LOOK: Mural, monument QC artists’ tribute for SAF 44

A group of Quezon City artists has completed an 18-foot monument and a 26-foot-long mural to honor 44 Special Action Force troopers killed in a clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last Jan. 25.

The Quezon City government posted on its Facebook account photos of the two works of art Thursday, 40 days after the Jan. 25 incident.

"The project was created in collaboration with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and will eventually be installed at the Philippine National Academy in Silang, Cavite, on March 14, 2015, in time for the annual homecoming of its alumni," it said.

The artists belonging to the Erehwon Center for the Arts worked on the tribute.

Erehwon founder Rafael Benitez said the public should remember their sacrifices even years from now.

Benitez added the deaths of the SAF 44 should continue to serve as inspiration to young men and women who join the police force to serve with the ideals of honor and duty.

18-foot monument


^{Photo from Quezon City govt Facebook.}

The 18-foot war memorial dubbed "Bantayog Tagaligtas:  Heroic 44," was sculpted by visual artist Jose Giroy, who apprenticed under National Artist Napoleon Abueva.

"It depicts every member of the SAF 44 as a relief portrait on a monolithic pedestal.  The logos of the PNP and the SAF form separate 'defensive shields' at its bottom front. A funerary statue composed of empty boots, an upturned M-16 rifle, and a beret emblazoned with a SAF seal adorns its topmost part," the city government said in describing the mural.

Mural

Meanwhile, the mural "Tagaligtas 44" measures seven by 26 feet, and is a "work of passion" by the Erehwon Art Collective.

"It depicts each of the fallen heroes, in full combat gear, in various unit configurations," the city government said.

The mural shows the commanding officers and senior inspectors in front, middle ranking patrolmen in the middle, and junior-ranking patrolmen at the rear.

Emblazoned in the heavens in the mural is the slogan of the SAF – “Tagaligtas” – so every Filipino "will know by heart, the motto that they lived by when they gave their lives to the nation," the city government said.

The city government said the mural was done within three short weeks, by award-winning and internationally-acclaimed artists composed of Professor Grandier Gil Bella (head artist); Jerico De Leon; Professor and former UP Fine Arts Dean Leonilo“Neil” Doloricon; Camille Dela Rosa; Lourdes Inosanto, Jonathan Joven; Othoniel Neri (assistant head artist); Emmanuel Nim; Dario Noche (head researcher and photo documentor); and Eghai Roxas.

Erehwon tapped curatorial consultant Professor and Dr. Reuben Ramas Cañete of the Asian Center, U.P. Diliman to advice for conceptualization and design. — Joel Locsin/LBG, GMA News