On January 28, 2013, performance artist and cultural activist Carlos Celdran was convicted of offending religious feelings. The Metropolitan Trial Court (METC) found him guilty “beyond reasonable doubt” of the criminal offense, sentencing him to two months up to a year in prison.
The METC found that his one-man protest against the Catholic Church’s efforts to block the Reproductive Health Bill violated one of the blasphemy laws, particularly Article 133, written into the Revised Penal Code (RPC).
In September 2010, Celdran walked into the Manila Cathedral dressed as Jose Rizal, holding a placard that said “Damaso” — a reference to the arrogant and abusive Padre Damaso of Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere. In the middle of an ongoing ecumenical meeting between leaders of different religious groups, he started shouting “Stop meddling in politics!” Celdran was arrested within minutes.
On the day of Celdran’s conviction, Human Rights Watch opposed the METC’s decision, saying, “Nobody should be jailed for voicing out an opinion or position, especially on a subject that concerns the lives of millions of Filipino women and mothers.” Human Rights Watch researcher and journalist Carlos Conde said that Celdran’s case was a “misuse” of the law, and that the RPC’s provisions on blasphemy were “archaic.”
Celdran, released on a P5,000 bail, appealed the conviction. But in the following years, the Manila Regional Trial Court, the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court would all uphold the METC’s decision.
In January 2019, Celdran went into political exile, moving to Madrid, Spain. On October 13, 2019, he died of cardiac arrest.
