Neo-Angono Artists Collective mural

Medium: Painting

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Artist: The Neo-Angono Artists Collective.

Confronting Bodies: National Press Club (NPC) and Presidential Security Group (PSG) of the Philippines.

Date of Action: October 26th, 2007.

Location: The painting was installed at Headline Restaurant on the third floor of the NPC building at the foot of Jones Bridge in Intramuros, Manila.

Description of Artwork: The mural depicts a man reading a newspaper in the midst of a crowd on a busy street.

The Incident: The Presidential Security Group (PSG) inspected the painting the day before it was to be unveiled, and questioned "certain leftist marks." This prompted the NPC president, Roy Mabasa, to call the Angono artists to retouch the mural. Since none of them were available, he tapped another artist to retouch the mural overnight.

Results of Incident: The following changes were made to the mural:

1. Replacement of the International Federation of Journalists statement on a page of the paper being read by the central figure. The statement was painted over with a bird, and the alibata K on the arm of the figure of Andres Bonifacio was changed to a pierced heart. The alibata is the native Filipino alphabet.

2. Replacing the headline of the newspaper that Jose Rizal is holding, Press Freedom Fighters Son Abducted with Press Freedom Fight Is On.

3. Altering the faces of Edita Burgos and her missing son Jonas.

4. Erasing the name of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines from a banner of demonstrators.

4. Making Randy Davids hair and mustache longer.

5. Painting a beard and a mustache on the face of a man (depicted as columnist Juan Mercado) selling eggs and balut, and changing his hair color from white to black.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer.