Youth activist and Fillipino Congressman Mong Palatino on those Dancing Prisoners of Cebu:
The dance routine was originally conceptualized by prison officers as a form of behavior conditioning. Then it became a money making event. Dancing prisoners are happy since they claim to enjoy more benefits than other non-dancing prisoners. The incentive to dance is not really to practice art but to receive better prison treatment. Dance to impress visitors to generate funds. Dance to eat more regularly and sleep comfortably. Dance to make the Philippines famous in the global arena. Prisoners are exploited since they have no choice but to obey the instructions of their officers: dance or else. What is doubly painful is that prisoners are enjoying the exploitation.
It is an odd lonely spectacle. Prisoners dancing in front of judicial authorities and the satisfied officials reward the subjects with token reforms and the usually forgotten promise of reviewing their pending cases. Prisoners have to use their bodies if they want to attract the attention of concerned officials. Prisoners have to work harder and please more people if they want some of their basic rights restored. Is prison reform the real desire of the prisoners? What about justice? Freedom?
A 2008 NYTimes story on the prisoners. Wkipedia entry for the 2007 Thriller video.