Sometime in October last year, poet Axel Pinpin found himself writing a poem for a political prisoner captured in the Southern Luzon province of Batangas; only to find out several months later that he would become a political prisoner himself. Axel or Antoy to his many friends is now detained in Camp Vicente Lim in Canlubang, Laguna. He and his group called the “Tagaytay 5” were arrested by the Philippine National Police for rebellion charges. Axel and his companions were but the latest victims of repressive tactics of the Arroyo administration against progressive organizations.

A BS Agriculture graduate, Pinpin is currently serving as consultant of the peasant organization Kalipunan ng mga Magsasaka sa Kabite (Kasama-Ka). He was abducted by elements of the PNP in Tagaytay City on April 28, 2006. Abducted together with Pinpin were other Kasama-Ka members Riel Custodio and Aristedes Sarmiento and drivers Enrico Ybanez and Michael Masayes. It took the PNP three days before presenting the Tagaytay 5 to the media in a press conference on May 1. On this occasion, there were visible signs that the detainees had suffered in the hands of their captors: Custodio for one, had his legs wrapped with bandages; Sarmiento on the other hand could not walk properly; and Pinpin looked as if he just had an asthma attack.

A Fellow of the UP Creative Writing workshop in 1999, Pinpin has made friends with fellow poets and artists. These friends of Pinpin’s are expressing support for their detained comrade through a poetry and music night aptly titled “Tugma sa Laya.”

Pinpin is among the many artists that have suffered the brunt of dictatorial policies of the Arroyo administration. A few weeks before the abduction of the Tagaytay 5, musician Alexis Uy, a graduate of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, was illegally arrested, detained and tortured by the military. Uy is a gifted musician who helped organize the Artistang Pangkultura ng Mamamalakaya sa Timog Katagalugan (APLAYA), one of the member organizations of ARREST Gloria. Uy, who also works as a researcher for the Kalipunan ng Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (KASAMA-TK), was arrested April 30 in Lucena City together with Joey dela Rosa, also a researcher for the said peasant organization; and 12 peasant activists from KOMPRA-Quezon. Just like the Tagaytay 5, they were preparing to join a caravan to Manila for the Labor Day rally when arrested.

Tugma sa Laya is intended to gather moral and financial support for the plight of Pinpin and his other detained comrades. The event is going to be held in Mag:Net Café in Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City on May 31 (Wednesday). The program will run from 7 to 10 in the evening. No entrance fee will be charged but sponsorship tickets that cost 120 pesos each will be available. The proceeds of which will be used to finance legal and medical services that the group badly needs.

Among those who will be performing in the event are National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera; Nanding Josef, Actor and Artistic Director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines; poet Vim Nadera, Director of the UP Creative Writing Center; Dexter Cayanes who is a Fellow of the 2005 UP Writer’s Workshop; writer and journalist Iris Gonzales; Radioactive Sago Project vocalist and poet Lourd de Veyra; TV Personality and SPIT Founder Gabe Mercado; Bobby Balingit of The Wuds; worker’s chorale from Laguna called KUMASA; and Ma. Theresa Pangilinan, Pinpin’s fellow Kabitenyo who is better known as the student who stood up against GMA at her graduation.

Tugma sa Laya is being organized by Southern Tagalog Exposure in cooperation with the Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria). A similar event with the same title and intention is also going to be held in Bahandi in Nakpil St., Malate Manila by poetry group Kilometer 64. ###