Motmot Matibag
1972-2015

by Jep Peligro

The hardcore and punk scene has always been about looking out for each other, and treating our brethen as our second family. This is the scene that binds us all together, bringing one kid from the farthest end of the world to meet, write, chat, and become genuine friends to another kid from the other end of the world. It’s just the way things work. From that initial contact, we build a lifelong friendship that lasts til old age. Admit it, a lot of our friends in the scene have turned out to be our intimate friends 2-3-4 decades on. We have learned to cultivate these familial bond and let it grow outside of our scene life. We have made it our mission and sometimes it has become innate to us to watch out and take care of each other. and As the famous lyrics to an old Agnostic Front song goes… “Remember we’re minorities and everyone of us counts.”

In January of this year, local hardcore and punk fixture Motmot Matibag bid us all farewell. In the very early 80’s, Motmot took part in countless contributions to the local Filipino hardcore and punk scenes, actively writing press for other bands thru his Screams From The Gutter pieces in Rock And Rhythm Magazine, doing Anti/KeepDaFaith zines, spearheading the country’s earliest mail-order distribution legs of traded band merch focusing heavily on cd-dubbed tapes, and reproduced zines (all with the owner’s permissions) through Stick Together Distribution (late 80s) and CrossxBlood Distro (early 90s), and did vocals for a lot of Manila and Laguna’s sprouting bands Psychotic Change, Bulldozed, Power Of Discipline, Isvarah, and Bound By Fury, among others. With his untimely passing, he left a void in the scene that will surely remain unfilled for a long time.

In the truest sense of friendship, a collective group of Mot’s closest friends have been actively looking out for Mot’s bereaved families that includes his wife, who now works overseas, and two kids. Amongst the occasional visits to his house to catch up on things, there have been an annual fest planned to celebrate his life that will resume it’s 2nd year of hosting the event come January 2016, and there has been some fundraisers planned to continuously help out his family.

One of their immediate current projects was the launch of the “Mot Tee” T-shirt design this November. Northern Territory Clothing launched this shirt to partly benefit Motmot’s family. This design represents the Filipinos and their pride of the local hardcore scene that has been trudging forth and persisting through the decades.

This merch can be bought for a fair price, and in supporting the sale of this shirt, you support not only Motmot’s direct family, but the scene as a whole. Let’s continously help out every one of us in the scene. Be it show attendees, band releases, Cds, Cassette Tapes, LPs, Printed fanzines, Webzines, Blogs, Newsletters, radio shows, Band merch/T-shirt designers. Let’s support one another, The Philippines, Asia,and the rest of the world. All participants, every one of us counts.

For inquiries on how to score one of these tees, get in touch with https://www.facebook.com/dyeypunk.reyes
https://www.facebook.com/Northern-Territory-Clothing-and-Printing-147821938622768/?ref=bookmarks