Beyond Vandalism: Ateneo Study Reclaims Graffiti and "Banyulatin" as Legitimate Works of Filipino Literature

New research from Ateneo de Manila University reclaims graffiti and bathroom "banyulatin" as vital literary works born from social struggle and dissent.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 26, 2026, 4:51 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from Ateneo de Manila University.

The Margins as a Refuge for Suppressed Speech

While legal frameworks often categorize graffiti as "anarchy" or "dirt," a peer-reviewed study by Harvey James G. Castillo suggests that these scrawls are sophisticated literary interventions. Published in Humanities Diliman, the research explores how speech, when pushed out of regulated public life, finds refuge in the literal margins of society—spray-painted on walls or etched into corners. According to the study, public spaces are rarely neutral; they are contested sites where power dictates whose voices are permitted to linger. Graffiti, therefore, settles in the "cracks" of the urban landscape where the gaze of authority is less sharp, serving as a repository for dissent.

Banyulatin and the Freedom of Anonymity

A significant portion of Castillo’s work focuses on banyulatin, a Filipino term for bathroom graffiti. Literature often identifies bathrooms as semi-private spaces where the rigid grip of social authority loosens. In these secluded stalls, the anonymity provided by the space frees individuals to speak more openly about collective tensions, anxieties, and desires. Banyulatin becomes a silent conversation among the marginalized, a medium where humor, despair, and political critique surface because official forums cannot—or will not—accommodate them.

Spatial Politics and the Criminalization of Expression

The study highlights a stark "front-and-back" politics regarding how names and messages appear in the physical world. While the names of the wealthy and powerful are displayed prominently on buildings and infrastructure in plain view, the informal markings of the marginalized are pushed to hidden parts of the city and criminalized. Castillo notes that some spaces only become "permissible" when the state can control or sanitize the message. By contrast, graffiti remains an unmediated, risky struggle for space, anchored in a refusal to be erased from the social fabric of the city.