“Senator Villanueva Brands ‘Ama Namin’ Drag Performance ‘Unacceptable’ and ‘Preposterous'”
CITY OF CALAPAN — The provincial board of Oriental Mindoro on Tuesday also declared Amadeus Fernando Pagente, popularly known as drag artist Pura Luka Vega, persona non grata in the province.
In an emailed message, Board Member Roland Ruga said on Wednesday, August 30, that the board passed a resolution during its 53rd session on Tuesday. Calapan City councilor Ronalee Leachon, who sits in the board as president of the League of Councilors, filed the resolution that she authored on August 24.
A copy of the resolution obtained from Leachon’s office said “the province is a [community] of Christian believers and appreciating any Christian individual to show respect at all times to the originality, sanctity, and holiness of the Lord’s Prayer the ‘Ama Namin’ or ‘Our Father’.”
“Pagente gained widespread attention due to a video that went viral, depicting his dance routine at a bar, where he portrayed Jesus of Nazareth while dancing to a remixed version of the ‘Ama Namin,’ thereby causing offense not only to Catholics but also to the whole Christian Faith and/or other Christian denomination, and his action is intolerable, divisive, and is not conducive to promoting respect for our cultural diversity and well-endeared religious beliefs and traditions,” said Leachon in the resolution.
Leachon said that despite repeated demands for public apology, “the person (Pura Luka Vega) shows no remorse.”
Oriental Mindoro is the 17th local government to declare the drag artist an unwanted person.
Ruga said the provincial board was also acting on the request letter dated August 27 from Gov. Humerlito Dolor.
“On July 10, drag artist Pura Luka Vega uploaded videos exhibiting a performance of the Lord’s Prayer in an attire portraying the Black Nazarene. His posts enraged the public, with some even describing it as sacrilegious, blasphemy, and disrespectful,” said Dolor in his letter.
“As public officials, it is our responsibility to promote sensible and prudent expression of art in Oriental Mindoro. We must dissuade artistic expressions offensive to social, religious, and cultural values,” added Dolor.
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