Inspired by passages from the Bible, I have written a poem which speaks of love between two individuals.
Given the need for political correctness, the poem does not restrict itself to love between a man and a woman, but to all kinds of couples of different sexes.
Now in particular, I would like to make PNoy recite this to his lady love since he might be too busy to write one. So to make his lovelife more interesting, he could read and feel every line of this poem and recite it aloud to his to-be better half, I hope.
By the way, in the Bible, such kinds of poems were made to symbolize love between God and the people. But if you will examine the words, they are too romantic and too human to refer to any ethereal being's feelings.
So, Folks, I give everyone a free rein also to use this poem for any occasion you may deem it worthwhile reciting. Sometimes, a bit of poetry in our social life could give us a new set of spectacles rosy enough to give us hope and bright ideas.
Happy reading. Emma
TAYO
ISANG BULAKLAK
LIGID NG TINIK
HANAP KO’Y LILIM
KUNG SAAN MAHIHIMLAY
HINIHINTAY KITA AKING MAHAL
ALAALA MO’Y MATAMIS
NA UBAS SA AKING LABI
MAGLALAKBAY AKO SA MGA DAGAT
AT HIMPAPAWID
TITIKMAN HALIK MONG PUMAPAILANLANG
KUMOT KO SA TAGLAMIG
PANG-ALIS NG UHAW SA TAG-INIT
HUWAG, HUWAG KANG LALAYO
TAYO’Y PARA SA ISA’T ISA
IKAW ANG HAMOG
AKO ANG BULAKLAK
SA GABI TAYO’Y MAGNINIIG
SA TAMIS NG LAGOK NG PAG-IBIG
NA HINUBOG NG LANGIT
AY, KAY GANDANG MABUHAY
MARINIG LAMANG IYONG TINIG
KAY LAMIG, KAY LAMYOS
BINABANGGIT AKING PANGALAN
KAY SARAP ALALAHANIN
YAKAP MONG PAMPAINIT
SA NAGLALAMIG NA PANAHON
AYOKONG MAGISING,
AYOKONG MAPUKAW
ITULOY ANG AKING PAGDAMA
NG MAINIT MONG MGA HALIK
SA BUONG MAGDAMAG
AT MAALIWALAS NA UMAGA
IKAW, IKAW ANG SAGOT
SA BAWA’T KATANUNGAN
“ANO ANG PAG-IBIG?”
KAMAY MO ANG KUMAKAPIT
SA HUMUHULAGPOS NA TAPAT NA PUSO
HUWAG KANG LALAYO,
IPADAMA MO INIT NG IYONG PAGMAMAHAL
TAYO’Y BABANGONG SABAY
HHIPAN ANG HARDING PUNO NG
MGA ALAALANG PAG-IIBIGAN
PAGTATAMPISAW SA HAMOG AT ULANG
NAGMAMADALING TAYO’Y
MABINYAGANG MAGKASUYO
AAWIT TAYO SA GITNA NG TIKATIK NG ULAN AT
HUNI NG IBONG HANAP AY MASISILUNGAN
IKAW, IKAW LAMANG ANG TUNAY
NA PAG-IBIG
ALIW KO SA ARAW AT GABI
HUWAG LALAYO ANG MGA MATA
MONG NANUNUOT SA KAIBUTURAN
NG AKING PUSO
AKO, AKO ANG IYONG KATUWANG
SA LAHAT NG PANAHONG NAGDARAAN
AT DARATING
TAYO, TAYONG DALAWA
SABAY NA TATAHAK SA LANDAS,
MABATO MAN O MADULAS
PUNO MAN NG ALIKABOK O
MGA TALULOT NG SAMPAGUITA
TAYO’Y HAHAYO, WALANG ALINTANA KUNDI
ANG MAHIGPIT NA KAPIT-KAMAY
TUTUNGO SA LIWANAG NA WALANG HANGGAN
IKAW AT AKO
AKO AT IKAW MAY PAGKAKAISA
Monday, May 30, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
INVISIBLE GOD
At Carriedo, the street that runs in perpendicular direction to the Quiapo Church are hordes and hordes of vendors of all kinds of products, from child toys, to peanuts, cigarettes, to stockings, and fruits. If you pass by there, you might not be able to negotiate that very small stretch of a street as it is really full of stalls, on both sides and in the middle. Manila City Hall has found it a very lucrative business to rent out even the middle of the road to the inconvenience of the pedestrians. Is there a way out of this? None. Even the Chinese stall owners are complaining because the vendors have taken over even the selling of similar products to theirs, yet they do not pay any rent at all; whereas the Chinese, aside from paying rent have to deal with garbage and other fees charged to them.
Going beyond the legal aspects of the vendors' occupancy of the streets, we would note that the small Filipino entrepreneurs have after all such perseverance in eking out a living. Thus it is not true that they are lazy and good for nothing and that all they want is a fast buck. I think that what motivates the vendors there is that money is quick no matter how small. They realize right away a profit from every item that they are able to sell.
Despite the industriousness of the people however there are highly unscrupulous big companies that are milking the people in huge millions of pesos. I am talking here of the telcos. A friend has just bought a load of P20 supposed to allow her to text 20 times. But every time she texts me, am with Globe, she loses her load after only three messages.
Now because my celfone has been attacked by a HUMAN VIRUS that blocks my calls or makes it difficult for me to get connected to the numbers I wish to call, I bought a Smart sym card. With a 30 pesos load and 200 free texts as a first timer, I was only able to send 10 texts, and the so-called 20-min voice calls, turned out to be a one-time 3 minute call and kaput. Then I bought a 100 pesos load supposed to give me unlimited call for 4 days. For two days I could not get through. The message was that -- no network service whereas with my globe handyphone I could easily get connected. Multiply this situation by 1 million subscribers and how much do you think is being sucked from the hard-earned kita of our kababayan? By the millions, and that is even daily.
So I was wondering why Manny Pangilinan was going to buy off a basketball team in the US out of the profits he has been making with his businesses, one of which is Smart. Isn't it high time that he plows back all that profit to enhancing the service of his telco? God, this is simply being a Christian -- to do unto others what you want others to do unto you.
Now where is God in our country?
Going beyond the legal aspects of the vendors' occupancy of the streets, we would note that the small Filipino entrepreneurs have after all such perseverance in eking out a living. Thus it is not true that they are lazy and good for nothing and that all they want is a fast buck. I think that what motivates the vendors there is that money is quick no matter how small. They realize right away a profit from every item that they are able to sell.
Despite the industriousness of the people however there are highly unscrupulous big companies that are milking the people in huge millions of pesos. I am talking here of the telcos. A friend has just bought a load of P20 supposed to allow her to text 20 times. But every time she texts me, am with Globe, she loses her load after only three messages.
Now because my celfone has been attacked by a HUMAN VIRUS that blocks my calls or makes it difficult for me to get connected to the numbers I wish to call, I bought a Smart sym card. With a 30 pesos load and 200 free texts as a first timer, I was only able to send 10 texts, and the so-called 20-min voice calls, turned out to be a one-time 3 minute call and kaput. Then I bought a 100 pesos load supposed to give me unlimited call for 4 days. For two days I could not get through. The message was that -- no network service whereas with my globe handyphone I could easily get connected. Multiply this situation by 1 million subscribers and how much do you think is being sucked from the hard-earned kita of our kababayan? By the millions, and that is even daily.
So I was wondering why Manny Pangilinan was going to buy off a basketball team in the US out of the profits he has been making with his businesses, one of which is Smart. Isn't it high time that he plows back all that profit to enhancing the service of his telco? God, this is simply being a Christian -- to do unto others what you want others to do unto you.
Now where is God in our country?
Friday, May 13, 2011
A TIME TO FREE THE MIND
by Wilhelmina S. Orozco
What raises the intelligence of a people? Is it education, media, the church, the family or the government in general? Many think that it is the sole responsibility of schools and universities to increase the knowledge and deepen their understanding of the world, and that the family can only give basic knowledge. On the other hand, some people think that the church knowledge – the Bible is the most important knowledge for the people. Still others think that the government can provide the best environment for the people to become intelligent.
All of these maybe true in one way or another but underlying all these is the need for that freedom to source knowledge. We need to be free to search in the libraries, to go to government archives and records divisions, to search in the SSS, the BIR, the GSIS and other government entities on the operations of companies for us to learn how business functions.
Yet, the very tools needed to source knowledge are laws that should allow us to do that. Without those laws we cannot expect the people to be brave enough, to feel free to search, to broaden their horizons, and to assert themselves to find out who is corrupting who, at what extent, when and where. I remember when I was searching for information on the coconut companies in Southern Tagalog during martial law, I had to be incognito and pretend to be a guide of a beautiful Dutch feminist writer so I could shoot visuals inside them. But sometime later in this millenium, when I tried researching on labor data at the POEA, I was given conflicting reasons and then the employees gave me dated data which I could not rely on to give convincing facts and responsible opinions as to why the labor movement is not as vibrant as it should be. Then I went to NSO to get statistics again but Ms. Ericta, a friend of a relative in the non-martial law days was not there and her staff would not give me their latest data, not even just a year old. I had to leaf through volumes of statistics that were already passé.
Now what is the point of having government records as basic sources of knowledge for writers, researchers and students seeking fresh data for their writings and studies? Without such data, they would be giving only dilettante, arbitrary, opinionated and irrelevant ideas on issues, and thus could dish out results that are no longer important, relevant, current and helpful to forming opinions because the conditions – physical and social would have already changed through the years.
And currency, being relevant are the best labels that writings and studies must have. Without them, then the readers, the public will err in judgment as well and possibly commit mistakes in their actions to better their lives. For example, if a writer provides data that show high salaries of individuals, whereas in reality, the workers are already suffering from low wages, then the image of the labor sector would appear rosy. So what is the need for their struggle to have an increase in pay? Another example, if environmental writers would say that this governor or this mayor has improved the lives of the people in their places, yet omit the data on the real and comprehensive status of the environment in their localities, then the readers would be one-sided in looking at the problem. They would say, “Ahh, let’s imitate the administration of this governor,” without knowing that many of the people in that area have already left the place because their livelihood had been affected by mining companies.
I think that the worst case of withholding of data of writers would be on health. If their sources of data, the hospitals, the city and town hall health centers fail to release data that show how the people’s health is being taken care of – mental, physical, emotional and even spiritual, I must say – then even the legislators who craft laws would be blinded by the writings and say that “We don’t need to raise the budget for health anymore.” Hence instead of raising the quality of life of the people, the governing institutions would put their budgets in other items that most of the time are just physical in nature.
What are we saying here? Idiotization results from that lack of power to source knowledge. An idiotized public results from that lack of freedom to source knowledge. The readers, the Congress and the Senate, the people in general would be and actually are now being shortchanged on how the directions of their lives should proceed.
Everything is being done haphazardly and those with good resources – who could bribe their way in everything with money – are the ones benefiting from the situation. The well-meaning are left with crumbs of knowledge which do not contribute to their being able to reveal truths and corruption about governance and business operations, among other issues.
And worse – what generation of people are we bringing up and what kind of brains – values, knowledge, opinions -- will future generations have? Where will the country go if this lack of freedom to source information is forever suppressed?
I think that there should be no fear in releasing information from all sources if everyone is doing a straight business or engaged in a morally uplifting endeavor.
Only those who are hiding some hanky-panky activities and corrupt officials would be afraid of talking to or sharing information with others – media, writers, students, researchers- about their activities.
I must say that the following data must be accessible to the public – all the knowledge about officials, their relationships – personal and social, their earnings, their held beliefs, and many more. In other words, the lives of officials and employees of government should be open books, not only because the people’s money is being used to pay them and that all their activities are funded by our taxes. The greater reason is that need for them to serve as role models on how to lead a good life.
Hence we have all the right to know the facts so that we would know if, the next time elections are held, they would still be trustworthy enough to earn our votes. If they are employees, then is there a need for us to go to the Ombudsman to charge them with corrupt practices, or any other unethical behavior?
With regard to businesses, I believe that computations of profits especially by the oil companies must be open to the public as well. In this regard, we would know if we need to patronize one over the other or if we should strengthen our research activities on alternative energy sources or not.
Of course it is a nightmare for companies to see the public turning to, not exactly against, them and penetrating their operations. But that is a fact of life and a given once they engage in legitimate business. The people have a right to know who is making so much money, legally and illegally. And given that our people are spiritually-attuned, they would naturally stay away from those companies who just milk and milk them for life without giving back something in return.
For a more focused discussion, let us consider the issue of contractualization. Some heads of companies have gotten recognition, trophies, medals, etcetera not only locally but even worldwide for having managed their companies very well, which means most of the time, for having turned in a huge profitable business.
Actually, before rewarding or awarding them, their hiring and managerial policies should have been examined very well. How long have they been using contractualization? How long should they be allowed to do so? It turns out now that contractualization is a tool for companies to avoid the provision of basic benefits to the employees like vacation and sick leaves, maternity and paternity leaves, and doubling of salaries and wages during holidays among others. In other words it has become a sword to divest the working force of their human rights to lead a decent, humane and just life. Our workers become meek sheep that follow every order for them inside companies, no longer having that supposedly United Nations' backed workers' rights and that freedom to assert their workers' rights. The celebration of May lst becomes a hollow and mechanical occasion to toast the importance of our workers.
My heart skips a beat whenever I meet young women and men working at those businesses with bland looks knowing that after six months they would be forced to leave the company again and search for another job or wait for another one to come their way. Meanwhile, their young bodies are ageing and unhealthy even because of the long hours they spend and majority without overtime pay. Yet they are forced also to put themselves up as presentable -- with make-up and stockings in the case of women, and muscular and quick in responding to orders, in the case of men.
Hence, what are those recognition awards for?
In other words, we are saying here that award bodies must be sensitive to the plight of the constituents of those they are awarding; otherwise, everything becomes a sham, a photo-opportunity to land in the papers which then make ill-repute the awarding system.
And many are indeed deceived by others into pushing such events without their knowing (or are they accomplices to blinding the public eye) that their own reputation becomes questionable and is being harmed by them.
Lastly, the situation raises and abets the existence of corruption. Those who hold the facts needed for information could extract material reward or benefits in exchange for them.
Thus the situation turns for the worse as what should have been a chance to catch corrupt individuals becomes a step to aggravating the crime. What is a time to free the people’s mind, to make them know, becomes a chance to put it in bondage to materialistic instead of spiritual values that could guide them through life. What is unfreeing the mind except a form of idiotization?
Hopefully legislators would already look at the bill on Freedom of Information with greater seriousness and admit that the more we delay its passage then the more we are rearing a country of migrant labourers and professionals who would be using their brains and brawn to serve the needs and citizens of other wealthy countries.
Where now is the truth of "The Filipino is worth dying for?"
Psalm:
"Blessed are they who have regard for the weak; they will be delivered in times of trouble. Their lives will be protected and preserved. Their land will be blessed...."
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
WHAT CAN MAKE A COUNTRY SAFE?
Every broadcaster in the United States should imagine themselves as some extremist Muslims first whose leader had just been killed by the Navy Seals under orders of the Commander-in-Chief before launching any kind of joke or satire related to the incident.
How would they feel now that their leader is gone? How would they react?
Unfortunately, as I watched two talk shows this morning, I found the jokes of the host rather insensitive to the feelings of the Muslims. Radical or not, all Muslims would feel a tinge of injury over how their own racial brother was being ridiculed.
I am not defending Bin Laden's views at all, nor do I adhere to them. But I think that now is the time for all the peace-loving peoples of the world to feel magnanimous over victory and just keep a serious and quiet mien like their leaders, instead of rabble-rousing.
The jokes were not funny at all and could incite the followers of Bin Laden to further their schemes instead of reflecting on the consequences of their acts before and changing their methods to be recognized in this world.
Maybe the broadcasting, film, radio and print associations, all of media groups must come together and have a united stand on how to behave regarding a very significant and serious happening which could spell a great difference in making their country, and the whole planet a safe place for all of us.
After all, the idea of being on this planet is not to dominate any other race but to make all human beings, human, humane, possessed with all human rights to live peacefully with each other, especially at this time when economic differences are highly distinct.
At this moment, let us pray in unison for all the souls departed and make everyday, a time for reflection on how our acts are helping others cope with problems of existence and being humane.
Let us reflect on this Chinese proverb: "If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person. If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house. If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world."
So be it.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
WHEN A TERRORIST GURU DIES
so osama bin laden has been killed; he who reflected, conceptualized, led and ordered massive groups of young and old men and women to conduct violent activities even in peaceful and innocent venues as his campaign against the United States. what makes an individual turn that violent? what kind of parents did he have. reports could be rife about his background, but still it is difficult to fathom how his mission in life has revolved around sowing fear, sowing terror all around the globe.
why did this century produce a person like osama bin laden? was it his just pure hatred of the United States peoples? her institutions? her democracy? what is it about democracy that he hated?
if osama lived instead of died, what could have happened? i am sure it was difficult for the US forces to have made him lived. Pakistan is not a safe place, not from terrorists. even many women there approve of terrorism. i know one female leader who looked surprised at me when i questioned why she was not campaigning against osama bin laden and yet she could converse on the most highly intellectual ideas about feminism.
hence, the killing of osama could have been justified because his own people could have retaliated right there and then and produced more acts of aggression against any one.
yes, terrorism is a faceless campaign -- as we do not know who is a terrorist in our midst. it could be anyone who is just tired of using democratic procedures in achieving even simple desires and necessities like shelter, food, education, water and many more. is it really exhausting asking for these? why can't they be given on a silver platter for everyone who breathes life? why make it so difficult to live on this planet?
i do not condone terrorism at all. i would not turn terrorist at all. in fact, i would rather die than kill a terrorist. but it is so funny that in our country, the Philippines, some broadcasters would ridicule news about terrorism and treat it as if it were just an ordinary piece among so many pieces that they have mouthe everyday; thus in the end, empowering the terrorists by their cynicism.
and of course, ordinary folks like this restaurateur in Diliman treats terrorism in another comical way. she labels one of her menu foods as "vegetarian terrorist" a pun on the hot chili taste of the veggies.
yes, in our country, terrorism does not connote something dire -- it is an option to many like the armed aggressions of the new people's army. the abu sayyaf, the mnlf and milf. the only ones protesting heavily against their acts are the victims themselves, especially the businesspeople who turn bankrupt from the encounters, kidnapping and "taxation" all the time.
yet if osama had lived to defend himself, we would have seen the phantom of hitler in him -- justifying in all his glory why blood has to be shed, why everyone should be armed, why every suicide bomber is a hero or a heroine, why it was justifiable for him to have ordered the bombing into rubbles of the world trade center. and by his intellect, he could have convinced young minds whose preoccupation now are those computer games of violence as well. and who knows how many more people would get killed later from their imitative acts.
and so, if he had lived, i am sure Obama would be the number one target of his people if he was not released, although by now this is already a given -- going by the ill logic of his campaign. anyone who does not adhere to his mission is considered an enemy meant to be eliminated in this life.
and so, actually, we are back to that era of survival of the fittest, that so-called "caveman's tactics" of killing those who grab his food, who steals his wife, and deprives him of even that simple thing as the roasted tail of an ox, among others.
now how do we really get rid of terroristic mentality? we need to address this question because the killing of that guru of violence does not end there. his gangmates could be plotting more heavy activities designed to draw attention to themselves and their cause.
to my mind, once we are able to demystify terrorism, to show that life on earth is better than that of a fugitive hiding all the time and plotting to destroy institutions, and to kill as many people as possible at one time to grab public attention or just to plainly get even with anyone and everyone in society. it must be a very tall order to answer this right away; but we can start at the most basic step: that of empowering the people.
we need to start in the barangay, that smallest political unit in our country. we need to check who are coming in and going out of the barangay because the gang could easily weave in and out of such a place.
i remember one time going to Quiapo where there loads of CDs and VCDs being sold. one guy with a knapsack passed me by and nearly shoved me down the path. i complained but instead of being apologetic he growled at me with eyes that seem to say, "Don't you know me?" he was a young man, perhaps even in his late teens but his self-assurance was questionable. could he have been hiding a gun in his knapsack? was he there then to have an r and r from his terroristic activities? his response can hardly be labeled normal as the rest of the vendors in the place lowered their eyes when i questioned his uncouth behavior and he had responded in a more uncouth manner.it was as if he was a kind of an institution there -- untouchable no matter if it was his fault.
and there and then i deduced that the people in the area could be cowed readily into submission, obedience and silence once a person holds an arm --whether flaunted about or kept from public view.
so, barangay empowerment is needed -- people empowerment which means knowing the ways the barangay is using the funds for the betterment of their lives, knowing that they are included in the planning on a day-to-day, week-by-week and year-by-year basis.
in our barangay, i was told by our capitana that she would be available every monday, and that very next Monday when we met at the swearing in of the new set of officers of the newly organized Bahay Caridad Housing Association, headed by Bot Alquero. but when i went to her office that monday, she was nowhere to be found, her staff immediately meeting me by the door to tell me that she had just gone. yet i called up before coming and had been told that she was there. when i looked around, i saw her son emerging from the door and their van at the parking lot.
in other words, there is a cordon-sanitaire built around the official who give the go-signal whether one can meet her or not. and this is replicated within the government bureaucracy itself, which then accounts for that inching of any individual into terroristic ideas and acts. why, because, the very people that have been elected, who promised a lot of changes during the campaigns, suddenly become inaccessible and underlings whose ideas of power revolve around being the gatekeepers and not by any whit of humane caring for the constituents now become the new quasi officials that have to be dealt with. this is not democracy but elitism.
yes it is elitism that will kill any aspiration for a democratic life. it is the lack of transparency in government planning, programming and activities that will encourage the seeds of protest, of revolt to grow.
and as we are now in that era of undoing all acts of moral depravity of the past administration, we must put up people centers -- phone and texting numbers, email addresses that make officials easily accessible. we must make all radio and tv stations have slots for the people's views, complaints and ideas about how to make this government function for us.
lastly, i suggest that we change the energy secretary every time a new round of oil price increase arises as it means that he or she is not capable of solving the greatest problem of the people. the department of energy can spell a lot as to what kind of life we can lead, and looking back in our history, all the secretaries become blind when it comes to such increases, and worse, become apologists for the oil cartels' predatory acts.
God save our country from untoward acts from hereon. Amen.
why did this century produce a person like osama bin laden? was it his just pure hatred of the United States peoples? her institutions? her democracy? what is it about democracy that he hated?
if osama lived instead of died, what could have happened? i am sure it was difficult for the US forces to have made him lived. Pakistan is not a safe place, not from terrorists. even many women there approve of terrorism. i know one female leader who looked surprised at me when i questioned why she was not campaigning against osama bin laden and yet she could converse on the most highly intellectual ideas about feminism.
hence, the killing of osama could have been justified because his own people could have retaliated right there and then and produced more acts of aggression against any one.
yes, terrorism is a faceless campaign -- as we do not know who is a terrorist in our midst. it could be anyone who is just tired of using democratic procedures in achieving even simple desires and necessities like shelter, food, education, water and many more. is it really exhausting asking for these? why can't they be given on a silver platter for everyone who breathes life? why make it so difficult to live on this planet?
i do not condone terrorism at all. i would not turn terrorist at all. in fact, i would rather die than kill a terrorist. but it is so funny that in our country, the Philippines, some broadcasters would ridicule news about terrorism and treat it as if it were just an ordinary piece among so many pieces that they have mouthe everyday; thus in the end, empowering the terrorists by their cynicism.
and of course, ordinary folks like this restaurateur in Diliman treats terrorism in another comical way. she labels one of her menu foods as "vegetarian terrorist" a pun on the hot chili taste of the veggies.
yes, in our country, terrorism does not connote something dire -- it is an option to many like the armed aggressions of the new people's army. the abu sayyaf, the mnlf and milf. the only ones protesting heavily against their acts are the victims themselves, especially the businesspeople who turn bankrupt from the encounters, kidnapping and "taxation" all the time.
yet if osama had lived to defend himself, we would have seen the phantom of hitler in him -- justifying in all his glory why blood has to be shed, why everyone should be armed, why every suicide bomber is a hero or a heroine, why it was justifiable for him to have ordered the bombing into rubbles of the world trade center. and by his intellect, he could have convinced young minds whose preoccupation now are those computer games of violence as well. and who knows how many more people would get killed later from their imitative acts.
and so, if he had lived, i am sure Obama would be the number one target of his people if he was not released, although by now this is already a given -- going by the ill logic of his campaign. anyone who does not adhere to his mission is considered an enemy meant to be eliminated in this life.
and so, actually, we are back to that era of survival of the fittest, that so-called "caveman's tactics" of killing those who grab his food, who steals his wife, and deprives him of even that simple thing as the roasted tail of an ox, among others.
now how do we really get rid of terroristic mentality? we need to address this question because the killing of that guru of violence does not end there. his gangmates could be plotting more heavy activities designed to draw attention to themselves and their cause.
to my mind, once we are able to demystify terrorism, to show that life on earth is better than that of a fugitive hiding all the time and plotting to destroy institutions, and to kill as many people as possible at one time to grab public attention or just to plainly get even with anyone and everyone in society. it must be a very tall order to answer this right away; but we can start at the most basic step: that of empowering the people.
we need to start in the barangay, that smallest political unit in our country. we need to check who are coming in and going out of the barangay because the gang could easily weave in and out of such a place.
i remember one time going to Quiapo where there loads of CDs and VCDs being sold. one guy with a knapsack passed me by and nearly shoved me down the path. i complained but instead of being apologetic he growled at me with eyes that seem to say, "Don't you know me?" he was a young man, perhaps even in his late teens but his self-assurance was questionable. could he have been hiding a gun in his knapsack? was he there then to have an r and r from his terroristic activities? his response can hardly be labeled normal as the rest of the vendors in the place lowered their eyes when i questioned his uncouth behavior and he had responded in a more uncouth manner.it was as if he was a kind of an institution there -- untouchable no matter if it was his fault.
and there and then i deduced that the people in the area could be cowed readily into submission, obedience and silence once a person holds an arm --whether flaunted about or kept from public view.
so, barangay empowerment is needed -- people empowerment which means knowing the ways the barangay is using the funds for the betterment of their lives, knowing that they are included in the planning on a day-to-day, week-by-week and year-by-year basis.
in our barangay, i was told by our capitana that she would be available every monday, and that very next Monday when we met at the swearing in of the new set of officers of the newly organized Bahay Caridad Housing Association, headed by Bot Alquero. but when i went to her office that monday, she was nowhere to be found, her staff immediately meeting me by the door to tell me that she had just gone. yet i called up before coming and had been told that she was there. when i looked around, i saw her son emerging from the door and their van at the parking lot.
in other words, there is a cordon-sanitaire built around the official who give the go-signal whether one can meet her or not. and this is replicated within the government bureaucracy itself, which then accounts for that inching of any individual into terroristic ideas and acts. why, because, the very people that have been elected, who promised a lot of changes during the campaigns, suddenly become inaccessible and underlings whose ideas of power revolve around being the gatekeepers and not by any whit of humane caring for the constituents now become the new quasi officials that have to be dealt with. this is not democracy but elitism.
yes it is elitism that will kill any aspiration for a democratic life. it is the lack of transparency in government planning, programming and activities that will encourage the seeds of protest, of revolt to grow.
and as we are now in that era of undoing all acts of moral depravity of the past administration, we must put up people centers -- phone and texting numbers, email addresses that make officials easily accessible. we must make all radio and tv stations have slots for the people's views, complaints and ideas about how to make this government function for us.
lastly, i suggest that we change the energy secretary every time a new round of oil price increase arises as it means that he or she is not capable of solving the greatest problem of the people. the department of energy can spell a lot as to what kind of life we can lead, and looking back in our history, all the secretaries become blind when it comes to such increases, and worse, become apologists for the oil cartels' predatory acts.
God save our country from untoward acts from hereon. Amen.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
WHEN BALUT BECOMES AN ART OBJECT
by Wilhelmina S. Orozco
What accounts for the significance of an artistic work? Is it the medium, the name of the artist, the content of the art object? The period when the artwork was completed?
It really seems difficult to pinpoint where a significant artwork begins and ends. So many factors could influence its creation and make the viewers appreciate it. But viewing Alwin Reamillo’s exhibit entitled “AngBalutViand” which features real balut and then cast into plaster with emulsion, is a study in high artwork. Reamillo has created an installation that speaks of the history, the cultural taste, as well as the economic state of a people that has seen various evolutions and revolutions in thought, word and deed.
Going through the pieces that he assembled at the Tin-aw Gallery at Makati City, the financial capital of the Philippines, one can find a bit of himself/herself in all of the items. Why because there is something in every piece that seems to exude a trait, a viewpoint, a quality of our race and even a question. Should we continue looking for change, or should we just flow with the historical tide?
An egg reminds us of something that will be born. In fact, we women have eggs that men’s sperms mix with to give life to a foetus or foetuses. In a similar vein, duck eggs are also birthing media. They give birth to ducklings but the process is cut short to produce something either as penoy – all yolk and albumin or balut, an egg with an unborn duckling, now both snackfoods in our country. Thus in this exhibit, a basket of balut reveals eggs cracked open and many more duck eggs hanging and lying here and there with a lot of things to say about Philippine life.
Now why did Reamillo choose a balut to signify the Balikbayan or the Balutviand? Is there a rebirthing process in his idea of the Filipino in another land and in this case Hong Kong where the art installation emanated?
The exhibit features many facets presenting what Reamillo ideates about of the balut. In the middle of the gallery is a table where lie silver saucers with plaster-hardened balut – half – and semi-cracked. From the ceiling hang several balut also and a few small helicopters with carapace bodies that swing in the air as the electric fan blows the air from the floor. Then at the right and left walls of the gallery are many more similar balut.
However, these are not ordinary balut transformations because they contain manyu messages. One egg contains a torn piece of a map of Hong Kong; another minute human male figures in orange and black suits. Other balut pieces contain a black and white drawing of the face of Christ, a clenched fist, the face of a woman saint, and Ninoy Aquino’s face in the 500 peso bill with serial number PS64655. Then in two other balut are, again, minute men in black and orange suits but this time with locks of black hair in disarray in the background.
Meanwhile on the left wall of the gallery are another set of balut – one containing a piece of “alambre” used for fences and reminding us of those used by the military and the police to seal off Malacanang from demonstrators. Another features a picture of a man’s face with eyes closed and drinking from a bottle. Still another, the carapace of the crab with Mao Ze Dong’s face. Such objects reveal a fragile existence manifesting an idea that cannot be sustained. They could also be Reamillo’s comments on a people that continually transforms to another kind of existence in another setting. This must be why his exhibit title Ang BalutViand has a caption “a transcultural balut project by Alwin Reamillo.”
Aside from poking fun at balut eaters, Reamillo also lightens up our view of the anti-Spanish period in Philippine history. In Tatlong Itlog (Los Indios Bravos), he presents a picture of three heroes – Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar the propagandist and Mariano Ponce whose face is superimposed with an “itlog.” Rizal’s hand also has an embedded egg with a small man in black suit and his back turned to the viewer. Why Tatlong Itlog? Probably Reamillo thinks these men possessed ideas which never materialized.
Now, why did he pick this picture among all so many photographs of our heroes? The poses are frozen in time – with Rizal looking at the camera, and del Pilar’s gaze somewhere else. The photo seems to want to make us look back to history but at the same time warns us of the pitfalls of revolutionary ideas, thus showing Reamillo’s half-hearted view of societal change. Why, is it because of its bloody consequences once carried to extreme the way Bonifacio and the Katipunan conducted the revolution? It is not so strange anymore that Bonifacio’s face does not figure at all in this exhibit.
Meanwhile, the image of Rizal is repeated in a “posporo” a Phimco matchbox which is a common need in Philippine home-kitchens. On the other side of the matchbox is a painting of a human heart. Of this juxtaposition of ideas – Rizal and the heart - Reamillo shows his intellectual view of life– that a man who follows Rizal’s fiery heart could induce a change – but then the matchbox is transformed into a “maleta” or a luggage – that property of the Filipino Balikbayan who comes home for a vacation then flies to other lands to seek greener pastures. Thus the matchbox which could ignite change becomes a luggage, a tool for exiling oneself in another land.
Does the artwork show Rizal’s ideas being hatched in foreign lands or do they reflect the Balikbayan’s unending aspiration for Rizal’s love for a free Philippines even when abroad? Truly this artwork can evoke a lot of meanings and it is not for us to give a definitive explanation but rather to bring up many thoughts provoked by this artistic excursion of Reamillo.
At the gallery center wall is tacked “Sirangan,” a four-paneled wood almost two and a half feet high and three feet long shaped like a moth with a body and wings. Sirangan is a pun on Silangan, the East, where the Philippines is located, and is also a potshot at our country’s being labeled, “Perlas ng Silangan.” Embedded on this panel are chicken bones, feathers, a bahay kubo (nipa hut) and a man holding two fishes and whose feet are lifted up by a drawn forefinger of a hand reflecting the delicate situation of the poor folks as that of a moth.
Could this be an extension of Rizal’s story about a moth? Actually, Rizal wrote that children’s story told him by his mother, Teodora Alonzo. A moth gets attracted to the light of the gas lamp. It goes flying in circles nearer and nearer to the light until its wings get singed and it dies.
Over-all the exhibit does not transform us into revolutionaries nor into any kind of advocate. Rather it induces us to be a cynic --- cynical of institutions--- as can be found in one corner of the gallery floor, a 3-piece broken presidential seal with an inscription “Sagisag ng Ulo-pang ng Pilipinas,” an outright denigration of any kind of change emanating from the highest office of the land. However sarcastic this is, we need to know first when Reamillo did this – was it during this time of Pnoy or that of GMA whose administration brought us to the depths of moral degeneration, politically?
Also this exhibit tells us that we need not take life seriously as it could be just a temporary journey without beginning nor ending. Rather life calls us to immerse ourselves in it and to savor the big and small ideas that come our way, whether they involve an overhauling of institutions that deprive the people of a humane existence or just simply a case of enjoying the eating of balut. But be careful, the balut could contain a lot of messages ---consequential and inconsequential too.
What accounts for the significance of an artistic work? Is it the medium, the name of the artist, the content of the art object? The period when the artwork was completed?
It really seems difficult to pinpoint where a significant artwork begins and ends. So many factors could influence its creation and make the viewers appreciate it. But viewing Alwin Reamillo’s exhibit entitled “AngBalutViand” which features real balut and then cast into plaster with emulsion, is a study in high artwork. Reamillo has created an installation that speaks of the history, the cultural taste, as well as the economic state of a people that has seen various evolutions and revolutions in thought, word and deed.
Going through the pieces that he assembled at the Tin-aw Gallery at Makati City, the financial capital of the Philippines, one can find a bit of himself/herself in all of the items. Why because there is something in every piece that seems to exude a trait, a viewpoint, a quality of our race and even a question. Should we continue looking for change, or should we just flow with the historical tide?
An egg reminds us of something that will be born. In fact, we women have eggs that men’s sperms mix with to give life to a foetus or foetuses. In a similar vein, duck eggs are also birthing media. They give birth to ducklings but the process is cut short to produce something either as penoy – all yolk and albumin or balut, an egg with an unborn duckling, now both snackfoods in our country. Thus in this exhibit, a basket of balut reveals eggs cracked open and many more duck eggs hanging and lying here and there with a lot of things to say about Philippine life.
Now why did Reamillo choose a balut to signify the Balikbayan or the Balutviand? Is there a rebirthing process in his idea of the Filipino in another land and in this case Hong Kong where the art installation emanated?
The exhibit features many facets presenting what Reamillo ideates about of the balut. In the middle of the gallery is a table where lie silver saucers with plaster-hardened balut – half – and semi-cracked. From the ceiling hang several balut also and a few small helicopters with carapace bodies that swing in the air as the electric fan blows the air from the floor. Then at the right and left walls of the gallery are many more similar balut.
However, these are not ordinary balut transformations because they contain manyu messages. One egg contains a torn piece of a map of Hong Kong; another minute human male figures in orange and black suits. Other balut pieces contain a black and white drawing of the face of Christ, a clenched fist, the face of a woman saint, and Ninoy Aquino’s face in the 500 peso bill with serial number PS64655. Then in two other balut are, again, minute men in black and orange suits but this time with locks of black hair in disarray in the background.
Meanwhile on the left wall of the gallery are another set of balut – one containing a piece of “alambre” used for fences and reminding us of those used by the military and the police to seal off Malacanang from demonstrators. Another features a picture of a man’s face with eyes closed and drinking from a bottle. Still another, the carapace of the crab with Mao Ze Dong’s face. Such objects reveal a fragile existence manifesting an idea that cannot be sustained. They could also be Reamillo’s comments on a people that continually transforms to another kind of existence in another setting. This must be why his exhibit title Ang BalutViand has a caption “a transcultural balut project by Alwin Reamillo.”
Aside from poking fun at balut eaters, Reamillo also lightens up our view of the anti-Spanish period in Philippine history. In Tatlong Itlog (Los Indios Bravos), he presents a picture of three heroes – Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar the propagandist and Mariano Ponce whose face is superimposed with an “itlog.” Rizal’s hand also has an embedded egg with a small man in black suit and his back turned to the viewer. Why Tatlong Itlog? Probably Reamillo thinks these men possessed ideas which never materialized.
Now, why did he pick this picture among all so many photographs of our heroes? The poses are frozen in time – with Rizal looking at the camera, and del Pilar’s gaze somewhere else. The photo seems to want to make us look back to history but at the same time warns us of the pitfalls of revolutionary ideas, thus showing Reamillo’s half-hearted view of societal change. Why, is it because of its bloody consequences once carried to extreme the way Bonifacio and the Katipunan conducted the revolution? It is not so strange anymore that Bonifacio’s face does not figure at all in this exhibit.
Meanwhile, the image of Rizal is repeated in a “posporo” a Phimco matchbox which is a common need in Philippine home-kitchens. On the other side of the matchbox is a painting of a human heart. Of this juxtaposition of ideas – Rizal and the heart - Reamillo shows his intellectual view of life– that a man who follows Rizal’s fiery heart could induce a change – but then the matchbox is transformed into a “maleta” or a luggage – that property of the Filipino Balikbayan who comes home for a vacation then flies to other lands to seek greener pastures. Thus the matchbox which could ignite change becomes a luggage, a tool for exiling oneself in another land.
Does the artwork show Rizal’s ideas being hatched in foreign lands or do they reflect the Balikbayan’s unending aspiration for Rizal’s love for a free Philippines even when abroad? Truly this artwork can evoke a lot of meanings and it is not for us to give a definitive explanation but rather to bring up many thoughts provoked by this artistic excursion of Reamillo.
At the gallery center wall is tacked “Sirangan,” a four-paneled wood almost two and a half feet high and three feet long shaped like a moth with a body and wings. Sirangan is a pun on Silangan, the East, where the Philippines is located, and is also a potshot at our country’s being labeled, “Perlas ng Silangan.” Embedded on this panel are chicken bones, feathers, a bahay kubo (nipa hut) and a man holding two fishes and whose feet are lifted up by a drawn forefinger of a hand reflecting the delicate situation of the poor folks as that of a moth.
Could this be an extension of Rizal’s story about a moth? Actually, Rizal wrote that children’s story told him by his mother, Teodora Alonzo. A moth gets attracted to the light of the gas lamp. It goes flying in circles nearer and nearer to the light until its wings get singed and it dies.
Over-all the exhibit does not transform us into revolutionaries nor into any kind of advocate. Rather it induces us to be a cynic --- cynical of institutions--- as can be found in one corner of the gallery floor, a 3-piece broken presidential seal with an inscription “Sagisag ng Ulo-pang ng Pilipinas,” an outright denigration of any kind of change emanating from the highest office of the land. However sarcastic this is, we need to know first when Reamillo did this – was it during this time of Pnoy or that of GMA whose administration brought us to the depths of moral degeneration, politically?
Also this exhibit tells us that we need not take life seriously as it could be just a temporary journey without beginning nor ending. Rather life calls us to immerse ourselves in it and to savor the big and small ideas that come our way, whether they involve an overhauling of institutions that deprive the people of a humane existence or just simply a case of enjoying the eating of balut. But be careful, the balut could contain a lot of messages ---consequential and inconsequential too.
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