HEAVEN HELP ME

Heritage conservationist Carlos Celdran wears a derby hat as he holds aloft a copy of his appeal to the Supreme Court to have his conviction for disrupting a church service in 2010 overturned. The Manila Metropolitan Trial Court and Regional Trial Court found him guilty of offending religious feelings for barging into the Manila Cathedral dressed as national hero Jose Rizal and held up a placard with the word ‘Damaso’ before Catholic church officials in protest of the their opposition to the then reproductive health bill. ‘Damaso’ was a reference to the villainous friar from Rizal’s novel Noli Me Tangere. PHOTO BY RENE DILAN