A Manila court yesterday acquitted drag performer Amadeus Fernando Pagente, popularly known as Pura Luka Vega, over his controversial performance using the Catholic mass song “Ama Namin” or the Lord’s Prayer.
In a 20-page ruling, Manila Regional Trial Court branch 184 Presiding Judge Czarina Samonte-Villanueva said the prosecution “failed to establish Pagente’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt” for violation of Article 201 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC), in relation to Republic Act 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
Article 201 of the RPC penalizes “immoral doctrines, obscene publications and exhibitions, and indecent shows.”
The court held that the prosecution failed to show the law, public order, moral and good customs, which Pagente violated by impersonating Jesus Christ and dancing to the tune of Ama Namin in July 2023 in the middle of a crowd of partygoers.
Pagente performed while impersonating Jesus Christ in the image of a Black Nazarene, a central figure to thousands of Catholic faithful.
The complainants are devotees of the Black Nazarene, or the Hijos Del Nazareno.
In their complaint, they said Pagente’s acts constitute a “direct attack on our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
“The prosecution utterly failed to discharge the burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt that the act complained of constitutes an indecent or immoral play, scene, show or act which are proscribed by the penal law,” the court said.
“In sum, Pura Luka’s performance may be disrespectful and offensive, but the prosecution fell short of proof that the same is unlawful under Article 201,” the court added.
It explained that the charge of violation of Article 201 “is not limited to offending the religious but rather the religion as a belief or the organized community as a whole.”
“Thus, the private complainants, as devotees of the Black Nazarene may have been offended, but that alone does not constitute a crime under Article 201,” the court declared.
Further, the court explained that while Pagente admitted it was his conscious decision to do a queer Jesus drag in many of his performances, the intended audience of this case was the LGBTQIA people as the performance was exhibited in an event organized by the Elephant Party which was entitled “Magandang Gabi Bayot.”
“The tune of the “Ama Namin” version that the accused danced to was not created by the accused. He merely danced to a tune that was readily available on the internet,” the court added.
In its ruling, the court said: “Though the prosecution fell short of the required quantum of proof in the prosecution of the criminal case, the Court takes this opportunity to remind Pura Luka to be circumspect in his choice of medium or subject of his performances as a drag artist taking into account the society he belongs to. It is basic in the concept of social coexistence.”
“This is not to curtail his freedom or rights nor to regulate his acts to belong to a presumed majority but more to be compassionate to the community as a whole, especially with the accessibility of social media which makes it easy to record, upload and circulate materials which are readily available for consumption of the public,” the court added.
The court also ordered the release of the P72,000 bond that Pagente posted for his temporary liberty while the case was being heard.
