UPAlumni.net

In the tradition of imprisoned artists like Francisco Balagtas, Jose Rizal, Amado V. Hernandez, detained cultural worker Ericson Acosta is writing…and singing, for his freedom. Together with Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr, Acosta has recorded two albums worth of songs called “Prison Sessions”, all done while in detention at the Calbayog Sub-provincial Jail.

Acosta has been in detention for more than seven months now. He was arrested last February 13 in San Jorge, Samar by members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. He was unarmed at the time of his arrest and only had a laptop in his possession. However, that was enough to get him arrested, even if the soldiers were not able to open the contents of the computer. Acosta was brought to a military camp and subjected to continuous interogation. After two days, he was brought to a police station. A total of 72 hours passed from the time of his arrest before formal charges were filed with a prosecutor. He was charged with illegal possession of explosives.

Acosta has since filed a petition for review wth the Department of Justice. His arraignment was deferred yesterday. He was a former cultural editor of the UP’s Philippine Collegian, assistant section editor at the Manila Times, and a UP student leader.

While imprisoned artists in the past would have to smuggle out their manuscripts on pieces of paper to be able to reach their target audience, Acosta’s Prison Sessions recordings reach their audience via Facebook and Twitter. The recordings are also downloadable. Aside from recordings, Acosta also maintains a blog which contains his prison writings.

“Prison Sessions 1″ was recorded on April 6, 2011 while “Prison Sessions 2” was recorded on September 20, in time for the anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law.

Acosta and Reyes first played together at the fourth floor of UP’s Vinzons Hall in 1994, during their student activist days. Both were members of the student cultural group Alay Sining and wrote several of the songs still being performed the group today.

This recording is intended to raise awareness of the situation Acosta and other political prisoners who remain unjustly detained by the Philippine government. There are more than 360 political prisoners in the Philippines today, according to human rights group Karapatan.

“PrisonSessions” contain original songs on various social issues. Acosta also covered songs by artists like Binky Lampano (I read the news), Tambisan sa Sining (Patay na ang kabayo), Jess Santiago (Halina) and the Eraserheads (Kailan).

Listen to Prison Sessions here:
http://soundcloud.com/natoreyes/sets/prison-sessions-2-ericson/
http://soundcloud.com/natoreyes/sets/prison-sesssions-ericson/