Tyrrany and the Image

Written on Sunday, May 4th, 2008 at 7:29 pm | by Marck Ronald Rimorin

- one of Bayani Fernando’s giant tarpaulin posters, Quezon Avenue Station, Quezon City

If you live in Metro Manila, you may have observed a lot of blown-up posters of MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando. In almost three months of being a “resident” of Metro Manila, I find myself confused, if not intrigued, at the rather imposing, the intimidating, and yes, the annoying sight of BF.

Philosophers like Jean Baudrillard and Roland Barthes have noted before that modern culture is being increasingly dominated by images. We have Disneyland, McDonald’s, kawaii poses in Friendster, and so on and so forth. To play on that observation, I think a good length of EDSA - if not a healthy chunk of Metro Manila - is increasingly dominated by that Orwellian image of Chairman Fernando.

I leave it to speculation of what we would make of Chairman Fernando’s 2010 ambitions.  I am not accusing Fernando of being a “tyrant,” although I am more inclined to believe that politics in this country is not a “personality cult,” but a “cult of imagery.”  Images - not personalities - permeate the Filipino political milieu.  Not just the “Photoshopped” look of many a politician with age spots and wrinkles.

If Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has the “mother” or the “big sister” image, what do we (fine, in this case I) make of Bayani Fernando?  It does not take a complete stretch in semiotics: the medium, to invoke Marshall McLuhan, is very often the message.  Fernando’s campaign - whether political or social - is all about images.  Making things “gwapo.”  Even if you get the feeling that BF is the Francisco Franco, maybe even the Benito Mussolini, of a rather vague concept of “development.”

Yet as much as I do not want to be a hectoring watchdog to BF, the images still beg the question: what exactly is the message of BF?  Does “development” equal “beautification?”  Do his exhortations for peace and order underscore a “need” for BF?

In a couple of years, we will all (hopefully) vote for a new set of leaders for this nation.  More images will surface: images of dancers, images of the handsome and the beautiful, and perhaps more images of vegetables (both figuratively and literally).  The image will yet again be a tyrant to our political consciousness.  Unless, of course, we destroy and subvert the tyranny of these images.

I was on a north-bound bus when I saw another image of BF near TriNoma.  Strangely enough, somebody did something about the tyranny of the image.

- photo taken at North Avenue Station.  Note the pink stain.

A couple of nights ago, I asked a few older (no offense) political bloggers if we, as a people, are “doomed.”  Well, there’s always the consolation of knowing that even doom can be resisted, if people start doing something about it.

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About The Author: Marck Ronald Rimorin is a twenty-something blogger, "critic," and writer from Baguio City, and currently works in Metro Manila as a writer. His personal blog is at The Marocharim Experiment

Filed Under Local News, National News, Politics, Society

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Comments

9 Responses to “Tyrrany and the Image”

  1. spliceanddice on May 4th, 2008 7:50 pm

    Those posters give face to the plummeting of aesthetics to the deepest gullies of the earth.

  2. Nick on May 5th, 2008 1:45 am

    This is propaganda, through and through. I have never been a supporter of such images because it is always done in a selfish manner, no matter what kind of excuse it is.

    Such imagery only reminds me of Dictatorships who were based on Propaganda.. Mao and Hitler, didn’t they use images to prop themselves up?

    Just do the job, and that will be enough.. Just put up information signs, not full posters meant for votes.. Enough of the poster graffiti, these people should be arrested..

  3. butch on May 5th, 2008 6:37 am

    I agree with your pithy observation. Image or “visuals” is everything and we expect to be bombarded with even more annoying graphic symbols as 2010 nears. Note Jojo Binay’s “B”, ostensibly for Batang Makati, Recom Echiverri of Caloocan’s “smiley face with a mustache” etc.

  4. “The Philippines” - a meaningless concept | Filipino Voices on May 5th, 2008 12:37 pm

    […] read Marck’s Tyranny and the Image with interest, specifically when it came to the passage: “politics in this country is not a […]

  5. chuck on May 5th, 2008 4:55 pm

    I get the feeling that there is a significant minority of Filipinos who would vote for a fascist-type candidate. My hunch is Bayani Fernando is aiming for this constituency in the upcoming elections (whether Presidential or Parliamentary)

  6. Pochero on May 6th, 2008 3:33 pm

    If only our pavements were as thick as the faces of our politicians …

  7. Jon Limjap on May 6th, 2008 5:11 pm

    chuck,

    The same bunch of people who voted for Ping Lacson perhaps?

    If BF runs for president, I won’t vote for him. If he runs for vice-president, I will — and wish that he becomes DPWH secretary!

  8. chuck on May 7th, 2008 11:12 pm

    Jon, yeah i agree that the voter profile would be similar although Lacson has taken on a more populist appeal. Another such candidate would be Duterte.

  9. Rico Baltazar on May 17th, 2008 11:29 am

    To All Filipinos :Bayani Fernando is 62 yrs. old. He’ll be64 by 2010.If we will not give him a chance,He’ll never aspire anymore.Parang awa nyo na po! kelangan natin ng ganitong klaseng Presidente.Matalino,Makabayan,Masipag,Vissionary,May Political will,I’m sorry, may problema tayo mga kababayan,Napaka Honest nitong si BF.Lahat ng magnanakaw sa gobyerno gagawa ng paraan para wag siyang manalo.Kaya Kilos na mga kababayan! Kelan Pa? Ako ok lang nasa Tate ako.Pero siempre no place like home.

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