THE Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP) mounted a month-long anti-corruption campaign, which called on creatives to stand up and speak out against the misappropriation of public funds, in light of the flood control projects controversy.
CAP is an organization of Filipino creatives and cultural workers ‘advancing people’s movement for freedom of expression, justice, and democracy.’ For its anti-corruption movement last month, called ‘Koraptober,’ the group rolled out a prompt list that invited creatives to produce ‘any form of art that speaks out.’
The outputs must be based on the list’s rotating set of words related to the corruption issue, such as ‘baha,’ ‘luxury car,’ and ‘sigaw,’ among others.
‘Remember: art has the power to expose thieves, fuel resistance, and lift our collective fight,’ CAP wrote in its prompt list post. ‘Artista ng bayan, tuloy-tuloy ang laban! Korap, ibagsak!’
One of the featured artworks in CAP’s ‘Koraptober’ was Luha ng Buhaya. Created by student-artist Don Angelou Laureta, the painting reimagines its namesake Filipino idiom about the tears of a cold-hearted crocodile that feigns remorse.
In Laureta’s scene, the subject animal assumes its role as the icon of corruption and greed in Philippine politics. Her crocodile wears a barong Tagalog and is draped in the Philippine flag, its colors inverted with the red on top to symbolize a national time of war and unrest, as the country reels from the systemic and deep-rooted crimes of its leaders. The subject holds in its left hand the scales of justice, where a single peso coin outweighs the value of the common people, embodied here as a helpless farmer wearing a salakot, hugging its knees.
Laureta fills the scene with other harrowing imageries. Beside the anthropomorphic crocodile are unfinished infrastructure projects, including a building made of money and a cut-out highway leading into floodwaters, and, by extension, the demise of the general public due to neglect. It’s a scene in ruins, punctuated by the dancing flames rendered with such realistic motion and intensity.
Laureta is an Architectural Drafting student at Sorsogon State University and a member of the Kurit-Lagting Art Collective and CAP Bicol. For him, art is not only a form of self-expression but also a tool for education and social change. His works often reflect the struggles of ordinary Filipinos, using visual storytelling as a measure of activism.
‘#Koraptober amplifies voices like Laureta’s, reminding us that art remains one of the most powerful forms of protest,’ CAP Bicol said in a press release. ‘In the end, Luha ng Buwaya is more than an indictment of corrupt leaders. It is a mirror held up to the nation, urging every viewer to ask whose tears are we shedding, and when will we stop mistaking the crocodile’s for our own. Through his art, Laureta reminds us that silence is complicity and that even in the darkest times, art can still light the way toward justice.’