The unending culture of gun violence in the Philippines takes a heavy toll on Filipinos especially on the underprivileged; once again, the abuse of power comes as no surprise. With continuous enablement given to the oppressor, this unspeakable culture has, in a way, become normalized and justified. Who better to hold accountable for such inhumanity than the government and the president himself, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

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My conceptual art revolves around the themes of society and governance. The idea behind this concept is that this is somehow a nudge to the kid-on-Christmas-gets-disappointed-with-their-gift trope. As seen on the first photo on the upper left, written on the card is “To: The Gov, Fr: People” , which implies just that— it is a gift given to the government, specifically to the president, by the Filipinos. Seen on photos two to four is the opening of the box. On the fifth photo, the silhouette of the gift is revealed which takes the form of a gun. Given this, it can be deduced that what’s inside is an actual gun in which we all know, if I may say, the president’s favorite toy. Subsequently, revealed in the last photo is the tearing of the wrapper, which finally shows the actual gift inside: paper straws that takes the shape of a gun. Considering the current environmental paper straws movement, the straws here represent people's desire for change and reformation. Given such passive-aggressive gift, “giatay” is what I imagine the president’s response would be since in Bisaya, the word is comparable to the Filipino phrase “ano ba yan” but with a heavier connotation.

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As the conceptual artist, I wanted to create something that is not only visually-appealing, but also thought-provoking. Covering such controversial topic, the passive-aggressiveness of my art was also part of the overall message since this represents how tired people are of fighting against such social issues when they’re not even being listened to in the first place. Finally, the concept of it being a gift was a form of subtle retaliation— that it is his turn to have his hopes up for something that will just disappoint later on.