Open mic, open door: Manila bar welcomes musicians, social activists, introverts and queers
- Catch 272 bar in Metro Manila is a neighbourhood dive bar and at the same time a haven for activist-artists opposed to the authoritarian Philippine government
- The ‘mixed bag’ of patrons can relax in its usually cosy and intimate atmosphere, where being yourself is all that matters
Manila can be a grim and gritty city. Since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte came to power in June 2016, the situation has worsened. The capital’s streets have been awash with the blood of victims of his controversial war on drugs, in which thousands of people have been killed. Social inequality has reached unprecedented levels in a city where high-rise condominium blocks flank squalid slums.
Police have stepped up operations to levels unseen since the martial law years of the 1970s and ’80s, cracking down on all manner of “deviants” on a whim – from activists to poor bystanders, artists and even people smoking in the streets.
Yet amid the tensions, there are still places willing to cater to the unusual, queer and dissenting. One such venue is Catch 272, an inconspicuous bar on the corner of Kamuning Road and T. Gener Street in Metro Manila’s Quezon City.
Manager Apauls and assistant manager Tao admit Catch is a “mixed bag” and that the idea behind the bar is that it should be looked on as “your friend’s apartment”.
