“Datuterte: Imagined Confessions, 2024” by Karlo Sevilla
A Poetic Condemnation of Duterte and His Bloody Regime
(Updated on September 17, 2024 with a quote from The Isthmus editor Christian Smith.)
. . . Karlo Sevilla, has a new book out and it pulls no punches. Assembled largely from public record, the poems reveal something tragic about their subject.
— Christian Smith, editor, The Isthmus
If there is anything you will read today, make it Karlo Silverio Lagman Sevilla III’s free digital poetry collection, Datuterte. It’s a unique, honest, and powerful collage of first-person poems spoken from Rodrigo Duterte’s viewpoint, using real-life statements during his bloody six-year regime as Philippine president. It offers an encompassing grasp of his violent political term and is a product of Karlo’s fellowship at International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM).
— Gretchen Filart, poet, Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net Nominee
Published June 10, 2024, this is the first of three individual poetry projects that I committed to complete as a 2024 International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM) International Fellow.
What I wrote to IHRAM Executive Director Tom Block upon submission:
For this collection, “Datuterte: Imagined Confessions, 2024,” I assumed the (despotic, brutal, chauvinist, misogynist, condescending, foulmouthed, etc.) persona of the previous Philippine president, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, and via a series of portrait poetry and prose attempted a fictional autobiography which narrative arc begins and ends with his contemplation on his current situation: now that rumors are rife about the imminence of his arrest by the International Criminal Court over his alleged crimes against humanity, mainly the extrajudicial killings committed during his brutal “war on drugs” that claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Imagined but based on the subject’s actual statements and reliable news reports, the persona narrates his childhood, young adulthood, and his political career that began with his appointment as OIC vice-mayor of Davao City and ended when he finished his six-year term as president of the Philippines. In his stories, he speaks of the multitude of fatal crimes under his separate administrations as mayor then president; including the ones he purportedly committed himself — straight from his own mouth as factual statements, or tough talk to pander to his fanatical supporters, or both.
The fictional narration delves into the psychology and personal background of an autocrat, along with the social and political milieus within which each select slice of the storyteller’s life was lived, and the crimes he committed personally and/or under his leadership. Insights are also shared on how and why a significant number of a populace end up embracing fascistic propaganda and supporting tyrannical and (therefore) anti-human rights policies as possible solutions for social ills, preponderantly for the perceived or actual breakdown of law and order.
At the very least, I hope that this small collection will serve as a quick reference for any student of contemporary Philippine history, specifically about the administration of the 16th president of the republic (2016 to 2022) that is now widely considered as the most murderous and with the highest number of human rights violations when it comes to state-sanctioned violence.
Read it for FREE here on IHRAM’s website!
