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Do spare time to read our own zine LAGOS carrying the title Pensees on its debut issue.
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Ninoy: the Man and the Myth

It is undeniable the he is the man – the man, so to speak, during the dark days of the martial law regime. As for the myth, well, it is something that is personal in nature.

For an event, I believe, tends to be obscured by its distance from the present, along with all the mixture of news and stories about it, rendering that event as a hazy object in the mind. I do not know how many of the post-EDSA I children could genuinely relate to the fight that Ninoy waged during martial rule. But I do wish to “de-myth-tize” myself from the clouds that the years have put on the man that was Ninoy.

He was a fighter, not just a man who passes his day pensively on our 500-peso bills. It was a big chunk of history that he made which landed him on one of our local bills. He fought against an appointed leader stretching his power beyond its limits through his strategic position as a public servant. He was a fearless speaker who thought it best to inform the public of the dark activities going on behind the seemingly tranquil walls of Malacañang. For that he paid the ultimate price for such a dangerous, yet praiseworthy endeavor… – his life.

It seems familiar; these heroic acts (recall Rizal et al). But let us note, we post-EDSA I children in particular, that this is at least the closest point that we have in encountering a hero in his own rights. And so this should not be the case for “de-myth-tization” after all. The magnitude of his work to stand face to face with an enemy hungry for power cannot possibly leave us out of its illuminating power. In fact we are in the midst of a time that we cannot possibly miss out the true man that was Ninoy. It is up to us to inform ourselves of how well he stood for the Filipinos being trampled upon during the martial rule and how to continue that stand, to fight for the Filipinos, no matter how ungrateful and passive they are today.

We should not get discouraged by the lack of enthusiasm of many Filipinos to tackle the problems facing us as a nation everyday. For action should not depend solely on outside events. It has ‘choice’ as its fuel. For Ninoy, it was the choice to stand for the Constitution and laws that put him in the battlefields. And risk his life in the end. But of course we all know that all his works have not been in vain.

Now in the face of a government who prefers to consume exorbitant dinners while the Filipinos suffer from hunger each day, we cannot afford to let Ninoy be just a myth. We take him as fuel and inspiration. There is nothing silly and corny about getting inspiration. We take our place from where he and his wife Cory left off. Because for as long as there are beggars on the streets, garbage scavengers, unrest in Mindanao, outstanding foreign debts, prostitution, drugs, graft and corruption, among other, we cannot possibly leave our posts as vigilant citizens. We cannot afford to lose our identity to these present leaders who dare insult the Filipinos right in the face. And it’s not just about the issues of freedom and identity. I believe that there was more that Ninoy could have fought for. But he is gone and we are not. And thus we go make our respective moves to contribute in making the country livable.
Let us remember the brutal murder of Ninoy this August 21 and renew our resolve to be more real Filipinos in the present.

R e k o b e r i

Defilement of National Artist Awards: An Immoral and Criminal Act

The National Artist Award is considered the highest state honor that any artist can receive in the Philippines. It is thus one of those awards in this country that “empower an artist to be a model to aspiring artists,” in the words of 2006 National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera.
Because of this, Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’ s alteration of this year’s list of National Artist awardees can be considered a brazen bastardization of everything that the award stands for. It was a grave abuse of prerogative that served personal and political ends at the expense of the arts and culture.
Based on the rules on conferring the National Artist Awards, a selection committee jointly formed by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) comes up with a shortlist of candidates, from which the president is to select the final awardees. The rules allow the president to add one name to the final list.
In this year’s National Artist Awards, Arroyo added not one, but four names, to the final list: Presidential Adviser on Culture and NCCA Executive Director Cecille Guidote-Alvarez, filmmaker and comic-magazine writer Carlo J. Caparas, architect Francisco Mañosa, and fashion-designer Jose “Pitoy” Moreno. One candidate, internationally- acclaimed composer and conductor Ramon Santos, was removed from the shortlist.
Arroyo’s insertion of the names of Alvarez, Caparas, Mañosa, and Moreno in the list of awardees is not only a blatant violation of the law and a callous disregard of the selection process: it is also a shameless exercise of the patronage politics that she swore to eschew when she was catapulted to power in 2001. Alvarez and Caparas are both vocal supporters of the Arroyo administration, while Moreno is, among other things, Arroyo’s personal couturier. The Arroyo administration’s defilement of the National Artist Awards is both an immoral and a criminal act.
While the National Artist Awards have been previously surrounded by controversy, this year’s scandal is by far the gravest – one that may irreversibly erode the awards’ credibility.
In defiling this year’s National Artist Awards, Arroyo spits on the face of all artists and cultural workers – especially those who labored all their lives to contribute to the molding of a culture that authentically represents the hopes and dreams of the Filipino people.

Artists’ Response to the Call for Social Change and Transformation (Artists’ ARREST)

Post-Cory

Now that Cory has finally been laid to rest, attention inevitably falls to the people who showed sympathy to the grieving family, to the people who did not miss the corteges, to the people who showed that they support what Cory fought for and believed in. In this post-Cory period, can we still carry on what that Cory Magic has shown brought us?

For it was only natural for me to see people again in the streets – all dressed up in yellow shirts, laced here and there with yellow ribbons with all the placards bearing Cory’s and Ninoy’s names. It was simply a reliving of the late 80’s people power. Cory was an important part of that revolution and thus a mere form of reverence to a ‘democracy hero’ was shown by the people. I do not intend to ignore that fact that many of them expressed sadness in the passing away of Cory. Suffice it to say that the whole of Cory’s wake up to her funeral was composed of EDSA I recollections, nationwide grievance and sadness, politicking (as has been shown by numerous accounts on the internet and the media), and new battle cries of continued fight. The first three can be readily expounded on. But the last one that mentions of ‘patuloy na pakikipaglaban’ must be cleared.

In the death of Ninoy, the message coming from the people at that time was vivid – justice for Ninoy and an end to the dictatorship. And I found this here in the present only that it seems to point to blurred things. Well yes, the continued assertion of the Filipinos’ freedom and the defense of their democracy, that’s one. But I shall venture a little further for I think this is where I could possibly put the context in which Cory left her legacy today.

It concerns the administration of course. It was only recently that Cory asked the present leaders to maintain integrity of the government by resigning from their posts. One cannot miss it for it was big news at that time: they say that the 2004 elections were rigged and were taken to the highest level (read COMELEC level) of cheating. When Cory died she was still on her stand for these officials to go down and for the fraud to be exposed. Perhaps those chanting of Cory’s name and praises for what she has done for the country could create its own Post-Cory Magic by focusing ourselves to fighting to what are undeniably oppressions from the part of the leaders and degradation of our identity as a nation (to the point of losing such things that made EDSA I known world wide - democracy). Yes, we could create our own Post-Cory magic by standing by the power of the rule of law over the people, whether they are ordinary citizens or high-positioned leaders. This is what Cory showed in essence during that tumultuous late 80’s. She was branded a mere housewife but she took that fateful step forward and asserted to the people, in fact the whole world that freedom is what must be given to the people, not a dictatorship that spells only demise to the Filipinos. That step resulted in the downfall of a long-running regime and gave the world an example as to what people power could possibly do.

In a way, it would be an embarrassment if we plunge again to chaos just to straighten out things again in the country. At least for now the people are awakened again to the dire conditions of the society, thanks to the influence that Cory exerted despite her death. It now lies in our hands to use our rights and privileges intelligently for the betterment of the country. I know I know it shall be a long way. But remember that step I mentioned metaphorically earlier. We could all do exactly that. Simple actions could mean a lot.

Tula

Ang tula ay isang likha. Ang makatang sumulat ay manlilikha. Ang sinumang bibigkas ng klikhang-sining na ito ay makata sapagkat lumulikha rin siya sa pamamagitan ng wastong pagbigkas ng mga salita, wastong pagsasama-sama ng masiing na kumpas ng kamay, killing ng ulo, galaw ng katawan at paggamit ng himig ng tinig na katugma ng damdamin.

This has been taken from a poster we did back in 2000 as part of a school exhibit. Along with this description of a poem are those poems we made on subjects such as environment, father and son relationship, among other – things which we were able to relate to at that time.

Taming the Ground

I hold up my wrinkled hands
And see through their tremblings –––
a life lived through the fields
tilling and planting and harvesting;
a vocation transformed into passion,
love for the land my blood and tears have enjoined.

Straining my eyes I look into these crooked fingers,
Recall through those dirty, chipped nails –––
the storms and peace that came along
despite them we sang our songs:
of bliss felt in the bountiful seasons,
when harvests seemed to be the very gifts from Bulul.

Looking down those rheumatic feet,
Remembering along these skinny legs –––
the hectares of soil treaded sowing seeds
and tracing them back when it was time to reap;
feet which can tell the burden of working barefooted,
salvaged only by my wife’s soothing endearments.

Locking together those dark, tired hands
The retiring veins jut out of them, reminding me of the past –––
when we prayed the Angelus after a day’s work
on our knees and clasped hands to God more rains we implored;
and with those hands and arms I embraced my children,
hoping to present them:
a place they can call their own
and its fruits they could have for good.

But why is it that I am baffled;
As if the very ground on which I stand is a foreign place?

Is it just the old age taking its toll?
Or is the sense of danger of losing all this maze? –––

––– A sea of gold and yellow streaks,
brought to life by our labors and dreams;
bordered, dotted by unorchestrated greeneries
listen, all these lands should have been given in peace!

*poem submitted for the DAPAT BAWIIN: GARB Chapbook by Kilometer 64.

On the (Possible) Horrors of the 2010 Poll Automation

A canvas of hope was bared to the Filipinos when the news of the poll automation for the 2010 elections was heard. It was actually already being processed much earlier, taking its first pilot testing during the ARMM elections just recently. All was seemingly running alright – the passing of the bill, the bidding, among other, until…well, until the ‘misunderstanding’ that surfaced between the partners that is suppose to provide the mechanism for automation, between SmartMatic and TIM.

The past week really got me worried, seeing the dissolution of a personal hope to at least reduce the widespread fraud during elections, especially during ‘manually-operated’ elections. COMELEC almost conceded to the inevitable fact that we might be going back after all to the manual one if these two companies would not be able to settle their ‘misunderstandings’. Friday came and at least, and I say at least, poll automation would still be underway.

But this sudden dent in the processing of the said operation for our election severely puts the whole automation process in a terrible doubt. Why, after all the harrowing bidding phase, would companies screw things up now in a very suspicious reason as money (this, of course, being the one of the reasons released by the media)? Money talk inevitably leads most of us to the ‘backstage’ activities of the present administration which could possibly making deliberate moves to weaken the poll automation (where, possibly, people such as Garcillano and her ‘lady boss’ would not be able to do much). But it gets more complicated when the opposition was also accused of having a hand in the recent problems that confronted the process of automating the elections. Again I say it is a good thing that things are underway now but still, doubts loom onto this issue, not in the least is the possibility of hacking.

With a computer system, one particularly powerful person (with money) could hire another to infiltrate the system and therefore manipulate the counting process of the system. Impossible? Nah. Entirely plausible. With the way things come up now of how hungry some of politician out there, I would not be surprise if this issue of hacking would surface by 2010. As a physics student, I came to realize that in dealing with such stuff (i.e. computer systems) a small action could result to drastic or perhaps devastating results (i.e., the manipulation of the results, of the numbers).

The suggestion of releasing the source code of the system to be used in the automation is a good one as it would give the general public the chance to actually look into the workings of the system. (I would leave out now the problems of having the source code studied by possible hackers; I’d be too much of a pessimist now if I to pursue that line of thought). Let me just confine myself to the good sides of having the code of the system publicly-accessible.

In the next months we will see how our officials (especially the COMELEC) would tackle the preparation for the automation. With the public getting more and more vigilant, they cannot afford to make any hocus-focus anymore and then say “I am sorry” later. Elections should not be a race for power but instead an intelligent process of securing our future as a nation. The basic idea after all is to have officials who would serve the people. Nothing else.

Photo from edmodo.files.wordpress.com

Pa-siyam: Gloria's 9th SONA, let's make it her last

From ARTISTS’ ARREST: Artists’ Response to the Call for Social Change and Transformation

Kapag may pa-siyam, nagluluksa at nagdarasal ang mga namatayan. Ngayong paparating ang ika-siyam na SONA (State of the Nation Address) ni Gloria sa July 27, magluluksa at magdarasal din ang taong bayan, nawa'y umalis na sa poder ang reyna ng kasakiman!

Iisa ang eksena saan ka man tumingin sa kasalukuyan. Parang palabas at mga bida sa tv na iisa ang ipinapakita. Isang driver na bumubuntung-hininga sa kawalan ng pasahero, isang snatcher na nag-aalibi na napilitan lang siya para may ipambili ng anti-tb na mga gamot para sa kanyang one year old, isang nanay na nagmumulti-tasking para maka-score ng instant noodles na ipapakain sa anim na anak.

Nakakabahala.

Magpaka-partikular tayo, 1,242 ang tinanggal sa NFA, 1,750 sa Fujitsu Ten sa Canlubang, at 392 sa Intel Corporation. Ang ipinagmamalaking BPO industry ay nanganganib na magbawas ng 90,000 na empleyado.

Mahaba pa ang listahan ng tanggalan.

Subukin nating pumasok sa mga tahanang walang maibili ng mahal na gasul, sa mga naputulan ng linya ng tubig at mga naka-jumper.

Maglakbay pa tayo sa kanayunan, sa mga magsasakang problemado dahil wala na siyang lupang mabubungkal.

Hindi maitatanggi ang laganap na kahirapan. Kahit saan. Sa loob ng mahigit walong taong panunungkulan ni Gloria.

Maitim na balak ang nalantad sa atin noong hatinggabi ng June 2, desidido ang reyna na manatili sa poder lagpas 2010. Niluto ng kanyang mga galamay sa kongreso ang pormulang HB 11059 na magpapalawig sa kanyang termino...ang CON-ASS (Constitutional Assembly).

Ibinukas na ang pintuan para sa Charter Change na mula pa 2005 ay ipinipilit na ni gloria. Sino nga ba ang hindi maniniwala na hindi term extension ang isa kanyang motibo?

Mag-rewind tayo ng kaunti: “I will not run for 2004 elections,” pero tumakbo siya at pagkaraan ng isang taon, nabuking ang Hello Garci Scandal, sinabi naman niya “I am sorry,” ganun-ganun na lang. Kamakailan pabiro pa niyang inanunsyo “Who knows, I may run for Congress in my hometown,” maniniwala at magtitiwala pa ba tayo sa kanya?

Bagama’t kinikilala natin ang kasiglahan ng eksena ng arts and literature sa kasalukuyan, pilit pa rin nating hahanapin kung nasaan ang mga artista sa ganitong panahong nililigalig ang ating bayan.

Malikhain ba nilang sinasalamin ang mga pangyayari sa ating lipunan?

Sa ganitong pagkakataon, ang Artists’ Arrest (Artists Response to the Call for Social Change and Transformation) ay maglulunsad ng isang kampanyang kontra Charter Change, kontra CON-ASS, kontra-SONA. Ang “Pa-siyam: Gloria’s 9th SONA, let’s make it her last”, ay katatampukan ng musika, pelikula, tula, litrato at sining biswal na sasalamin sa tunay na kalagayan ng bansa at damdamin ng mamamayan. Bahagi at Kaiisa ang kampanyang ito ng mas malawak na pagkilos ng taong bayan na LAKBAYAN ng MAMAMAYAN mula July 21-27.

Sa pamamagitan ng paglahok at pakikisangkot ng mga artista at manunulat sa mga isyu ng ating bayan ay higit na nagkakroon ng kabuluhan at papel ang arts and literature sa pagbabago ng ating lipunan.

Bonfires for Peace

Traveling Bonfires and Tag-Ani Performing Arts Society Present: “Bonfires for Peace” (A Cultural Event for Peace and Justice), 9 July 2009, 7pm, Conspiracy Garden Café, Visayas Avenue, Quezon City

This event is a benefit show for the families of the desaparecidos and part of the “Bonfires for Peace” series (produced by Traveling Bonfires and shown in the different states in America ). Showcasing music, poetry, magic, satire, dance, theatre and an auction of visual art pieces—the list of performers and artists include both young and seasoned talents in the mainstream and alternative arts industry that have bonded together for the noble cause of justice and peace.

Featuring: Bonifacio Ilagan, Marili Fernandez-Ilagan, Joey Ayala, A stand-up comedy number by Mae Paner aka Juana Change, Bobby Balingit, Maryjane Alejo, Anak ni Aling Juana, A monologue piece (from tag-ani performing arts society), Jess Santiago, Rannie Raymundo, Khavn dela Cruz, Johnoy Danao, Axel Pinpin, Rockshox.

Long Live the Fearless Man

Electoral Japorms No More

Indeed it is with a thrill that we see today the Filipino people beginning to make a more critical look at the events surrounding their existence, especially as citizens of this country.

This I think is more apparent now with the way they treat the upcoming president elections in 2010. One could very well see the intensity with which some discuss (if not dissect) the presidential aspirants within their online groups. Looking around blogs and other online accounts and sites, we could see how frequently they now mention election stuff. Then there are those reform campaigns on TV and on the internet, among other. Naïvely or critically done, these things sum up to the general reaction of the Filipinos towards this concept of election.

Perhaps it is still refutable if the Filipinos would ever get to the part where we could fully have that trust among each other; that with the coming of each election, no greedy monster would ever be elected. But I choose to believe at this, at least for now.

It is because I do not want to join the statistic of those who have gone mad in convincing themselves that “pare-pareho lang naman lagi ang eleksyon”. Because it is exactly this passiveness/passivity and negligence of some that those trapos abuse with all their strength. Surf through the internet, watch the TV and we could certainly witness those premature campaigns of these trapos, disguised (so they say) as certain advocacy, etc, etc, etc. Their lies are all the same and shall be endless. If they don’t mind the criticisms and rebukes they are getting right now, then they don’t really have any right to appeal in the future if they do not get elected, using such things as electoral fraud, among other. People would throw away their right to make the right vote and these power-hungry individuals would, in the long run, throw away our lives altogether (we need not think that long for a possible example; we should all know by now the railroading of the constitutional assembly or con-ass). This is a very very sad vision of our country…

And so it is better for us to fuel these budding campaigns for reform in our elections however ‘corny’ they might seem to us right now. For a start, we now have our poll automation which we hope could cut at least the cheating during elections. Ignore the electoral pa-pogi of these would-be presidentiables. And I do mean ignore! For we could very well see that the money they use (should I say waste?) to advertise their plastic dreams for the country can be used to feed the poor and hungry.

What’s the difference between having a long-running TV ad to having the poor and hungry fed? Well, a vote. A vote, possibly from those fed ones. A vote that may soon get lost in the sea of tallies and counting. But a vote that’s been truly marked with integrity and hope. If we could only manage today to multiply such kind of vote in 2010, we could all be really proud of our electing public.

photo from tiscali.co.uk

DAPAT BAWIIN Chapbook Launch

Attend the DAPAT BAWIIN Chapbook Launch, on June 2, 2009, 6-pm at the Conspiracy Bar, Visayas Avenue, Quezon City. The chapbook contains arts and literary pieces in support of the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB). Spread the word! Presented by Kilometer 64 Artists' Arrest at Kasama-TK.

Call for Contributions - GARB Chapbook

The deadline set for the contributions (poems, songs, drawings, pictures, etc.) for the GARB (Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill) Chapbook is on May 18, Monday. Send in your materials to garb.chapbook@gmail.com.

Visit kilometer64.multiply.com and km64.wordpress.com for details and information about Kilometer 64 Poetry Collective.

*image from the Multiply account of Kilometer64

[ V ] oices [ F ] rom the [ A ] tti c

[ i ]
Today, again, the same –
Cramped and stuffed we hide
With the children wrapped in our arms
No time spared, we all share this failing ceiling.
Tiny, plump hands,
Cupped in fear, my dear Antonio and Ana
Shielding their fragile eardrums
From the outside noises ear-splitting.

[ ii ]
Today, again, the same –
The ground shook with metallic sentinels
Forests shed its greeneries for camouflaged entities.
Shiny, polished, imposing weaponries,
There they go again: these tall, white men
Covering the brown soil with
Foreign shadows and aphorisms to tell.

[ iii ]
Today, again, the same –
We witnessed the Games
Through the holes pierced on our wooden domicile;
They say it is all but friendly fires
But who knows when the rest-time strikes?
Obscure, dark, and locked,
Tucked away in base camps
Yet they go! free to stalk, free to talk
Play demigods on their native preys
Hey wait, Joe!
This is not the early 1900 days.

[ iv ]
From within the dank attic I hear,
Voices
From my
Antonio and Ana!
Those
Voices
From the
Attic
Resonate the song of innocence…
Collected by the coco-lumber walls,
Indifferent to the bombs and gunshots
Clamoring in all naivety –
Free, free, free!
And so…

[ v ]
Today, NOT again, WILL NOT be the same –
I choose to speak in behalf of my children
Our land is not a foreigner’s den
Find some other place to play and test
Your war games, both real and unreal
For in this archipelago we seek peace,
Not another army stranger to which to throw our fists.
Brazen, phantom-like surge of Exercises,
But we will stand in the way!
No copters, no planes would land so gay;
In exchange for our women
They do not deserve to be the pay;
For a power showing off army prowess,
Confine your influence to the West.

[ vi ]
Today, NOT again, WILL NOT be the same –
I will set my children – Antonio and Ana – into the fields across
Our ladies will dance festively along our village walls,
Without guns and tanks, there is freedom
No semi-tyrant
No pseudo-concern
No power disguised in the name of charity
Security begets not usury.
Firm, undaunted little voices
Our sons and daughters shall inherit not
Another period of servitude, resurrect the distant past.
They would no longer hide and sweat in the attic
Their voices confined in the fear they would meet;
Tear down the Agreement!
Reveal the abuse written in it,
Protect our own!
Do away with the awe of a nation we don’t even know.

*This poem appeared on JUNK VFA!: Mga Likhang Pampanitikan at Pansining Laban sa Visiting Forces Agreement, pages 67-68.
Published by Kilometer 64 (KM 64) in cooperation with Artists’ Response to the Call for Social Change and Transformation (Artists’ ARREST) at Junk VFA! Movement