20urban%20poor,former%20President%20Ferdinand%20Marcos%20Sr.

NutriAsia Workers Illegally Arrested, Falsely Charged and Jailed for Exercising Right to Strike. (2019, August 27). Svensson. Retrieved August 6, 2022, from https://www.svenssonstiftelsen.com/post/nutriasia-workers-illegally-arrested-falsely-charged-and-jailed-for-exercising-right-to-strike

tractions: experiments in art writing. (n.d.). These tombs and graves of art* - tractions: experiments in art writing. Medium. Retrieved August 6, 2022, from https://tractions-artwriting.medium.com/these-tombs-and-graves-of-art-50223b45eab5