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Manila Mayor Isko Moreno was furious while attempting to remove a spray-painted graffiti near the Bonifacio Shrine earlier this morning, November 18. The mayor failed to remove such despite several attempts with a paint thinner.

After this morning’s flag ceremony, Isko scoured the graffiti sprayed on a circuit box of a telecommunications company with a rag and thinner, but he failed.

“Tingnan ninyo gaano kahirap. Ito ang gusto niyong pagkaabalahan namin? Imbes na…kung paano kayo bibigyan ng bahay, paano namin kayo bibigyan ng trabaho, paano namin kayo bibigyan ng gamot?” Moreno asked while scrubbing the graffiti. “Masaya kayo? Ikinalulugod ninyo ito? Ito art?”

He went on, saying that he had to send five workers just to remove the graffiti off the telecom box.

“Ngayon, kung ipapadala ko limang tao, papaswelduhin ng gobyerno, pera ng tao [ang gagamitin]!” he said. “Natatanggal ba? Hindi! Anong gagawin? Pipinturahan? Gagastos nanaman!”

Instead of allotting money for other means like medicines and other construction materials, he said he would have to spend it instead to pay the workers and to buy paints to cover the graffiti.

“Pinangbili ko ng pintura, makakabili ng gamot. So, dito ko na dadalhin?” he asked. “Yung may sakit? Papainom ko na sa kanya yung art nyo? [‘Yung] ipapambili ko ng pako, semento para maitayo ang bahay, ipapambubura ko lang nito?”

However, some netizens perceive the graffiti not as vandalism, but as an art form.

Last week, cultural youth organization Panday Sining claimed responsibility for the graffiti on Lagusnilad underpass, which they called “protest art.”

“The purpose of our protest art isn't to spite the citizens of Manila but to sound the alarm of the public against these injustices. The clear enemy is the fascist US-Duterte regime.” they said on their official Facebook page.

Mixed reactions drew on Twitter whether graffiti is a form of art or not.

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