Lawyer Manuel Dayrit of Ang Kapatiran party-list group filed before the Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday a complaint affidavit against officials of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) over the exhibit Kulô, as well as versus the artist Mideo Cruz for his artwork “Poleteismo", accusing them of violating Article 201 of the Revised Penal Code on obscene exhibitions and indecent shows.
This came after Catholic lawyer Jo Aurea Imbong and the group Pro-Life Philippines had hinted over the weekend that they were working on the criminal case over the “sacrilegious" art exhibit.
“Religious belief is more superior than that; that is why artistic expression has to yield to a limit which is to respect religious rights," insisted Imbong in an interview with GMA News TV.
The ten CCP officials charged before the Ombudsman are CCP chairperson Emily Abrera and CCP president and artistic director Raul Sunico, as well as CCP board members Florangel Rosario Braid, Jaime Laya, Isabelo Caro Wilson, Zenaida Tantoco, Cristina Torralba, Antonio Yap, Carolyn Espiritu and Karen Ocampo-Flores.
“That by hosting and allowing the… exhibit of respondent MIDEO CRUZ to be installed at the CCP Gallery which is a public building, public respondents violated their public trust and duty to the Filipino people," the complaint affidavit alleged.
Flores, the CCP’s Visual Arts division head, resigned on Wednesday, a day after the exhibit was closed as senators demanded CCP officials to quit.
“Nakikita ko lamang na dapat na bumalik na ko sa aking sector bilang artist, at tumulong sa pag-rally for freedom of expression," Flores said.
Imbong explained that the CCP officials are liable because the artist could not have exhibited his artwork without their permission.
Cruz was only one out of 31 artists whose works were exhibited in Kulô which opened on June 17, and was originally scheduled to run until Aug. 21, as part of the CCP’s celebration of national hero Jose Rizal’s 150th birthday.
