Oblation Run 2025
The annual Oblation Run is held at the University of the Philippines by members of the fraternity Alpha Phi Omega. It's named after the Oblation statue (above), a symbol of the university, a copy of which is on each of the multiple campuses. The statue represents the selfless offering of oneself to the country. It was originally nude, but a university president intervened to require a fig leaf.
The naked run began in 1977 as a protest against the censorship of a film that exposed human rights abuses under dictator Ferdinand Marcos. It has become an annual tradition used by fraternity brothers to protest current social issues. The protesters are naked but masked, and all are male. This year's Oblation Run was on February 14, 2025, Valentine's Day. Above, the participants gather on the steps of Palma Hall with protest signs.
After gathering on the steps, the protesters lift one of the naked fraternity brothers up, and he emulates the pose of the Oblation statue, but without the fig leaf, above.
The overall theme this year was ‘Boto Mo, Hindi Benta Mo!’ (Your vote, not your sales), calling for clean and fair elections and proper voter education, and protesting against rampant vote-buying that takes place in the Philippines.
Then the participants walked to a spot where they lined up, above. Some of the signs are in Filipino, but some are in English, including "UP Not 4 Sale", where UP stands for the University of the Philippines, "Vote Not 4 Sale", and "Impeach Sara Now", calling to impeach Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte for corruption. She has been impeached, though the Senate trial to vote on removing her won't happen until June.
And then they sang a song! I can't make out all the words, but they are in English, and it's evidently a fraternity song.
After singing, the group resumed their march around the campus with their protest signs. You may notice that the protesters are carrying roses. Another tradition of the Oblation Run is that participants give a rose to a woman along the route, and since the event happened on Valentine's day this year, that seems appropriate.
3 comments:
If my parts were that small, I too would be wearing a mask.
Thank you for bringing world news to us that is not presented her in The United States.
They may be small - Assians often are - but here in the Phillipines they are beautifully circumcised.
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