Achieving Happiness

I spent part of last Saturday in the Times Square branch of PageOne looking for books by Eduardo Galeano.

It always takes me so long to finish anything written by him. He’s not the kind of writer one reads in haste and impatience. For the most part, I’ve been reading ‘Days and Nights of Love and War’ at five pages at a time. After five pages I need to breathe and reflect; and it’s like standing on top of a very high mountain and oxygen is scarce. He writes about the role of writers, and the memory of writers of his kind and commitment. What events shape one’s language; what memories form the foundations of one’s reasons for writing.

For instance, he writes: ‘One writes out of a need to communicate and to commune with others,to denounce that which gives pain and to share that which gives happiness. One writes against one’s solitude and against the solitude of others. Oneassumes that literature transmits knowledge and affects the behavior and language of those who read, thus helping us to know ourselves better and to save ourselves collectively. One writes, in reality.for the people whose luck or misfortune one identifies with — the hungry, the sleepless, the rebels, and the wretched of this earth — and the majority of them are illiterate. Among the literate minority, how many can afford to buy books? Isthis contradiction resolved by proclaiming that one wites for that facile abstraction known as ‘the masses?’

—

Right now I write for a newspaper with a 50,000 circulation and it comes out every two weeks. It’s primarily for Filipino domestic helpers; but in defiance of what my publisher wants, I do not, we do not, put articles that merely entertain our readers.

I am not a seal or dolphin in capitivity:  I do not entertain.

When I write, I imagine their faces, their situation, the families they come from, the country they left behind and the conditions they are all trying to escape and alleviate.

To answer Eduardo, I write for OFWs. Right now, they’re my immediate audience, and it’s them I wish so much to address. Filipino is my medium, and though it is harder to write in that language, it is still the language of my heart (while English is the language of my brain) and with it I try to paint a picture of what needs to be done, what should be done, and what efforts so many others are already doing to fight off the hopelessness and helplessness that inevitably come with working under modern-slavery conditions.

To be honest, right now I am writing with David in mind. It’s to him I should be giving these attempts at explanations. 

————–

July Mid issue almost finished. Almost. Hopefully by tomorrow night we will be ready to proofread.

All I’m looking forward to is watching Superman (nope, it hasn’t begun showing here) and going back up the Hong Kong trail and breathing fresh mountain air. I’m writing the banner story for this issue and it’s a rather interesting one. About how gossipping between Filipinos can get really ugly and threaten one’s  employment (yes, David - I admit that Pinoys really like to gossip; but I would much rather extract lessons from story instead of depicting my kababayans like noisy magpies lined up on a telephone wire.)

———

- Typical Hong Kong News reader

So early in the Monday, and it’s already wrecked.

Some days, I feel like I could work with David; or other days — actually, on most days, I feel like simply upping and leaving.

I’ve been told by friends that I shouldn’t even try to understand David or influence him to be, I don’t know, less of a %^&%$#. I Isupposed it’s really a weakness on my part, always trying to see the good in people (the humanity and potential kindness in them) and it always sucks big time when it turns out that under their veneer of selfishness and assholery, there really is a selfish asshole.

I can’t explain what happened last Friday in a narrative because (1) I don’t feel like it, retelling it will exhaust me all over again; and (2) I am pissed off.

So here’s the exchange in email instead:

Ina,

I need you to focus and follow instructions.  This is not a democracy.

David

So, when I got in today, that’s what I read. My ears literally turned red.  I fired back:

Mr. Chen,

I am focused. I came here to Hong Kong precisely because I want to write. I am insulted at the very implication that I am shirking work. 

All I’m saying that we don’t and shouldn’t be rude to each other. Work is always more productive if the relations between people are amicable and amiable instead of tense and defensive (because this is the kind of relationship between yourself and the staff; in particular between myself and the publisher).

If this is not a democracy, then it’s a dictatorship or a fascistic state. In any case, I suppose I will have to adjust to the way you deal with the staff (including myself) accordingly. I will not be polite, I will be merely civil. No more pretenses.

Thank you for the reply.

Ina Alleco R. Silverio

Gad. He bought two couches for the office mainly for myself and Chi to use when we’re up late finalizing presswork. They came in last Friday night after that godawful meeting wherein he said that Filipinos were ‘tricky’ (and that when we learn the slightest thing about our rights, we abuse them here in Hong Kong) and that Indonesians were ‘dumb.’ The editor of our Indonesian newspaper Suara, Fanani, was right there with us during the meeting. Fanani’s didn’t blow up, he just shrugged it off and afterwards told us, "Well, that’s just the way he (David) is…"

Gad. I know that Filipinos have many failings and weaknesses both as individuals and as a people; but isn’t it the more intelligent, not to mention humane and compassionate, approach, to try to understand the roots of these failings and weaknesses and help solve, change them?

In the Kilusan, one is taught to assess ones’ self and one’s work; but more importantly, how one deals with other people, comrades and masa alike. The goal is to help one evolve and be a better person; to become one who understands the contradictions within oneself and outside, so one can be more objective in solving society’s problems.

Anyways, maybe Chi’s right. There’s no point in bashing my head against David’s authority. Maybe the saying ‘he’s young yet, he’ll learn’ really doesn’t apply to him. I just feel so disappointed that someone who has such great potential to do good for others beyond the self-serving reasons won’t even try.

It’s me, it’s not David. I should just resign myself to the truth that he’s, well, whatever he is that simply unlikeable to me.

—————-

What I’m listening right now to Giant Drag and Camera Obscura. British bands that I never even heard til Chi put their albums in my MP3 player. They’re part new-wave and grunge. They remind me of Frente.

Anyways, I just had to write that my day actually started off well. I slept early last night after reading Neil Gaiman’s ‘Endless Nights’ book. By 10:30 pm I was off to meet the Sandman.

Then, this morning, there was a slight drizzle outside and the trees and plants looked so healthy and alive (brightly green, happily green) and while I put on my socks I was listening to my new favorite Morrissey song "I Like You" (it is so danceable, and only Morrissey can sing it because it’s so, I don’t personal and particular to him.

I walked to the ferry station - no running today because I woke up early and I could afford to just amble along the pavement instead of my usual am-being-chased-by-the-military run to catch the 8:15.

So I get here to the office and my desk is more or less neat because I cleared my stuff last week when I told David via text that I resign but to which he didn’t respond. I put down my backpack, turn on the computer, and check my email.

Voila. Instant wreck. David’s email.

This is him, by the way: 

I am so looking forward to Tuesday. At least it’s another day.

These are two of the original studies of the historic Bayan Muna logo. Manong Boyer Rivera -artist and tibak extraordinaire - made for the party in 2000.

I’m trying to piece together a story of his life and history as an artist and how the errors in the mass movement affected his life, his art,  and how he views the continuing struggle.

There are those who have become — understandably– bitter and angry against the Movement after the 1991; but there are those who, even if they distanced themselves somewhat from the mainstream, never harbored animosity against the Kilusan. They continue to nurture the values the Movement instilled in them, and to be grateful for everything they were taught. Waging revolution is always bittersweet, but we forge on despite.

More later. It’s a good morning today!

———-

3PM. So maybe it’s not such a good day. I wrote too soon. The bad reports and stories are still coming in, so it’s not really an okay day. Oh well.

But every day I think of how my having an activist orientation helps me deal with even personal difficulties (yeah, yeah, I sound like a kulto-member na nagpapatutuoo, but heck…). I am able to situate myself and my problems in a more objective light (even if for the first few hours I’m a ranting/weeping/raging maniac) and think, heck, in the general scheme of things, I don’t really have a problem and I shouldn’t let myself be eaten up by petty concerns.

Someone very, very close to  me is always telling me this as well, and it’s really only now that I’m away from the Philippines that I really understand what he means.

Funny.

Work isn’t work. Writing for this paper is not work but advocacy; my way of giving back what I’ve been given; a way of practicing what I’ve been taught. By the Kilusan.

During the last few years when there would be fora and symposia commemorating the Filipino people’s struggle against Marcos and martial law, the FQSers would tell us, the younger generation of activists, how we have to work hard to make sure that the dark days never return.

But they have returned. And the situation is even worse because the abductions and the killings are taking place in broad daylight; the perpetrators acknowledging their brutal deeds and the government openly awards the killers and masterminds.

How does one deal with this kind of knowledge and not be filled with such outrage? Behind the grief and the anguish is always anger. And it sometimes clouds over every other possible happy moment.

Thus, how to deal with living a life in the Struggle.

Magkakaugnay at magkakadugtong ang buhay ng mga aktibista at ng kani-kanilang mga pamilya. Parang malaking lambat na hinagis sa karagatan kung sakupin ng galit at lungkot ang mga utak at damdamin ng mga aktibista ng mga balita ng pagdakip at pagpatay sa iba pang aktibista, sibilyan, masa. 

Sa mga panahong nakaupo ka at nagtatangkang magpahinga, babalikan ka ng alaala ng kung paano mo nakasama ang isang pinatay na na Kasama; naka-usap, naka-biruan, naka-trabaho sa gawain. Maiisip mo rin ang kanyang iniwang pamilya; ang paraan niya ng pangangarap para sa bayan dahil pareho din kayo ng mga ninais at minithi. Iisa din ang liwanag na nagbibingay tanglaw sa bawat araw ng paggampan sa gawain at tungkulin.

Nagkakagulo sa Pilipinas. Oo nga’t matagal nang magulo, pero mas higit ngayon dahil naiipit na sa pader ang mga nagsasamantala kaya’t mas desperado na sila. Sa kanilang desperasyon, naghahanap sila ng paraang makapuslit at magpalakas muli; at ang tanging paraan lang ay kung mapapatahimik, maaalis at mapapatay ang mga humahadlang.

Mag-isip, mag-isip, mag-isip kung ano na ang gagawin!

————-

Last night I interviewed a Filipino architect here in Hong Kong (he lives in Northpoint; but in the Philippines he grew up in Rizal, Laguna and he comes from a family of farmers), and he’s a serious martial arts enthusiast.

Correction, a serious Filipino martial arts enthusiast.

It gets his goat that Pinoys are forever taken with karate or taekwondo or judo (I prefer ninjin-tsu and shinobi because I’ve always wanted to be a ninja), but they hardly know anything about eskrima, kali or arnis which are indigenous Filipino martial arts. These are what the early Pinoys used to defend themselves against the colonialists way back in the 1500s. Or something.

Anyways, he was really, quite visibly upset, angered at Filipinos’ ‘colonial mentality’ and ‘love for anything that’s imported.’

He said that many Filipinos– especially among the middle class and upward and those who want to study martial arts — that arnis is ‘baduy’ and too ‘masa’ or pedestrian.

"Ano’ng ibig sabihin nyan para sa mga Pilipino bilang isang mamamayan? A lot," he fumed.

It was a little funny to me because I sought to interview him for the sports special the paper is coming up with (something non-political daw), then my subjects turns the conversation into the educational system and how backward it is; cultural biases; the inefficiency and corruption in government which makes it impossible to create a truly self-reliant  and nationalist economy, system of education and politics.

Harharharhar! I didn’t even ask anything political. My subject was on a roll.

Maybe I should learn kali or eskrima. They teach it here for free. I had arnis and karate for PE in UP, and I had a great time. Now I’ve a funny fat little tummy and I really want to get rid of it! (vanity, vanity).

——————–

This is my next Kultura article :

HALOS dalawang taon nang tumutugtog sa Cavern sa Lan Kwai Fong ang bandang The Bones. Pulos Pilipino ang mga miyembro ng bandang ito – sina Karen Domingo, Arnel Pineda mga vocalist; Monet Cajipe, rhythm guitar; Pierre Donovan Luib, bassist; Darren Mercado, drummer; at Elmer Palermo, keyboardist.

Sa buong panahong ito, nakilala ang banda para sa mahusay na pagtugtog at ‘concert-standard’ na pagkanta ng dalawa nitong  bokalista. Hindi man napupuno ng mga Pinoy at Pinay ang  Cavern tuwing weekdays kung kailan subsob sa trabaho ang mga OFW at hindi halos lumalabas ng flat ng kani-kanilang employer, madalas namang walang maupuan tuwing set ng banda dahil maraming mga ‘gweilo’ at iba pang mga turista at Chinese na residente.

Matagal-tagal na rin sina Arnel at Karen sa pagiging singers. Sa batang-gulang na 14, professional na si Karen at nanalo na sa mga national competitions sa Pilipinas gaya ng dating palabas sa RPN 9 na ‘Ang Bagong Kampeon.’ Tumugtog na rin siya sa iba’t-ibang hotel sa ibang bansa.

Si Arnel naman ay nagsimulang maging vocalist ng banda sa edad na 15. Tumugtog na ang kanyang banda na ‘Amo’ sa Shakey’s na kilalang hang-out ng mga mahilig sa live-band music, at nanalo na rin sa mga band competitions.

Nagkasama sila at ng buong banda sa The Cavern Setyembre 2004, at maganda ang kanilang naging chemistry bilang isang grupo. Asawa ni Karen ang drummer na si Darren. Gaya din ng ibang mga OFW, nasa Pilipinas ang kani-kanilang mga pamilya at sa kanila nakalaan ang kalakhan ng kanilang sinusweldo.

Ayon kay Arnel, mahirap ang trabaho pero masayang mag-perform. ‘Nagre-react kami sa audience, pinaanood namin sila at nage-gauge namin kung anong mood nila. Pag mukhang pagod lahat, relaxing music ang kakantahin namin. Pag mukhang malulungkot, medyo upbeat ang aming pipiliin,” aniya.

Ang responsiveness na ito sa audience ang makikitang isang dahilan ng tagumpay ng banda. Habang nagpeperform, mapapansin ang rapport nila sa mga nanunood at nakikinig. Kakaway si Arnel, ngingiti sa Karen sa ilang nasa audience. Parang dun lang mismo sa stage nila pinipili kung ano ang susunod na kanilang tutugtugin.

“Depende nga kasi sa mood ng audience. Minsan,sige, kahit  nababaduyan kami sa kanta, pero nakita naming bagay sa age-bracket ng mga nasa audience, kinakanta namin,” kwento ni Karen. Kaya nga naman minsan ay kinakanta nila ang walang kamatayang ‘My heart  will go on” ni Celine Dion na theme song ng ‘Titanic.’
           Pag dumating ka ng alas-9, maririnig mo ang mga kanta ng dekada 70, 80, at kalagitnaan ng 1990s. Karaniwang mga pop ballads o kung tawagin ay ‘slow rock’ o ‘mellow music’ mula sa mga kanta ng The Carpenters, ni Anita Baker, Christopher Cross, Sade at Billy Joel. Minsan hahalo sa kanilang repertoire ang mga hits ng Soul Asylum, U2, The Police, at mga bagong kanta nina Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, Robbie Williams at Red Hot Chili Peppers.   

Walang mapapansing pattern sa seleksyon ng mga kanta dahil salitan ang mood na sinasalimin ng mga awit. Ang malinaw lang, nag-eenjoy ang audience kahit nakaupo lang sa kanilang mga orange na de-kutsong bar stool o banquet seat at nag-aalaga ng bote ng $55 na beer.

Pagpatak ng alas-11, rock-and-roll at disco naman. At dito talaga lumalabas ang energy ng audience na karaniwang binubuo na ng mga employees na gustong mag-unwind, mga bored na residente, at mga kabataang nilalabanan ang antok dahil gusto talagang mag-party.

Nakikita nina Arnel na mapalad sila kumpara sa maraming musikero na nasa Pilipinas. Bagamat tutoong hindi rin naman daw kalakihan ang sweldo nila dito sa Hong Kong, ‘di hamak namang mas malaki pa rin ito sa nakukuha ng kanilang mga kapanalig sa iniwang bayan.
            “Sampu sampera ang magagaling na musicians sa atin, kaya masakit na hindi lahat nakakakuha ng magandang break,” ani Arnel. Naghihimutok din sila sa anila’y ‘diskriminasyon’ na dinadanas ng mga HK-based musicians. ‘Mas mataas ang bayad sa mga Puti. Siyempre kahit paano masusukat ang respetong binibigay sa iyo in terms of kung magkano ang binibigay sa iyo.”

Ayon sa isang survey, kumikita ang mga musician sa Maynila ng mula US$5 (HK$39) hanggang US$10 kada araw (o P250), habang ang mga overseas music jobs ay maaring pagkakitaan ng mula  US$600 hanggang US$1,500 kada buwan (o P31,800- P78,000). Sa isang bansa kung saan 43  percent ng populasyon ang nabubuhay sa  US$2 kada araw (ayon sa World Bank), ang kumita ng HK$10,000 kada buwan bilang musikero sa Hong Kong ay isang malaking tulong sa pamilya.

Gayunpaman, mas mababa pa rin, gaya ng sabi ni Arnel, ang kita ng mga Pinoy na musicians. Ayon na rin sa isang anonymous na performer, depende sa lahi ang swelduhan sa mga musikero sa Hong Kong. May mga Amerikanong musikero ang kumikita ng HK$30,000 hanggang HK$40,000 kada buwan; habang ang mga lokal na talent ay nakakakuha ng HK$15,000.

“Talagang nakaka-dismaya din. Passionate ang mga Pinoy kung mag-perform kahit pa covers lang ang kinakanta, ubos-lakas talaga Unfair na kulang ang binibigay sa atin na recognition at respect,” ani Arnel.

Samantala, katulad pa rin ng ibang mga OFW, may opinyon din sina Karen sa mga kaganapan sa Pilipinas. Migranteng manggagawa din sila tulad ng mga kababayang domestic helper, at apektado ng mga nangyayari sa Pilipinas dahil nandun ang mga mahal sa buhay.
            “Sana magkaisa na lang ang mga Pilipino,” anila. “Parang walang kauuwian ang pinaghihirapan ng mga OFW dahil sa corruption sa Pilipinas. Si Arroyo naman,dapat bumababa na. Lalong gumugulo ang sitwasyon, bumabagsak ang ekonomya.”

            Isang bagay na gustong makita nina Arnel ang magkaisa ang mga musikerong Pilipino sa Hong Kong. “Maganda sana kung magagawa ng mga musicians na magtulungan, para mapataas natin ang pagkilala sa galing ng mga Pinoy dito. Huwag na sana magkaroon ng inggitan o alitan,” aniya. "Magtulungan dapat ang mga Pilipino na nasa ibang bansa."

            Parang mga bampira ang mga Pinoy na musikero, lalo na ang mga nagtatrabaho sa mga bars. Sa paglubog ng araw, saka lang sila lalabas, at gigisingin ang gabi gamit ang kanilang mga boses at instrumento. Mga artista at migranteng manggagawa, tumutulong sila na ipakita sa mundo ang kakayanan at talento ng mga Pilipino.# 

I believe in my vocation; I believe in my instrument. I cannot understand why those writers write who declare airily that writing makes no sense in a world where people are dying of hunder. Nor can I understand those who convert the word into the target of their rage and into a festish. Words are weapons, and they can be used for good or for evil; the crime can never be blamed on the knife.

"Freedom" in my country is the name of a jail for political prisoners, and "democracy" forms part of the title of various regimes of terror; the word "love" defines the relationship of a man with his automobile, and "revolution" is understood to describe what a new detergent can do in your kitchen; "glory" is something that a certain soap produces in its used, and "happiness" is a sensation experienced while eating hot dogs. "A peaceful country" means "a well-kept cemetery," and sometimes a "healthy man" must be read as "man not yet dying."

By writing it is possible to offer, in spite of persecution and censorhip, the testimony of our time and our people - for now and for later. One may write as if to say : "We are here, were were here; we are thus, we were thus."

– I wish I had written those words, but they are by Eduardo Galeano whose work I follow, and whose commitment to his craft and why he writes I emulate.

Why is it that I cannot bend to what David wants? Even as I nod ‘yes’ during our meetings, at the core of me I defiantly shake my head. One might say it would be such a little thing to agree to what he wants — it is, after all, his newspaper, and I am but a hireling. STILL, this newspaper is a weapon in the hands of anyone who chooses to wield it. A weapon and an instrument, something that can be used for the defense and benefit of many.

I take my work too seriously, I’ve been told again and again."Go play, why don’t you?" David once remarked.

Play? With this newspaper? Are you kidding?!

There are moments when I want to go to David with a bouquet of hothouse flowers and tell him, ‘thank you for letting me write, for giving me and whom I represent a means to reach out.’ But then I remember - it’s always a battle with David, and if he could bend me to what he wants (’UFO lands in Shun Tak Centre; OFW miraculously conceives, gives birth to tilapia’ ) he’d be happier.

I used to quote Adrienne Rich’s line of poetry ‘A life I didn’t choose, chose me.’

But now I realize this isn’t true anymore.

I choose this life, and if I had the chance to live all over again, I would still choose  this life.

This is now the way I am. I am 30 years old, I’ve been a national democrat for 14 years, and I don’t think I’ll ever be anything else. This is, so far, the sum of my experience; and this is, so far, everything I’ve always wanted to be: a person whose life has meaning and direction and embraces something greater than my own being. I write because I believe in change; I write because I am compelled by what I see and what I see awakens me.

I also write in gratitude to a Kilusan who has shaped me and my values and how I understand other people, the world, and even myself.

Wala lang. I’ve been rereading Galeano,and now that I’m a little older than when I first read him, his words have a deeper and clearer significance to me.  We use our gifts for ourselves; and we wield our gifts as weapons for others. This is what I’ve learned for Galeano.

This isn’t my first experience writing about migrant workers; but this is the first time that I am truly seeing what it is like to be a migrant worker. It truly is being like cast ashore on a strange beach, and unless the castaways stick together, they might get swept away by the tide, or the loneliness that takes over the night and sometimes even the day.

I am grateful because I am learning so much more about how my country is and why it is the why it is even though I am an hour and a half away from it. From this distance from the Philippines but from this nearness to OFWs, I understand and appreciate more why the Kilusan continues to wage revolution.

—————–

And now the Philippines enters a new phase of even worse violence as the Macapagal-Arroyo regime flexes its iron-clad fist and declares all out war against the revolutonary movement and all those who dream of a better way of life and living for the poor majority.

Now is the time to wield our gifts as weapons.

I would very much like to gloat, but I won’t.

But maybe I will. Just a little bit.
Readers (mostly OFWs) and some Filipino professionals have been giving feedback about Hong Kong News, saying that the paper is now quite, well, credible. Because it has substance, and because it has stands on issues. They may not always support or agree with the stand (or the editorials and the cartoon), but they respect the fact that the paper now has an orientation (their word, not mine. What kind of orientation? National democratic, harharhar)

This is very encouraging. Especially in the wake of my battles with my 32 (he’s only freakin’ 32) year-old publisher. Every single story is a cause for a 15-minute discussion/debate/argument.

Only this morning he complained that the news about the Philippines were ‘too political’ — the impeachment complaint; the new groups speaking out against Charter change and supportive of the resignation/impeachment/ouster calls such as One Voice; the Lafayette controversy; the total war campaign against the NPA,  etc.

"It’s not our fault that the Philippines is not political turmoil…," I tried to reason out.

He retorts, "Why can’t you get more reports that are representative of what’s really happening in the Philippines?" Then he cites even the report about the P125 wage increase as ‘political (hmmm, he’s actually right. This is a political matter; an issue of political will); and even the anti-corruption drive of the office of the ombudsman as of the same slant.

Chi (my comrade in arms) fires back, "The Philippines is a very political kind of country. We’re in perpetual crisis. Even the littlest news is tinged with politics…"

David, seemingly defeated (I hope he never reads this),  says. "Yeah, well, just get other news, then."

Hah- it’s our Manila correspondent Sherill who gets the stories, and she’s got a mind of her own as well. She’s more or less a liberal.

Yup, of aliens landing in Malacanang and taking over the presidency. Or maybe the Angel of Karma coming for the likes of the two Gonzaleses Norberto and Raul and telling them that the next time they wake up from a night’s sleep, they’ll be dung beetles.

Anyways. David made a lot of good points this morning during the meeting about the lay-out, the captions, the quality of the photos, so I’m not really inclined to rip him apart in this blog. Also, he got Chi and I anew Olympus voice recorder each, and they’re not cheap ("Only the best for my staff, right?" Right.).

I do wish we could just, I don’t know, talk about the Philippines and OFWs and what the real situation in the world is. It would really help him, I don’t know, be a better person? Not that he’s a horrid human being, but I do so know that he — like anyone else who chooses to take a stand for justice and the cause of the exploited — can somehow find more meaning and purpose in life (Apart from becoming a multi-billionaire before he hits his 40s.)

Man, I don’t even know if he knows what’s happening in the HK government and what China is up to.

(As an aside — I spent last Saturday afternoon in Victoria Park where the rally for democracy and suffrage rights was held. June 1 was Hong Kong SAR-Day, the 10th year anniversary of the Handover. Hong Kong residents are demanding for greater independence from Beijing, and the right to vote. They say that that the proposed ‘electoral board’ is nothing but a ‘club for the rich.’ China scares the heck out of me. Revisionism has really awakened the Sleeping Dragon and it’s a real monster.)

- This woman and her husband brought their entire family with them to the pro-democracy rally.

——————-

Harhar! I’ve met the guy (and I’m now friends with him) who made the logos for the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), the Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP) and the National Democratic Front (NDF)!  This man was a graphic artist for the Philippine Collegian (well, he was a boy then, so), and he’s now a chief graphics artist guy for an ad agency here.

He still embraces the values of the natdem movement, and we’ve had the most interesting conversations. Mostly about how the Movement helped shape his values (and his wife’s. And even his children!) and how, even if one isn’t in the Philippines, one can and should continue to help further the cause for genuine freedom and justice.

He belongs to the generation of activists who survived Marcos, fought against Cory, but were severely affected by the years of errors of the Movement. He’s part of what I call as ‘the missing layer-’ former activists who are now in their mid-30s to early 40s.

I’m going to write a feature article about him, but the Sunday Inquirer Magazine has already sent a guy to interview him already in connection with the recently concluded First Philippine Arts Festival in Hong Kong (Unang Sulyap 2006).

Manong Emilio ‘Boyet’ Rivera is one cool dude.

——————

There are hundreds of books and readings on liberation movements and how they are understood and sanctioned by international law. There is international recognition for the right of citizens to take up arms and wage revolution against oppressive regimes and governments.  This is something the Philippine government refuses to recognize; but it bows to the right of the US to declare war against sovereign nations like Iraq and Afghanistan and bomb them to kingdom come.

————–

Governments devote the lion’s share of their yearly national budget for arms and weaponry, for the development of their military capability. Kanino ba ginagamit ang mga armas na ito? Laban kanino at para saan? Hindi naman mga government officials ang nagbibitbit ng mga armas na ito, kundi ang kanilang mga bayarang mersenaryo na tinatawag nilang ‘national armies.’

Sino ang kanilang ipinagtatanggol at bakit?

Bakit pag ang masa ang nag-armas, tinatawag na terorista? Kahit pa kanilang nililinaw na ang kanilang pagtangan ng armas ay upang ipagtanggol ang pamilya at ang sarili at ang bayan, tatawagin silang terorista. Kahit pa ang kanilang matamang pinupuntirya ay ang mga mersenaryong bayaran ng berdugong pamahalaan, o ang mga panginoong may lupa na palamunin ng mga magsasaka, mga tinatawag pa din silang terorista.

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This is from Manolo Quezon’s blog: "Here’s a story. I was talking to a farmer yesterday, someone involved in Agrarian Reform beneficiaries’ issues, and this was just one of the stories I heard.
Recently, a detachment of soldiers went through a community, as part of the general zona ad hamletting efforts of the AFP. The soldiers were hungry. They ordered the farmer to slaughter his one and only pig. The farmer refused -the pig was going to be earmarked to pay the tuition fees of his children. The soldiers manhandled the farmer and one of his sons, forcing them to dig their own graves.

The farmer and his son weren’t killed -but thoroughly frightened into slaughtering their pig. The NPA would never do that to a farmer and his family. "

Yep. I agree. It’s not very often that I agree with MLQ3, but in this instance, I do whole-heartedly.

-A happycolorflower for Manuel L. Quezon III

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Years and years ago when I was a writer for the the Philippine Collegian, I went to do research for a feature article about the NPA and stayed with a sandatahang yunit pampropaganda unit for a few weeks (it was during the semestral break). While moving around the area of jurisdiction of the unit (larangan), we ate ugob (breadfruit) and saging na saba which weren’t ripe yet for the first week. No one ever complained (except for me, but very, very secretly in my journal; and it wasn’t really complaining, more like, uh, I just missed meat), and no one asked anything from the masa.

Some of the masa had the occasional tiny goat and a few chickens and geese, but the NPA never asked for them. There were moments (after the first straight week of eating breadfruit with sardines, breadfruit with saba and breadfruit with toyo) when I wanted to whip out my own wallet and offer to buy a hen; but I figured that the NPA would much rather the masa donated the animals for our food.

Sure enough, in many of the areas, the masa gave chickens and eggs and frying oil, tuyo and dilis and the rare tinapang salinas and shelter from the rain and reports about the movements of AFP troops in the area and a place to sleep at high noon and when the sun went down and socks when mine got washed away in the river and conversation about the best way to raise kamote and how to tell the time even without a watch or a clock and stories about children growing up without schooling and instructions on the best way to light a fire and how to live with dignity even in the midst of the deepest poverty.

Ang masa ang bumubuhay sa Bagong Hukbong Bayan. Hindi sasaktan ng Hukbo ang nagbibigay sa kanya ng buhay.