Perhaps out of frustration over the passage of the Anti-Terror Bill the other day in Congress, my former student, now a painter based in Manila, sent me these photos. She took these photos from the 2017 production of my play Mas Mabigat ang Liwanag sa Kalungkutan (Light Falls Heavier in Sorrow) in Marikina City, the last production of my work as a playwright before I left the archipelago in 2018.

At first, I wasn’t sure what was on her mind, but she suddenly sent me these photos years after she had taken them while the performance was ongoing. This morning I realised that she probably thought of this play, its story, and its future in the country’s theatre halls once Duterte’s Anti-Terror Bill becomes law. Mas Mabigat ang Liwanag sa Kalungkutan was about the children in conflict in Mindanao: the story of the war in the Southern Philippines from the points of view of young Moro freedom fighters and child soldiers.

The storyline was a product of a half-year research project, talking with leaders of Moro freedom fighters in Cotabato and Maguindanao, former child soldiers, and communities in Central Mindanao that suffered from the militarisation of Moro communities in the Southern Philippines. It was expected that Moro lawmakers in Congress were the first to reject Duterte’s Anti-Terror Bill because, obviously, they know this game; they know that their communities will suffer in a Filipino Philippines as a police state.

Written in 2015, this play never made it to its premiere. Five days before the opening, I was asked to revise the play and change its storyline. Of course, I refused as a playwright. Since then, none has dared to stage this play except the autonomous government of the Bangsamoro and the radical, progressive, university-based group within the University of the Philippines, the UP Repertory Company.

And then I realised, fuck it, it’s not just Mas Mabigat ang Liwanag sa Kalungkutan that theatre organisations back home will face problems mounting once Duterte’s Anti-Terror Bill becomes law. Almost half a dozen of my plays (still being performed for the last five years, and one even appears in several textbooks of senior high school students) endlessly talk of collective resistance, the independence of the Bangsamoro people from the Philippine government, and stories of freedom fighters and the violence of state forces against vulnerable communities. I even have a young adult novel that teaches kids the importance of overthrowing a fascist regime.

Beyond the impact of this other draconian law on the right to dissent, activism, and freedom of expression in the country, my rejection of the Anti-Terrorism Bill is also personal. All writers, artists, cultural workers, and theatre makers should reject this law. This fascist and murderous regime is always afraid of Filipino writers writing in the tradition of socially engaged literary production in the country. Let’s continue to scare them.

PS. Ownership of the photos belongs to my former student. Her name was omitted in the attribution for her protection.

#JunkTerrorBill #JunkTerrorBillNow #OustDuterte