Gary Valenciano, nag-react sa plano ng PDEA na ipa-ban ang kanta ni Shanti Dope

Hinarang ng Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) ang kantang “Amatz” ng sikat na rapper na si Shanti Dope dahil ayon sa kanila ay iba ang kahulugan ng pagkakagamit ng salitang “amatz” sa kanta na parang tumutukoy daw sa epekto ng marijuana.

Ayon kay Gary Valenciano na isa sa mga opisyales ng Oranisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit (OPM), ayaw nilang pakialaman ang freedom of expression ng ng kahit sinong singers, composers, at songwriters.

Ani Gary, “Shanti, actually kind of expressed what he meant by it. But because of his language and his lingo, it may mislead people to think otherwise.

“But he was saying, it came from him himself, that he said, ‘it’s not what I’m saying.’ Tinutukoy lang niya na ‘eto ‘yung ginagawa ng iba pero ‘yung sa akin, iba ‘yung amatz ko.’”

Bilang isang artist ay naintidnihan naman daw niya na hindi talaga maiwasang maging “high” ang isang performer kapag nasa sa stage na ito without the assistance of any substance. Dagdag pa ng singer, siguro ay ganun daw ang gustong ipahatid ni Shanti sa kanyang kanta.

Nabasa ba niya ang lyrics ng “Amatz” ni Shanti?

“Oo, pero wala naman akong napansin na he is encouringing to use drugs. Now, with regards to the freedom of expression, whatever is in the constitution, that needs to be followed. I mean, it’s there, di ba?

“Once you start limiting what people can say in a song, what’s to stop anybody from limiting people expressing themselves in other ways – in movies, in what you write, in what we tweet, in what we put on Instagram, in what we put on Facebook. It might create a domino principle,” paliwanag pa niya.

Maaaring rin daw na dahil iba na ang language ngayon ng millennials at Gen-Z na katulad ni Shanti kaya hindi na ito naiintindihan ng ibang tao.
“And we need to be careful to limit them in expressing themselves our way because that’s just not the way it goes.

“OPM believes in the freedom of expression but we do not condone the use of any substance. Being artists, we know that there are many artists, even abroad, that use substances to carry themselves through but we don’t stand for that. We will never condone that,” lahad pa ni Gary.

Samantala, pangungunahan ni Mr. Pure Energy ang Circuit Makati EVOLT International Dance Festival 2019 na magsisimula sa June 2. Ito ang maituturing na pinakamalaki at pinaka-engrandeng dance festival ng Pilipinas.