Palimbang's thousand-fold grief: Endurance

Palimbang's

thousand-fold grief:

Endurance

Palimbang's

thousand-fold grief:

Endurance

2022

Autobiographical recollection, masonry,

sandblasted engraving on stone, videography

and digital architectural rendering

Karl Castro (concept, concept development and artwork creation), Municipality of Palimbang (names of victims), Mohammad Piang, Ebok Mangakoy, Enrique Lison, Sr., Kamad Llana, Napisa Abdul, Omar Guiaman, Wareb Llana, Jamia lakim Lison and Marian Pastor Roces (concept and concept development), Sara Rivera (concept development), Eldry John Infante (architectural design and rendering), Hadja Maimona Abdul and Khomeini V. Manondog (liaisons), Paul Formaran (copy edit), Maricel Hilario-Patiño (project administration and anthropological insight), Maria Fe P. Quiroga (curatorial assistance), South Stone Works (stone engraving), Brandon Relucio and Vinzon James Trinidad (videography), Arnold Diano, Archie Opeña, Jaypee Gotera, Agnes Nantiza and Noralen Johnson (installation)

thousand

-fold

grief:

Endurance

Palimbang's

THE WOMEN WHO CAN SPEAK TODAY OF

THE EVENTS OF SEPTEMBER 1974

IN PALIMBANG, TODAY'S PROVINCE OF

SULTAN KUDARAT, HAVE A REGRAIN.

THE FOUR WOMEN WHO PARTICIPATED

IN THE WORKSHOP TO CREATE AN ARTWORK

ON THEIR EXPERIENCE AS YOUNG WOMEN

IMPACTED BY THE ATROCITIES,

WERE UNINCLINED TO DIFFERNTIATE

THEIR RECOLLECTIONS ON A GENDER BASIS.

THIS IDEAL OF UNITY EMERGES FROM

A CULTIVATED SENSIBILITY THAT

KEEPS FAITH WITH PRE-ISLAMIC

AND ISLAMIC-ANIMIST RITUALS PRESIDING

OVER LIFE AND DEATH IN THE

SULU ARCHIPELAGO.

A MASS GRAVE MARKER ERECTED BY THE PALIMBANG COMMUNITY TO MARK WHERE THE VICTIMS OF THE 1974 MASSACRE ARE BURIED.

EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE MOSQUE WHERE THE PEOPLE OF PALIMBANG WERE GATHERED AND KILLED IN 1974.

THEY DEMAND RECOGNITION

not only of the massacre of more than

a thousand residents of their village at

the hands of the Armed Forces of

the Philippines, but moreover of

the unevenness of restitution to the victims.

THEY REITERATED THE HUNGER

ON THE PHILIPPINE NAVY SHIP,

ENDURED BY WOMEN AND

CHILDREN; AND CONFIRMED RAPES.

NONETHELESS, THEY ARE FOCUSED

ON THE MEMORIALIZATION OF

THE DEATHS OF ALL.

thousand

-fold

grief:

Endurance

Palimbang's

THE WOMEN WHO CAN SPEAK

TODAY OF THE EVENTS OF SEPTEMBER 1974 IN PALIMBANG, TODAY'S PROVINCE OF SULTAN KUDARAT, HAVE A REGRAIN.

THE FOUR WOMEN WHO PARTICIPATED

IN THE WORKSHOP TO CREATE

AN ARTWORK ON THEIR EXPERIENCE

AS YOUNG WOMEN IMPACTED

BY THE ATROCITIES, WERE UNINCLINED

TO DIFFERENTIATE THEIR RECOLLECTIONS

ON A GENDER BASIS.

A MASS GRAVE MARKER ERECTED BY THE PALIMBANG COMMUNITY TO MARK WHERE THE VICTIMS OF THE 1974 MASSACRE ARE BURIED.

EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE MOSQUE WHERE THE PEOPLE OF PALIMBANG WERE GATHERED AND KILLED IN 1974.

THEY DEMAND RECOGNITION

not only of the massacre of more than

a thousand residents of their village at

the hands of the Armed Forces of

the Philippines, but moreover of

the unevenness of restitution to the victims.

THEY REITERATED THE HUNGER

ON THE PHILIPPINE NAVY SHIP,

ENDURED BY WOMEN AND

CHILDREN; AND CONFIRMED RAPES.

NONETHELESS, THEY ARE FOCUSED

ON THE MEMORIALIZATION OF

THE DEATHS OF ALL.

These small polychromatic,

plain-woven mats

are used universally in the Sulu archipelago for the pause to pray,

many times a day,

as prescribed by Islam. It may be said that mats in general—traditionally used for the most mundane passages of daily life—also accompanied many Sulu peoples in major passages such as

birth and death,

and therefore the use in Islam

represents an intersection

between global and local realms.

Mats used for prayer

Tusug (but similar ones used by Sama speakers)

Plain weave

Dyed pandanus strips

Gift from Mucha Shim Quiling

The artwork presented in

this exhibition is the design and

fabrication of the greater part of

a recommended physical memorial that

may be permanently installed in

Palimbang in due corse.

As indicated by the survivors

this project collaborated with,

the memorial will have

to constitute a wall integrated with

Tacbil Mosque itself, where not only

the mass murder occurred, but where,

in adjacent ground, the mass grave of

hundreds remains.

THE TANK LANDING SHIP RPS MINDORO OCCIDENTAL.

IT WAS TRANSFERRED FROM THE US NAVY TO THE PHILIPPINE NAVY IN 1972.

THE WOMEN OF THE PALIMBANG COMMUNITY.

BULLET HOLES ON THE FACADE OF THE MOSQUE ILLUSTRATE THE POWER OF FIREARMS USED AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF PALIMBANG IN 1974. THESE HAVE BEEN LEFT UNTOUCHED AS REMINDERS OF THE INCIDENT.

EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE MOSQUE WHERE THE PEOPLE OF PALIMBANG WERE GATHERED AND KILLED IN 1974.

SUBJECTED TO EXTREME

PUNISHMENT BY AN ARMY

THAT NEARLY LOST THE WAR

TO THE EARLY

SECESSIONIST MOVEMENT,

THE MORO NATIONAL

LIBERATION FRONT (MNLF), THE PALIMBANG VILLAGERS

WHO SURVIVED

ARE DETERMINED,

SO TO SPEAK,

TO KEEP THE GHOSTS

OF THE DEAD ALIVE.

SUBJECTED TO EXTREME

PUNISHMENT BY AN ARMY THAT

NEARLY LOST THE WAR TO

THE EARLY SECESSIONIST MOVEMENT,

THE MORO NATIONAL LIBERATION

FRONT (MNLF), THE PALIMBANG

VILLAGERS WHO SURVIVED

ARE DETERMINED, SO TO SPEAK,

TO KEEP THE GHOSTS

OF THE DEAD ALIVE.

In the vicinity of Tacbil Mosque,

where the larger (although not

yet fully counted) number

perished to machine gun fire

and lobbed grenades,

the sentiments of the residents

cohere around keeping

the mosque as is, with the marks

of the firepower; with the marks

of blood where bodies piled up.

The community suffered

individually and collectively.

Both levels of agony co-existed,

as they do today.

CURATOR MARIAN PASTOR ROCES (STANDING LEFT) AND PROJECT OFFICER MARICEL P. HILARIO-PATIÑO (STANDING RIGHT) WITH THE WOMEN OF PLIMBANG, TAKING A LUNCH BREAK FROM A CURATORIAL MEETING.

CONNER APAYAO
BALBALAN
BALENCIAGO MASS BASE
TOMIANGAN
NAPOCOR CAMP
NANENG MASS BASE
CAGALUAN MASS BASE
TANAP MASS BASE
MALUCUSOD MASS BASE
BASAO MASS BASE
BATONG BUHAY MASS BASE
MOUNT BINULUAN
HELD THE CORDILLERA
MASS PLENUM IN 1984
PLANNING OF SPLIT
MOUNT BINULUAN SIKUU'
MALLANGA
SUMADEL MASS BASE
PAY-ONG BANGAD
FULISONG BANGAD
BANGAD MASS BASE
TINGLAYAN
DANANAO MASS BASE.
MARKS BY JUANITA CHULSI AND
JUANITA D. CABABA
BITUAGAN
SADANGA
BELWANG MASS BASE
BUGNAY
BUGNAY GATE
MOUNTAIN BETWEEN
BASAO AND BUGNAY
BASAO
CHICO RIVER
NGIBAT
BUTBUT PROPER
LOCCONG
BUSCALAN
MOUNT CHUMANCHIL.
A
B
C
D 
E
F

G
H
I
J
K
L
M
A
B
C
D
 
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L


M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
MARKS BY TINA BALWEG,
CAROLYN GAMBOA AND
MANDING TAYAB

THE 1974 MASSACRE IN PALIMBANG WAS ONLY ONE EVENT IN WHAT WAS LIKELY

A THREE-MONTH ORDEAL THAT THE SEASIDE LOCALE WITNESSED. EARLIER STUDIES

HAD DULY DESCRIBED HOW ARMED FORCES SEPARATED THE LOCALS:

MEN TO THE MOSQUE FOR SLAUGHTER; WOMEN AND CHILDREN

TO THE NAVAL LANDING SHIP SHORT-HANDEDLY CALLED "MINDORO".

In Mindoro, adrift the Sulu Sea, the women and children were held

for what they estimate to be a month. There are recollections of rape,

forced marriages, an outbreak of measles, psychological violence and torture,

extreme hunger, and ultimately, an uncountable number of deaths.

Bodies were thrown overboard. Upon return to land, surviving children

buried the dead. Some were put in sacks and set to drift out from the shore.

This map illustrates a portion of the horror.

Palimbang

Sultan Kudarat

Share by: