A PNP Mural

A new mural at a PNP camp has been painted. In nine panels we get a gist of how the PNP view themselves and their mission. Let's take a look.

It's a little hard to take a full panoramic picture of this mural especially with all the traffic but this is what it looks like from the side. The first panel features the SAF being watched over by the Archangel Michael as they are out on a mission.

The mission is to bust down the door of ISIS which is hiding in the next panel. Above the SAF is a verse from the Psalms.

Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Inside the room where ISIS is hiding is the devil.  Above him is another scripture.

1 Timothy 6:10: For the love of money is the root of all evil

And of course on the table in front of the Devil is a bag of money.

There is also a skull, a knife, some pills, and of to the side a naked couple is engaged in an embrace.

But what does the love of money have to do with the Muslim insurgency and the rise of ISIS in the Philippines? Aboslutley nothing. The MNLF was formed in the 70's as a separatist group seeking the cessation of Mindanao as a Muslim homeland. In the subsequent years the MNLF splintered into the MILF, Abu Sayyaf, and BIFF. The MNLF became complacent with the establishment of the ARMM while the other groups continued the fight. To make a long story short money is not the goal of any of the Muslim groups in Mindanao but rather the relinquishing of the whole of Mindanao as a Muslim homeland. That is clearly the case as stated in the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain which the government actually signed but which was later overturned by the Supreme Court as being unconstitutional.

And why have Satan over looking the whole scene? ISIS is an Islamic group so the proper one to be overlooking the situation would be Mohammed. Does the artist not know that ISIS believe they are waging a holy war against Christianity? Remember the church bombing in Jolo? Perhaps the artist saying that Islam is satanic. Perhaps he means ISIS is evil and not truly representative of Islam. 

The next panel is this delightful little sight.

The PNP is holding the line against angry demonstrators. What are they demonstrating against? It doesn't matter. What does matter is that the PNP is the bulwark between these demonstrators and peacefulness. Behind them is Van Gogh's Starry Night. Little know fact: Starry Night was painted while Van Gogh was in an asylum. There is a lot of tumultuous emotion placed in the bush strokes which give the illusion of movement to the glowing stars as they swirl across the sky. In short Starry Night is not simply a stylized painting of the night sky. It is a physical representation of Van Gogh's mental illness. 

So what we are really looking at here is the symbolic manifestation of the PNP schizophrenic mentations who think labelling protesters as terrorists and doing all they can to curtail the people's right to petition the government for the redress of grievances is good. The manic intensity of the stars and the sky reflects the manic intensity of their delusional self-perception.

The next panel looks kind of like Yosemite valley with El Capitan and Half Dome in the background.

Obviously that is not what it is. This panel seems to be out of place within the mural as a whole. There is no artistic statement and no action. Are those PNP officers on patrol? Listen closely and you can hear the slow approach of a Huey and the soft strains of Fortunate Son.

The next three pictures are all part of one long scene. The PNP is telling us that they make the community safe.

Everyone is working together. What are they doing?  They are spraying a hose to fight back the CPP-NPA and the coronavirus, COVID-19. 

This picture of Joma Sison and an NPA fighter is ridiculous propaganda. First the fighter.  He is wearing a straw hat and sandals and is not at all properly equipped.  That is not the reality on the ground. The reality is that the NPA has plenty of weapons and equipment. After all they have waged a 52 year campaign against the government. They are not backwards rice farmers who happened to pick up a gun and have no idea how to use it. The AFP is regularly busting open NPA lairs and recovering bombs and heavy firepower.

Second of all is Sison himself. He is painted as a distorted caricature standing on a pile of skulls in a lake of blood. He is holding out the communist hammer and sickle over the head of his minion, the fighter. The hammer and sickle has become a question mark. What is that man fighting for? What are his goals? The implication is he does not know which is rather presumptuous. 

The sickle and hammer are also crumbling just as the AFP and PNP claim the NPA is on the wan due to the many rebels who have surrendered.

Floating around Sison and the NPA fighter is the coronavirus, COVID-19. Thank goodness the PNP is around to protect the nation from the virus by enforcing quarantine rules in the longest ongoing lockdown in the world. Thank goodness the PNP is out in the streets battling the invisible enemy which is floating around in the air waiting to infect any passerby. 

This is how the PNP see themselves. They are the only thing standing between chaos and order. They are holding back all the evil that is just waiting to be unleashed on the public. It's not a bad mural. It's not a great mural. Given the current state of the PNP it is a rather narcissistic and unrealistic mural.