Local artist Hulyen seeks help to report Facebook page that used her art for ‘red-tagging’

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Local artist Julienne Dadivas, known for her work Hulyen Comics, is seeking the public’s help to report a Facebook page that stole and edited her art without permission.

In a post on July 28, the artist shared a screenshot of her edited artwork that was used to accuse activists of being terrorists.

“Hi guys. pa-report naman ng post na ito. walang paalam na ginamit at inedit pa yung art ko para mang-red tag,” Dadivas said.

She attached a link that directs to the Facebook page called The Right Bulusan that posted her art on July 7, just days after the controversial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 was signed into law.

Based on its profile, The Right Bulusan is a personal blog of either a student or a worker at the Bulacan State University.

“Resist the [resistance] inside Bulacan State University,” its about page read.

In its questioned post, the image showed illustration of protesters with placards.

One of the placards read: “Activism is a step to terrorism.”

The caption also accused activists in the university as members of the New People’s Army.

“Mga Bugok! Wag kayo dito sa BULSU!” the caption read.

This image was lifted from Dadivas’ piece which she shared on her public page Hulyen Comics last June 3.

Her original work did not include the protesters and the original message on the placard is: “Activism is not terrorism! #JunkTerrorBill.”

Art plagiarism

An article of multimedia arts school CIIT Philippines cited that “art plagiarism is a form of cheating and is an illegal act,” according to the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.

“Though it violates the author’s or artist’s right and goes against the law, plagiarism is not a serious criminal offense; but since it amounts to copyright infringement, the act is still punishable by law,” the article read.

Art activism

Dadivas is popular for her UGH comic books, which tells relatable and funny stories of a character named Hulyen, bearing her distinct drawing style.

Recently, Dadivas was among the artists who expressed their dissent against the passage of the controversial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, which President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law on July 3.

The law’s vague definitions of terrorism and terror acts and some of its provisions were feared could free speech and violate on Filipinos’ basic civil liberties.

Activists also cited the government’s track record of red-tagging progressive groups and conducting warrantless arrests on their members as reasons to scrap the terror law altogether.

Influential civic and legal organizations, such as the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and the National Union of People’s Lawyers, and human rights groups have also previously expressed strong opposition to some of the measure’s provisions.

So far, there are more than a dozen petitions filed to challenge the law before the Supreme Court.

Petitioners include former Supreme Court justices Antonio Carpio and Conchita Carpio-Morales, the framers of the current 1987 Constitution, members of progressive organizations and student councils and youth groups from the country’s big four universities.