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DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 1 April) — Davao-based artist Kublai Millan revisited one of his earlier works — “Thread of Life” — in a Facebook post marking former President Rodrigo Duterte’s birthday on March 28, pairing the painting with a personal account of his encounters with the longtime Davao mayor.
“This painting features an old sculpture I did in People’s Park in Davao City where I keep an information nobody knew,” Millan wrote, describing the piece as centered on figures representing “children from the original inhabitants together with pioneering settlers all holding a fabric,” with one section resembling a dove “to represent peace.”
He added that the group is led by “a boy in checkered shirts,” a figure that visually anchors the composition.
Millan then recounted a past encounter with Duterte during an inspection of the park. “One afternoon my client then Mayor of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo came to inspect … then he got my neck around his arms and collared me tight and whispered to my ear and said ‘ikaw bata ka, pag buhatan gani ko nimug statwa patyun jud taka!’ (You, kid, if you make a statue of me, I’ll really kill you!)” he wrote, recalling a threat allegedly made in jest by Duterte at the time.
Despite this, Millan said he later accepted a commission to sculpt Duterte as a young mayor after being approached by his mother, Nanay Soling. “I told her about my dilemma so we connived to pursue anyway, she showed me a photo of the young mayor and I sculpted him in his iconic checked polo,” he said.
He described the experience as one that ultimately allowed him to maintain a relationship with Duterte, concluding his post with a birthday message: “I saved my neck and remained friends with our beloved former Mayor and former President, our Tatay Digong.”
Reading the image
Beyond the narrative in the post’s caption, the painting itself offers a visual framing of that relationship.
At the bottom-right, the checkered-shirted figure — read alongside the caption as Duterte — extends an arm around another figure, positioned slightly lower with its head turned upward towards him. The gesture echoes the anecdote described in the post.
While the figure in checks faces forward, towards the group of people holding a shared fabric, the figure beside him looks up, introducing a subtle asymmetry in gaze and orientation.
The group itself occupies a higher portion of the painting, gathered around a form that resembles a dove. Their placement above the anchoring pair may be read as reinforcing a narrative of leadership oriented towards “the people,” consistent with the symbolism Millan describes. At the same time, the elevated positioning creates a layered composition, where figures are visually arranged in relation to power, attention, and movement.
Elsewhere, a smaller figure positioned lower in the frame appears engaged in cleaning — introducing a different kind of labor into the scene — positioned along the same lower plane as the central figures. Her alignment with them visually links leadership with labor and public service, reinforcing the image of a figure rooted in everyday work: a familiar framing of Duterte as a “president of the people.”
The painting and the post, when taken together, suggest how personal encounters, artistic choices, and public symbolism intersect in shaping how political figures are remembered, especially in Davao where such images often circulate alongside lived memory and local history. (Bea Gaymaytan / MindaNews)
