The Journal of Tey

mga alaalang ngayo'y panaginip

2012-01-16T22:24:00.001-08:00

"nang sya ay yumao, kasabay ding gumuho ang dating tahanan, kung saan nabuo ang maraming mga pangarap, kung saan naganap ang mga paglisan at mga pagdating na walang kabuluhan... sa tahanang iyon na sa paglipas ng mahabang panahon ay tuluyang naging marupok, nilikha ko noon at tinipon ang mga alaalang isinilid sa aking mga panaginip. na ngayon ay sinisilip, hinuhugot mula sa mga sulok tuwing gabi o madaling araw, saan man maidlip. ... marahil upang manatiling buo at hindi gumuho, tulad ng tahanang iyon ng aking kabataan. ... salamat sa mga ala-alang isinilid, ngayo'y mga panaginip."

ito nga ba ang panahon ng kasawian

2011-11-27T17:40:00.000-08:00

ito nga ba ang panahon ng kasawian
para sa mga pusong labis ang pagmamahal?
ito nga ba ang panahon ng kabiguan
sa pakikipagdigma para sa patuloy na pag-iral ng pagsintangtapat?

mangyari’y isa muling pag-ibig ang pinaslang
isa muling pusonglabis ang pagmamahal
ang ngayo’y tumatangis
at nagmimistulang karagatan ang pisngi
nang siyang nagmamahal ng ganoon na lamang

subalit,
gaya ng mga panahong sumisibol
o ng mga dahong dinaratnan ng taglagas
ang pag-ibig ay sadyang pumapanaw,
dumarating sa kanyang hangganan

at walang ibang nararapat na hakbang,
kundi ang magpaalam
gaano man kalalim ang naarok
at gaano man kadalisay ang naging layunin.

hindi,
hindi ito panahon ng kasawian ng pag-ibig
hindi ito panahon ng kabiguan ng pagmamahalang tapat
hindi ito taglagas para sa pusong labis ang pagsinta.

gaya ng kaligayahan,
gaya ng tagumpay,
gaya ng pag-iral ng mga matatamis na alaala
ng mga pagpupulot-gata sa magdamag,

minsan ay may pag-ibig na namamatay,
pinapaslang man
o likas na nasasawi.

at walang ibang nararapat na hakbang,
kundi ang magpaalam
at lumaya.

probably, insomnia.

2011-11-24T11:31:00.001-08:00

probably, insomnia. perhaps too much caffeine.or just too affected about a friend's heartache/s, that i find myself in one of these 24/7 internet shops.in our new neighborhood. that i have to get here and find once again (after ages) my own cyber space.this.(i can blame smartbro's performance though.)

it's pretty strange though being here. the last time i used a public internet for blogging was too long ago.it was in Cebu i think.in one of those 24/7 internet shops in my neighborhood.or in the city.

well i guess i just really miss writing here.i am the most free here.no pretense.no reputations.just pure me, writing.anything.well i guess what made me got out of the house at two in the morning is this aching inside.these tears rolling inside me.i really tried to get it out but i keep facing the mirror and there's nothing there.i realized, it isn't my pain to ache.but i feel it.i feel now is like before.when i used to beg for this thing that i am now overflowing with.and watching another soul undergoing the same things i went through?it's just too painful.no there is no more wound to heal.but it breaks me too, seeing how no matter what i do, i cannot impart easily the lessons from the memories of my own broken heart from years back. i wish it's me. i wish it's me who is aching now. i wish it's me who is in pain now.

it's been done to me before.i'm sure if it happens again, i will be emerging the victor.yet again.

or perhaps it's caffeine.
now i wonder why no one's playing DOTA here.at this time.

farewell,uncle

2011-10-04T03:02:00.001-07:00

bye-bye, papa chito
1957-2011
you'll never be forgotten.

of sunrises, sunsets and experiencing a birth in one blow (one morning as the milky sea chokes dead fishes and shrimps)

2011-09-17T00:33:00.000-07:00

it's true, i'm still yet to come up with a good review of Tundong Magiliw, a continuing documentary by Jewel Maranan.i know.

then again, it is not easy to come up with a decent one for a film you are advocating for, right? i mean, i can come up with one any moment but it may not be as objective as it should be, simply because i am biased about it. it's my friend's film and i love it and i am now in-charge of distributing it (meaning finding audiences and venues for its screenings; so far, so good, i must say).

still, i can say why i love the film, right? sige.sigue.

first and foremost, it is a different, even unique approach to documentary film-making, particularly for its rather not uncommon theme (yes, poverty).it does away with the over dramatization of the lives of the poor (for that matter, its subjects, Virgie's family) that are often committed by other documentary filmmakers, (not necessarily with ill-intention). you don't get the feeling of being forced to feel pity for the people living in the community whose lives are lived everyday with abject poverty. you don't get the feeling the filmmaker (Jewel Maranan) is slapping you on the face for the gritty images of poor families, parents and children who feed with less than a dollar a day.

instead, Tundong Magiliw allows you to share the tiny spaces of the small shanty where Virgie's family lives, quite silently.a small shanty by the sea of Tondo, Manila's densest and oldest district.honesty is a euphemism but for my lack of better and more appropriate word, Maranan's style is honest yet flowing with good taste and formidable artistry.

Jewel Maranan let's you experience what she has experienced in the course of making the film and even before that, as she lived with the community for a couple of years- the simplicity of the lives of the people in the place, their joys, their laughter, their simple meals, their small arguments over simple things, their sunrises and sunsets. more importantly perhaps, the film gives you the experience of witnessing a birth of a child in one blow, one morning when the seawater chokes dead fishes and shrimps.

and yet, the ugly images (shot very beautifully by Maranan herself) little by little, subtly, stirs those huge emotions inside you. you get ANGRY.

because you know, amid the children's laughter and their sharing of "gelatin" (also choked by the sea) and made-up stories from inlays of DVDs they use as wallpapers, it is wrong. it is plain injustice. you are agitated. you question: why? how? you question gods and monsters. and the fucking establishment. and you question yourself: what can i do? (this last one, we often get from students).

and then, before the film ends, there is a forecast.not about the weather.but something that makes you revolt some more.and makes you want to change this system we are in.

Jewel Maranan does all that without screaming; she's just holding her camera steadily, looking at her viewfinder.and experiencing too, the lives of her subjects.

I say this is how it should be done. Richard Bolisay, a film critic says this is one of the best films this year. Don Jaucian, another cineaste here calls it the best film of the year so far; Monster Jimenez (Director of acclaimed documentary Kano) says this is a film every Filipino should watch.

Catch it next at As In Shop, Teacher's Village, QC on December 4, 7pm.

*Jewel Maranan is a graduate of the University of the Philippines Film Institute. She won Best Documentary film in 2008 Gawad CCP for alternative film and new media for "Kung balatan ang bawang".

**Tundong Magiliw is produced with funding from the National Commission on Culture and the Arts. It was screened at the 2011 Cinemalaya Documentary section.

a constellation

2011-08-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

sometimes, i am a constellation.
i own stars and i sift them through my palms.

Kung lilimutin mo ako (salin ng “si tu mi olvidas” ni Pablo Neruda)

2011-08-05T20:57:00.000-07:00

Nais kong matanto mo
Ang isang bagay

Tiyak kong batid mo ito:
Kung ako’y tatanaw
Sa buwang makislap at sa pulang sanga
Ng mabagal na taglagas mula sa aking bintana,
Kung madadama ko
sa init ng apoy
ang hindi nadaramang abo
o ang kulu-kulubot na troso,
pinapasan ako ng lahat patungo sa iyo
na tila lahat ng umiiral,
mga amoy,liwanag,bakal
ay mga mumunting bangkang
naglalayag
tungo sa iyong mga islang nag-aabang sa akin.

At ngayon,
Kung unti-unti’y ititigil mo ang pagmamahal sa akin
Ititigil ko ang pagmamahal sa iyo, unti-unti.

At kung kapagdaka’y
Lilimutin mo ako,
Huwag mo akong hagilapin,
Sapagkat nalimot na rin kita

Kung sa pagtatanto mo’y malalim at nahihibang,
Ang hangin ng mga bandilang
Nagdaraan sa aking buhay,
At mapagpasyahan mong
Lisanin ako sa laot
Ng puso kung saan ako nag-uugat,
Alalahanin mong
Sa araw na iyon,
Sa oras ding iyon,
Itataas ko ang mga bisig ko
At mag-aaklas ang aking mga ugat
Upang humanap ng ibang lupain.

Subalit,
Kung sa bawat araw,
Bawat sandali,
Dama mong ika’y nakatakda sa akin
Nang may tamis na walang-humpay
Kung sa bawat araw may bulaklak
Na gumagapang sa iyong labi upang hanapin ako,
O aking mahal, o aking iniibig
Sa akin lahat ng apoy ay nagbabalik,
Sa aki’y walang natutupok o nalilimot,
Ang pag-ibig ko’y nabubuhay sa pag-ibig mo, mahal ko,
At hangga’t ika’y may paghinga nasa bisig mo lamang ito
Nang hindi ako nililisan.

Kung ako’y iiwan mo, Magluluksa ang daigdig.

2011-08-05T20:56:00.000-07:00

Kung ako’y iiwan mo,
Magluluksa ang daigdig.

Luluha ang langit
Aagos ang dugo mula sa dibdib
Ng karagatan
Iiyak pati ang mga talampas

Kung ako’y iiwan mo
Magdidilim ang sanlibutan.

Magsusuot ng itim
Ang bawat tao-
Bata, matanda,
Maging silang mga byudo at byuda

Sapagkat batid nila,
Kung ako’y iiwan mo
Kamatayan ang hatid nito-
Hindi sa akin,
Hindi sa iyo
Kundi sa pag-ibig

Kamatayan ng pag-ibig
Ang iyong paglisan.

At batid ko,
Lulumuluha ka’t humahagulgol
Habang humahakbang Papalayo
Sa aking buhay
Habang umaambon
At papalakas ang hangin

Ngunit ako,
Ni isang patak ng luha
Ay hindi mag-aaksaya.

Titiklupin ko ang maiiwan
Mong mga kamiseta at pantalon.

Isisilid ko ang mga ito,
Masinop na masinop
Sa isang kahon
Kasama ng iba pang mga nililimot

Kaya’t huwag na huwag,
Ni sa panaginip mo’y huwag subukan
Na ako’y iwanan,
O aking mahal.

Sapagkat,
Sanay na akong nagluluksa,
naglilibing ng pag-ibig.

Tundong Magiliw at Cinemalaya

2011-07-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

stolen still inside CCP's Tanghalang Manuel Conde
Screening of Tundong Magiliw
July 20, 2011

‘Kinatay,’ a shocking, revolting but significant film

2011-07-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

(reposting from Bulatlat.com)

The last time I puked, literally, during a movie was while watching the 2002 French arthouse Irreversible where Monica Belluci’s character, Alex, was being raped brutally in an underpass until she died.

And then, I finally watched Brillante Mendoza’s controversial Cannes Film festival-winning 2009 crime drama Kinatay (Butchered).
I did not only puke literally.

It was worse. All throughout the movie, I felt like I was being brutally victimized by everything that’s going on in the movie and that is not entirely a negative thing. The ugliness and the rawness of Manila is captured just right complementing the unpleasant things unfolding before the audiences’ very eyes.

Unlike in his other films, Mendoza’s “unpleasant” visuals are fitted very well here in Kinatay. In fact, I now totally agree with the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino that it is one of the ten best films of the decade.

Brave, clear

The thing is, I have a love-hate relationship with Mendoza’s works. Some of my least favorite films, Serbis, Lola and Masahista are directed by Mendoza. On the other hand, one of my most loved films of all time, Kaleldo, is also his. Kinatay is another story.

Before I watched Kinatay, I have already heard and read so much about it. Some negative. Some positive.

Kinatay, I dare say, is a brave movie. It is brave in the sense that it does not sugarcoat or metaphors its bad guys, who are officers of the police, government authorities. Nor does it offer grey areas for arguments or confusions. This is about police brutality. This is about policemen in a syndicate killing an aging prostitute because of money. This is about how the authorities can do anything to anyone who irks them.

Moreover, Mendoza here tries to get his audience more involved in the movie than just being viewers by imploring unconventional cinematography and putting in the center Peping, (played by Coco Martin) a rather simple, almost idealist criminology student who becomes the eye, the mind and the heart of the story.

Peping dreams of being a police officer but suddenly gets himself caught in a web of illegal activities by the men who offered him a huge amount of money to marry his girlfriend and mother of his son. The men are the same police officers responsible for the crime he witnesses. But his being a witness will be cut short. He has to decide. Will he take part in the butchering? Will he do something about it?

It is easy to sympathize with Peping. Martin portrays a good “innocent” Peping. As for me though, I wanted him to do something more active.

In the end, Mendoza succeeds when he clearly decided to do the more sensible, the more possible, the more logical for Peping and that was when I questioned the most: no longer the movie, but, yes, hard core as it sounds, the society.

Not without flaws

Kinatay is not at all without flaws though.

I think, the establishing scenes and subplots are rather long, that it could have done away with some of these- such as the tricycle and jeepney rides, the injection of too many characters that eventually became insignificant to the whole film.

Mendoza could have started somewhere in the middle, where the danger started to be felt.

Then again, that’s Mendoza’s signature. The long establishing shots that are more often than not, boring. But that’s just me.
On the other hand, the acting department is not completely flawless. Well of course, Martin, Ma. Isabel Lopez and Julio Diaz deliver. Martin is credible and he proves it here that yes, he is one of his generation’s better performers. Diaz, a true veteran thespian shows subdued acting most of the time. Lopez could still have given more though, one would feel it.

The other actors in the movie overacted, underacted or simply just didn’t do their homework. Mercedes Cabral for instance, just doesn’t have enough passion, timing or effort to play effectively Martin’s wife. Allan Paule too, was obviously just playing around.

Significant

But why is Kinatay worth watching?

First and foremost, as an audience, we should be watching films that tackle social realities or current events. Whether they turn out to be bad movies or praise-worthy flicks, it is a way of telling the filmmakers that we are indeed an intelligent audience. We are no longer just watching movies to laugh and escape our own realities.

Moreover, many local films tackling social realities and current events are being shown internationally. Meaning- whether we like it or not, we are in these movies.

In the case of Kinatay, it made waves in the international cinema scene. Not only did it win Mendoza the best director trophy in Cannes festival but it placed Philippine cinema in the center of film debates globally.

It is a significant film to watch, albeit two years later, because it mirrors a part of our everyday life and it reiterates that some realities-police brutality, extra judicial killings– though unimaginably evil and revolting to the stomach are becoming regular news of the day.

And yes, it is brave enough to call a spade a spade at the right place, at the right time.

Tundong Magiliw goes Cinemalaya

2011-07-14T03:45:00.000-07:00

TUNDONG MAGILIW
To what is the poor born?
A continuing documentary by Jewel Maranan

CINEMALAYA FILM FESTIVAL DOCUMENTARY SECTION
Screening schedules:
July 19 Tue 4:00 pm Greenbelt 3 - Cinema 3
July 20 Wed 6:15pm CCP Tanghalang Manuel Conde

Tundong Magiliw will be screened with the 28-min. documentary Galaw ng Araw by Miles Quero-Asa

SYNOPSIS

To what is the poor born? Tundong Magiliw is an immersion into the imprint of prevalent societal relations on life and subsistence in Tondo, Manila.

Virgie's family feeds on the fishes that lurk under the industrial ships of North Harbor. Their alternatives are packs of tasteless gelatin found in the same waters. Their forms of entertainment come from imagining stories behind DVD inlays of Hollywood films and Hillary Clinton’s fault written on a tabloid page. She gives birth on the same floor she eats one morning, when no fish can be caught for lunch.

This continuing documentary is a painstaking imprint of contemporary life in the oldest and densest district in Manila. Observation of survival being the driving motive, its time is slow but seldom stops and rarely sits.

Running time: 78 mins.

Film Credits:

Happyland Tondo, Manila
Virgie Simpron
Estrelita Trinidad

Jewel Maranan
Direction/Cinematography/Editing

Pao Sancho
Production Management/Assistant Cinematography

A. Aragonez
Additional editing

Randy Olesco
Domeng Dalisay
Randy Tamayo
Production Assistants

Terence-Tey Krishna Lopez
Distribution

Jewel Maranan

Jewel Maranan is a film graduate from the University of the Philippines.
She learned documentary filmmaking in UP Film Institute and practiced political filmmaking with Tudla productions, a manila-based alternative media group.

She won Best Documentary in the 2008 Gawad CCP for alternative film and video for her film Kung Balatan ang Bawang.

Filmography

Short documentaries:

(with Tudla Productions)
Daang Bakal 2005 (writer)
Banta sa Bayan 2006 (director, writer)

Full length documentaries:
Kung Balatan ang Bawang, 2008 (producer, director)
Tundong Magiliw, 2011 (producer, filmmaker)

Tundong Magiliw is produced with Tondo Foreshoreland People's Alliance and with funding from the National Commission on Culture and the Arts. It was also part of the 2010 workshop “Reinvigorating Documentary Filmmaking in the Philippines” initiated by Goethe Institute Philippines, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Philippine Independent Filmmakers Cooperative and the College of St. Benilde School of Design and Arts.

Depression at the market

2011-07-14T01:26:00.000-07:00

Depression at the market
an anti-imperialist dance and performance art, performed at the 4th International Assembly of the International League of People's Struggles (ILPS).

Watch the YouTube Video here.

Concept and choreography: Edwin Quinsayas
Music: Mark Estandarte of Talahib People's Music
Performers: Edwin Quinsayas, Terence Lopez and Loy Villarias

dalawang taon

2011-06-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

thanks friends for being with us always. don't get used to us, we'll have you again next year!

performance art is alive

2011-06-08T20:12:00.001-07:00

Until June 26, 2011, Manila Contemporary gallery hosts “Absence,” an exhibition of objects and installations used in the live performances it featured during the opening night last June 4.

The show exhibits new works by Indonesia-based artists Mella Jaarsma and Melati Suryodarmo and two of Manila’s most exciting visual and performance artists Bea Camacho and Racquel de Loyola. It is the culmination of the gallery’s month-long Performance Art Residency project with the said artists.

Performance art is alive

On its jam-packed opening night, the “Absence” artists made their presence felt with their new durational performances that were out of the box, heart-wrenching and extraordinary.

Controversial, engaging, hidden, powerful, dramatic, spectacular – altogether, the performance-installations were all that. And even more, depending on how one views an artwork or a performance, for that matter.

PLEASE READ THE WHOLE STORY HERE.

good morning, sunshine

2011-06-07T01:53:00.000-07:00

3rd year of cheaper medicine law: failure

2011-06-07T00:39:00.000-07:00

after three years of its passing, the cheaper medicine law in the Philippines known as the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicine Act of 2008 still hasn't done anything significant to bring down the prices of medicines in the country.

it created euphoria when it was passed as it promised to make medicines, well, cheaper but alas, it was an illusion.

Euphoria
Performance
June 7, 2011
Mendiola, Manila

project: healthworker undersiege

2011-05-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

Few weeks ago, i learned that health workers from the Cordilleras were here in Manila for a series of activities to protest harassments and threats perpetrated against them by the military.

Last year, the whole world was enraged by the state terrorism experienced by the 43 health workers, the "MORONG 43" who were in jail for 10 months for simply being health workers serving the poorest of the poor in far-flung areas unreached by government health services.

In 2007, women health workers in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental were arrested and remain in jail up to now via trumped-up charges filed by the military.

In the Philippines where the health system is in dire state, it is but ironic that the government displays such impunity against the very individual who actually commit themselves in serving the people.

With this, i am starting project: "health worker under siege," performance pieces that will portray the current state of health workers in the country. Although it's still a plan, i have actually started it, in different forms, during the campaign to free the 43.

The photos here are some of those performances. I'll be posting updates on this project, hopefully soon. Watch out!

dance, dance, otherwise we are lost

2011-05-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

a film tribute to modern dance's great innovator, Pina Bausch. I have to see this film!

viernes santo

2011-04-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

misadventures become adventures when experienced with friends

april 22, 2011
masantol, pampanga
accidentally

gensan at dusk

2011-04-06T02:05:00.000-07:00

how to travel with mint plant

2011-03-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

because i'll be in magical Mindanao again next week, i am reposting here a facebook post i made last year, when i went to that marvelous Zamboanga del Sur! This time' i'll be visiting on the other side though, in General Santos City.

January 29, 2010
7:30 a.m.
Barangay Gasa, Lakewood, Zamboanga Del Sur

The last time I was in Mindanao, I almost got caught in the middle of the AFP-MILF war, in 2008.I was coming from Cotabato city and took the highways of Maguindanao and Lanao Del Sur, escorted by the majestic and breath-taking Lanao Lake and beautiful Mosques and the sight of beautiful women in full Islamic garb.

Just minutes after arriving at Cagayan de Oro, I was told that the war has begun.
I was lucky.

Mindanao has always been a place I loved ever since I saw Davao.
Next to Bohol, where I lived for almost a decade, Mindanao, any part of, is my darling.
Since 2002, I went to Mindanao almost every after two years- visiting friends in Cagayan or travelling with some in Bukidnon, fell in love with the meeting of hot springs and sea waves in Camiguin with my closest friends, made love with Iligan City, got entranced by Agusan, enchanted by Butuan, captivated by Marawi City, got flooded with kind-hearted locales in Maguindanao and had a blast in Cotabato city.

This time, I went to the other side of the island.
I arrived in Ozamis City in Misamis Occidental, dropped by in Molave and Pagadian City here in ZDS and stayed for a couple of days in this beautiful village peopled by simple, sweet and warm-hearted folks who took me in, a complete stranger in just another adventure (never mind that there was a job-related side of it which was actually a wonderful experience altogether).

Coming here via ever-reliable habal-habal (motorcycle for hire) ride from the main highway, I had a wonderful reunion with the mountain roads a la roller-coaster but with the vast forested lands and green-golden rice fields as backdrops. I felt like Che Guevarra again, in his los diarios motorsikleta. For almost an hour, there was complete silence aside from our habal-habal and the songs of the leaves, the winds calling and the birds that played their tunes.

I was already in heavens, just being on a habal-habal ride again, my first time after more than a year. I forgot that yes, in journeys like this, the ride on the rocky mountain roads is just, as they say, icing on the cake. And the cake? The cake is of course, upon seeing the houses, little wooden huts where beautiful people reside, the farmers who, amid poverty and everything that comes or not come along with it, never tire of tilling the lands and planting crops that make us all full every meal, except for them of course who, mostly, do not own the lands they are tilling.

It is always a breeze living among the folks from the mountains. Everything seems so easy with the farmers- water from springs, smiles and laughter in conversations, willingness to learn new things and always, always simple in their ways.

Here, as I write this, a couple of kids are passing, riding on their horses, coming from the fields of their parents. Yes, kids who are supposed to be in school learning math or language, reading or writing but no, they are in the fields.

Sad and heartbreaking. But who am I to judge?

We always tend to think we are better off because we went to school, read books in our leisure time, watch DVDs and eat when we want to while these kids do not even know about the internet.

But are we really?

I can’t even get near the horses they are riding so comfortably, young as they are. Nor can I plow the land. Nor can I touch even the tail of the carabao. I definitely cannot create their works of art- the rice fields and cornfields and other things that make me feel absolutely great right now, and I smell now the dried fish and the native chicken being cooked on a firewood-stove.

But their poverty of course, is one serious and greatly important matter to discuss altogether and I am definitely incapable of doing that.

Yesterday I just had a delicious bath, by the waterfalls so near the house where I am staying now. You see, that’s exactly what I mean! I wouldn’t even mention that a river is just nearby too.

Last night, while dining with my foster family, they were laughing about my tongue-ring. My hostess said, she has been wondering since three days ago how on earth can I chew my food with it? and they were asking if they can get one too!

I am now about to leave them.
Tomorrow, I will be in the concrete jungles of Manila again.

Just like in every journey and yes, adventures though, I will be carrying with me another set of beautiful and unforgettable memories that will last me a lifetime.

And yes, I know Mindanao a little bit more.
I know Philippines a little bit more.

My habal-habal ride is here.

Nanay Thelma, one of the gracious women in the neighborhood gave me mint plant in a poly bag and basil seeds, with a warm hug for me to remember them, she said.

I am now travelling with a mint plant and basil seeds.

10:00a.m.
Lakewood’s lake

I now sit beside Lakewood’s unbelievably magnificent lake. Enchanting becomes an understatement.
Looking at my mint plant which survived the pressure of the mountain winds as we trekked by the habal-habal , I am in high spirits.

Another experience I will never forget, definitely.

Hopefully, my mint plant survive my flight tomorrow.

a minute after sunrise

2011-03-09T18:03:00.000-08:00

for in the quietness
of each morning,
in that minute
just after sunrise,
i reach for your loving face
and kiss your lips

even as you go on
sleeping tight.

i know,
i know that is why
always,
when you wake up
you smile at me
with the smile that says

"i love you,
you are my life"

summer moon

2011-02-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

for all the quietness of
the dusk,

i celebrate
for i have loved you

i celebrate
with the fireflies
teasing my trees
on the trail leading me
to you,

my lover
who dances
and sings
towards the innermost part of my silent
soul and heart
especially at this time

and then,
the summer moon
widens its gaze at my eyes
and my feet stumble
the rocks greet me

i am near you,
i am near you

and i celebrate your love
with the dusk
quiet and peaceful
just like the way you love me

i am near you
i am near you
and the moon shall usher
our night-long lovemaking,
nightly.

tanaw kita sa tanghaling tapat

2011-02-27T05:57:00.000-08:00

tanaw ka sa tanghaling tapat
ang mga ulap ay ang iyong mga mata
mga pisngi mo ang mga along payapa
yakap mo ako sa hanging sariwa
at sa mga awitin nito'y
hinahagkan mo ang mga labi kong sabik

dama kita sa mga silahis ng araw(ginto, kumikislap, nagliliyab)
maliwanag ang kalangitan
inuukit sa kalawakanng mga ibon
ang iyong pangalan-
may hugis puso sa kadulu-dulohan

malayo man ako ngayo'y
nakatitiyak kang walang ibang kapiling
kundi ang hangin
ang alon
ang araw
ang kalangitan
na pawang nagmimistulang ikaw
nagiging kawangis mo ang kalikasan
sa tanghaling tapat

sa pagsapit naman ng dapit-hapon,
ibinubulong sa akin ng panggabing hangin
kasabay ng unang pagkislap ng mga bituin

ang pag-ibig mo sa akin:"wagas, hanggang wakas"

Bohol/Sept '10

binabagabag ang bawat kong gabi (sa iyo, aking kabiyak)

2011-02-27T05:55:00.000-08:00

binabagabag ang bawat kong gabing
maalinsangan ang habagat
dahil sa katatapos na pag-ulan
kasabay ng pag-ulan ng aking pangungulila sa iyo,
aking pag-ibig

ngunit dahil pinili nating
maging mga abang nilalang
may mga pagkakataong katulad ng gabing ito:
nanunukso ang habagat
naglalaho ang alinsangan
yumayakap ang ginaw
nag-iisa ako't
ika'y gayundin,
minamasdan ko ang matalang langit
ikaw nama'y pilit hinahagilap ang buwang mailap
halos magkaiba ang ating mga langit

tiyak,
gaya ko'y
inuukit mo sa hangin ang aking mukha
lalo na ang mga labi kong
paborito mong hagkan
habang inaaninag ko
sa pagitan ng mga sumasayaw na dahon
ang mga mata mong
nakangiti sa akin

kaarawan mo na't
wala ako
malungkot ka
sapagkat walang pagpupulot-gata
sa gabing ito
hindi tayo magtatalik
hindi maglalapat ang mga katawang sabik

subalit pareho tayong mapapangiti
pinili nating
maging hamak na mga nilalang
sa halip na maging
mga panginoon
pinili nating
magmahalan sa daigdig na ito
kung saan ang mga pagkakalayo'y
nagdaragdag ng pananabik
sa muling pagsisiping
sa ilalim ng iisang langit
matala man
o madilim at mailap ang buwan

May ingkantasyon ang mga panaginip tuwing gabi

2011-02-27T05:53:00.000-08:00

May ingkantasyon ang mga panaginip tuwing gabi
Sa kabila ng lantad nang lihim
Madalas ay ni kaunting idlip,
Wala ako

Dahil sa iyo,
Dahil pinipigilan mo ang pagpikit ng aking mga mata
Upang madama ko nang gising ang buong pagkatao
Ang iyong mga halik
Mga yakap
Ang paglapat ng iyong hubad na katawan
Sa katawan kong hinuhubaran mo nang unti-unti

Sumayaw ka’t umaawit,
Manatili lamang akong hindi pumipikit
Sabi mo’y walang silbi ang pagdampi ng iyong mga labi
Kung ako’y mananaginip lamang
Sa halip na hagkan ka rin at tayo’y magtalik
Sabi mo’y darating at darating ang mga panaginip
At maririnig ko pa rin ang mga awit ng mga anghel sa aking pagtulog

Tulad ng gabing ito
Naririnig natin ang mga awit ng panaginip
Subalit iniibig kita,
At nararapat lamang suklian ang iyong mga halik
Ng aking mga halik
At nararapat lamang na magtalik
Lalo na’t maginaw ang pangmadaling-araw na simoy ng hangin

May ingkantasyon ang mga panaginip ngayong gabi,
Subalit patawarin ako ng daigdig,
Hinahagkan mo ang aking talampakan
At iniibig kita,
Magniniig tayo’t ang mga awitin ng panaginip
Ay pauunlakan,
Matapos nating maabot ang langit.

remembering Mindanao

2011-02-22T17:37:00.000-08:00

for how can one heart ever forget a place that changed his life forever?
how can one forget a place where some undying souls, undying memories, have rooted?
i can't.
never will, ever.

ilipad mo ako

2011-02-22T00:31:00.000-08:00

Ilipad mo ako
Patungo sa mundong walang pighati
Kung saan pagmamahalan nati’y
Walang katapusan
Walang kapahamakan

Kung panaginip man,
Sabay tayong umidlip at managinip
Ng daigdig na tahimik
Walang dusa,
Walang pagsasamantala,
Walang mga dukha

Ilipad mo ako
Ilipad mo ako
Sa daigdig kung saan
Mga pangarap ay matutupad
pag-ibig nati’y walang hanggan

tayo nang maglakbay
lisanin ang kasalukuyang
sagana sa pasakit
at puno ng hinagpis

mga bata’y kapos
mga nakapagtapos naman sa pag-aaral
walang mapasukan
kahit saan,
maraming walang tahanang
masilungan

Ilipad mo ako
Ilipad mo ako
Sa daigdig kung saan
Mga pangarap ay matutupad
pag-ibig nati’y walang hanggan

sabay tayong managinip
lisanin ang mga pasakit
iwan ang daigdig ng
hapdi at dalamhati
tungo sa mundong
walang hanggan ang ligaya

Ilipad mo ako
Ilipad mo ako
Sa daigdig kung saan
Mga pangarap ay matutupad
pag-ibig nati’y walang hanggan

subalit,
kailangan ay kumapit
sa katiyakang
di man ngayon,
mararating din ang daigdig
na nasa ating panaginip.

i am a wind

2011-02-21T01:56:00.000-08:00

and then i'm a wind again
because the
night's moon-lit universe
does not cover my agony
it does not kiss my oh my
my eyes
my tears
it does not dry

but i must not fear
for i am a wind
i am an evening wind

the sorrow sharply dug
a shapeless hole in my heart
when you let me stand there for too long
i was standing there so cold cold cold
do you remember you let me wait so long
and in the end,
i waited for nothing
i waited for no one

but i am a wind
i am an evening wind
i can blow those sorrows away
and the hole in my heart,
i can cover
with my warm warm love

you left me standing alone
you let me wait too long
you broke my night
and stabbed my soul

but i am a wind
i am an evening wind
i am an evening wind
i am an evening wind
when i have to be
and i have to be

and tomorrow,
my heart is filled,
my soul's wound healed
and i shall fly again
at midday
at dawn

for i am a wind
i am an evening wind
i am an evening wind
i am an evening wind
when i have to be
and i have to be

for i am a wind
i am a wind

so let's fly
fly
i will take you in

for i am a wind
i am an evening wind

experience of a lifetime

2011-02-20T08:41:00.000-08:00

i just went through one of the most exciting and memorable experiences of my life.
it was fun, roller-coaster-ish, happy and altogether sad.

but such is life, of course. i shall not forget, i am a wind too, when i have to.like now.like exactly now.

sayang, i have stories to tell the world. i guess i have to tell them in other ways now, in many other ways.

and this one will be among those that will fill pages inside my being.

thank you

2011-02-13T19:03:00.000-08:00

for keeping up and staying with me for 21 months and counting.

Kleng de loyola in QC gig

2011-02-12T22:12:00.000-08:00

2009 CCP 13Artists Awardee Racquel de Loyola
with sister Maan de Loyola on guitars.
February 11, 2010
Fior Cafe, Timog Avenue, QC

Watch one of their numbers here.
thanks Mr.Conde, for the video.

karinderyas a la banchetto

2011-02-12T20:20:00.000-08:00

Banchetto
Emerald Ave., Ortigas center
February 12/1-2a.m.
Thanks Mj for the pics.

It was way past midnight last Friday and we needed to fill our stomachs after filling our hearts with beautiful music from our dear friend, kleng de loyola and her sister, Maan at a cafe in Quezon city.
Thanks to Caloy and Ayi our adventure mates when it comes exploring things in the city, such as finding things for sale or just talking about things we want to do and that time, just perfectly, they mentioned banchetto and as usual, my reply was , why not!

so, banchetto we went and whoa!!!at 1am, emerald avenue in Ortigas was an ocean of hungry stomachs lik myself, caloy and ayi and our dear friend from the central visayas, Marla, stopping over in Manila before taking a few weeks' vacation in the land down under, Australia, of course.

Banchetto has everything, karinderya style: Italian food, Mediterranean,Filipino, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, name it they got it and at reasonable price tags. Only that, one has to find his own place to eat- we found ours (ED, Marla and I)at the stairs of one building, constantly reminded by security guards that we are blocking the way of their employees- the, i really don't get why, call-center agents talking in accented english, on their cigarette break. While ayi and caloy ate at the backseat of their car, huh!

There are also so much repetition of the food sold, i mean i saw at least 10 stalls selling the same chicken barbecue i ate.

Just the same, we had a great time and we are definitely going back there.

let blue valentine take you to moments from not so long ago

2011-02-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

few years ago, i was so broken-hearted that i actually thought that life is not worth living anymore.few years ago too, i was living a wonderful life, with so much happiness and adventures.still, few years ago, i was so madly in love that i never cared about anything but making love with the object of my affection every night.

that was few years ago. now is just different. and i cannot go back there, no matter what. that was my past and i can only return to those moments by remembering.and whatever decisions i made back then, i cannot take back anymore.ever.

yes, that's what derek cianfrance's blue valentine made me do. it made me reflect on my past decisions.

blue valentine is an emotional film about cindy and dean, a couple in the verge of break-up and at the same time falling deeply in love with each other (as the movie is told in two cross-cutting time-frames).[Michelle Williams once again proves here, that she is one of our generation's best, as cindy.]

with two time-frames, the movie shows two levels of love and relationships. the past and the present of cindy and dean. and how it is acted and how it is shot, it really pinches and tears one's heart. it ushers back memories in; memories of a forgotten love, memories of little moments of adventures and joys and surprises and childhood and dreams. memories from a not so distant past. memories that became memories now because we changed them. memories that are memories now because we turned against them in one way or another.it hurts because they are so near yet so far.

we see here two cindys- one in her late teens/early twentys so full of life and dreams and madly in love and the other in her late twentys, frustrated with life, angry and is very dissatisfied with what she has become with the man she married six years ago.

in both, i sympathized with her because she's real. she's played by an actress with utmost honesty it seems cindy is your neighbor or your schoolmate or the girl of your sexual fantasies or your smartest best friend.

and so with the deans, portrayed incredibly by Ryan Gosling.the younger dean is full of passion and energy and at the same time sensitive, happy go-lucky guy with a flair for music. the older dean however kind of stuck there and stopped dreaming.but he sees nothing wrong with the way things are at the present.one can easily hate him but actually, i cannot blame only him because he is human too, like everyone of us.and like him, sometimes, we don't know why/we don't understand why our parents or wives or husbands or friends or sisters or brother complain about what we do with our lives when we are fine with it.are we not good enough? we can try harder if they ask us too, can't we?

in the middle of cindy and dean is frankie, the daughter who made them promise eternal love, for better or for worse, to each other.

dean reminds cindy in one of the most powerful scenes of the movie, that, it's not just the two of them, she needs to think about frankie too. but then, how will the present cindy decide? which choice will she make this time? does she know now what to do? does she know now what decision can make her happy? and what about you, dean? cindy seemed to be asking all the time, are you really happy with how things are? seriously? are you really good enough up to the next level? where is that next level?

it all seems familiar.and perhaps, that's what cianfrance's point really is.to show a movie that does not teach us, or tell us what to do but a movie that shows us how things are for some people and he is successful with that because we can actually identify with his characters.

the questions are not really answered directly but yes, i will say, right now, that i do not regret deciding to be where i am now, and to be with the one i am with right now.

as always

2011-02-01T05:48:00.001-08:00

tonight,
between moments of criss-crossing
between things that i must do
and the things i want to,
i look at you,
doing the things you have to do.

i sigh
because we must not touch,
we must not kiss,
we are racing against time
and yes,
the lack of it.

i look outside
but the moon too is not
to be touched

and then the almost midnight
wind kissed me
and i smiled,
i giggled even.

the wind reminded me of our
lovemaking hours earlier
when you almost shouted
for satisfaction
and i
bit you on your neck,
as always.

Hopefully this year...

2011-01-18T04:52:00.000-08:00

because our love shields us

2011-01-05T05:28:00.001-08:00

the new year brings more promises as we face challenges together, my love.

ah, i never really imagined we can go this far.

i never expected we can reach this point that we have reached and we actually are both willing to reach further, like the waves that touch the morning sand- majestically, thriumphantly.

why, well, you know who i was and what i was then- and i know, you too never have imagined you can be living with me this long, and yet so short still a time. i remember your look, always in amazement and your wide eyes speaking loudly of their own doubts in what they were looking out.

i was, someone who wouldn't settle. i was a butterfly. i was a free bird and yes you were able to clip my wings- at first, very painfully but now, it is as if i never really had wings after all. at the same time, you've become my wings. you never let me down- sure there were times when things i wanted so badly just couldn't happen and there were times when we fought so hard- but even at those times, i always felt your love, tremendously.

we were just so different from each other.until we fell in love and realized, we had more things in common than we thought before.we are more similar than different.

i love you.

i love you so much and i am happy i am facing another year with you. i love you so much and i am happy i decided to be with you and live with you and wake up with you every morning (save for the times when i grew back my wings and had to fly a little far away from you, there will be times like that again in the future, i'm sure- but you know i will always come back and you know that if only i have bigger wings, i will take you with me) and to be the last face i see evey night before i close my eyes. i love you because when you embrace me, i am sure that i am safe.

i love you when we kiss because when you kiss me, every nerve of my body feels it- and nobody has ever kissed me that way before- so warm, so real, so full of love.
and i love you because when i kiss you, you allow me to kiss your whole being.

i love you and i know, we have a long long way to go but what the heck, we are together and we will make it through this one year- unscathed. because our love shields us.

i love you and i dont want to be in any other world but yours.

Ola 2011!

2011-01-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

and there is no better way to welcome it with the ones you love!

Activism, class contradiction, power struggle, gender equality in new Koreanovela

2010-12-30T03:08:00.000-08:00

If there is one thing serious Korean soap operas are good at, is the inclusion of social realities in their stories.And Baker king, the new koreanovela that will be shown early next year in a local TV channel is definitely not an exemption.

For one, it opens by laying down the backward, feudal oriental/Asian even in the present times, where the female is always under the power of the male, unless she becomes the family's matriarch. at the same time, it lays down the lay-out of the locale- where the wealthy and almighty amid their power stink of stench and secrets. At the same time, it shows the purity of hearts and noble dreams of the small people.

Throughout the story,the poor and the oppressed struggle against the ruling class. The script does this neatly through its complicated but well-developed characters.

The evil stepmother is actually trying to avenge her own experiences of injustices merely because of being a woman. Of course, everybody will hate her because she does this wrongfully to the point of showing the same injustices to her own daughters. There is the trusted best friend who gave everything for the family he so desires to be his own. There is the beautiful first love whose own violent and battered childhood led her to fight not only against her tormentor but the establishment itself. There is the father whose search for his first son will lead him to do evil himself.There is the jealous step-brother whose determination to be at the top is so great that he gambles everything, even his own happiness. There is the teacher whose lessons in bread making and in life strengthens each of the students he teaches. And many other colorful and sdignificant characters who will revolve around the central character- the lovable Kim Tak Gu whose fate, as revealed in the beginning made him suffer for many many years but whose pure heart and genius in making breads lead him to be what he rightfully deserves to be-the baker king, heir to the throne of the top bread company-which is actually the root of all his sufferings.

Baker king is successful in using bread as its the tool, metaphor and symbol-(bread as the staple food of all people, he who controls people's stomachs controls humanity) to which the whole story lays its back steadily.

The performances of the actors are more than exemplary. Although i watched it with english subtitles, the acting was obviously good. I think perhaps because each actor listens to the other so that each delivers a good performance. In fact, after watching, i thought my eyes are so dry because of crying- happy scenes, sad scenes- this drama is one big tearjerker.

The cinematography is more than good, i would say. The musical score compliments and does not overpower.

Plus, in its ending, it decided to not go the conventional way. It resolved the conflicts as neatly as they were presented, gave each characters the ending tehy deserved and more, it even defied some of formula drama's laws and the society's as well - okay, i'll stop right here.

Finally,baker king kind of pacified my prejudice against many south Koreans- yes, the noisy, rude ones who act as if they own any place they set foot into- and they come in batallions, you know, those koreans. and believe me, this prejudice against them is really big- that i actually tell them to shut up when i can, really.

'had a blast in Binondo

2010-12-27T22:21:00.000-08:00

Finally, after a long time waiting, Ed and i were able to go and enjoy one of Manila's most beautiful spot, Binondo with two of our best friends, Emil and Cherry. Actually, more like, courtesy of them.

It wasn't my first time in Binondo, but of course.
As always though, its atmosphere of mixed down- to earth, in your face reality and almost otherworldly air, made me feel as if it was my first time.

And like always, i, well, we, had to ask around for directions and just walked our ways, here and there in search of panciterias, kapihans and yes most definitely towards the famous estero food chain. For those who doesn't know, it's by the, yes, estero.Click here for better photos and perhaps, better words.

All in all, being the bulakbol that i am, i had a great time.

The siphon-brewed coffee at Salido's Resaturant,(P55.00/cup) located along T. Alonzo street, famous since the 1930 was good, definitely but for me, it was more because of the locale: everybody's Chinese except for the four of us and the servers- all other inside the full-house resto were.( i realized, the Chinese are not very quiet when among themselves, at least they know their turf unlike many koreans who are rude and ancroaching anywhere they are)or that's just me having the penchant for being lost in translation.but really, the coffee was good.
This is their amazing brewer. I'm not sure if it's Chinese but it kind of made the place more interesting.

But before that, we had a taste of one of the best Pancitan in Binondo which is the Manoza Restaurant along Ongpin street where one large serving of pancit is more than enough to fill four hungry stomachs, at P100.00 only, mind you. Of course we had their famous brown soup that is super malapot! with pork (which i gave away to Ed of course, being the meat lover that he is and me, being the anti-pork and beef crusader)for less than P100.The service is not good but, we were there for the food.

The best was Estero foodcourt where the food you choose is cooked while you wait, al-fresco style, over bottles of beer.(well, the beer is really opetional, just in case you want something else, but hey, what else would you want in a place like this?)

We had a large serving of kinilaw na talaba, 2-piece stuffed squid in garlic sauce, sizzling but of course and a large plate of seafood chopseuy (don't worry avid chopseuy fans, you can have it the original way) and 2 bottles of beer each for less than P800.00, san ka pa? (where else can you find this deal?) and promise, the taste of Estero can beat a lot of sosyal restos in town.as in!

I wouldn't mention the other good stuffs we found along the streets such as the sesame oil worth only P65 a bottle (which is sold at more than a hundred in grocery stores)and the century eggs at P65 per pack of 6. Oops, let me stop here.

One day, no matter how fine, is really not enough for Binondo. We are definitely going back there.

Movies that have touched my hearts this season, so far

2010-12-21T21:13:00.000-08:00

The Greatest- starring Pierce Brosnan, the unforgettable Susan Sarandon and great thespian in the making Carey Mulligan, this family drama is about dealing with the grief for a great loss and discovering and accepting new reason for joy, at face value.

The Kids are all right- starring Julianne Moore and Anette Bening as lesbian couple, this comedy-drama explores the realities of building an unconventional family. Although the theme is rather overrated, the new perspective presented here and the luminous acting of Moore and Bening make it refreshing. Mia Wasikowska (Alice in wonderland) also brings in her fresh charms that has "promising" written all over it.

Everybody's fine- this 2009 drama revolves around the great Robert de Niro in his journey to get to know his children after his wife died. A tearjerker and heartwarming portrait of a loving father trying to piece together his family.

FREE 43!

2010-12-17T03:53:00.001-08:00

TODAY is the happiest day in the lives of many many people all over the world as the courts finally ordered the release of the 43 health workers who have been illegally detained for 10 months already.

The 43 healthworkers, also known as the Morong 43, which included two pregnant women at the time of the illegal arrest and detention, (they have given birth)were conducting a first responders' training at a rest house of Dr. Melecia Velmonte, a pediatrician and respected infctious diseases specialist.

Three of them, Dr. Merry Mia- Clamor, Teresa Quinawayan and Reynaldo Macabenta were my colleagues in the Council for Health and Development where i used to work. Dr. Alexis Montes, Gary Liberal, Angela Doloricon and Lydia Obera are also among the 43 whom i have worked with and personally know.

The story of the 43 is now written in the history of the world as one of the most unforgivable human rights violations ever.

On a positive note, what happened to Merry, Tere, kuya Rey and the rest of the 43 sparked a global movement and clamor to uphold human rights. Groups and individuals who have never before uttered the words "uphold human rights, free the 43!" have joined massive protest actions worldwide.

And yes, in the midst of the international call to free the 43, of course current President Aquino have no choice but to respond to it, with so much drama and pa-pogi point (he announced that the justice department work on the release of the 43 last December 10 on front of local and foreign media while at the same time stressing that the government troops are stepping up its campaign to protect human rights).

The government troops still have to answer to the many violations they have perpetrated against the 43 including mental and physical torture. They have yet to answer to the law.

For now though, i'd be happy enough to know, that they are free and proudly, i clench my right fist and raise it up, i was one of the millions who chanted, "Free, free, free the 43!".

Mind you, it's the New York Times!

2010-12-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

Last week, i was surprised.positively, that is. why? well, dear friend Caloy wrote an article for the NY Times that is yet again, one that hits the senses of anyone who reads. (hehehe) and guess what, we're in it.

Not to brag, but yeah baby it's the NY Times!

Here goes.

in 2011, be On The Road!

2010-12-14T07:18:00.000-08:00

For all of you, who, like me, grew up dreaming to be On the road, watch out!!! Our dreams might just cone true, with this.

Interestingly, Sal Paradise will be played by Sam Riley who played rockstar Ian Curtis in the 2007 cult favorite CONTROL with Samantha Morton.

then again, kristen stewart and kirsten dunst? watda f?

wonderful 2010

2010-12-12T02:12:00.000-08:00

amid all the trials and struggles, 2010 has been a wonderful year for me. even the continued illegal detention of the Morong 43 has somehow brought people all over the world together to stand up for the basic human rights.

i've been to new beautiful places and had the chance to visit Bohol and Cebu and share wonderful reunions with beloved old friends and met new friends too.

i have spent a pretty good year with pretty good people and beautiful friends here in the concrete jungles of Manila.

most of all, because of this...

43 WILL BE FREE!

2010-12-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

Today, AQUINO said he will order DOJ Secretary De LIma to withdraw the information on the 43 healthworkers, meaning, everything will be quashed. They will be free soonest!

La Rafle is unforgettable

2010-11-29T07:23:00.000-08:00

1942 Paris. The majestic Eiffel tower becomes a detention camp for Jews.French government becomes evil, if not powerless. Rose Bosch' La Rafle, like other films about the holocaust is heart-breaking, torturing and nerve-shattering.

But in this beautifully photographed film about yes, the time when the French accommodated Hitler's campaign to annihilate the Jews for racial purification, Bosch, who also wrote the story puts the children into the center and of course, that made all the pains of remembering this dark time all the more maddening, quite literally so.

And since it is still to be released this year, i definitely wouldn't want to be a spoiler so i guess, i have to end here.

But to indulge you,this is French filmmakng at its best. The cinematography and musical score transport anybody withe a human heart into that place and time.

La rafle, which means literally in English as the Round-up, is yes, about that time of the nazis round-up for Jews in Paris- the violence against women and children, hunger, diseases, everything, it's here-even the little moments of joys inside the Jews' detention and yes, who can't be torn apart by these images?

Moreover, the film stars a very impressive ensemble of actors such as Jean Reno as a Jew doctor, Melanie Laurent and Sylvie Testud who was also in the Edith Piaf biopic "La vie en rose".

Anyways, enough said.Get a copy of this, and damn it, watch it now!

Journalists Commemorate First Anniversary of Ampatuan Massacre with Reminders, Call for Justice

2010-11-19T00:05:00.000-08:00

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Various media organizations have geared up to mark the first anniversary of the Ampatuan massacre on Nov. 23.

On Nov. 23, 2009, 57 persons, including the wife and relatives of Toto Mangudadatu, the political rival of the Ampatuan clan, were killed allegedly by the private army of the Ampatuan clan in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao. Thirty-one journalists were among the dead and one of them remains missing.

The November 23 Movement , a loose coalition of media groups calling for justice for victims, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP),the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility and the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP-CMC) have lined up activities leading to the Ampatuan massacre’s first anniversary.

On the day itself, relatives of victims and journalists would have a motorcade from General Santos to the massacre site in sitio (subvillage) Masalay, barangay (village) Salman, Ampatuan town. An interfaith ceremony would be held. Fifty-eight trees would also be planted.

In Manila, the highlight of the commemoration would be a torch parade toward the foot of Chino Roces (formerly Mendiola) bridge, a few steps away from Malacanang palace. Delegates of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) and other international media groups would join the protest.

CMFR who heads the secretariat, brought the meeting of the SEAPA in Manila to keep the Ampatuan massacre alive in the minds of foreign journalists, particularly those in Southeast Asia. Participants to the Journalism Asia, an annual publication, would also join the protest on Nov. 23.

“The activities are meant to enhance public awareness on the Ampatuan massacre and on impunity,” CMFR deputy director and former dean of the UP-CMC Luis Teodoro said in a press conference Nov. 16.

A journalist signs the tarpaulin calling for justice for Ampatuan massacre victims. (Photo by Ronalyn V. Olea / bulatlat.com)

Read the whole story here.

The genius of Mike Adrao. The brilliance of Iggy Rodriguez

2010-11-18T18:25:00.000-08:00

I went to the opening of Mano Mano, the two-man all drawings show featuring 20 works from Mike Adrao and Iggy Rodriguez.
Read my Bulatlat.com story here.

True, these two guys are geniuses. Look at these:

Iggy Rodriguez, coming of age. 4ft x 4ft acrylic on arches.

Iggy Rodriguez, delusions of grandeur. 4ft x 4ft acrylic on arches.

Mike Adrao,mekanismo 2. 4ft x 4ft, charcoal on paper.

Mike Adrao, mekanismo 3. 4ft x 4ft, charcoal on paper.
Thanks Tom, for the pics.

The exhibit is open till the end of this month, at blanc compound, Mandaluyong. Hurry! This show deserves a full-house.

Colum McCann's Zoli

2010-11-17T17:46:00.000-08:00

Now Reading: Zoli by Colum McCann, the oscar-winning writer who wrote one of the most touching stories i ever read about fathers and sons and one's sense of family history, Songdogs.

and although i have just started reading it, i am sure it's going to be wonderful.i hope to write about it, after.

Classic

2010-11-17T01:36:00.000-08:00

My friend Mideo Cruz is asking me right now a film to recommend for him to watch. Of course, i'm shut. I mean, hey, i can tell him a thousand titles. But actually, this one was the first to come to mind. A classic french noir that set the barometer in modern/new-wave filmmaking and actually inspired many film makers from the day it was shown in 1959 and continues to inspire up to now: Francois Truffaut's Les quatre cents coup or literally in english The 400 blows.

Francois Truffaut is of course, one of the world's greatest filmmakers, the same man who brought us The last metro and one of my favorites too: Jules and Jim,(we watched this Ryan and Reg i think) a story of friendship, whether we understand it or not.

I always wanted to do a review about the 400 blows but each time i start writing about it, i just can't think of anything to write down, i guess i am not worthy. So i recommend this review instead.

p.s. I didn't know that Truffaut wrote the story of a bout de souffle by Jean Luc Godard, another one of world cinema's greatest ever.and yes, of course, holywood had a remake of this, in 1983 starring Richard Gere.

Resolution to Free the 43 Health workers in an Argentina General Assembly

2010-11-17T01:15:00.000-08:00

From Raymund B. Villanueva, Kodao Productions

A Resolution Calling for the Immediate Release Of the 43 Community Health Workers in the Philippines by Raymund B. Villanueva

(Proposed by Raymund B. Villanueva, Kodao Productions, Philippines)

In February 6, 2010, soldiers and police arrested 43 community health workers in the Philippines on the basis of a faulty warrant. The community health practitioners were blindfolded, taken to a military camp, held incommunicado and severely tortured by the Philippine Army. In the past nine months, two of the victims have already given birth under detention.

AMARC hereby expresses its solidarity to our fellow community development workers. Like community broadcasters community health workers provide for a basic human right, particularly in poor, marginalized, disaster-prone areas and areas of conflict.

The new Philippine government has recognized that the arrest was highly irregular. This admission of irregularity was made by no less than Philippine President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III following a thorough investigation by the Philippine Department of Justice and global condemnation.

Under humanitarian, if not legal and moral considerations, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters strongly supports the global campaign for the immediate release of our fellow community development workers, the Morong 43 health workers.

(Passed unanimously as the third resolution of AMARC 10 General Assembly, La Plata, Argentina, 13 November 2010.)

= = = = = = = = =

About AMARC:

AMARC is an international non-governmental organization serving the community radio movement in over 110 countries, and advocating for the right to communicate at the international, national, local and neighbourhood levels. AMARC has an International Secretariat in Montreal. It has regional sections in Africa, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, North America and Asia Pacific and offices in Johannesburg, Buenos Aires, Brussels, and Kathmandu. For more information, please contact Suman Basnet, Regional Coordinator for Asia-Pacific, suman_basnet@asiapacific.amarc.org or visit www.asiapacific.amarc.org.

NEVER FORGET!

2010-11-16T01:07:00.000-08:00

Today, while President Aquino remains to be deaf on the global calls to Free the 43 Health workers who are now nine months in detention, the Filipino people commemorate another one of the darkest days in Philippine history- one that happened under the President's own backyard.

The 6th year of the Hacienda Luisita Massacre.

Mano Mano: Manila’s young masters of drawing at Blanc compound

2010-11-16T00:56:00.000-08:00

No, it is not a fist fight.

It features two men who use powerful hands to come up with knock-out results but no, it is not a fist fight.

Opening today and will be in exhibition until the end of this month, Mano mano is a two-man exhibit that brings together two of manila’s exciting contemporary visual artists, Raoul Ignacio “Iggy” Rodriguez and Michael Alvin “Mike” R. Adrao.

The show which will be in Blanc Compound in Mandaluyong, will feature around 20 artworks, all illustrations and drawings from Rodriguez and Adrao, both popular in this particular field in the visual arts.

Tara!

Three Filipino Youth to Perform in Italy

2010-11-14T04:02:00.000-08:00

For the third time, the Association for the Rights of Children in South East Asia (ARCSEA), an organization advocating for the rights of children here in Manila is sending young people from urban poor communities to perform in different cities in Tuscany, Italy for an annual event tagged as “Il cuore sis cogle” (Melting hearts).

According to Madella Santiago, the executive director of ARCSEA, Melting Hearts is an annual fund-raising campaign of their Italian partners that support cause-oriented organizations from third world countries such as the Philippines. Aside from ARCSEA, organizations from India, Peru, Burkina Faso and the Palestine are also invited.

However, “only the Filipino delegation is requested to perform,” said Santiago. The other delegations would only discuss their projects and activities.

Santiago said last year’s theatrical dance drama performed by Filipino youth portrayed children in armed conflict. The audience composed of students, teachers, professionals and members of different organizations in Italy were teary-eyed and awed by how effective the performers were, according to Santiago.

“Because of that, they requested that we come up with more performances for this year to be done simultaneously in different venues,” Santiago said.

The kids who perform Philippine social realities are chosen from the organizations in urban poor communities that are beneficiaries of ARCSEA projects.

This year, Adi Premian ,17, Donita Eso, 16 and Nicole Patigdas, 12, are performing solo pieces from the third week up to the last week of November. Except for Donita, Adi and Nicole were part of last year’s Filipino delegation.

READ THE WHOLE STORY HERE.

performances for the 43

2010-05-20T01:30:00.000-07:00

Kami ay Lalaya
a monologue and dance performance for the 43 health workers
March 6, 2010
Mendiola, Manila

Text: Terence Krishna Lopez
Concept: Edwin Quinsayas
Music: Musicians for Peace

Palayain
Performance art for the release of the 43 health workers
March 26, 2010
Supreme Court, Manila

based from the poetry "Palayain" by Terence Krishna Lopez
concept: Edwin Quinsayas and Racquel de Loyola (2009 CCP 13 Artists Awardee)
music: Maan de Loyola and Mideo Cruz

Lalaya ang Sambayanan
A monologue for the release of the 43 health workers
April 21, 2010
Bantayog ng mga Bayani, Quezon City

Text: Terence Krishna Lopez
Concept: Edwin Quinsayas and Terence Krishna Lopez

i love you

2010-05-13T01:58:00.000-07:00

and now i feel you always even at midday when the heat of the fiery sun burns my golden face. it is your heat that remains in my veins, in my skin, boiling my blood.

i feel your eyes wherever i am even at dusk when i hide from the setting sun underneath trees of wide branches, falling leaves. your eyes see through me, perhaps eternally.yours are the first set of eyes that get through my innermost corners, you see through me even at the darkest night.

i love you because of that and more, much more.

Reflections from a Prison Cell

2010-04-11T04:50:00.000-07:00

Prison walls and cold bars seem to hold time still
like the wheels of justice grinding to a half on holidays and weekends.
Makes me wonder if life takes a break on holidays and weekends?
State promulgated write seems to serve as stumbling blocks to the movement of the wheels of justice
but no life continues to roll in spite of them.

Retracing and recollecting life events since childhood days provide a bright spot in this cold detention cell.
Remembering insignificant events, trivial life encounters yearning freedom from the clutches of these cold walls and bars.
The unending movement of the suns shadows and the cool winds of the mountain breeze, life is teeming and vibrant.
The world is teeming with life, movement is felt outside except in this cold dead prison cell.

Early years and recent memories attest your participation in the life’s movement,
childhood faces and fond moments flashback in your mind.
Remembering the whistles of the tuta-gather as his tune mingles with chirping of the birds welcoming a new sunrise, a new day in our lives.

Dr. Alexis Montes
Morong 43
April 1, 2010

Palayain!

2010-04-08T23:09:00.001-07:00

Performance for the 43!
Supreme Court, Manila
March 26, 2010

Performance poetry for the 43

2010-03-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

ITAMBAD SA LARAB NG ARAW
performance poetry
March 24, 2010
Supreme Court, Manila

Free the 43 health workers!

2010-03-23T23:41:00.000-07:00

watch the you tube video of this performance here.
Dance and Monologue Performance
March 5, 2010/ Mendiola, Manila

VOICE ART PHILIPPINES

2010-03-07T09:46:00.000-08:00

Check out Voice Art Philippines this summer.

Free The 43!

2010-02-09T23:49:00.000-08:00

PLEASE JOIN US AS WE CALL FOR THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF THE 43 HEALTH WORKERS ILLEGALLY DETAINED AT CAMP CAPINPIN, TANAY, RIZAL.

UNTIL NOW, THE AFP HAS NOT FILED ANY CASE IN ANY COURT AGAINST ANY OF THE 43 HEALTH WORKERS THEY ARE ILLEGALLY DETAINING.

IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE SEARCH WARRANT USED TO RAID THE 43 IN THE HOUSE OF A RENOWNED INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, THE 71 YEAR-OLD DOCTOR MELECIA VELMONTE, WAS UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND ILLEGAL.

PLEASE VISIT us and get updates here and here.

FREE OUR COLLEAGUES!

2010-02-07T18:49:00.000-08:00

DR.MERRY B. MIA-CLAMOR

MA.TERESA QUINAWAYAN, MIDWIFE

REYNALDO T. MACABENTA

Merry or Maria as we call her in the office is always felt when she's around laughing out loud on little things in between breaks from her tasks as our Health Education, Training and Services Director.

She has two kids and one will turn one year old only this month.

Ma. Teresa or Tere is one of the most dedicated and hard-working people i have ever met. Midwife by profession but is also a very good dentist and health educator in the community health work.

She has a three-year old daughter waiting for her in their home.

Reynaldo Macabenta is our campaign officer.
Still waiting for him to come home is his wife and two little daughters.

These three, who are staff of our institution Council for Health and Development, the national organization of Community Based Health Programs in the Philippines which is on its 37th year since it was established in the 70s.

Now, they are being detained in Camp Capinpin, Tanay, Rizal with 41 others. They were abducted in the house of Dr. Melicia Velmonte, a respected infectious disease specialist last Saturday at 6 in the morning by 300 elements of the PNP and AFP.

They are conducting a health training for community health workers.

They are tagged as members of the New Poeple's Army.

Again, the state troops have proven their cowardice and brazen brutality. They need to find the NPAs who are in the mountains and armed.
They arrest the civilians and the innocent.

END State Terrorism!!!

How to travel with mint plant

2010-01-28T23:24:00.000-08:00

January 29, 2010
7:30 a.m.
Barangay Gasa, Lakewood, Zamboanga Del Sur

The last time I was in Mindanao, I almost got caught in the middle of the AFP-MILF war, in 2008.
I was coming from Cotabato city and took the highways of Maguindanao and Lanao Del Sur, escorted by the majestic and breath-taking Lanao Lake and beautiful Mosques and the sight of beautiful women in full Islamic garb.

Just minutes after arriving at Cagayan de Oro, I was told that the war has begun.
I was lucky.

Mindanao has always been a place I loved ever since I saw Davao.
Next to Bohol, where I lived for almost a decade, Mindanao, any part of, is my darling.

Since 2002, I went to Mindanao almost every after two years- visiting friends in Cagayan or travelling with some in Bukidnon, fell in love with the meeting of hot springs and sea waves in Camiguin with my closest friends, made love with Iligan City, got entranced by Agusan, enchanted by Butuan, captivated by Marawi City, got flooded with kind-hearted locales in Maguindanao and had a blast in Cotabato city.

This time, I went to the other side of the island.
I arrived in Ozamis City in Misamis Occidental, dropped by in Molave and Pagadian City here in ZDS and stayed for a couple of days in this beautiful village peopled by simple, sweet and warm-hearted folks who took me in, a complete stranger in just another adventure (never mind that there was a job-related side of it which was actually a wonderful experience altogether).

Coming here via ever-reliable habal-habal (motorcycle for hire) ride from the main highway, I had a wonderful reunion with the mountain roads a la roller-coaster but with the vast forested lands and green-golden rice fields as backdrops. I felt like Che Guevarra again, in his los diarios motorsikleta. For almost an hour, there was complete silence aside from our habal-habal and the songs of the leaves, the winds calling and the birds that played their tunes.

I was already in heavens, just being on a habal-habal ride again, my first time after more than a year. I forgot that yes, in journeys like this, the ride on the rocky mountain roads is just, as they say, icing on the cake. And the cake? The cake is of course, upon seeing the houses, little wooden huts where beautiful people reside, the farmers who, amid poverty and everything that comes or not come along with it, never tire of tilling the lands and planting crops that make us all full every meal, except for them of course who, mostly, do not own the lands they are tilling.

It is always a breeze living among the folks from the mountains. Everything seems so easy with the farmers- water from springs, smiles and laughter in conversations, willingness to learn new things and always, always simple in their ways.

Here, as I write this, a couple of kids are passing, riding on their horses, coming from the fields of their parents. Yes, kids who are supposed to be in school learning math or language, reading or writing but no, they are in the fields.

Sad and heartbreaking. But who am I to judge?

We always tend to think we are better off because we went to school, read books in our leisure time, watch DVDs and eat when we want to while these kids do not even know about the internet.

But are we really?

I can’t even get near the horses they are riding so comfortably, young as they are. Nor can I plow the land. Nor can I touch even the tail of the carabao. I definitely cannot create their works of art- the rice fields and cornfields and other things that make me feel absolutely great right now, and I smell now the dried fish and the native chicken being cooked on a firewood-stove.

But their poverty of course, is one serious and greatly important matter to discuss altogether and I am definitely incapable of doing that.

Yesterday I just had a delicious bath, by the waterfalls so near the house where I am staying now. You see, that’s exactly what I mean! I wouldn’t even mention that a river is just nearby too.

Last night, while dining with my foster family, they were laughing about my tongue-ring. My hostess said, she has been wondering since three days ago how on earth can I chew my food with it? and they were asking if they can get one too!

I am now about to leave them.
Tomorrow, I will be in the concrete jungles of Manila again.

Just like in every journey and yes, adventures though, I will be carrying with me another set of beautiful and unforgettable memories that will last me a lifetime.

And yes, I know Mindanao a little bit more.
I know Philippines a little bit more.

My habal-habal ride is here.

Nanay Thelma, one of the gracious women in the neighborhood gave me mint plant in a poly bag and basil seeds, with a warm hug for me to remember them, she said.

I am now travelling with a mint plant and basil seeds.

10:00a.m.
Lakewood’s lake

I now sit beside Lakewood’s unbelievably magnificent lake. Enchanting becomes an understatement.
Looking at my mint plant which survived the pressure of the mountain winds as we trekked by the habal-habal , I am in high spirits.

Another experience I will never forget, definitely.

Hopefully, my mint plant survive my flight tomorrow.

Happy peace and love, pesto pasta and chicken New Year

2009-12-31T17:55:00.000-08:00

Vignettes of my forgotten childhood

2009-12-26T21:50:00.000-08:00

It was the morning of Christmas and amid the hangover, I had to wake up early. For the first time in 19 years, my sister and I were about to meet our father, face to face.

On our way to the National Bilibid Prison where our father, acquiring a different name has been in detention all these years, my sister and I quietly held each other, on the bus, on the road crossing, on the jeepney and every time we felt we needed to. It was everything but ordinary.

When we finally got in, we smiled at each other and I was sure, we were thinking alike: we will be learning something about our father, the father we never really had.

I was wrong. Our father, looking a little older than his actual age of 55 talked only about us, when we were little children. He told us things we never really remembered until he talked about it. More about me though, than my sister. She was only five the last time she saw him, I was nine.

Before coming up with the decision of finally connecting with our dad, it took me years even as I always knew where he was. It was never easy. All these years, I didn’t even have a photograph of him. Nor did I have a clear picture of his face in my mind neither.

All I could draw out from my memories were this image of a tall man sitting along with his friends talking about his son who was only four but could already read and write very well and recite the multiplication table. That was all. Everything that transpired in our home until he finally left us were somehow forgotten like dried leaves scattered as ashes in June afternoons. I was suddenly a grown up. Without a father.

And there he was, talking to me as if I was still the little boy he was so proud of. As if I had no reason to forget him.

“You are the strongest among my children,” was a line that took away almost all the hatred I have been keeping all these years. That line took me to a journey towards my childhood. Memories of my childhood I never really imagined or dreamed about.
He told me about one afternoon, when I was five; he was looking all over our village for me, a little bit worried. And then, he saw a bunch of kids under a kamatsile tree catching fruits. He looked up and there I was on top of the tree picking fruits and throwing them at my playmates. My dad said, he himself was afraid to climb that tree.

I struggled in my mind, to find that afternoon he was talking about and when I finally found it, he started again.

“One day, it was noon, you came home from school with your white shirt completely wet and when I asked you, you said you washed it on the stream nearby because it was dirty. Later in that day, I learned from our neighbors that you washed it because it was full of blood when your head hit a rock when you fell of the bicycle.”
Again, I had to search that deep in my head and how I wished the brain is like a computer with a recycle bin so as to restore memories/files like that one.

I remembered. I fell of the bike. I didn’t want to tell my parents because it might cost them money if they take me to a clinic or a hospital so I took off my shirt and put it on my wounded head. I was bleeding eternally. When I passed the stream few meters away from our house, I washed my shirt and put it on.

He also told me about me getting drowned in the river because I had to catch my left slipper that fell of my foot while crossing through the makeshift bridge. I was seven. I was, accordingly, rescued by a neighbor. And then I went back to playing after changing my clothes as if nothing happened.

He told me about many other vignettes of a childhood I have forgotten or barely remembered.

I struggled so hard not to let a tear drop from my eyes and I was successful.

I wanted to tell him too about the years we had without him. How we grew up quite wonderfully without a father. I wanted to tell him about the times when I needed him, when I wanted to ask him things I believed a boy asks only to his father.
But I did not. I allowed him to play father to me and my sister. I allowed him to talk to us like we really needed his pieces of advice. We sensed it, how he longed for that moment when he can feel he is important and that he has a family, after 19 long years.

We felt his thirst to be a father again, albeit few hours.
When we left, he hugged us tightly. That was when I felt how thankful he was that we visited, finally and hoped that we could stay longer or come back soon.

On our way out of Bilibid, my sister and I held each other again. I told her the truth about how I felt. I told her that even if it seems as if we did him a favor, the visit was more for us that for him.
It did more for me.

I was able to know myself a little bit more. It was a liberating experience. It was like reclaiming lost inheritance.

Now, I feel more complete. As if a hole in my being is filled.

I do have a childhood memory apart from what I always remembered. My childhood indeed started earlier that I thought it did.

That visit was more for me than for him.

You see, earlier this year, my father’s father died. He was not able to pay his last respects.

the reason

2009-12-06T17:24:00.000-08:00

i've been away from the blogging world for quite a while.
the reason?
here.

i hope you enjoy this one.

women power

2009-11-17T22:38:00.000-08:00

sarah maclachlan
fiona apple
aimee mann
ani difranco
natalie merchant
edie brickle
joan baez
julie delpy
janis joplin
norah jones
indigo girls
regina spektor

Them Beautiful Musicians.

nostalgia

2009-11-12T02:47:00.000-08:00

Bohol.2007.

shut

2009-10-26T23:10:00.000-07:00

you enter in my afternoon dreams.

my eyes are wide open
but beneath and beyond,
you manage
to shut everything there is.

i long for the kiss of sea water,
i am sure it awaits my spent soul.

even that,
you shut out.

ililipad ng hangin ang halimuyak ng galak.

2009-10-20T01:02:00.000-07:00

kapag sumasayaw ang mga ginto't
luntiang dahon at butil,
sa hangin ng tanghaling tapat
tiyak ang galak
sa damdaming sabik sa halimuyak
ng kabukiran.

dumadampi sa pisngi ang simoy
nanaising matanganan ang hangin.

higit sa lahat,
may ngiti nilang maaamo't
maaliwalas ang mukha
silang mga anak ng araw at lupa
mga anak ng dalita't
nagbubungkal

ngunit kapag namasdan ng matagal
mga ngiti nila'y hindi maikukubli
ang mga lantad na lihim
mga naipahayag nang hiwaga
ng daan-daang taon nilang pagbubungkal
sa lupang kamkam ng uring nakikinabang,
bigla-bigla'y kukurutin
ang puso

at unti-unti'y
ililipad ng hangin
ang halimuyak ng galak.

October 14, 2009
Tabuk, Kalinga- Quezon, Isabela

to write again

2009-10-08T01:13:00.000-07:00

about life.or the lack of it. or love in all its vulgarity, raw and natural.or lust and the overflowing of it, lately.

soon, i hope.
for now, i am trying to steal every time i can from this to have time for this current read:

PHOTOS OF TYPHOON ONDOY VICTIMS

2009-09-28T04:12:00.000-07:00

SAMAHANG OPERASYON SAGIP, a disaster resoponse effort of the different health organizations is accepting donations in cash and kind for the victims of the tropical storm ONDOY.

for your donations, please contact the Council for Health and Development at #35 Examiner St. West Triangle, Quezon City
tel. nos. 929-81-09
email: chdmancom@yahoo.com

you may also deposit your donations directly on the following accounts:

Philippine National Bank Savings Account # 219-8303219
Bank of Philippine Islands US $ account # 314 00 5391 with the swift code BPIPHMM

receipts are issued when necessary.

PLease Donate to victims of Ondoy

2009-09-27T23:02:00.001-07:00

Samahang Operasyon Sagip
#35 Examiner Street, West Triangle, Quezon City 1104 Philippines
telefax: 929-8109/email: chdmancom@yahoo.com

September 28, 2009

Dear Friends,

Warmest greetings of peace and solidarity!

The whole country is once again in a state of calamity with the disaster brought about by the tropical storm Ondoy (international name Ketsana) in the National Capital Region and the different provinces in Luzon like Bulacan, Rizal and Laguna.

According to reports, more than 500,000 people are affected and the death toll is already at more than 100 while tens of thousands are currently in 100 evacuation centers.

Here in Metro Manila alone, thousands of families and their homes are affected and until now still are feeling the horror that was typhoon Ondoy.

Samahang Operasyon Sagip, a disaster response body convened by the different organizations in the health sector, is knocking on your good hearts to extend support to the relief mission that we will be conducting in various communities here in Metro Manila.

We are accepting cash or material donations such as food, clothing and medicines.

Attached herewith are the priority communities and the number of families affected where Samahang Operasyon Sagip will be conducting the mission immediately.

For your donations, please contact us at the address above or deposit your cash donations through the following bank accounts:

Philippine National Bank Savings Account # 219-8303219
Bank of Philippine Islands US $ account # 314 00 5391 with the swift code BPIPHMM

Thank you very much!

respectfully yours,

Merry B. Mia, M.D.
Health Education, Training and Services Department
Council for Health and Development

Darby Santiago, M.D.
Chairperson
Health Alliance for democracy

____________________________________________________________________________________
SAMAHANG OPERASYON SAGIP is convened by Council for Health and Development, Health Alliance for Democracy, Alliance of Health Workers, Community Medicine Development Foundation and Health Students' Action
Samahang Oplan Sagip
#35 Examiner Street, West Triangle, Quezon City 1104 Philippines
telefax: 929-8109/email: chdmancom@yahoo.com

The following are the priority communities of the relief mission with the number of families affected:

Pechayan and Phase 8, Greater Fairview, Quezon City- 2,000 families
Sitio Ruby, Greater Fairview, Quezon City- 1,600 families
Pulang Lupa, Greater Fairview, Quezon city- 700 families
Bagong Barrio, Greater Fairview, Quezon City- 2,000 families
Reboena, Greater fairview, Quezon City- 600 families
San Dionisio, Paraῆaque - 7,000 families
4th Estate, , Paraῆaque - 600 families
Alvarez Compound, Pasig
Isla Puting Bato, Tondo, Manila
Don Bosco community, Tondo, Manila
Damayang Lagi, Quezon City

In my life is full of life

2009-09-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

i watched in my life, first and foremost because of the love story between john lloyd cruz(noel) and Luis Manzano (mark)and did not really expect that i would get so much more from it until i did.

the movie is actually about shirley temple, played altogether enticingly by Vilma Santos. Tagged as the country's star for all seasons, this is her first movie after a long time so seeing her here do her usual wonderful performance, more so as a mother, is a real delight.

shirley, after living years as a librarian and separated from her husband, raising her kids in ways she believed was good, is faced with a crossroad that will send her to new york with her only son who is openly gay, mark who is a corporate slave, aso to speak.

now, shirley has to live with her son and his lover of two years, noel, kind-hearted, industrious and very much dedicated to the people around him to the point of being submissive.

but life has a way of being funny. after sometime, shirley who is initially allergic to noel has come to like him.and then, life happens again. in a collage of one sad even after another, the delightful, light comedy becomes a heavy drama so quickly that you, as an audience might need to hold on to your seat tightly as "heavy drama" may turn out to be an understatement.

when one dramatic scene foretells a possible sad event, it just didn't stop but it was well written that the middle to the end of the movie is executed very engagingly and even possibly memorable.

vilma santos and john lloyd cruz both give us tour de force performances that, for the likes of me who can be overly sensitive, the cinema becomes a cry fest.

i liked the movie for many things: beautifully written script without trying hard to be very layered when it's not really. it's just a simple beautifully written script and sometimes, that's all we need. new york. the way the director did not dwell so much or overtly on the romance of mark and noel. instead, Olivia Lamasan showed us intimacy, romance and real love between the two lovers in its, again, simplest ways without sacrificing the intensity of emotions. john lloyd is at his best here, not allowing even ate Vi to get in the way of his performance. Vilma Santos is of course, the movie's real gem. of course. Dimples Romana also shines here albeit in a very few screen time. The wake scene was also beautiful. it did away with the unnecessary hysteria that most pinoy films are so fond of.

however, there are times when ate Vi showcases her "hysterical school of acting" in scenes when she needed to be angry. and here, it's quite tiring since the drama scenes are so one after the other. it reminded me of ate Vi in Bata bata and Anak in which she had confrontations with her children. her delivery were intense but they tend to be too much for a mother's anger at her children. i was looking for ate Vi's more natural and subtle protrayal.then again, she's Vilma.

another point is the lack of development in the characters of Mark and Noel, i wanted to see more of their characters apart from what the movie showed. it could have given Luis Manzano more room to act or show his potentials because with what he was allowed to do here, it just seems not enough for him to show real talent.

Rafael Rosell's character is just unnecessary. completely.

i also agree with Nestor Torre in his review, the drama part was quite short and abrupt as compared to the comedy part of the movie.

and the use of the Pamela character, for me it was offensive. see it for yourself.

all in all, the movie is worth all the pennies. it is indeed a delightful watch and yes, possibly the best mainstream drama since 2008.

rahel

2009-09-04T00:03:00.001-07:00

my beautiful niece, Airam Rahel Lopez
1 year, 8 months old.

Perhaps the most inhumane act

2009-09-03T23:55:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the most inhumane act I will ever commit is the act of lying.

Perhaps i'd be lying if I do not admit there are times when I wanted everything that we have to be gone and I be alone again counting the stars kissing at night.

Yet, i'd be lying even more if I don't admit to loving each second you are with me, touching me, kissing me in places I want you to touch and kiss me, even as I grapple for breath each time, because I almost die with each kiss at the right place- the kind of death so beautiful we always only get there for a second.

I'd be lying if I tell you I don't want more.i'd be lying if I don't tell you I need more.

Yet, I'd be lying even more if I tell you that each time I reach heaven with you: on a couch, by the sink, on your bed or on a bus ride— I feel I am the most content soul in the universe.

It's you.it's your love so delicious.your touch that electrifies even the minutest of my nerves.you and your kisses that leave marks on my skin every single time.

I'd be lying if I tell you I don't long for places, dreams, destinations.i'd be lying if I don't tell you I want to swim oceans with you and fly the skies and reach many many dreams with you.

But I love you.
And perhaps the single most inhumane act is not really lying to you- it is not telling you that yes, you may not let me fly, you may not let me swim, you may not take me to my dreams,

but I love you and with you, I honestly don't care if I don't live my dreams.just love me.just love me and hold me and put your left hand on my chest each time I sleep.

How to be touched by your soul beautifully like they told me.

2009-08-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

For lolo Teddy.
Because time wasn't on our side

I cried.

If only you witnessed me sobbing
as I reached towards your peaceful corner
for the last time,
you would have thought of me
like how the wind thinks of the tree
each time a leaf sway
or when a tiny twig dance

you would have been wrong.

It wasn't loss
or pain
that covered my entire being
that morning of your funeral
nor was it emptiness
and future eternal longing for love lost
in such a short time.

I cried
and sobbed
because I listened to what they sang
about you.

I listened to your friends,
to your children,
to your relatives,
to your people.

It was
envy that tightened up my heart
the last time I looked at you
with white flowers

because I never
had.
Never will be
touched by your soul,
in such beautiful ways
they told me.

the way the morning
touches the earth:
eternally mysterious, magical.

Perhaps
this is my consolation:
I will forever bear your name.

more for me, than for him

2009-08-17T16:16:00.000-07:00

in October 2008, i took the same trip i am taking now.

in that trip last year, i didn't know i was seeing for the last time the most important woman in my life, my grandmother, who raised me when i was a child and whose values of patience and love will always be embedded in my being.

that trip devastated my whole family.until now, some of us haven't really moved on from the death of my lola, the most beautiful of all the roses.

that trip became the saddest of my journeys.
it was a trip i wished i never had to take.

and now, my father's father is in a state of comatose, two days now.

our reunion, after a long long time took place only this year.last May.
it was one of the few memories i have of him that i will keep.we had a great afternoon. he called all his posse and we drank and exchanged stories of joy, of life.he called all his neighbours for my coming.

as if we didn't see each other only for two years.

this is the grandfather i never really had. much like my father, he was always absent.always.until now, until this year when i braced myself up and met up with him.

that reunion, it turned out, meant more to me than to him.by seeing him and getting to know him again, after all these time, it felt as if, something inside of me was being filled with something i cannot really understand.

now, he is in a coma.
i am not sure if he will wake up again.if he will see me by his bed again.if he will recognize me, even my touch. for he didn't really knew me. only a part of my childhood.that's all.

but i think i have to take this trip.
more for me though, than for him.

New Lamangan Movie tackles human rights abuses in the Philippines

2009-08-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

In the new Joel Lamangan masterpiece, the statistics of rights abuses is given a human face. Bulatlat.com reviews the film, here.

missing the islands

2009-08-01T01:23:00.000-07:00

PDI's editorial today on Melissa Roxas case

2009-07-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

(photo from Bulatlat.com)

Editorial
Fair game
Philippine Daily Inquirer

From the moment Melissa Roxas came out with her story of abduction and torture allegedly in the hands of the military, the Armed Forces of the Philippines has been very busy trying to destroy her credibility. The irony seems lost on military officials that the harder they try to link her to the communist New People’s Army, the more they provide a strong motive for the violation of her human rights and the more her story becomes credible.

Roxas is the Filipino-American member of the US chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) who claimed that she and two companions were abducted by armed men last May 19 in La Paz, Tarlac. She said she was accused of being a member of the NPA and brought to what seemed like a military camp. There she was tortured for six days, she said, and freed only after her captors thought she was ready to return to the fold of the law.

During a hearing Tuesday at the House of Representatives, Commission on Human Rights Chair Leila de Lima said her office was able to trace a book given to Roxas by one of her captors to the National Bookstore branch in Cabanatuan City. This was considered significant because Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija, is one of the military camps being suspected as Roxas’ place of detention. However, Maj. Gen. Ralph Villanueva, commander of the 7th Infantry Division based in Fort Magsaysay, denied that Roxas had been detained and tortured there.

Earlier, two party-list members of the House of Representatives, Jovito Palparan of Bantay and Pastor Alcover of the Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy, told the media they had proof that Roxas was a member of the NPA. Alcover played a videotape purporting to show Roxas in the company of communist rebels. Palparan asked the CHR to look into the matter saying it affects Roxas’ credibility.

Roxas has consistently denied that she is a member of the armed rebel group. She said one of her captors had shown her a picture that looked like it had been taken from the videotape and asked the two representatives to reveal the source of the tape.

While De Lima conceded that Roxas’ political affiliation was “an important peripheral issue” that might affect her credibility, it should not detract from the main issue, which is the violation of human rights. “Nobody deserves to be tortured,” De Lima stressed. “Not even prisoners of war.”

That’s the problem with the military extremists, best represented by Palparan himself who left a trail of disappearances and deaths wherever he was assigned during a controversial military career that was much appreciated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo: They believe anyone who is a member of a rebel organization—or even just suspected to be so—is fair game. And they won’t be deterred by any rules or humanitarian considerations from dealing with the enemy any way they please. To them, the moment someone joins the enemy he forfeits not only his liberty but also his human rights and even his life.

In tagging Roxas as a communist rebel, the military and its supporters are trying to offer a mitigation or justification for the violation of her human rights. This is dangerous and terrifying. This is the same kind of thinking that moves men to vigilantism and other forms of extremism. It has no place in a civilized society.

Free all political prisoners!!!

2009-07-31T02:36:00.000-07:00

With Ms. Elizabeth Principe at the anti-SONA rally.
Ms. Principe is the NDFP peace nego consultant recently released from prison.

looking forward to sunrises nowadays

2009-07-29T06:05:00.000-07:00

after the almost never-ending longing, something this special has arrived.
if only you can hear whenever the wind sings it to you, that longing
if only you can hear it each time the rustles of the evening leaves try to tell you about it, about how they have been accustomed to my longing for this gift, about how each night was filled with my woes and lamentations
about this one sunrise
about this one dawn.

and now it has arrived and it feels so utterly great just like a bath from the rain on an early summer afternoon or a swim on a newly-found creek by the countryside or the simple kiss of the sun when one opens his window in the morning.

the earth is happy with my happiness, i am very sure.
there is not a nightmare of an opening earth, swallowing me alive anymore.
in fact, i have learned to walk without shoes on a muddy ground and slippery pavements in the city after a storm
and i have kissed the evening earth with my heart.
honestly, how often does the heart kiss the earth in the evening?

everyday i try to contain this profound joy inside of me and that is just a very difficult thing to even try to think of

but i do even that now because this is what i have been longing for, this every single day of overflowing joy

but i love it most specially when it's two in the morning and we are exchanging dreams and trying to negotiate who will have the first kiss before we eventually fall asleep (with your arms around me sometimes as more often, my arms are around you when we are sleeping)or who will have the last bite on the lips (i always win at this one, i bite perfectly).

and then those moments, those lifetimes of longing transcend into mere memories.

i always look forward to sunrises nowadays.

missing the countryside

2009-07-29T06:02:00.001-07:00

soon, i'll be visiting.

Mahal kita higit pa dahil sa minamahal mo ako

2009-07-29T05:18:00.001-07:00

Mahal kita
higit pa dahil sa minamahal mo ako
ng buong puso,
buong pagkatao
sa kabila ng lahat ng ako
at dahil sa lahat ng ako
sa parehong pagkakataon.

Minamahal mo ako
tuwing sumisikat ang araw
at tuwing hinahabol mo ang huling sinag
sa takip-silim

mahal kita dahil sa mga halik mo
sa buo kong katawan
na nagdudulot ng kapayapaang
dati-rati'y nadarama ko lamang
tuwing lumalangoy sa dagat
sa katanghalian
o kaya'y sa tuwing nasa tugatog
ng mga bulubunduking pula

at ikaw lamang
ang nakahahalik sa akin sa ganoong paraan.

Marahil dahil nga
minamahal mo ako sa paraang
hindi ko pa naranasan

mahal kita
dahil sa iyong mga ngiti
na kahit sa madaling araw ay
naaaninag
kasabay ng pagdampi ng iyong kamay
sa aking dibdib,
sa aking mga tagiliran,
sa aking buong katawan na lagi't laging sabik
sa iyong mga haplos
lalu na sa tuwing umuulan at walang buwan ang gabi
walang tala at madilim ang langit

mahal kita dahil sa lahat
ng mga kaya mong gawin sa akin
at sa mga kaya mong gawin
kapag tayo'y magkapiling
nagsisiping man
o nagpapalitan lamang ng mga salita't
mga panaginip

mahal kita dahil
sa lahat ng ikaw
at sa lahat ng hindi ikaw
at kailnma'y hindi magiging ikaw

sa lahat ng bukal sa loob mong ibinibigay
at sa mga hindi mo kayang ibigay

higit sa lahat,
mahal kita dahil ginigising mo ako
sa bawat sandaling
nabubuhay sa mga panaginip

hinahayaan mo akong lumipad
gamit ang aking mga pakpak
hanggang sa malayong kalangitan
ngunit handang
akayin ako pabalik sa lupa
sa bawat sandaling
kailangan ko ng tahanan
sa iyong pag-ibig.

Brocka Festival to Showcase New Socially Oriented Films

2009-07-20T01:22:00.000-07:00

MANILA – The resurgence of political films in the country may well be underway, courtesy of the Pandayang Lino Brocka Political Film and New Media Festival that will run from August 5 to 28.

Pandayang Lino Brocka, sponsored by Tudla Productions, an alternative video organization, in cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), aims to gather filmmakers in the country who create films with political themes and provide venue for the exhibition of their work.

In an interview with Bulatlat, Lady Ann Salem, Tudla’s executive director, said Pandayang Lino Brocka hails the late great Lino Brocka, whose political films garnered national and international recognition but at the same time angered the government. He was such an artist that, in the end, even the government had no choice but to bestow on him his rightful mark in Philippine history as national artist for cinema.

Among his more powerful and acclaimed films that mirrored Philippine social realities were Orapronobis, Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim, Maynila sa Kuko ng Liwanag, and Insiang.

The festival aims to inspire and gather the creation of truthful, artistic and relevant audio-visual work to enlighten and cultivate critical consciousness among the masses, Salem said.

“The great Brocka believed that artists are first and foremost citizens and his desire was to develop what he called the great Filipino audience, which was more important to him than creating the great Filipino movie,” she added.

Brocka’s films were in touch with the people’s dwellings and thoughts, Salem said.

One of the problems that emerging filmmakers and new media artists encounter is the problem of audience and venue for exhibition, said Emil Mercado, Tudla’s artistic officer. “With this festival, we are providing them the venue and audience as we are set to screen in schools, urban-poor communities, factories and picket lines where the films will be surely watched by the people,” he said.

The festival will run at the University of the Philippines-Diliman (UP), Asia Pacific College, in urban-poor communities in Quezon City and Manila and in work places in the cities of Muntinlupa, Taguig, Quezon City and Manila.

“That’s another essence of Brocka — bringing cinema to the audience, contrary to the mainstream and commercial films that are very expensive and do not tell about the lives of the people,” Mercado said.

Next Brocka?

On the other hand, Salem said that Brocka’s untimely death saw a decline of political films in the country’s mainstream cinema.

Throughout the decade that followed Brocka’s death in a car crash in 1991, not a few filmmakers have claimed to be the next Brocka. In fact, a couple of films have been made that tried hard to “be Brocka.”

“Of course, there can never be another Brocka,” said Mercado.

An alternative filmmaker himself, Mercado is saddened by the fact that Brocka is reduced into an icon, like what happened to Che Guevarra. “They are missing the most essential part of Brocka, which is being an artist involved in the movement that advances the national democratic aspirations of the Filipino people,” Mercado said.

He stressed that as a tribute to Brocka, Pandayang Lino Brocka is a response to the call of the times, for films and new media to show social realities and inspire the audience to act, struggle and overcome the ills plaguing Philippine society.

Salem said that it is not true that political films are unpopular to the Filipino audience; these films, she said, show their everyday lives, struggles, victories and aspirations.

Salem said Brocka created films in a period of history in which the Filipino people are faced with abject poverty, desperation and misery — a time not unlike the present.

Overwhelming

Considering the call for entries was opened for just a short time, the number of submissions was overwhelming, according to Salem, noting that the themes are very varied.

More than 50 filmmakers submitted entries while more than 70 films were screened.

Some films were already screened internationally. Some were made by established video groups.

One such film is Dada Docot’s Performing Naturalness, a short film that was screened recently at the New York Indiobravo Film Festival. This three-minute film is about a young woman who documented the frequent questioning of immigration officers about her stay in Japan as an alien. Docot is the winner of the grand prize at the University of the Philippines Centennial Filmmaking Competition for short/experimental films.

Another film among the entries that has garnered international exposure is Aissa Panafiel’s Long Live the Fearless Man, which won in the United States State Department-sponsored Democracy Video Challenge earlier this year.

Another festival entry is Padre de Pamilya by independent filmmaker Cesar Buendia, which has been shown commercially. Focused on corruption in mainstream politics, the film stars Ariel Rivera and Tessie Tomas.

On the new media category, even the popular group Gloc9 submitted a music video as an entry. Now popular in the airwaves, Gloc9’s Upuan is directed by Jay Pacena.

Another music video submitted is a rendition of Yano’s Esem by a student of Ateneo de Naga, which shows the contrast between the culture of malling and the people living outside the mall.

Diagnosing Poverty, Building Community is about two Manila doctors who chose to serve a Lumad community in Mindanao. It is the entry of Kodao Productions, one of the more experienced video groups that joined the festival.

Wala nang Balikbayan, a documentary by Ilang-ilang Quijano, a journalist for Pinoy Weekly, on the toll of migrant labor on Filipinos is also one of the films on exhibition.

Mayday Productions’ Ka Bel, on the other hand, is about the legendary labor movement’s leader Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran who lived a well-lived life serving the masses. He died as one of the representatives of Anakpawis Partylist and a hero to the Filipinos.

The festival, which will open in UP on Aug. 5, also features lectures, workshops and exhibits with known figures on contemporary art and cinema like UP College of Mass Communication dean Roland Tolentino, award-winning writer Ricky Lee and acclaimed directors Joel Lamangan and Carlitos Siguion-Reyna.

For Tudla Productions, the festival is just a beginning of yet another challenge to artists and filmmakers to constantly ask themselves the question: For whom are they creating? Mercado said.

Moreover, he said Pandayang Lino Brocka is also aimed at contributing to the wide national-democratic movement for an art that is not only free but as an instrument for liberating the people. (Bulatlat.com)

Pagbabago FORUM

2009-07-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

mogwai

2009-07-05T21:53:00.000-07:00

pa art-art @ mogwai, cubao expo
july 2, 2008
photos by jimi diga

with Onin Tagaro, KODAO productions

with cool film maker Dada Docot

the gang

onin and emil, the best kayo mehn!

CCP honors activist in the 2009 Thirteen Artists Awards

2009-07-03T20:16:00.001-07:00

In the last week of May, he experienced illegal detention for two nights. He was one of the seven activists illegally arrested in a protest action against demolition of urban poor communities in Sucat, Paranaque.

Now, he can have the last laugh.

On July 9, 2009, Thursday, Raul Ignacio “Iggy” Rodriguez will be accepting an award from the Cultural center of the Philippines (CCP), no less. He is one of the recipients of this year's Thirteen Artists Award, an award given every three years by the CCP to emerging artists. In fact, Iggy will be delivering the “acceptance” speech of this year's batch.

In an interview with Bulatlat.com, Iggy, as he is popularly called among his colleagues and comrades in the national democratic movement, expressed happiness, excitement, hope and the challenges of being an artist, at these very trying times.

The role of an artist, as always
For Iggy, an artist's role has always been to actively participate in the movement for societal change and not just to be a passive bystander, witnessing the transformations in the canvass of life.

With his smiling face turning grim and determined, he says “mula't sapul naman, ang papel ng isang tunay na alagad ng sining ay ang lagi't laging paglilingkod sa masa, ang pagiging bahagi ng kanilang buhay at pakikibaka at ang ialay sa kanila at sa bayan ang pinakamakukulay at mahuhusay nating likha.” (It has always been the role of a real artist to serve the people, live withem and experience their lives and struggles and to offer to them and to the country our most colorful and most beautiful creations)

Looking through his portfolio, this artist need not explain. Most of his works speak of the lives and struggles of the people. His works mirror the poor and the marginalized and their resolve to fight against the establishment.

Asked about emerging artists whose works mirror social realities, but are not directly involved with the people's movement, Iggy gave out a welcoming smile. “They have to be recognized for being brave enough to show life's realities in their works,” he said.

On the other hand, Iggy said that it is also important to recognize the different levels artists reach in their respective discipline.

However, he said that more than using their social-realist visions in their individual carreers, it is more substantial for them to actually live with the people and experience these realities along with them.

Of progressive artists who are not directly involved with the people's movement Iggy has this to say: “let us not limit ourselves, nothing is given to us naturally,it all starts in asking questions but eventually we have to answer the ultimate question, “to whom do we offer our works?”

Overcoming individualist, elitist tendencies

According to Iggy, one of the biggest challenges for an artist, is overcoming the individualist character and elitist tendencies. “Every artist must see beyond his own personal interests. The signs of the times have been calling for us to set aside our individual interests and contribute to social change,” he said.

There are many ways to overcome these tendencies such as collaboration with other artists, explained Iggy.

A major part in his portfolio are collaborative works with his colleagues in Ugat Lahi Artist Collective, his organization since the 1990s. Among these collaborative works are effigies, murals and installations that usually figure in people's mass actions.

For his exhibit piece for the Thirteen Artists Award for instance, he came up with “symphony of destruction,”a collaborative installation with Ugat Lahi.

However, overcoming individualist tendencies does not mean losing indivuality, shared Iggy. He recognizes there is a huge amount of individuality that an artist puts in his creations, in terms of the aesthetics and style.

For his part, Iggy's forte is the pen and ink.He sees his own works as mirrors of the human drama, of uplifting human spirit and illustrations of the human life.

Furthermore he says that an artist produces works depending on the event, venue and target audience. What is constant in the artworks though, Iggy said, is the “political and class stand of the artist.”

An activist since his college days in the University of Santo Tomas, Iggy is the acting chaiperson of Sining Bugkos, an alliance of national democratic cultural organizations in Metro Manila. Under the alliance are Aklas Sining, Musicians for Peace, Dulaang Katig, Tudla productions and Ugat Lahi Artist Collective among others.

window of opportunity
Iggy knows the state's track record in terms of attacks against activists as he himself is a victim of these attacks. Now being given an award by the government through CCP is not something he finds weird though.

Instead, Iggy finds this award as a window of opportunity as he represents the national democratic mass movement. “Although I was selected based on my body of work and not because I am an activist, my body of work would speak of my political and class stand,” Iggy expressed.

Moreover, he said that although it is an arm of the government, CCP has a level of independence. He is confident that it is more a postive thing than a setback. Iggy explains, “pagkakataon ito upang lalong maipalaganap ang kahilingan ng masang maralita at api sa ilalim ng sistemang ito, isa itong bulwagan upang maiparating ang ating mga adhikain.” (This is a chance to propagate the voice of the marginalized masses, this is one venue to deliver our vision.)

Furthermore, Iggy sees this award as a chance to to be utilized at a certain level, to inspire, influence and encourage other artists to be part of the advocacy of the people's movement.

For his fellow activist-artists, Iggy have these encouraging words to say: “let us continue creating for the people as we continue being conscious that our real arena is not in the closed galleries but in the streets, among the people and with the mass movement.”

The Thirteen Artists Award is given to 13 emerging artists every three years. The recipients have to be nominated by curators or former recipients of the award. The selection is based on the nominated artists' bodies of works and not on their achievements as individual artists.

According to the CCP, the Thirteen Artists Awards is in honor of the pioneering group of the 13 Moderns in Philippine art, namely Victorio Edades, Galo B. Ocampo, Carlos “Botong” Francisco, Diosdado Lorenzo, Vicente Manansala Jr., Hernando R. Ocampo, Cesar T. Legaspi, Demetrio Diego, Bonifacio Cristobal, Jose Pardo, Arsenio Capili, Ricarte Purungganan, and Anita Magsaysay-Ho. It started as a project of the CCP Museum in 1970 under its first curator, Roberto Chabet.

The 13 artist-awardees' works will be exhibited at the Main Gallery (Bulwagang Juan Luna) and the third floor hallway (Pasilyo Guillermo Tolentino) of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) from July 9-August 16, 2009.

*photo1: the artist and his work. after his illegal detention in May, he can have the last laugh.
*phot 2: Rodriguez exhibit piece is a collaboration with Ugat Lahi Artist Collective.

in the mob with the legendary Pen Medina

2009-07-03T02:02:00.000-07:00

finding sunshine

2009-06-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

this morning, i was tending our cacti. after watering (its first of twice per week watering this week)i placed them outside for direct sunshine for an hour (this i have to do everyday).

when i was bringing them back in, pot per pot, i just can't help but be amazed of how pretty and sweet-looking they all are.

i put a giant and two small ones on the table of our receiving room. they instantly light up the brownish, maroonish shade of the room. and then i arranged the others by the window, they are just lovely.

i was talking about the cacti with my friends about how they should be taken cared of delicately. the one who gave them said that the plants should be watered only twice a week as they tend to drown. well, they are basically desert plants so that's why.

what struck me most is how, as they are now treated as domestic/decorative plants, they can be given enough sunshine. i realized, yes, it is important for them to find their sunshine because that's how they survive in their natural habitats. that's why i will have to take them out for their sunshine daily. they have found their sunshine today and they will again tomorrow and days after that for as long as the sun appears.

and i flashbacked three hours earlier. the first ray of sun was kissing me while my arms were still wrapped around my loved one.

ah, i too have found my sunshine.

i love you

2009-06-22T23:18:00.000-07:00

do you remember this morning, my love? of course you do. it was the morning after we spent the night without sleeping. just talking, kissing, making love over and over and waiting for the sunrise.

and here is the sunrise, by the flowing water in the middle of the big city, in which you made me walk in corners and sidewalks i never walked onto, before you.

we usually spend nights talking and making love and i love that, i hope you know that. i love you speaking your mind out- your worries, your happiness, your experiences or just your plain giggles in a language that is quite foreign and familiar to me, at the same time. i love you is said over and over but i am not getting used to it.

i love the language of your tongue moving all over my body and i know you know that too because when your tongue travels through my body, i am silenced and that is something that doesn't happen to me often. now, it only happens when your tongue licks me, body heart soul.

i love you even when you are sleeping beside me, tired and not moving. you don't know but i kiss your eyes and nose when you fall asleep and i awake in the middle of the darkness towards dawn, towards sunrise, towards another day of loving you and i look forward to that, you must know.

my love, my sweet redemption, my angle and salvation- you make me feel something i have never felt for such a long long time- being loved exactly the way i want to and that is a special magic that doesn't occur to me everyday. you know how i have loved before and how i have wounded myself over and over to the point that i didn't know anymore if it was already love that's in front of me or not.

you know how, just a short time before your arrival, i was dying.

yes, you came and brought me life.
and joy and that lovely peace of mind and that sound sleep albeit short.

you made my heart smile in a way it has never smiled before.

for all of these and more. for so many other things i cannot write.

i love you.

and for simply existing with me.

Pumatak ang luha ng libo-libong kasama kasabay ng mga pagsigaw

2009-06-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

Pumatak ang luha ng libo-libong kasama
kasabay ng mga pagsigaw.

Naghalo ang poot at hinagpis
sa hapon ng sa iyo’y pagpaslang,

Ka Fermin.

Hindi umulan sa kamaynilaan
habang libu-libo kaming tumungo sa protesta
laban sa mga sinusulong nitong rehimen ni glorya

hindi umulan mula sa kalangitan
subalit bumaha ng luha sa daigdig
sa iyong pagkamatay
sa pagpaslang sa iyong anong dahas!

sa gilid ng daan,
isinabit sa alambre ang iyong duguang katawan
binaha ng iyong dugo
ang kalsadang pinagmartsahan
laban sa teroristang sistema!

sa pagkalabit nila ng gatilyo
layon nilang matakot ang mga kasama
layon nilang itigil ang protesta
layon nilang patahimikin ang madla

silang mga halang!
bigo sila noong una, makalawa,
at bigo sila hanggang ngayon

sapagkat higit nilang niliyaban,
pinagningas ang nag-aapoy
na poot ng sambayanan!

may hustisya,
Ka Fermin.

sapagkat,
bawat araw na lumilipas,
bawat hiningang pinipigtas nang sapilitan
bawat buhay nilang inuutang
buhay
dugo
hininga ring sisingilin ng daigdigan

at hindi namatay kasabay ninyo
ang inyong ipinaglaban
ang ating ipinaglalaban

Ka Fermin,
gugunitain ka sa tuwina
hanggang sa ang bayan ay lumaya!

–isang pagpupugay kay Ka Fermin Lorico
martir ng Negros Oriental
pinaslang noong hapon ng Hunyo 10, 2009

JOin the People's protest against GMA's CON-ASS

2009-06-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

i follow you, still

2009-06-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

i really cannot find the exact reason now. love is no longer existing, friendship is already gone and definitely, hate is now out of the question.

but i follow you still.

somehow it still thrills me to find out where you are now or what have you been doing lately or just knowing you are still alive.

and you are, still. i really do wish though, you are living. not merely breathing as i always knew you, hesitating to live was something almost normal to you, as in the involuntary movements of the eyes.

i am glad you are alive.

but i have finally freed myself of the chains i made myself, connecting my heart to your universe, to you, even as you always hesitated, no, denied me of the very reason why i made those chains. finally i can smile in my heart.

but i follow you, still, because perhaps, your words are the only thing that lives in that part of the world, your world. only your words know their way towards everything, even towards the deepest darkest corners of my world. they reach me, yes, still.

no longer the same way they did though, when i was still yours, completely.

your words have become something normal and habitual.
for finally, i have accepted,

they are just words.

i am happy now that i have stopped looking for their meanings.

batid ng ulan ang ating pag-ibig

2009-06-05T16:41:00.001-07:00

Batid maging ng ulan
ang ating pag-ibig.

inaawitan ang aking
gabing daigdig
ng mga patak ng ulan
at ihip ng hanging maginaw
sa mundong
maalinsangan

ang kumpas nila'y
magaan,
maginhawang pakinggan
maging sa katawang
pagal

siguro'y itinala
ng gabi
ang ating kumbersasyon
sa lalim ng magdamag
mula noong unang maghalikan

umuulan din noong
una tayong maghalikan.

iniindayog tayo ng ulan
at ng maginaw na hangin
tulad ng pagnanakaw natin
ng pagkakataon kagabi,
mga sandali ng pagtatangkang
mag pulot-gata

tumitila lamang ang ulan
sa bawat sandaling
naghihiwalay
upang magsilid
ng ating mga rubdob

hindi titila ng tuluyan
ang pag-ulan
batid nitong kapiraso lang
ang isinisilid nating init

sapat lamang
upang makaipon ng
higit na init
para sa bawat nating
muling pagtatagpo.

buy a skecth, support children's education

2009-06-05T16:38:00.000-07:00

ikaw ang pag-ibig

2009-06-02T04:36:00.000-07:00

nagmimistula kang silahis sa umaga,
ginto at nagniningning
at sa tanghaling tapat,
ikaw ang hangin na humahalik
sa mga labi kong paso
sa init ng makapangyarihang araw
sa hapon ay binubuo mo ang iyong mga ulap,
bumubuhos ka't nagiging ulan.

ikaw ang pag-ibig.