Achieving Happiness

Ever Gotesco is not an alien place to me. It’s a mall that caters to the lower-income levels, and the stores are mostly nondescript, generic name brands, but in recent years because of the increasing number of Korean and Japan expats in the surrounding villages of Don Antonio and Don Enrique, some more relatively high-end shops like Bench, Penshop and Jag have opened there.

Ever Gotesco Commonwealth is not a place to go to if you want to relax. It’s like Divisoria, only airconditioned. Three or four years back, me and Anna Banana of Ka Satur’s office went to watch  Juday-Piolo film in one of Ever’s four cinemas, and we ended up seated next to sex pervert who refused to be be deterred from his activities even after our shocked exclamations. In anger, Anna stood up and yelled at the man ‘ ‘Manong, napakabastos mo!’ That did it. Everyone in the theatre  heard her and even in the dark we sensed all eyes on us, pulled away from the syrupy scenes of Juday being coy with Piolo.

Ever Gotesco has two good siomai stands. Bernabest. Shrimp pork dumplings sold for P25 for every four pieces. Eaten with chilisauce and followed by a deep swallow of gulaman, you have a filling snack enough to tide you over until dinnertime.

There are also waffle stands and a Genuine Sisig stall.

They also sell cheap silver trinkets in Ever Gotesco. Three pieces of silver jewelry for P150. You could get a necklace, a bracelet and a pair of earrings or a pendant (there’s the popular S for Superman symbol, the marijuana leaf, and the chunky  water-mammal that could either be a dolphin or a porpoise depending on how dented the nose of the animal is).

Down at the basement, there are three mechanized animals that children can ride on. These animals — a purple dinosaur, a spotted giraffe and a dromedary — have wheels on their legs and an attendant has to hold on the child on their backs so they don’t slip off. I’ve always thought that if I were a child, I’d be depressed the heck out of my pigtails if I were dumped on top a mechanized beast and made to ride it around and around a badly-lit and badly-ventilated mall; but then again, my mother said that I was often a difficult child and I never liked animal rides (not even the carousel).

So that’s Ever Gotesco Commonwealth.

Since Saturday, the mall has been included in news reports and headlines as the site where press freedom fighter Jose Burgos’ son Joseph Joshua Burgos was abducted.

Jayjay, according to reports, was last seen fighting off his abductors who walked up to him while he was eating at Hapag Kainan, a basement level eatery. The men (sporting crewcuts, according to witnesses) walked up to JayJay and pulled him out of his seat and dragged him out. They reportedly brandished handcuffs and a gun.

Up to now there are no clear leads as to JayJay’s whereabouts. While he was being pushed and pulled between his abductors, JayJay reportedly yelled ‘aktibista ako!’

I cannot believe that no one in the mall, at least no one who saw or heard him yelling for help, begging to be rescued, did anything. It was a very public place, why didn’t anyone do anything? There were security guards and plainclothesmen roaming around. Ano ang akala nila, shooting ng pelikula?!

But most of the blame still goes to the Macapagal-Arroyo government and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Sino pa ba ang maaring gumawa nito sa isang aktibistang tulad ni JayJay? A day before his abduction, Jayjay gave an agri-seminar to farmers in Bulacan. He is a volunteer for a local regional chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, the Alyansa ng Magsasaka sa Bulacan.

It’s horrible that this government continues to abet the abduction, torture and killing of activists and human rights advocates — it spares no one, young or old, male or female. One only has to think of 9-year old Grecil, and believe that this government has no respect for life. Now here’s Jayjay, missing, and his widowed mother with her heart being slowly ripped apart with grief and worry; his young wife and baby, living a nightmare of uncertainty and the threat of irredeemable loss.

What right has this government to abduct and quite possibly hurt, torture and even kill a young man like JayJay? Young Filipinos have even more reason than their elders to continue advocating for political and economic reforms, and to rage against the injustices being perpetrated on a daily basis against  the rest of the Filipino people. Sino pa ba ang magmamana ng lipunan kundi ang kasalukuyan at paparating na henerasyon ng mga Pilipino? Not only do we have the right but the duty and responsibility to fight for change, to demand justice, to work towards the creation of a new system wherein justice, peace and progress are not only aspirations but actual living realities.

What’s stopping this government from abducting more rank and file activists? Wala nang pinipili, at walang sinasanto. Hanggang kailan papayagan ang ganitong kalagayan? It’s not enough to shake our heads and express shock and outrage. We must take action against this. Jayjay’s abduction has made the headlines because he is the son of a well-respected journalist, but it’s certain that long before he was kidnapped he himself has been vocal against the extrajudicial killings and abduction of his fellow activists. Ngayon maging siya ay naging biktima na ng pandurukot ng gobyerno at militar.

‘Aktibista lang ako!’, JayJay is said to have yelled at his abductors. Kaya nga, aktibista kasi si Jayjay kaya siya dinakip at hanggang ngayon ay tinatago mula sa kanyang pamilya, kasama sa gawain at sa masang kanyang pinaglilingkuran.

I don’t think I’ll ever look at Ever Gotesco Mall in the same light again.

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Mahahalagang paanyaya

Ilitaw si Jonas Burgos at ang dalawa pa nyang kasama!

 Labanan ang Panunupil ng Estado!

 1.Sumama sa Kilos-Protesta ng mga mamamahayag, mga
progresibong organisasyon, at mga kaibigan na nakikiisa sa pamilyang

Burgos

. May 4, 2007
(Biyernes), bukas ng alas-3 ng hapon. Kitaan ay sa corner

Pioneer St.

– EDSA, Mandaluyong (malapit
ito sa Boni station ng MRT at Robinson’s Mall).

 Para sa detalye, tumawag sa telepono numero 412-0909 o
0915-8782830.

2.

Anibersaryo ng Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, alyansa ng mga pinaka-progresibong organisasyong masa sa Pilipinas.

Yesterday was International Labor Day, the 108th (yata) Labor Day in the Philippines, and Kim and my second wedding anniversary. Ang laki ng selebrasyon namin, hehe.
Despite the sweltering heat (I felt like I was being flayed alive), it was a great day. Ikalawang miting de avance ng Anakpawis, and it was also attended by AP’s sister party-lists Bayan Muna, Kabataan Party, Gabriela Women’s Party and Suara Bangsa Moro. Syempre mas mataas ang pagtingala ko sa mga manggagawa at Kasama na hindi sumilong sa ilalim ng mga puno ng Liwasang Bonifacio- they braved the heat and humidity and donned wide-brimmed hats or covered their heads with scarves and tubao while glugging liters of bottled water or gulaman at sago ( I was pleased to find a fellow Pocari Sweat drinker in Lisa Ito).
There was a gorgeous Golden Retriever named P1 who joined the rallies with a friend from NAFLU-KMU. They walked all the way from Pasay, and P1 didn’t seem to mind. By 4pm, though, she looked ready to sleep off her exhaustion and laid down on the pavement, ignoring the baking heat of the concrete. She lapped up the entire contents of my water bottle - she was so obviously parched.
More later. Work first

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Read the major dailies’ coverage of the local labor day rallies. As usual, there were stories about how divided the labor movement in the country is. Actually, there is truth to this, and it’s saddening. If we look back in the history of the militant labor movement in the Philippines, it will be seen that there were always divisions, but there were also periods wherein all the unions united in protest of certain government policies. Organizationally there were no formal linkages that lasted (halimbawa, yung short-lived Labor Advisory Consultative Council kung saan pumaloob dati ang KMU), but what be really, really great would be a renewed strengthening of the union movement– workers joining unions, and these unions claiming their historic role as political organizations at the forefront of demanding social justice and economic reforms. Oh well.

–

Ang saya-saya sa US! Massive Labor Day rallies calling for an end to the Bush government’s racist, anti-migrant and anti-immigrant policies.
Sana ganun din kalaki ang mga rally at protesta dito sa PIlipinas. Paano kaya mangyayari ulit iyon? (Actually, madali lang ang formula, pero parang hirap ang mga taong gawin…)

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Two years of being a married person. I don’t feel married in the usual sense of the word, but I do feel very committed. Kim is my bestest friend in the world, and though we often fight like cats and cats (catfights are 100 times worse than  cat and dog skirmishes), it is still such a wonderful thing to be with him (stubborn and annoyingly superior he can be sometimes, but heck, I’m not perfect either).

Happy 2nd anniversary, Beb.