Nearly two decades after the last book-burning campaign by the late Worker President-for-life Fernando Marcos, it seems that the Filipino empire is finally inching onto the track for recovering its lost cultural heritage, especially after the latest flash mob display of
Kilinting, a folk dance, at the Road to Reset social event last February.
There had been at least five major nationwide campaigns, and at least twenty-seven minor provincial programs, of extinguishing the native arts in the course of the Filipino empire's history, the first beginning during Governor Brother President-for-life Johnnieberto Marcos term in 1891. Public outrage and strong disapproval from the then-democratic Senate was expected, as literature and music from entire tribal societies were summarily deleted - a memory still not lost on the primitive mindset of Filipino ethnic groups.
Most of the old traditions still extant are passed around through the nation's underground scene. There has been talk of the
Iliw-iw, a folk song resembling the shrill mating call of the
Birandaw bird, being taught around by prisoners inside their cells, and trends of paintings dedicated to a particular fertility goddess being made by youth artists.
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Shown at right: the shield of Pulakan, restored, displayed at MIS Nando Branch)
The surviving remnants of the Filipino's forgotten heritage are kept at the Marcos Imperial Sciences branch in Nando City as part of its historical museum. The shield of Pulakan during the Battle of Gulun is on display there. The partially decomposed corpses of political dissidents who opposed former Worker Leader-for-life Georgiano Marcos' culture restrictions are brazenly shown upon entering the museum. On National Tolerance Day, the museum closes.
Despite the well-repeated, government-instilled fear of following the fate of the dissidents, rebellious youth, as rare as they are, do not relent in the secret growth of culture. While most efforts are annoying at most, like the hundred-member rally for the use of a
Ilobanon, an accessory once used by prostitutes, and the infamous Offering Livestock October, more violent activities
do seldom happen. Busy streets in the powerhouse city of Bocol, for example, were attacked by teams of college students who sprayed
Birun and
Cagda, both gases used in marriage ceremonies that are known for being aphrodisiacs, at automobiles and passersby. Another event is often a topic of conversation for conspiracy theorists - the 'Indamunfdo St. Procession", where a caravan of people who wore bandages and hospital linen, covering everything but their eyes and hands, came walking down Indamunfdo Street.
The Marcosite government is separated into opposing parties concerning the recent debate on culture. Roughly 6% of the country's existing Central Congress is in favor of approving cultural traditions - a 600% increase from last year. One of the main advocates, Leno Bing, has been said to have a dislike for the president, and is on the Committee on Internal Defense's watchlist. Worker President-for-life Jingbong Marcos refused to state his opinions, but he maintains that "he will carry on the will of his grandfathers".
Even with a small voice of opposition in the Congress, the government and the law still has the final say on the matter, for now. Thanks to the new national budget centered around enforcement and security, police departments nation-wide have been aggressively deployed to mitigate dissenting cultural advocates - Youth Rebelliousness is at a record low for the year.
However, Filipino culture had been practically erased from collective memory until recent years, and, as the state-run Committee on Cultural Sciences (deactivated until lately) reported, "there is bound to be mutations in the dead, endemic Filipino culture. Most do not even recognize it, and the only relevant demographic interested in it is the youth."
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(Above, an image still from the Bocol Wedding Gas Incident. Note the lack of upper clothing on the individual to the right.)