You were walking in a huge hall full of paintings and you stopped and appreciated this one particular work of art, what is it?
Grabe the feeling! I'm walking through this huge, grand museum hall, surrounded by all these international paintings pero honestly, they don't really move me, di ba? They're just pretty. But then, I reach this massive, dramatic work and everything in the hall just stops. That painting is Juan Luna's The Spoliarium. It doesn't just hang there... it literally grabs your soul and demands your attention. That’s why I stop there every single time.
What makes it so incredibly powerful? It’s the scene itself. You see this huge, dark basement... the spoliarium, where dead and dying gladiators are being dragged off the floor. They are stripped of their armor and their dignity. The light only focuses on their brutal defeat, and in the shadows, you see the indifferent crowd and the women weeping for their loss. It’s an overwhelming visual of human suffering and systemic cruelty. Luna painted ancient Rome pero he was really showing the world the exploitation and oppression faced by the Filipino people. It’s a timeless scream against injustice.
But the reason it feels so relevant and urgent today is because it perfectly captures the entire cycle of betrayal faced by our citizens, especially during disasters like a typhoon. This is why the painting will never be outdated!
We can't just talk about corruption after the flood... we need to see the corruption that causes the flood in the first place. The defeat of those gladiators didn't start in that dark room, it started when the whole system was designed to fail them.
Ganoon din sa Pilipinas. The suffering starts with the missing funds that were budgeted for flood control, the substandard projects and the poor planning that leaves communities completely exposed. These funds are the first spoils taken! The people who fail to plan are the silent executioners. When the typhoon hits, the victims are already set up for failure by the system itself.
Then, the actual tragedy happens. The typhoon victims... our modern-day fallen gladiators, lose everything. And what is the final, cruel act? Hala! The corruption continues by taking the relief goods, stealing the aid money and selling the donated materials for profit. They are stripping the victims of their last hope for survival. The Spoliarium shows us that the powerful will always find a way to exploit the weak, both by setting them up for failure and by profiting from their pain.
This painting is more than just museum art... it is a challenge to every Filipino’s conscience. When you look at the Spoliarium and see the suffering, you have to ask yourself... Are you going to be one of those indifferent spectators who just watches the corruption happen, accepting it as 'normal'? Or are you going to recognize that this painting is calling us to demand accountability and protect the most vulnerable? The fight for justice, mga bes, it’s still happening right now, and the Spoliarium reminds us we cannot afford to look away.
