“Must-watch,” “powerful,” “inspiring,” and “nakatitindig-balahibo.”
These are some of the words that the netizens mentioned after watching the spoken poetry performance of Binibini 33 Mary Justinne “Tinay” Punsalang, at the Binibining Pilipinas 2022 talent competition, June 23. With her beauty, brain, and courage, this binibini from Cavite not just simply showcased her talent on stage, but also stood up for truth and delivered an important message to all Filipinos.
“Walang ibang bersyon ang katotohanan!”
Bb. Justinne performed the piece titled “Halimaw” written by Raymart Avellaneda, a poem about standing up against this halimaw or monster. A metaphoric word to signify those who propagate mis- and disinformation.
The viral performance clip of Bb. Justinne was uploaded by Ampalaya Monologues, a collection of stories told via different art forms. It was also uploaded on the Twitter account of another spoken word artist named Mark Ghosn with a caption, “This is what you get when a Caviteña journalist joins a beauty pageant.”
On her Instagram post last June 24, Bb. Justinne shared that she was originally going to perform another piece titled, “Violet ang Color ng Pag-ibig,” about women empowerment. However, due to the drastic events happening recently, she changed her mind and focused more on her main advocacy, which is fighting mis- and disinformation.
'Hindi tsismis ang kasaysayan'
Recently, we’ve just witnessed how the Filipina actress Ella Cruz equates history, a social science, to gossip or tsismis. An issue that only proved that our country is suffering from disinformation and historical distortion.
As stated in an article from Inquirer.Net, public historians including Ambeth Ocampo, Xiao Chua, and Alvin Campomanes agreed that history is “evidence-based” and undergoes verification to ensure that it is about the truth, “not lies or fiction.” There is no such thing as tsismis, when it comes to history.
Spoken Word Poetry
As a journalist and TV reporter, one of the things that she does is to deliver the right information and share various stories to the world. But this time, Bb. Justinne delivered a meaningful information and story not by being a journalist or a reporter, but as an artist, and through her art.
For Bb. Justinne, spoken word poetry is a very niched art. “I wasn't sure if the audience would appreciate my performance, much more the content of my performance,” she said. However, Bb. Justinne prayed and told herself that is not about her talent, but rather, it is about her message.
History is in crisis in our country, and right now, we’ve entered a time where people believe more in factoids on a TikTok or YouTube video rather than a true historian. That’s why hearing these encouraging words through the spoken poetry performance of Bb. Justine is a huge step forward.
“Huwag ibaon sa limot ang kasaysayan. Hukayin natin palagi ang totoo. Dahil tayo ang kinakatakutan ng halimaw. Tayo na mga Pilipinong tapat. Tayo na mga Pilipinong nagiisip. Tayo na mga Pilipino na nagmamahal sa katotohanan." Truly the words that we need to hear now more than ever.
The winner of the Binibining Pilipinas 2022 Talent Competition will be announced on the Grand Coronation Night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on July 31.
