ISANG BUKAS NA LIHAM KAY CRISPIN BELTRAN
Sa bayang ito ay hindi maaari
ang maging marangal nang di nabibilanggo.
Ganito ang winika
ng isa sa mga tauhan ng Noli Me Tangere.
Ka Bel,
patunay nito ang pagkakakulong mo ngayon.
Mambabatas kang ang mga inihahaing panukalang-batas
ay may layong papurulin ang mga ngipin
ng mga batas na ang nagsigawa't nagpapatupad
ay mga tulisan at kawatan.
Sa bansang ito kung saan ang mga taliba ng dangal
ay ang mga walang dangal,
isang kawalang-dangal ang kumalinga
sa mga dinarahas ng mga hari-hariang tulisan,
sa mga pinagnanakawan ng mga hari-hariang kawatan.
Kaya ka nakapiit ngayon.
Kaya ka rin napiit noon.
At bago pa man iyon ay marami na ang nauna:
Amado Hernandez,
Crisanto Evangelista,
Aurelio Tolentino,
Isabelo de los Reyes,
Apolinario Mabini,
Jose Rizal.
Talastas kong talagang sa bansang ito, Ka Bel,
ay hindi maaari
ang maging marangal nang di nabibilanggo.
At alam kong lalagi't lalaging ganito
hanggang sa hindi nababaligtad
ang mga pamantayan ng dangal sa bansang ito.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Friday, February 10, 2006
THE WOWOWEE STAMPEDE IS A NATIONAL TRAGEDY
In trying to absolve, before the public, the Macapagal-Arroyo administration of responsibility for the Wowowee tragedy which killed at least 75 people – one of the deaths being a forced abortion – on Feb. 4, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita has shown nothing except the extent of his servility toward Malacañang.
Those were among the wisest of words. “Saying that this event is a mirror of poverty is carrying it too far,” he said. “There is a tragedy because of the program.”
Either the honorable executive secretary was taking us for a ride or he had yet to acquaint himself with the nature of the television program that marked its first anniversary by being at the heart of a national tragedy.
Yes, the stampede that marked Wowowee’s first anniversary is a national tragedy. More than being an issue of reckless imprudence on the part of the show’s organizers – which it definitely is – the Wowowee tragedy is an extremely depressing picture of what this country has come to.
An overwhelming majority of the more than 30,000 who had lined up in front of the PhilSports Arena (also known as the ULTRA) were from the margins of Philippine society, a “basket case of a society” in the words of poet and literary scholar Gelacio Guillermo. Those of us who regularly go to the vicinity of the ABS-CBN compound have noticed that those who line up for Wowowee in the hope of getting into its contests look alike: their attires speak of the daily ordeal of surviving with less than the barest necessities, the looks in their eyes speak of hopelessness.
They pushed and trod over each other in a rush to get inside the stadium because of rumors that the show was giving away raffle tickets to the first 300 people to enter. The prizes ranged from cash to taxicabs to a house and lot – giving a sense of “hope” that those with raffle tickets would have a chance to lift themselves and their loved ones out of the rut with one stroke of luck.
It was this desperate yearning for a sudden exit from penury, or even for a small amount of money to tide them over for a few weeks or months, that drove the people to push and tread over each other in a rush to get in.
Because of this desperation, at least 75 people are now dead. Most of the dead are women – the ones who daily confront the question of how to make do with a pittance – and most of the women who died were grandmothers. Only three of those who died were men.
The Macapagal-Arroyo government cannot wash its hands of responsibility in this tragedy.
Hunger and joblessness statistics have reached all-time highs under the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, whose supposed mandate in the 2004 election is not even credible to say the least. The gap between the cost of living and the wages of an average workingman in this country ever widens as the government imposes additional tax burdens on the people who already have nothing to spare, supposedly to stave off a crisis they were not responsible for in the first place.
You have missed the point, Secretary Ermita. This is a national tragedy. It is not simply “because of the program” – unless you are talking about President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s program of governance.
Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria)
Feb. 9, 2006
Southern Tagalog Exposure
KASIBULAN Women Visual Artists’ Collective
KUMASA (Kulturang Ugnayan ng Manggagawa at Uring Anakpawis sa Timog Katagalugan)
ARTIST, Inc. (Arts Research and Training Institute in Southern Tagalog)
Kilometer 64 Poetry Group
Tambisan sa Sining
APLAYA (Artistang Pangkultura ng Mamamalakaya sa Timog Katagalugan)
UPLB Umalohokan
Pokus Gitnang Luson
Paolo Martinez
Andrea Muñoz
Gian Paolo Mayuga
Jeffrey Ferrer
Onin Tagaro
Bobby Balingit
Winnie Balingit
Lourd de Veyra
Dong Abay
Ninj Abay
Con Cabrera
Roselle Pineda
Heidi Takama
In trying to absolve, before the public, the Macapagal-Arroyo administration of responsibility for the Wowowee tragedy which killed at least 75 people – one of the deaths being a forced abortion – on Feb. 4, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita has shown nothing except the extent of his servility toward Malacañang.
Those were among the wisest of words. “Saying that this event is a mirror of poverty is carrying it too far,” he said. “There is a tragedy because of the program.”
Either the honorable executive secretary was taking us for a ride or he had yet to acquaint himself with the nature of the television program that marked its first anniversary by being at the heart of a national tragedy.
Yes, the stampede that marked Wowowee’s first anniversary is a national tragedy. More than being an issue of reckless imprudence on the part of the show’s organizers – which it definitely is – the Wowowee tragedy is an extremely depressing picture of what this country has come to.
An overwhelming majority of the more than 30,000 who had lined up in front of the PhilSports Arena (also known as the ULTRA) were from the margins of Philippine society, a “basket case of a society” in the words of poet and literary scholar Gelacio Guillermo. Those of us who regularly go to the vicinity of the ABS-CBN compound have noticed that those who line up for Wowowee in the hope of getting into its contests look alike: their attires speak of the daily ordeal of surviving with less than the barest necessities, the looks in their eyes speak of hopelessness.
They pushed and trod over each other in a rush to get inside the stadium because of rumors that the show was giving away raffle tickets to the first 300 people to enter. The prizes ranged from cash to taxicabs to a house and lot – giving a sense of “hope” that those with raffle tickets would have a chance to lift themselves and their loved ones out of the rut with one stroke of luck.
It was this desperate yearning for a sudden exit from penury, or even for a small amount of money to tide them over for a few weeks or months, that drove the people to push and tread over each other in a rush to get in.
Because of this desperation, at least 75 people are now dead. Most of the dead are women – the ones who daily confront the question of how to make do with a pittance – and most of the women who died were grandmothers. Only three of those who died were men.
The Macapagal-Arroyo government cannot wash its hands of responsibility in this tragedy.
Hunger and joblessness statistics have reached all-time highs under the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, whose supposed mandate in the 2004 election is not even credible to say the least. The gap between the cost of living and the wages of an average workingman in this country ever widens as the government imposes additional tax burdens on the people who already have nothing to spare, supposedly to stave off a crisis they were not responsible for in the first place.
You have missed the point, Secretary Ermita. This is a national tragedy. It is not simply “because of the program” – unless you are talking about President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s program of governance.
Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria)
Feb. 9, 2006
Southern Tagalog Exposure
KASIBULAN Women Visual Artists’ Collective
KUMASA (Kulturang Ugnayan ng Manggagawa at Uring Anakpawis sa Timog Katagalugan)
ARTIST, Inc. (Arts Research and Training Institute in Southern Tagalog)
Kilometer 64 Poetry Group
Tambisan sa Sining
APLAYA (Artistang Pangkultura ng Mamamalakaya sa Timog Katagalugan)
UPLB Umalohokan
Pokus Gitnang Luson
Paolo Martinez
Andrea Muñoz
Gian Paolo Mayuga
Jeffrey Ferrer
Onin Tagaro
Bobby Balingit
Winnie Balingit
Lourd de Veyra
Dong Abay
Ninj Abay
Con Cabrera
Roselle Pineda
Heidi Takama
Sunday, February 05, 2006
ANG UST AT SI GLORIA
Lubhang maaga pa marahil upang mapaghulo kung paano titingnan ng mga susunod na susulat ng kasaysayan ng Unibersidad ng Santo Tomas (UST) -- kung saan ako nagkolehiyo -- ang bagay na itong natuklasan ko may ilang araw pa lamang ang nakalilipas: ilan sa mga prominenteng kalaban ng Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ang taga-UST.
Nagkaroon ng higit na dating sa akin ang mga balita tungkol kay Kap. Candelaria Rivas, ang kasapi ng Judge Advocate General's Office (JAGO) ng Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) na kasama ng lider ng Magdalo na si Kap. Nicanor Faeldon nang madakip ng mga awtoridad kamakailan, nang mabasa ko sa isang artikulo sa Philippine Daily Inquirer na siya pala'y sa UST nagtapos ng Komersiyo at Abugasya. Taong 2002 siya nagtapos ng Abugasya kaya't marahil ay nakaklase rin niya ang ilan sa mga kaklase ko sa Legal Management noong 1996-1998, halimbawa'y ang bar topnotcher ng 2002 na si Arlene Maneja.
Dito'y nagunita kong taga-UST rin si Atty. Harriet Demetriou, na aktibo ngayon sa kampanyang pagpapatalsik kay Gloria bilang isa sa mga convenor ng Women's Movement for Arroyo's Removal and Regime Change (WOMEN MARCH). Sa UST siya nagtapos ng Abugasya.
Noon namang nakaraang linggo, habang sinasaliksik sa website ng Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) ang kanilang pinakabagong pastoral letter, sinamantala ko rin ang pagkakataon upang basahin doon ang mga bio-data ng ilan sa lalong kilalang mga obispo at arsobispo.
Doon ko nalamang dalawa sa mga obispong nanawagan ng pagbibitiw ng Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ay taga-UST rin pala. Si Arsobispo Oscar Cruz ng Lingayen, na napabantog din dahil sa kanyang mga expose laban sa jueteng, ay sa UST nag-aral mula haiskul, at doon na rin natapos ng pag-aaral sa seminaryo. Samantala, si Obispo Deogracias Iñiguez ng Caloocan ay kumuha ng BSE sa UST ilang taon makaraang magtapos ng pag-aaral sa ibang seminaryo.
Ngayon, iba't iba ang porma ng kampanya sa pagpapatalsik kay Gloria.
Isa sa mga ito ang paglalabas ng mga koleksiyon ng mga tulang laban sa kasalukuyang administrasyon. Dalawa na ang nailabas na ganitong antolohiya: ang Oust Gloria namin sa Kilometer 64 at ang Truth and Consequence ng Publikasyong Iglap.
Isa sa mga nahingan namin ng tula para sa aming Oust Gloria si Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera, na sa UST nagtapos ng kanyang Bachelor of Literature. Ang tula niyang kasama sa koleksiyong ito ay iniambag din niya sa Truth and Consequence.
Nariyan din ang paglalabas ng music video, tulad ng ginawa namin sa Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria) sa isang tula kong nasa Oust Gloria. Ang tulang ito ay nilapatan ng musika ni Bobby Balingit ng mga bandang The Wuds at Juan Isip. Sa music video, ang bumigkas ng tula ko'y si Lourd de Veyra ng Radioactive Sago Project -- isa sa mga tagapagsalita ng ARREST Gloria -- na sa UST kumuha ng Peryodismo.
Paano nga kaya titingnan ng mga susunod na susulat ng kasaysayan ng UST ang bagay na ito? Aywan ko, ngunit tiyak na nakasalalay ito sa kalalabasan ng kasalukuyang mga pangyayari.
Lubhang maaga pa marahil upang mapaghulo kung paano titingnan ng mga susunod na susulat ng kasaysayan ng Unibersidad ng Santo Tomas (UST) -- kung saan ako nagkolehiyo -- ang bagay na itong natuklasan ko may ilang araw pa lamang ang nakalilipas: ilan sa mga prominenteng kalaban ng Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ang taga-UST.
Nagkaroon ng higit na dating sa akin ang mga balita tungkol kay Kap. Candelaria Rivas, ang kasapi ng Judge Advocate General's Office (JAGO) ng Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) na kasama ng lider ng Magdalo na si Kap. Nicanor Faeldon nang madakip ng mga awtoridad kamakailan, nang mabasa ko sa isang artikulo sa Philippine Daily Inquirer na siya pala'y sa UST nagtapos ng Komersiyo at Abugasya. Taong 2002 siya nagtapos ng Abugasya kaya't marahil ay nakaklase rin niya ang ilan sa mga kaklase ko sa Legal Management noong 1996-1998, halimbawa'y ang bar topnotcher ng 2002 na si Arlene Maneja.
Dito'y nagunita kong taga-UST rin si Atty. Harriet Demetriou, na aktibo ngayon sa kampanyang pagpapatalsik kay Gloria bilang isa sa mga convenor ng Women's Movement for Arroyo's Removal and Regime Change (WOMEN MARCH). Sa UST siya nagtapos ng Abugasya.
Noon namang nakaraang linggo, habang sinasaliksik sa website ng Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) ang kanilang pinakabagong pastoral letter, sinamantala ko rin ang pagkakataon upang basahin doon ang mga bio-data ng ilan sa lalong kilalang mga obispo at arsobispo.
Doon ko nalamang dalawa sa mga obispong nanawagan ng pagbibitiw ng Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ay taga-UST rin pala. Si Arsobispo Oscar Cruz ng Lingayen, na napabantog din dahil sa kanyang mga expose laban sa jueteng, ay sa UST nag-aral mula haiskul, at doon na rin natapos ng pag-aaral sa seminaryo. Samantala, si Obispo Deogracias Iñiguez ng Caloocan ay kumuha ng BSE sa UST ilang taon makaraang magtapos ng pag-aaral sa ibang seminaryo.
Ngayon, iba't iba ang porma ng kampanya sa pagpapatalsik kay Gloria.
Isa sa mga ito ang paglalabas ng mga koleksiyon ng mga tulang laban sa kasalukuyang administrasyon. Dalawa na ang nailabas na ganitong antolohiya: ang Oust Gloria namin sa Kilometer 64 at ang Truth and Consequence ng Publikasyong Iglap.
Isa sa mga nahingan namin ng tula para sa aming Oust Gloria si Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera, na sa UST nagtapos ng kanyang Bachelor of Literature. Ang tula niyang kasama sa koleksiyong ito ay iniambag din niya sa Truth and Consequence.
Nariyan din ang paglalabas ng music video, tulad ng ginawa namin sa Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria) sa isang tula kong nasa Oust Gloria. Ang tulang ito ay nilapatan ng musika ni Bobby Balingit ng mga bandang The Wuds at Juan Isip. Sa music video, ang bumigkas ng tula ko'y si Lourd de Veyra ng Radioactive Sago Project -- isa sa mga tagapagsalita ng ARREST Gloria -- na sa UST kumuha ng Peryodismo.
Paano nga kaya titingnan ng mga susunod na susulat ng kasaysayan ng UST ang bagay na ito? Aywan ko, ngunit tiyak na nakasalalay ito sa kalalabasan ng kasalukuyang mga pangyayari.
IN FLEEING DEATH THEY PERISHED
Like rats they scampered,
scampered for a few months' lease on life --
and scores were stopped by death on the tracks.
In the rush for a few months' worth of human life,
scores were trampled like mice.
They met the death they sought to defy.
And this is how things have become
in this country of our afflictions:
to simply last the day through has become
a death-bringing ordeal,
and in the quest to flee this death
and taste the life of men
there are not a few who would face even
the danger of dying like mice.
In memory of those who, in the hopes of getting tickets to qualify as contestants in the "Pera o Bayong" contest of the ABS-CBN game show Wowowee, perished in a Feb. 3, 2006 stampede at the ULTRA
Like rats they scampered,
scampered for a few months' lease on life --
and scores were stopped by death on the tracks.
In the rush for a few months' worth of human life,
scores were trampled like mice.
They met the death they sought to defy.
And this is how things have become
in this country of our afflictions:
to simply last the day through has become
a death-bringing ordeal,
and in the quest to flee this death
and taste the life of men
there are not a few who would face even
the danger of dying like mice.
In memory of those who, in the hopes of getting tickets to qualify as contestants in the "Pera o Bayong" contest of the ABS-CBN game show Wowowee, perished in a Feb. 3, 2006 stampede at the ULTRA
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
A COMPLETE MOCKERY OF DEMOCRACY
It was an artist –- film director Lino Brocka –- who, as one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, formulated the provision for one of the cornerstones of the democracy we are supposed to be: specifically Art. III, Sec. 4 which states that: “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.”
If democracy is government by the people, as the word’s etymology tell us, there can be no democracy without freedom of speech and expression –- and press freedom is the freedom of speech and expression as exercised by media practitioners, in the same way that academic freedom is the exercise of the freedom of speech and expression by members of the academe. A truly empowered people are free to say how the government should be run.
The freedom of speech and expression is particularly sacred to us artists since it is essential to our work that we have the liberty to say how we perceive the world and the human condition at a given time. If liberty is “the soul’s right to breathe,” as the lead character in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting so eloquently says, the freedom of speech and expression is the artist’s right to be.
It is this cornerstone of the democracy we are supposed to be, this right held especially sacred by artists, that is being undermined by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Consultative Commission on Charter Change.
Art. III, Sec. 4 of the draft constitution submitted by the Consultative Commission reads thus: “No law shall be passed abridging the responsible exercise of the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.”
The insertion of the phrase “responsible exercise of” is very much worth noting. It is not just an exercise in semantics, it is an insertion that though brief speaks volumes.
What is meant by a “responsible” exercise of the freedom of speech and expression? Nowhere in the draft constitution can we find the answer.
But the answer lies in the statements President Arroyo has been issuing from time to time.
“Let us cast aside the ‘bad boy’ image that the press has acquired,” President Arroyo said in her speech before the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) in Baguio City last November. “Let us restore its glory as the ‘responsible son’ of a democratic nation.”
She uttered these words at a time when she was under fire from the press because of questions on the credibility of her victory in the 2004 election, because of her government’s imposition of policies making life harder and harder for Filipinos –- who mostly live below the poverty line if we go by the very statistics of the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) –- and because of rampant corruption and human rights violations under her watch.
We can see that as far as President Arroyo is concerned, we “responsibly” exercise the freedom of speech and expression when we refrain from criticizing the government. For her, the “responsible” exercise of the freedom of speech and expression is to “change the topic,” to talk about The True, The Good, The Beautiful while the country drowns in a sea of wretchedness.
This is a complete mockery not only of the freedom of speech and expression, but of the very tenets of democracy.
The signs show that a crackdown on freedom of speech and expression is at hand. History tells us that it is when freedom of speech and expression is curtailed that the days of darkness descend on the people.
We survived martial law and we must not allow it to rear its head again. Let us exhaust all available means to defend the basic democratic rights for which so many of the country’s finest sons and daughters have given their lives.
Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria)
January 10, 2006
Southern Tagalog Exposure + KASIBULAN Women Visual Artists’ Collective + KUMASA (Kulturang Ugnayan ng Manggagawa at Uring Anakpawis sa Timog Katagalugan) + ARTIST, Inc. (Arts Research and Training Institute in Southern Tagalog) + Kilometer 64 Poetry Group + Tambisan sa Sining + APLAYA (Artistang Pangkultura ng Mamamalakaya sa Timog Katagalugan) + UPLB Umalohokan
Paolo Martinez + Andrea Muñoz + Gian Paolo Mayuga + Jeffrey Ferrer + Onin Tagaro + Bobby Balingit + Winnie Balingit + Lourd de Veyra + Dong Abay + Ninj Abay + Con Cabrera + Roselle Pineda + Heidi Takama + Boom Dizon
It was an artist –- film director Lino Brocka –- who, as one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, formulated the provision for one of the cornerstones of the democracy we are supposed to be: specifically Art. III, Sec. 4 which states that: “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.”
If democracy is government by the people, as the word’s etymology tell us, there can be no democracy without freedom of speech and expression –- and press freedom is the freedom of speech and expression as exercised by media practitioners, in the same way that academic freedom is the exercise of the freedom of speech and expression by members of the academe. A truly empowered people are free to say how the government should be run.
The freedom of speech and expression is particularly sacred to us artists since it is essential to our work that we have the liberty to say how we perceive the world and the human condition at a given time. If liberty is “the soul’s right to breathe,” as the lead character in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting so eloquently says, the freedom of speech and expression is the artist’s right to be.
It is this cornerstone of the democracy we are supposed to be, this right held especially sacred by artists, that is being undermined by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Consultative Commission on Charter Change.
Art. III, Sec. 4 of the draft constitution submitted by the Consultative Commission reads thus: “No law shall be passed abridging the responsible exercise of the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.”
The insertion of the phrase “responsible exercise of” is very much worth noting. It is not just an exercise in semantics, it is an insertion that though brief speaks volumes.
What is meant by a “responsible” exercise of the freedom of speech and expression? Nowhere in the draft constitution can we find the answer.
But the answer lies in the statements President Arroyo has been issuing from time to time.
“Let us cast aside the ‘bad boy’ image that the press has acquired,” President Arroyo said in her speech before the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) in Baguio City last November. “Let us restore its glory as the ‘responsible son’ of a democratic nation.”
She uttered these words at a time when she was under fire from the press because of questions on the credibility of her victory in the 2004 election, because of her government’s imposition of policies making life harder and harder for Filipinos –- who mostly live below the poverty line if we go by the very statistics of the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) –- and because of rampant corruption and human rights violations under her watch.
We can see that as far as President Arroyo is concerned, we “responsibly” exercise the freedom of speech and expression when we refrain from criticizing the government. For her, the “responsible” exercise of the freedom of speech and expression is to “change the topic,” to talk about The True, The Good, The Beautiful while the country drowns in a sea of wretchedness.
This is a complete mockery not only of the freedom of speech and expression, but of the very tenets of democracy.
The signs show that a crackdown on freedom of speech and expression is at hand. History tells us that it is when freedom of speech and expression is curtailed that the days of darkness descend on the people.
We survived martial law and we must not allow it to rear its head again. Let us exhaust all available means to defend the basic democratic rights for which so many of the country’s finest sons and daughters have given their lives.
Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria)
January 10, 2006
Southern Tagalog Exposure + KASIBULAN Women Visual Artists’ Collective + KUMASA (Kulturang Ugnayan ng Manggagawa at Uring Anakpawis sa Timog Katagalugan) + ARTIST, Inc. (Arts Research and Training Institute in Southern Tagalog) + Kilometer 64 Poetry Group + Tambisan sa Sining + APLAYA (Artistang Pangkultura ng Mamamalakaya sa Timog Katagalugan) + UPLB Umalohokan
Paolo Martinez + Andrea Muñoz + Gian Paolo Mayuga + Jeffrey Ferrer + Onin Tagaro + Bobby Balingit + Winnie Balingit + Lourd de Veyra + Dong Abay + Ninj Abay + Con Cabrera + Roselle Pineda + Heidi Takama + Boom Dizon
Thursday, December 22, 2005
SILA ANG MAGBAYAD NG KANILANG MGA UTANG
Hindi namin malaman kung kami’y bubunghalit ng halakhak o haharap sa aming inudoro upang isambulat doon ang lahat naming kinain at ininom sa tuwing makikita namin sa telebisyon ang patalastas na nagtatanong sa atin kung masisikmura ba nating ipamana sa mga susunod na henerasyon ang utang ng bansa, na pagkatapos ay sinasabi sa ating dapat nating pasanin ang Expanded Value-Added Tax (EVAT) na sinimulang ipataw nitong Nobyembre 1.
Ang EVAT na ito –- kung saan idinagdag sa mga papatawan ng buwis ang langis, kuryente, at mismong serbisyong transportasyon –- ay isa sa walong revenue measure na ipinagtutulakan ng Malacañang upang diumano’y malutas ang krisis piskal na dumagan sa bansas sa kalagitnaan ng taong nagdaan. Ayon sa mga henyong economic manager ng Kagalang-galang na Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, na nagduktorado ng ekonomiks sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (UP), ang EVAT ay makalilikom ng may P60 bilyon at malaki, samakatwid, ang magagawa upang punan ang piskal na depisito ng pamahalaan na umabot sa P80 bilyon noong 2004.
Tinatawagan tayo ng nabanggit na patalastas upang “magsakripisyo” alang-alang sa kapakanan ng bansa at ng mga susunod na henerasyon -- at kulang na lamang ay pagbabanggitin ang mga pangalan ng mga bayaning Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini, Macario Sakay, Wenceslao Vinzons, Claro M. Recto, Jose W. Diokno, Edgar Jopson, Liliosa Hilao, Lorena Barros, Eman Lacaba, Bobby de la Paz, Lean Alejandro at iba pa upang antigin ang ating makabayang damdami’t diwa.
Batay sa mga estadistika mula sa National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), ang halaga ng pamumuhay sa buong bansa ay umabot na sa P667.20 bawat araw para sa pamilyang may anim na miyembro –- ang karaniwang pamilyang Pilipino. Samantala naman, ang pinakamataas na minimum na sahod magmula Hunyo ng taong ito ay P325 lamang, at ito’y sa National Capital Region (NCR).
Sa ganitong kalagayan, totoong malaking sakripisyo ang papasanin natin sa pagpapataw ng EVAT. Ngunit dapat nga bang tayo ang pumasan ng sakripisyong ito?
Sa pananaliksik ng ekonomistang si Dr. Alejandro Lichauco, lumilitaw na noong 1962 ay nasa $150 milyon ang utang panlabas ng Pilipinas. Ngayong taon, batay sa mga datos mula sa mismong gobyerno, ito’y nasa $69 bilyon na, o P3.8 trilyon. Kungh hahatiin ang P3.8 trilyon na ito sa kasalukuyang populasyong 84 milyon, lalabas na ang bawat Pilipino’y kasalukuyang nagkakautang ng P45,238.10 sa mga institusyong panlabas na ni anino’y hindi nakita ng karamihan sa atin.
Palaging ikinakatwiran ng pamahalaan na ang pangungutang na itong hindi matapus-tapos ay alang-alang sa pag-unlad ng bansa.
Ngunit gobyerno rin naman ang sa pana-panaho’y nag-uulat na taun-taon ay dumarami ang mga tumatanda nang di man lamang nakakikita ng kahit pisara, dumarami ang mga maysakit na namamatay nang di man lamang nakakikita ng duktor. Lubha pa namang mahalaga ang kalusugan at edukasyon sa pagpapaunlad ng yamang-tao.
Samantala’y kulang sa mahahalagang imprastruktura ang kalakhan ng bansa, at sa kakaunting bahagi nitong may mga gayon ay sira-sira naman ang maraming tulay at kalsada.
Nakikinabang ba kung gayon ang buong bayan sa mga utang panlabas? Maliwanag na hindi. Bakit ngayon tatawaging utang ng bansa ang mga ito, pareho ng ginagawa sa patalastas na ating pinag-uusapan?
Walang dapat na magbayad ng mga utang na ito kundi ang lahat ng naging opisyal ng pamahalaan na nasangkot sa pangungutang. Sa kaso ng mga yumao na, nararapat na habulin ang kanilang naiwang mga pag-aari. Sila ang magbayad ng mga utang na ito sapagkat sila lang naman ang nakinabang sa mga ito.
Hindi namin malaman kung kami’y bubunghalit ng halakhak o haharap sa aming inudoro upang isambulat doon ang lahat naming kinain at ininom sa tuwing makikita namin sa telebisyon ang patalastas na nagtatanong sa atin kung masisikmura ba nating ipamana sa mga susunod na henerasyon ang utang ng bansa, na pagkatapos ay sinasabi sa ating dapat nating pasanin ang Expanded Value-Added Tax (EVAT) na sinimulang ipataw nitong Nobyembre 1.
Ang EVAT na ito –- kung saan idinagdag sa mga papatawan ng buwis ang langis, kuryente, at mismong serbisyong transportasyon –- ay isa sa walong revenue measure na ipinagtutulakan ng Malacañang upang diumano’y malutas ang krisis piskal na dumagan sa bansas sa kalagitnaan ng taong nagdaan. Ayon sa mga henyong economic manager ng Kagalang-galang na Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, na nagduktorado ng ekonomiks sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (UP), ang EVAT ay makalilikom ng may P60 bilyon at malaki, samakatwid, ang magagawa upang punan ang piskal na depisito ng pamahalaan na umabot sa P80 bilyon noong 2004.
Tinatawagan tayo ng nabanggit na patalastas upang “magsakripisyo” alang-alang sa kapakanan ng bansa at ng mga susunod na henerasyon -- at kulang na lamang ay pagbabanggitin ang mga pangalan ng mga bayaning Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini, Macario Sakay, Wenceslao Vinzons, Claro M. Recto, Jose W. Diokno, Edgar Jopson, Liliosa Hilao, Lorena Barros, Eman Lacaba, Bobby de la Paz, Lean Alejandro at iba pa upang antigin ang ating makabayang damdami’t diwa.
Batay sa mga estadistika mula sa National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), ang halaga ng pamumuhay sa buong bansa ay umabot na sa P667.20 bawat araw para sa pamilyang may anim na miyembro –- ang karaniwang pamilyang Pilipino. Samantala naman, ang pinakamataas na minimum na sahod magmula Hunyo ng taong ito ay P325 lamang, at ito’y sa National Capital Region (NCR).
Sa ganitong kalagayan, totoong malaking sakripisyo ang papasanin natin sa pagpapataw ng EVAT. Ngunit dapat nga bang tayo ang pumasan ng sakripisyong ito?
Sa pananaliksik ng ekonomistang si Dr. Alejandro Lichauco, lumilitaw na noong 1962 ay nasa $150 milyon ang utang panlabas ng Pilipinas. Ngayong taon, batay sa mga datos mula sa mismong gobyerno, ito’y nasa $69 bilyon na, o P3.8 trilyon. Kungh hahatiin ang P3.8 trilyon na ito sa kasalukuyang populasyong 84 milyon, lalabas na ang bawat Pilipino’y kasalukuyang nagkakautang ng P45,238.10 sa mga institusyong panlabas na ni anino’y hindi nakita ng karamihan sa atin.
Palaging ikinakatwiran ng pamahalaan na ang pangungutang na itong hindi matapus-tapos ay alang-alang sa pag-unlad ng bansa.
Ngunit gobyerno rin naman ang sa pana-panaho’y nag-uulat na taun-taon ay dumarami ang mga tumatanda nang di man lamang nakakikita ng kahit pisara, dumarami ang mga maysakit na namamatay nang di man lamang nakakikita ng duktor. Lubha pa namang mahalaga ang kalusugan at edukasyon sa pagpapaunlad ng yamang-tao.
Samantala’y kulang sa mahahalagang imprastruktura ang kalakhan ng bansa, at sa kakaunting bahagi nitong may mga gayon ay sira-sira naman ang maraming tulay at kalsada.
Nakikinabang ba kung gayon ang buong bayan sa mga utang panlabas? Maliwanag na hindi. Bakit ngayon tatawaging utang ng bansa ang mga ito, pareho ng ginagawa sa patalastas na ating pinag-uusapan?
Walang dapat na magbayad ng mga utang na ito kundi ang lahat ng naging opisyal ng pamahalaan na nasangkot sa pangungutang. Sa kaso ng mga yumao na, nararapat na habulin ang kanilang naiwang mga pag-aari. Sila ang magbayad ng mga utang na ito sapagkat sila lang naman ang nakinabang sa mga ito.
NPA GREW BEYOND 'CRITICAL MASS' IN 2005
Dramatic increase in tactical offensives
A few weeks ago, Malacañang spokespersons were quoted in the news as saying that the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed component of the clandestine Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), remains “the biggest threat to national security.”
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) described the NPA as the country’s “No. 1 security threat” in mid-2004 – for the first time since the early 1990s.
This is a tune that is vastly different from what the government was singing as recently as the beginning of last year. Not too long ago the government was dismissing the NPA as a “spent force,” an “ideological orphan” engaged in extortion and other forms of banditry.
While the short time it took the government to make a turnaround on its earlier assessment of the NPA’s strength can cast doubt as to the accuracy of its statements, the NPA’s own figures appear to show that it became a stronger force for the government to reckon with in 2005.
Last year was a crucial year in the growth of the NPA forces, if we go by the Dec. 26, 2004 statement of CPP Central Committee chairman Armando Liwanag.
“The NPA now has the critical mass to intensify tactical offensives and increase its seizure of arms at an unprecedented rate,” Liwanag said in the statement. “It has raised its capability of arresting for investigation and, if the evidence warrants, for trial the most rabid puppets of U.S. imperialism, the most corrupt officials, the most cruel human rights violators, the worst exploiters and crime lords in prohibited drugs and other nefarious activities.”
“The attainment of critical mass means it has become extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the government to overcome the NPA militarily,” said CPP spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal in a recent interview with Bulatlat.
Surpassing “critical mass”
In 2005, Rosal told Bulatlat, the NPA grew beyond the “critical mass” it attained last year.
Rosal said the total number of NPA regular, or full-time, fighters has gone up this year to the equivalent of 27 battalions. Asked for a more exact figure, Rosal said the NPA is still in the process of consolidating its data for the present year. But considering that in the military a battalion has about 500 troops, this would mean that the NPA now has roughly about 13,500 regular fighters.
And these are just the regular fighters. This does not yet include the members of the so-called People’s Militia, the village-based NPA fighters who perform community police functions – whom, as Rosal pointed out, the military describes as “peasants by day, NPA fighters by night.”
With the growth in the number of NPA forces has come an increase in the number of tactical offensives compared to last year, Rosal said.
Citing data obtained from reports by various guerrilla fronts, Rosal said the NPA was able to wage a total of 116 tactical offensives from Sept. 13 to Nov. 23 this year. Of these, there were five ambushes, six raids, four sparrow operations (quick attacks in population centers), eight sniping operations, and 14 executions of “criminals and human rights violators.”
From these, he said, the NPA was able to seize 54 high-powered firearms, as opposed to one loss. There were 128 government troops killed in action and 73 wounded during these offensives, as opposed to five killed and two wounded on the NPA side.
And that was just from Sept. 13 to Nov. 23. Rosal in particular cited the Southern Tagalog region, where a total of 62 government troops were killed in NPA offensives since March.
“This campaign is continuously being pursued,” Rosal said, “and is going to be pursued until the end of this year.”
The tactical offensives for this year were particularly numerous in Mindanao and the Bicol region, said Rosal – owing, he said, to the relative strength of the NPA in those areas compared to that in other parts of the country.
The rebel leader said the NPA wages an average of two tactical offensives every week in 2004. This is roughly equivalent to 104 tactical offensives for the said year.
Rosal said the NPA still has to consolidate its figures on the exact number of tactical offensives from the start of 2005 to the time of the interview with Bulatlat. However, he said, with the tactical offensives waged in various parts of the country from Sept. 13 to Nov. 23 alone, the number of NPA operations for this year has definitely exceeded that of last year.
The CPP called for an increase in tactical offensives in the latter part of mid-2005, Rosal told Bulatlat, as a contribution of the armed revolutionary movement to the struggle for the ouster of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime – which is under fire for the imposition of what have been described as “anti-national and anti-people” policies, corruption, electoral fraud, and human rights violations. The intensification of tactical offensives, Rosal explained, serves to weaken the AFP’s capacity and resolve to defend the regime.
With all these, Rosal said, has come an improvement in the NPA’s capacity to wage agrarian revolution, which the underground revolutionary movement considers a main component of the armed struggle. He said there were several successful campaigns this year for the lowering of debt interest rates and the increase in peasants’ harvest shares as well as the wages of farm workers and the farm gate prices of crops.
Increasingly formidable
The NPA, Rosal said, plans in the next few years to increase the number of guerrilla fronts it maintains from the present 130 to 140, and attain a more advanced stage of the present strategic defensive phase of the armed struggle and thus bring it closer to the strategic stalemate where the armed revolutionary forces would have acquired capacity for engaging in more massive confrontations with “enemy” troops.
There is a high probability that the NPA would achieve these goals should it be able to at least maintain the momentum it attained this year. The NPA upped the ante this year and it appears there is no stopping it from going further.
It is clear that the NPA has gone beyond the point where the government began to stop dismissing it as a “spent force.” From all indications, it is capable of going even further.
Dramatic increase in tactical offensives
A few weeks ago, Malacañang spokespersons were quoted in the news as saying that the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed component of the clandestine Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), remains “the biggest threat to national security.”
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) described the NPA as the country’s “No. 1 security threat” in mid-2004 – for the first time since the early 1990s.
This is a tune that is vastly different from what the government was singing as recently as the beginning of last year. Not too long ago the government was dismissing the NPA as a “spent force,” an “ideological orphan” engaged in extortion and other forms of banditry.
While the short time it took the government to make a turnaround on its earlier assessment of the NPA’s strength can cast doubt as to the accuracy of its statements, the NPA’s own figures appear to show that it became a stronger force for the government to reckon with in 2005.
Last year was a crucial year in the growth of the NPA forces, if we go by the Dec. 26, 2004 statement of CPP Central Committee chairman Armando Liwanag.
“The NPA now has the critical mass to intensify tactical offensives and increase its seizure of arms at an unprecedented rate,” Liwanag said in the statement. “It has raised its capability of arresting for investigation and, if the evidence warrants, for trial the most rabid puppets of U.S. imperialism, the most corrupt officials, the most cruel human rights violators, the worst exploiters and crime lords in prohibited drugs and other nefarious activities.”
“The attainment of critical mass means it has become extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the government to overcome the NPA militarily,” said CPP spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal in a recent interview with Bulatlat.
Surpassing “critical mass”
In 2005, Rosal told Bulatlat, the NPA grew beyond the “critical mass” it attained last year.
Rosal said the total number of NPA regular, or full-time, fighters has gone up this year to the equivalent of 27 battalions. Asked for a more exact figure, Rosal said the NPA is still in the process of consolidating its data for the present year. But considering that in the military a battalion has about 500 troops, this would mean that the NPA now has roughly about 13,500 regular fighters.
And these are just the regular fighters. This does not yet include the members of the so-called People’s Militia, the village-based NPA fighters who perform community police functions – whom, as Rosal pointed out, the military describes as “peasants by day, NPA fighters by night.”
With the growth in the number of NPA forces has come an increase in the number of tactical offensives compared to last year, Rosal said.
Citing data obtained from reports by various guerrilla fronts, Rosal said the NPA was able to wage a total of 116 tactical offensives from Sept. 13 to Nov. 23 this year. Of these, there were five ambushes, six raids, four sparrow operations (quick attacks in population centers), eight sniping operations, and 14 executions of “criminals and human rights violators.”
From these, he said, the NPA was able to seize 54 high-powered firearms, as opposed to one loss. There were 128 government troops killed in action and 73 wounded during these offensives, as opposed to five killed and two wounded on the NPA side.
And that was just from Sept. 13 to Nov. 23. Rosal in particular cited the Southern Tagalog region, where a total of 62 government troops were killed in NPA offensives since March.
“This campaign is continuously being pursued,” Rosal said, “and is going to be pursued until the end of this year.”
The tactical offensives for this year were particularly numerous in Mindanao and the Bicol region, said Rosal – owing, he said, to the relative strength of the NPA in those areas compared to that in other parts of the country.
The rebel leader said the NPA wages an average of two tactical offensives every week in 2004. This is roughly equivalent to 104 tactical offensives for the said year.
Rosal said the NPA still has to consolidate its figures on the exact number of tactical offensives from the start of 2005 to the time of the interview with Bulatlat. However, he said, with the tactical offensives waged in various parts of the country from Sept. 13 to Nov. 23 alone, the number of NPA operations for this year has definitely exceeded that of last year.
The CPP called for an increase in tactical offensives in the latter part of mid-2005, Rosal told Bulatlat, as a contribution of the armed revolutionary movement to the struggle for the ouster of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime – which is under fire for the imposition of what have been described as “anti-national and anti-people” policies, corruption, electoral fraud, and human rights violations. The intensification of tactical offensives, Rosal explained, serves to weaken the AFP’s capacity and resolve to defend the regime.
With all these, Rosal said, has come an improvement in the NPA’s capacity to wage agrarian revolution, which the underground revolutionary movement considers a main component of the armed struggle. He said there were several successful campaigns this year for the lowering of debt interest rates and the increase in peasants’ harvest shares as well as the wages of farm workers and the farm gate prices of crops.
Increasingly formidable
The NPA, Rosal said, plans in the next few years to increase the number of guerrilla fronts it maintains from the present 130 to 140, and attain a more advanced stage of the present strategic defensive phase of the armed struggle and thus bring it closer to the strategic stalemate where the armed revolutionary forces would have acquired capacity for engaging in more massive confrontations with “enemy” troops.
There is a high probability that the NPA would achieve these goals should it be able to at least maintain the momentum it attained this year. The NPA upped the ante this year and it appears there is no stopping it from going further.
It is clear that the NPA has gone beyond the point where the government began to stop dismissing it as a “spent force.” From all indications, it is capable of going even further.
HINDI KA IBINABASURA NG AMING ALAALA
Itinapon ka ng kanilang gunita,
ngunit hindi ng aming gunita.
Paano ka ibabasura ng aming alaala?
Sa isang kamay mo'y naghuhumiyaw
ang katibayan ng iyong kabayanihan
noong Ikalawang Digmaang Pandaigdig,
habang sa kabilang kamay ay nakaluklok
ang isang latang tagasambot ng mga baryang inihuhulog
ng mga mahabaging kamay.
Pagpapalimos ng habag ang huli mong hantungan.
Ikaw, na nakipagbuno kay Kamatayan
upang huwag maging kahabag-habag ang bansa,
ay nauwi sa pagpapalimos ng habag.
Sapagkat itinapon ka ng kanilang gunita.
Itinapon ka ng mga gunita
nilang iilang hari-harian ng ating lupain,
sapagkat ang ginugunita nila
ay ang Kalbong Agilang lumipad palayo
nang maghasik ng nakatutunaw na init
ang Sumisikat na Araw ng Silangang Asya
at bumalik na lamang upang tayo'y sagipin
matapos na mabitay ang mga Tojo't Yamashita.
Itong Kalbong Agilang makalawang dumagit sa ating bayan
matapos nating makalag ang gapos ng ibang dayo --
ito ang pinili nilang gunitain.
Kaya't itinapon ka ng kanilang gunita.
Ngunit hindi ka ibinabasura ng aming alaala --
hinding-hindi, at ang aming pag-alaala sa iyo
ay isang hakbang din tungo sa aming pagsasadlak sa kanila
sa nararapat nilang kauwian --
ang basurahan ng kasaysayan.
Itinapon ka ng kanilang gunita,
ngunit hindi ng aming gunita.
Paano ka ibabasura ng aming alaala?
Sa isang kamay mo'y naghuhumiyaw
ang katibayan ng iyong kabayanihan
noong Ikalawang Digmaang Pandaigdig,
habang sa kabilang kamay ay nakaluklok
ang isang latang tagasambot ng mga baryang inihuhulog
ng mga mahabaging kamay.
Pagpapalimos ng habag ang huli mong hantungan.
Ikaw, na nakipagbuno kay Kamatayan
upang huwag maging kahabag-habag ang bansa,
ay nauwi sa pagpapalimos ng habag.
Sapagkat itinapon ka ng kanilang gunita.
Itinapon ka ng mga gunita
nilang iilang hari-harian ng ating lupain,
sapagkat ang ginugunita nila
ay ang Kalbong Agilang lumipad palayo
nang maghasik ng nakatutunaw na init
ang Sumisikat na Araw ng Silangang Asya
at bumalik na lamang upang tayo'y sagipin
matapos na mabitay ang mga Tojo't Yamashita.
Itong Kalbong Agilang makalawang dumagit sa ating bayan
matapos nating makalag ang gapos ng ibang dayo --
ito ang pinili nilang gunitain.
Kaya't itinapon ka ng kanilang gunita.
Ngunit hindi ka ibinabasura ng aming alaala --
hinding-hindi, at ang aming pag-alaala sa iyo
ay isang hakbang din tungo sa aming pagsasadlak sa kanila
sa nararapat nilang kauwian --
ang basurahan ng kasaysayan.
Friday, December 16, 2005
KUNG TAYO'Y IISA
Silang iilang mang-aagaw ng ating hininga:
alam nila ang hiwagang mangyayari
kapag ang marami'y naging iisa.
Kaya't ibig nilang tayo'y maging iisang paris
ng nakatiklop na mga tuhod,
maging iisang paris ng nakalaylay na mga bisig
habang nilalatigo ang ating mga likod
at ibinabangga sa dingding ang ating mga ulo.
Sa ganito'y mabuti pang hindi lahat tayo
ay mga nakatiklop na tuhod
at mga nakalaylay na bisig,
at may ilang nakaunat na binti't hita
at bisig na bumibigwas sa kanila.
Higit na mabuti
kung tayo'y maging iisang gubat
ng nakaunat na mga binti't hita,
maging iisang alon ng mga bisig
na hahampas sa kanila
at magbubuwal sa kanila --
at maglilibing sa kanila.
Silang iilang mang-aagaw ng ating hininga:
alam nila ang hiwagang mangyayari
kapag ang marami'y naging iisa.
Kaya't ibig nilang tayo'y maging iisang paris
ng nakatiklop na mga tuhod,
maging iisang paris ng nakalaylay na mga bisig
habang nilalatigo ang ating mga likod
at ibinabangga sa dingding ang ating mga ulo.
Sa ganito'y mabuti pang hindi lahat tayo
ay mga nakatiklop na tuhod
at mga nakalaylay na bisig,
at may ilang nakaunat na binti't hita
at bisig na bumibigwas sa kanila.
Higit na mabuti
kung tayo'y maging iisang gubat
ng nakaunat na mga binti't hita,
maging iisang alon ng mga bisig
na hahampas sa kanila
at magbubuwal sa kanila --
at maglilibing sa kanila.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
ANG MAKATA SA PANAHON NG KRISIS, NOON AT NGAYON
Kung nais nating makita ang pagkakaugnay ng tao’t ng lipunan, wala yatang pinakamainam na pook para rito kundi ang mga istasyon ng Metro Rail Transit o MRT.
Sa himpilang EDSA-Ayala, minsa’y patakbo sana akong aakyat (sapagkat hindi ako nakapag-ehersisyo sa bahay nang umagang iyon at gusto kong mag-ehersisyo), ngunit hindi ko kaagad natupad ang ibig kong gawin sapagkat mahaba ang pila paakyat at kaybagal pa ng usad, at sa dakong kaliwa nama’y may mahabang hanay rin ng mga bumababa. Nang maubos ang mga taong bumababa ay gumawi ako sa kaliwa at patakbong inakyat ang natitirang mga baitang, at nakita ko ang salarin sa pagkakaroon ng mahabang pilang kaybagal gumalaw: isang saksakan ng kupad maglakad na akala yata’y kanya ang buong MRT at ibig itong gawing isang Luneta.
Minsan din, sa himpilang EDSA-Buendia, dumating ang tren nang may sapat na luwag sa loob, at kakaunti lang ang mga kasabay kong nag-aabang kaya’t tiyak na lahat kami’y kakasya sana. Ngunit kakaunti sa amin ang nakasakay at ako ma’y muntik nang hindi makapasok, at muntik pa ngang maipit ng pinto. Ang may kagagawan? Magkaparehang binatilyo’t dalagita sa unahan ng mga pumasok, na ginawang walk in the park ang kanilang paglulan sa tren habang naghihimasan pa, na lalong nagpabagal sa kanilang paglakad. Aywan ko ba kung bakit hindi na lamang nagmotel ang mga tinamaan ng magaling na ungas.
Sa bawat insidenteng nabanggit –- ilang tao ang nahuli nang ilang minuto sa trabaho o sa klase, o sa pakikipagkita kaya sa kanilang mga kamag-anak o kaibigan? Hindi ko na binilang. Ngunit nakikita naman natin sa mga isinalaysay na ito kung paano maaaring makaapekto sa marami ang mga galaw ng kahit isa o dalawang tao lamang na sapagkat walang kapaki-pakialam sa mundo ay kaysasarap pagbabambuhin sa ulo.
Di gaano pa kaya ang epekto sa lipunan ng isang makata, na bukod sa tumatangan ng isang lubhang makapangyarihang sandatang pampanitikan ay lagi’t lagi pang nasa publiko?
Sa mga pananalita ng mga makatang Emmanuel Dumlao at Gelacio Guillermo sa isang porum ng Kilometer 64 sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (UP) noong Nobyembre 18 ay natalakay nang husto ang usaping ito. Kapwa sila nakapagpakitang may papel at lalaging may papel ang makata sa lipunang kanyang ginagalawan dahil sa kapangyarihan ng kanyang sandatang pampanitikan at pampublikong katangian ng kanyang buhay.
Ang GAT
Sa pananalita ni Dumlao, malaking bahagi ang inilaan sa isang samahan ng mga makata na nagmarka sa kasaysayan hindi lamang ng panitikan kundi maging ng pulitika sa Pilipinas –- ang Galian sa Arte at Tula o GAT.
Inilahad niya ang mga tampok na ginawa ng GAT: paglalabas ng mga antolohiyang naging bahagi ng diskursong-madla; di-mabilang na poetry reading sa mga komunidad ng maralitang-lunsod, baybay-dagat, kabukiran, paaralan, piketlayn at iba pang lugar kung saan naroon ang nakararaming mamamayan. Ito ang pagsasabuhay ng GAT sa kredo nitong “Ibalik ang panulaan sa puso at tangkilik ng sambayanan,” na ang sumulat ay walang iba kundi si Virgilio Almario, kilala rin bilang Rio Alma, isa sa mga tagapagtatag ng naturang samahan.
Dinala ng GAT ang mithiin ng sambayanan na mabuhay sa isang tunay na malaya at demokratikong lipunan, at ito’y sinalamin ng mga tulang inilabas ng naturang samahan sa halos dalawampung taon ng pag-iral nito.
Isinilang ang GAT sa panahon ng diktadura, bilang isang pagtugon sa diktadura.
Isa ito sa iilang makabayang organisasyong sa panahon mismo ng Batas Militar ay natatag nang ligal, at nanatiling ligal sa mga taong ipinagbabawal ang lahat ng organisasyong natukoy ng pamahalaan bilang militante. Nagawa ito ng GAT sa pamamagitan ng pagpapanday ng isang panulaang malaalegoriko ang mga imahe, at sa ganito’y nakalusot sa mga sensor ng gobyerno ngunit naunawaan ng madla. Iniwasan nito ang mga salitang karaniwan nang iugnay ng pamahalaan sa rebelyon, at naging malikhain ito sa paggamit ng mga talinhagang bagama’t hindi halatang palaban ay may sariling mabisang paraan ng pananawagan ng pagbabalikwas, na nakilala ng madla sapagkat hinugot mula sa mismo nilang mga buhay.
Lumahok ang GAT sa pakikibaka sa diktadurang Estados Unidos-Marcos, at nagluwal ito ng maraming tulang naging mga klasikong paulit-ulit na binigkas sa mga kilos-protesta, halimbawa’y ang mga sumikat na anti-pasistang tula nina Jesus Manuel Santiago at Romulo Sandoval.
Ang ganitong panghahawak sa paninindigan ng GAT ang dahilan kung kaya kahit na pito sa lalong tinitingalang mga kasapi nito –- na ang isa’y magiging National Artist pa sa kalaunan –- ang sumuporta sa kandidatura nina Ferdinand Marcos at Arturo Tolentino sa snap election ng 1986 ay hindi naapektuhan nang malaki ang kabuuang kredibilidad nito.
Ang maalingasngas na pag-eendorso
Nabanggit ni Dumlao ang mga pangalan ng pitong kasapi ng GAT na tumangkilik sa kandidaturang Marcos-Tolentino noong 1986. Makabubuting banggitin muli sila rito, sa ikababatid ng lahat at upang huwag nating malimot: Virgilio Almario, S.V. Epistola, Lamberto Antonio, Teo Antonio, Mike Bigornia, Manuel Baldemor, at Ruth Elynia Mabanglo.
Buhay pa silang lahat, liban kina Bigornia at Epistola. Marami sa mga ito ang magpahanggang ngayo’y hindi inihihingi ng kapatawaran ng bansa ang kanilang ginawa –- kabilang na si Almario, National Artist for Literature ng 2003. Sa katunayan, sa isang interbiyu sa kanya ng isang estudyanteng gradwado sa UP noon ding 2003, sinabi ni Almario na ang Kaliwa ang nagpabomba sa Plaza Miranda noong 1971, at ito raw ay ginawa upang guluhin ang gobyerno ni Marcos.
Yaong mga may malawak na pagbabasa sa kasaysayan at lalo na’y yaong mga may malay na nang taong iyon ay tiyak na makaaalaalang ito rin ang dahilang ginamit ni Marcos upang magdeklara ng batas militar. At habang umiiral ang batas militar ay kayraming manunulat ang pinarusahan dahil sa kanilang pagbibilad ng kalagayan ng bansa: ipinapatay ang mga Lorena Barros, Eman Lacaba, Antonio Tagamolila, Liliosa Hilao at Valerio Nofuente, habang ang isang Henry Romero’y nawala at hindi pa natatagpuan magpahanggang sa mga araw na ito; samantalang ipinabilanggo naman sina Bienvenido Lumbera, Satur Ocampo, Luis Teodoro, Ninotchka Rosca, Bonifacio Ilagan, Pete Lacaba, Levy Balgos de la Cruz, at Dolores Feria, at marami sa kanila ang dumanas ng iba’t ibang anyo ng pagpapahirap sa bilangguan, kabilang ang pangunguryente sa bayag at utong at puki, pag-uumpog sa kanila sa dingding, pagpapahiga sa kanila nang hubo’t hubad sa bloke-blokeng yelo, at maging panggagahasa sa mga babae.
Ang sinabing ito ni Almario ay hindi pa niya binabawi magpahanggang ngayon, bagama’t hindi pa rin maipaliwanag ng mismong kampo ng mga Marcos kung bakit ang binomba sa Plaza Miranda ay ang pulong ng Liberal Party, na lumalaban din sa gobyerno noong 1971 at samakatwid ay maituturing noong taktikal na alyado ng Kaliwa. Batay sa kasaysayan, ang ganito’y istilo ng ilang panatikong maka-Kanang paksiyon sa militar, ngunit hindi ng Kaliwa.
Sinasabi ni Almario na tama ang pagkakadeklara ni Marcos ng batas militar, na nandahas sa napakaraming Pilipino? Iwan na natin sa kanya ang pagpapaliwanag dito, pati na sa inamin niya mismong pagiging propagandista ng kampo ni Marcos bago pa man ang snap election ng 1986 at habang siya’y kasapi pa ng GAT, na nagpatalsik sa kanya noong 1986. Siya na rin ang bahalang magpaliwanag kung may kaugnayan din ba ang lahat nito sa mahabang panahon niyang palinlang na paglalayo sa mga baguhang manunulat sa landas ng makabayan at makalipunang pakikisangkot –- sa isang bansa kung saan kailangang-kailangan ang mga manunulat na magpapatuloy sa tradisyon ng mga Francisco Balagtas, Jose Rizal, Crisanto Evangelista, Jose Corazon de Jesus, Salvador Lopez, Manuel Arguilla, Carlos Bulosan, Amado Hernandez, at iba pang katulad.
Mga aral ng GAT sa ating panahon
Naipakita ni Dumlao na ang GAT ay naging isang kapahayagan ng pagkakaisa ng mga makatang nagpasyang makipagkaisa sa kanilang mga mambabasa sa pagtatatag ng isang matwid na lipunan. Tinangkilik sila ng madlang malawak dahil dito at ang kanilang mga akda’y nag-ambag nang di-biro sa pagbibigay ng direksiyon sa pakikitalad ng sambayanan.
Kung ano ang mga aral na mahahalaw ng kasalukuyang mga makatang nakikisangkot, lalo sa panahong itong ang bansa’y nasa krisis na tulad sa panahon ng diktadurang Estados Unidos-Marcos, ay naroon sa pagkakalahad ni Dumlao sa mismong kasaysayan ng GAT at, gayundin, ng kanyang sariling karanasan bilang isang makata. Lampasan ang sarili, magsulat alang-alang sa sambayanan, ngunit huwag magpakulong sa mga pormulang kaylimit kabuliran maging ng mga dapat ay higit na malikhain sapagkat naghahangad na magwasak.
Mahalagang aral ito na maiging matutunan ng mga makatang kalahok sa tuluy-tuloy na proseso ng paglutas sa kasalukuyang krisis ng bansa –- isang krisis na ibinunsod ng isang ilehitimo’t tiwaling pamunuang ang mga patakara’y laban sa kapakanan ng bansa’t ng nakararaming mamamayan, at mapanlabag sa karapatang pantao. Mapakikinabangan ang mga aral mula sa karanasan ng GAT sa dalawang tipo ng matulaing pagtugon sa kasalukuyang krisis na binanggit ni Guillermo, na bilang paggagad sa nauuso ngayong pagbibigay ng akronimo, na ang pinakatanyag ay ang CPR na tumutukoy sa calibrated preemptive response na patakaran ng rehimeng Macapagal-Arroyo, ay tinawag niyang tactical poetry response (TPR) at strategic poetry response (SPR).
Ang TPR, sang-ayon kay Guillermo, ay ang “pagsagot sa nagaganap na maiinit na usapin na kinakaharap ng mamamayan,” habang ang SPR nama’y “panulaang tumutugon sa matagalang pangangailangan ng mga organisadong (puwersa) at masa sa edukasyon at muling paghuhubog sa sarili.”
Mahalaga ang pagsipi ni Guillermo sa winika ng rebolusyonaryong manunulat na si Eduardo Galeano ng Amerika Latina, dahil aral ito sa lahat ng makata at maging sa lahat ng iba pang manunulat, hindi lamang sa panahon ng diktadurang Estados Unidos-Marcos kundi sa panahon man ng paghahari ng ilehitimo, makadayuhan at makamayaman, at pasistang rehimeng Macapagal-Arroyo na binasbasan ng Estados Unidos.
Ano ang sinabi ni Galeano? “Ang sabihing mababago ang realidad sa pamamagitan lamang ng panitikan ay isang kabaliwan o paghahambog,” aniya. “Sa palagay ko, isa ring kalokohan na itatwang nakakatulong ito sa pagbabago.”
Sinasabi ni Galeano na ang panitikan ay magiging kagaya lamang ng isang baril na walang bala kung wala itong gagawin liban sa pagbibili ng mga pinabanguhang kahangalan, dili kaya’y ng mga pangarap na hindi kailanman matutupad, ngunit nagmamarka sa kasaysayan kapag nakapaghikayat sa madla na taluntunin ang landas ng kabayanihan.
Dalawang landas ng mga makata
Sa panahon ng kasalukuyang krisis, mainam na balikan ang isang nagdaang panahon din ng krisis upang matimbang nang maigi ang mga maaaring pagpilian ng makata sa parehong panahon. Noon man at ngayon, dalawang landas ang maaaring tahakin ng makata.
Sa isang banda’y maaari siyang maging isang mambebersong tagahabol ng tseke mula sa umaandar na kotse ng hari-harian, isang upahang tagapag-aliw sa korte ng mga dugong-bughaw na habang walang makain ang mga mamamaya’y pakutya silang sinasabihang kumain ng mamon. Maaari rin naman siyang maging bilanggo ng sariling toreng garing, diumano’y tiwalag sa daigdig, na pana-panaho’y naghahagis ng mga “pumpon ng mga salita,” sa wika ni Jesus Manuel Santiago, sa bintana upang masambot ng madla. Mukhang magkaiba, ngunit sa totoo’y iisa lamang ang mga landas na ito.
Sa kabilang banda nama’y maaari silang maging “troubadours for troubled times,” sa wika nga ni Eric Caruncho, maging kapwa mandirigma ng lahat ng nagbabalikwas laban sa kaapihan.
Makabubuting isaalang-alang ng makata na sa ganitong panahon ng krisis, tumitingkad ang karaniwang tendensiya ng mga taong takasan ang pait ng katotohanan, ngunit higit din namang nagiging madali sa kanila ang tanggapin ang mga progresibong kaisipang maaaring makarating sa kanila.
Kung nais nating makita ang pagkakaugnay ng tao’t ng lipunan, wala yatang pinakamainam na pook para rito kundi ang mga istasyon ng Metro Rail Transit o MRT.
Sa himpilang EDSA-Ayala, minsa’y patakbo sana akong aakyat (sapagkat hindi ako nakapag-ehersisyo sa bahay nang umagang iyon at gusto kong mag-ehersisyo), ngunit hindi ko kaagad natupad ang ibig kong gawin sapagkat mahaba ang pila paakyat at kaybagal pa ng usad, at sa dakong kaliwa nama’y may mahabang hanay rin ng mga bumababa. Nang maubos ang mga taong bumababa ay gumawi ako sa kaliwa at patakbong inakyat ang natitirang mga baitang, at nakita ko ang salarin sa pagkakaroon ng mahabang pilang kaybagal gumalaw: isang saksakan ng kupad maglakad na akala yata’y kanya ang buong MRT at ibig itong gawing isang Luneta.
Minsan din, sa himpilang EDSA-Buendia, dumating ang tren nang may sapat na luwag sa loob, at kakaunti lang ang mga kasabay kong nag-aabang kaya’t tiyak na lahat kami’y kakasya sana. Ngunit kakaunti sa amin ang nakasakay at ako ma’y muntik nang hindi makapasok, at muntik pa ngang maipit ng pinto. Ang may kagagawan? Magkaparehang binatilyo’t dalagita sa unahan ng mga pumasok, na ginawang walk in the park ang kanilang paglulan sa tren habang naghihimasan pa, na lalong nagpabagal sa kanilang paglakad. Aywan ko ba kung bakit hindi na lamang nagmotel ang mga tinamaan ng magaling na ungas.
Sa bawat insidenteng nabanggit –- ilang tao ang nahuli nang ilang minuto sa trabaho o sa klase, o sa pakikipagkita kaya sa kanilang mga kamag-anak o kaibigan? Hindi ko na binilang. Ngunit nakikita naman natin sa mga isinalaysay na ito kung paano maaaring makaapekto sa marami ang mga galaw ng kahit isa o dalawang tao lamang na sapagkat walang kapaki-pakialam sa mundo ay kaysasarap pagbabambuhin sa ulo.
Di gaano pa kaya ang epekto sa lipunan ng isang makata, na bukod sa tumatangan ng isang lubhang makapangyarihang sandatang pampanitikan ay lagi’t lagi pang nasa publiko?
Sa mga pananalita ng mga makatang Emmanuel Dumlao at Gelacio Guillermo sa isang porum ng Kilometer 64 sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (UP) noong Nobyembre 18 ay natalakay nang husto ang usaping ito. Kapwa sila nakapagpakitang may papel at lalaging may papel ang makata sa lipunang kanyang ginagalawan dahil sa kapangyarihan ng kanyang sandatang pampanitikan at pampublikong katangian ng kanyang buhay.
Ang GAT
Sa pananalita ni Dumlao, malaking bahagi ang inilaan sa isang samahan ng mga makata na nagmarka sa kasaysayan hindi lamang ng panitikan kundi maging ng pulitika sa Pilipinas –- ang Galian sa Arte at Tula o GAT.
Inilahad niya ang mga tampok na ginawa ng GAT: paglalabas ng mga antolohiyang naging bahagi ng diskursong-madla; di-mabilang na poetry reading sa mga komunidad ng maralitang-lunsod, baybay-dagat, kabukiran, paaralan, piketlayn at iba pang lugar kung saan naroon ang nakararaming mamamayan. Ito ang pagsasabuhay ng GAT sa kredo nitong “Ibalik ang panulaan sa puso at tangkilik ng sambayanan,” na ang sumulat ay walang iba kundi si Virgilio Almario, kilala rin bilang Rio Alma, isa sa mga tagapagtatag ng naturang samahan.
Dinala ng GAT ang mithiin ng sambayanan na mabuhay sa isang tunay na malaya at demokratikong lipunan, at ito’y sinalamin ng mga tulang inilabas ng naturang samahan sa halos dalawampung taon ng pag-iral nito.
Isinilang ang GAT sa panahon ng diktadura, bilang isang pagtugon sa diktadura.
Isa ito sa iilang makabayang organisasyong sa panahon mismo ng Batas Militar ay natatag nang ligal, at nanatiling ligal sa mga taong ipinagbabawal ang lahat ng organisasyong natukoy ng pamahalaan bilang militante. Nagawa ito ng GAT sa pamamagitan ng pagpapanday ng isang panulaang malaalegoriko ang mga imahe, at sa ganito’y nakalusot sa mga sensor ng gobyerno ngunit naunawaan ng madla. Iniwasan nito ang mga salitang karaniwan nang iugnay ng pamahalaan sa rebelyon, at naging malikhain ito sa paggamit ng mga talinhagang bagama’t hindi halatang palaban ay may sariling mabisang paraan ng pananawagan ng pagbabalikwas, na nakilala ng madla sapagkat hinugot mula sa mismo nilang mga buhay.
Lumahok ang GAT sa pakikibaka sa diktadurang Estados Unidos-Marcos, at nagluwal ito ng maraming tulang naging mga klasikong paulit-ulit na binigkas sa mga kilos-protesta, halimbawa’y ang mga sumikat na anti-pasistang tula nina Jesus Manuel Santiago at Romulo Sandoval.
Ang ganitong panghahawak sa paninindigan ng GAT ang dahilan kung kaya kahit na pito sa lalong tinitingalang mga kasapi nito –- na ang isa’y magiging National Artist pa sa kalaunan –- ang sumuporta sa kandidatura nina Ferdinand Marcos at Arturo Tolentino sa snap election ng 1986 ay hindi naapektuhan nang malaki ang kabuuang kredibilidad nito.
Ang maalingasngas na pag-eendorso
Nabanggit ni Dumlao ang mga pangalan ng pitong kasapi ng GAT na tumangkilik sa kandidaturang Marcos-Tolentino noong 1986. Makabubuting banggitin muli sila rito, sa ikababatid ng lahat at upang huwag nating malimot: Virgilio Almario, S.V. Epistola, Lamberto Antonio, Teo Antonio, Mike Bigornia, Manuel Baldemor, at Ruth Elynia Mabanglo.
Buhay pa silang lahat, liban kina Bigornia at Epistola. Marami sa mga ito ang magpahanggang ngayo’y hindi inihihingi ng kapatawaran ng bansa ang kanilang ginawa –- kabilang na si Almario, National Artist for Literature ng 2003. Sa katunayan, sa isang interbiyu sa kanya ng isang estudyanteng gradwado sa UP noon ding 2003, sinabi ni Almario na ang Kaliwa ang nagpabomba sa Plaza Miranda noong 1971, at ito raw ay ginawa upang guluhin ang gobyerno ni Marcos.
Yaong mga may malawak na pagbabasa sa kasaysayan at lalo na’y yaong mga may malay na nang taong iyon ay tiyak na makaaalaalang ito rin ang dahilang ginamit ni Marcos upang magdeklara ng batas militar. At habang umiiral ang batas militar ay kayraming manunulat ang pinarusahan dahil sa kanilang pagbibilad ng kalagayan ng bansa: ipinapatay ang mga Lorena Barros, Eman Lacaba, Antonio Tagamolila, Liliosa Hilao at Valerio Nofuente, habang ang isang Henry Romero’y nawala at hindi pa natatagpuan magpahanggang sa mga araw na ito; samantalang ipinabilanggo naman sina Bienvenido Lumbera, Satur Ocampo, Luis Teodoro, Ninotchka Rosca, Bonifacio Ilagan, Pete Lacaba, Levy Balgos de la Cruz, at Dolores Feria, at marami sa kanila ang dumanas ng iba’t ibang anyo ng pagpapahirap sa bilangguan, kabilang ang pangunguryente sa bayag at utong at puki, pag-uumpog sa kanila sa dingding, pagpapahiga sa kanila nang hubo’t hubad sa bloke-blokeng yelo, at maging panggagahasa sa mga babae.
Ang sinabing ito ni Almario ay hindi pa niya binabawi magpahanggang ngayon, bagama’t hindi pa rin maipaliwanag ng mismong kampo ng mga Marcos kung bakit ang binomba sa Plaza Miranda ay ang pulong ng Liberal Party, na lumalaban din sa gobyerno noong 1971 at samakatwid ay maituturing noong taktikal na alyado ng Kaliwa. Batay sa kasaysayan, ang ganito’y istilo ng ilang panatikong maka-Kanang paksiyon sa militar, ngunit hindi ng Kaliwa.
Sinasabi ni Almario na tama ang pagkakadeklara ni Marcos ng batas militar, na nandahas sa napakaraming Pilipino? Iwan na natin sa kanya ang pagpapaliwanag dito, pati na sa inamin niya mismong pagiging propagandista ng kampo ni Marcos bago pa man ang snap election ng 1986 at habang siya’y kasapi pa ng GAT, na nagpatalsik sa kanya noong 1986. Siya na rin ang bahalang magpaliwanag kung may kaugnayan din ba ang lahat nito sa mahabang panahon niyang palinlang na paglalayo sa mga baguhang manunulat sa landas ng makabayan at makalipunang pakikisangkot –- sa isang bansa kung saan kailangang-kailangan ang mga manunulat na magpapatuloy sa tradisyon ng mga Francisco Balagtas, Jose Rizal, Crisanto Evangelista, Jose Corazon de Jesus, Salvador Lopez, Manuel Arguilla, Carlos Bulosan, Amado Hernandez, at iba pang katulad.
Mga aral ng GAT sa ating panahon
Naipakita ni Dumlao na ang GAT ay naging isang kapahayagan ng pagkakaisa ng mga makatang nagpasyang makipagkaisa sa kanilang mga mambabasa sa pagtatatag ng isang matwid na lipunan. Tinangkilik sila ng madlang malawak dahil dito at ang kanilang mga akda’y nag-ambag nang di-biro sa pagbibigay ng direksiyon sa pakikitalad ng sambayanan.
Kung ano ang mga aral na mahahalaw ng kasalukuyang mga makatang nakikisangkot, lalo sa panahong itong ang bansa’y nasa krisis na tulad sa panahon ng diktadurang Estados Unidos-Marcos, ay naroon sa pagkakalahad ni Dumlao sa mismong kasaysayan ng GAT at, gayundin, ng kanyang sariling karanasan bilang isang makata. Lampasan ang sarili, magsulat alang-alang sa sambayanan, ngunit huwag magpakulong sa mga pormulang kaylimit kabuliran maging ng mga dapat ay higit na malikhain sapagkat naghahangad na magwasak.
Mahalagang aral ito na maiging matutunan ng mga makatang kalahok sa tuluy-tuloy na proseso ng paglutas sa kasalukuyang krisis ng bansa –- isang krisis na ibinunsod ng isang ilehitimo’t tiwaling pamunuang ang mga patakara’y laban sa kapakanan ng bansa’t ng nakararaming mamamayan, at mapanlabag sa karapatang pantao. Mapakikinabangan ang mga aral mula sa karanasan ng GAT sa dalawang tipo ng matulaing pagtugon sa kasalukuyang krisis na binanggit ni Guillermo, na bilang paggagad sa nauuso ngayong pagbibigay ng akronimo, na ang pinakatanyag ay ang CPR na tumutukoy sa calibrated preemptive response na patakaran ng rehimeng Macapagal-Arroyo, ay tinawag niyang tactical poetry response (TPR) at strategic poetry response (SPR).
Ang TPR, sang-ayon kay Guillermo, ay ang “pagsagot sa nagaganap na maiinit na usapin na kinakaharap ng mamamayan,” habang ang SPR nama’y “panulaang tumutugon sa matagalang pangangailangan ng mga organisadong (puwersa) at masa sa edukasyon at muling paghuhubog sa sarili.”
Mahalaga ang pagsipi ni Guillermo sa winika ng rebolusyonaryong manunulat na si Eduardo Galeano ng Amerika Latina, dahil aral ito sa lahat ng makata at maging sa lahat ng iba pang manunulat, hindi lamang sa panahon ng diktadurang Estados Unidos-Marcos kundi sa panahon man ng paghahari ng ilehitimo, makadayuhan at makamayaman, at pasistang rehimeng Macapagal-Arroyo na binasbasan ng Estados Unidos.
Ano ang sinabi ni Galeano? “Ang sabihing mababago ang realidad sa pamamagitan lamang ng panitikan ay isang kabaliwan o paghahambog,” aniya. “Sa palagay ko, isa ring kalokohan na itatwang nakakatulong ito sa pagbabago.”
Sinasabi ni Galeano na ang panitikan ay magiging kagaya lamang ng isang baril na walang bala kung wala itong gagawin liban sa pagbibili ng mga pinabanguhang kahangalan, dili kaya’y ng mga pangarap na hindi kailanman matutupad, ngunit nagmamarka sa kasaysayan kapag nakapaghikayat sa madla na taluntunin ang landas ng kabayanihan.
Dalawang landas ng mga makata
Sa panahon ng kasalukuyang krisis, mainam na balikan ang isang nagdaang panahon din ng krisis upang matimbang nang maigi ang mga maaaring pagpilian ng makata sa parehong panahon. Noon man at ngayon, dalawang landas ang maaaring tahakin ng makata.
Sa isang banda’y maaari siyang maging isang mambebersong tagahabol ng tseke mula sa umaandar na kotse ng hari-harian, isang upahang tagapag-aliw sa korte ng mga dugong-bughaw na habang walang makain ang mga mamamaya’y pakutya silang sinasabihang kumain ng mamon. Maaari rin naman siyang maging bilanggo ng sariling toreng garing, diumano’y tiwalag sa daigdig, na pana-panaho’y naghahagis ng mga “pumpon ng mga salita,” sa wika ni Jesus Manuel Santiago, sa bintana upang masambot ng madla. Mukhang magkaiba, ngunit sa totoo’y iisa lamang ang mga landas na ito.
Sa kabilang banda nama’y maaari silang maging “troubadours for troubled times,” sa wika nga ni Eric Caruncho, maging kapwa mandirigma ng lahat ng nagbabalikwas laban sa kaapihan.
Makabubuting isaalang-alang ng makata na sa ganitong panahon ng krisis, tumitingkad ang karaniwang tendensiya ng mga taong takasan ang pait ng katotohanan, ngunit higit din namang nagiging madali sa kanila ang tanggapin ang mga progresibong kaisipang maaaring makarating sa kanila.
Monday, October 03, 2005
IN DEFENSE OF THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
We, artists, support the "Walk for Democracy" being held today by civil libertarians and other human rights defenders.
Lawyer Vicky Avena, former commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), was right on the mark when she said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is building a "de facto dictatorship." It is the height of bitter irony that just days after the country commemorated the 33rd anniversary of the declaration of martial law, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would come up with two consecutive declarations undermining the civil liberties in the advancement and defense of which so many of our best and brightest compatriots gave their lives.
The first is the enforcement of the so-called "calibrated preemptive response" policy, which entails a strict implementation of the no permit, no rally policy provided for by Batas Pambansa Blg. 880 – a measure enacted during the days of dictatorship.
The second is Executive Order No. 464, preventing public officers from testifying in congressional investigations in aid of legislation without the President's permission. This measure effectively bars the few principled or conscienticized among our public officers from divulging information on government activities that may be detrimental to the national interest.
To top off all of these, Arroyo is pushing for an anti-terrorism bill which, by the broadness of its definition of "terrorism," could be construed to include even legal protest actions in its list of "terroristic activities" and makes people legally liable for simply being neighbors to suspected "terrorists."
All this is happening in an atmosphere of unceasing political killings. The past month alone saw the killings of four activists. More than 400 persons critical of the policies of the Arroyo administration have been killed since 2001: the list includes priests, lawyers, journalists and even local government officials aside from grassroots activist leaders.
This creeping curtailment of civil liberties by a President who won in the last election by fraudulent means and has long been under fire for her imposition of anti-national and anti-people policies, corruption, and human rights violations has grave implications for artists. In an atmosphere of increasing suppression of civil liberties, a clampdown on the freedom of expression as practiced by artists cannot be far behind.
We support this activity, and commit contributions to other forthcoming efforts, for the defense of democratic rights – in the tradition of our fellow artists Amado V. Hernandez and Lino Brocka.
Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria)
October 4, 2005
Southern Tagalog Exposure
KASIBULAN Women Visual Artists' Collective
KUMASA (Kulturang Ugnayan ng Manggagawa at Uring Anakpawis sa Timog Katagalugan)
ARTIST, Inc. (Arts Research and Training Institute in Southern Tagalog)
Kilometer 64 Poetry Group
Tambisan sa Sining
APLAYA (Artistang Pangkultura ng Mamamalakaya sa Timog Katagalugan)
UPLB Umalohokan
Paolo Martinez
Andrea Muñoz
Gian Paolo Mayuga
Jeffrey Ferrer
Onin Tagaro
Bobby Balingit
Winnie Balingit
Lourd de Veyra
Dong Abay
Ninj Abay
Con Cabrera
Roselle Pineda
Heidi Takama
We, artists, support the "Walk for Democracy" being held today by civil libertarians and other human rights defenders.
Lawyer Vicky Avena, former commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), was right on the mark when she said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is building a "de facto dictatorship." It is the height of bitter irony that just days after the country commemorated the 33rd anniversary of the declaration of martial law, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would come up with two consecutive declarations undermining the civil liberties in the advancement and defense of which so many of our best and brightest compatriots gave their lives.
The first is the enforcement of the so-called "calibrated preemptive response" policy, which entails a strict implementation of the no permit, no rally policy provided for by Batas Pambansa Blg. 880 – a measure enacted during the days of dictatorship.
The second is Executive Order No. 464, preventing public officers from testifying in congressional investigations in aid of legislation without the President's permission. This measure effectively bars the few principled or conscienticized among our public officers from divulging information on government activities that may be detrimental to the national interest.
To top off all of these, Arroyo is pushing for an anti-terrorism bill which, by the broadness of its definition of "terrorism," could be construed to include even legal protest actions in its list of "terroristic activities" and makes people legally liable for simply being neighbors to suspected "terrorists."
All this is happening in an atmosphere of unceasing political killings. The past month alone saw the killings of four activists. More than 400 persons critical of the policies of the Arroyo administration have been killed since 2001: the list includes priests, lawyers, journalists and even local government officials aside from grassroots activist leaders.
This creeping curtailment of civil liberties by a President who won in the last election by fraudulent means and has long been under fire for her imposition of anti-national and anti-people policies, corruption, and human rights violations has grave implications for artists. In an atmosphere of increasing suppression of civil liberties, a clampdown on the freedom of expression as practiced by artists cannot be far behind.
We support this activity, and commit contributions to other forthcoming efforts, for the defense of democratic rights – in the tradition of our fellow artists Amado V. Hernandez and Lino Brocka.
Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria)
October 4, 2005
Southern Tagalog Exposure
KASIBULAN Women Visual Artists' Collective
KUMASA (Kulturang Ugnayan ng Manggagawa at Uring Anakpawis sa Timog Katagalugan)
ARTIST, Inc. (Arts Research and Training Institute in Southern Tagalog)
Kilometer 64 Poetry Group
Tambisan sa Sining
APLAYA (Artistang Pangkultura ng Mamamalakaya sa Timog Katagalugan)
UPLB Umalohokan
Paolo Martinez
Andrea Muñoz
Gian Paolo Mayuga
Jeffrey Ferrer
Onin Tagaro
Bobby Balingit
Winnie Balingit
Lourd de Veyra
Dong Abay
Ninj Abay
Con Cabrera
Roselle Pineda
Heidi Takama
Monday, September 05, 2005
STATEMENT OF UNITY
BUKLURAN PARA SA KATOTOHANAN
If you agree with the following, please post on your blogs and pass on to your relatives and friends.
We come from all walks of life, from different political, cultural, and economic persuasions, different points of view. But in diversity, we find a cause for unity. That cause for unity is our common objective to secure the truth.
We all seek the truth. We want the truth to come out. And yet every means for seeking the truth has been frustrated; every avenue for arriving at the truth has been blocked; and every opportunity to find the truth is being closed.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s response to our call for the truth has been to suppress evidence, hide her accomplices, engage in a grand cover-up, sow fear, foment distrust and use every instrument at her disposal to encourage division among our people.
We will not be divided in these critical times.
We say with one voice, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo must go. For the good of the country, she must go. For the sake of our nation’s future, she must go. For the preservation of hope as a motive force in our national life, she must go.
We are united by the belief that this crisis must be resolved in a manner that is peaceful and democratic. Without the truth, there cannot be peace; without the truth, there is no genuine democracy. The truth must set our nation free.
Unite for the truth. Demand the truth. Defend the truth.
Action for Economic Reforms
AKBAYAN Citizen’s Action Party
Ateneo Concerned Faculty and Youth
Bangon Pilipinas
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN)
Be Not Afraid
Black & White Movement
Citizens for TRUTH (Transparency, Responsibility, Unity, Trust, Hope)
Citizens for Truth, Resignation, Impeachment, or Ouster (C4T)
Coalition for National Solidarity
Counsels for the Defense of Civil Liberties (CODAL)
De La Salle
FPJP Movement
Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC)
Interfaith Movement for Truth, Justice and Genuine Change (IFM)
Kilusan ng Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME)
Laban ng Masa
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)
Peoples Assembly for Genuine Alternatives to Social Apathy (PAG-ASA)
Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP)
Reporma
Union of Muslims for Morality and Truth (UMMAT)
United Opposition (UNO)
Unity for Truth and Justice
UP AWARE
UP Diliman Student Council (UPD USC)
White Ribbon Movement
Women March
Youth DARE
BUKLURAN PARA SA KATOTOHANAN
If you agree with the following, please post on your blogs and pass on to your relatives and friends.
We come from all walks of life, from different political, cultural, and economic persuasions, different points of view. But in diversity, we find a cause for unity. That cause for unity is our common objective to secure the truth.
We all seek the truth. We want the truth to come out. And yet every means for seeking the truth has been frustrated; every avenue for arriving at the truth has been blocked; and every opportunity to find the truth is being closed.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s response to our call for the truth has been to suppress evidence, hide her accomplices, engage in a grand cover-up, sow fear, foment distrust and use every instrument at her disposal to encourage division among our people.
We will not be divided in these critical times.
We say with one voice, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo must go. For the good of the country, she must go. For the sake of our nation’s future, she must go. For the preservation of hope as a motive force in our national life, she must go.
We are united by the belief that this crisis must be resolved in a manner that is peaceful and democratic. Without the truth, there cannot be peace; without the truth, there is no genuine democracy. The truth must set our nation free.
Unite for the truth. Demand the truth. Defend the truth.
Action for Economic Reforms
AKBAYAN Citizen’s Action Party
Ateneo Concerned Faculty and Youth
Bangon Pilipinas
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN)
Be Not Afraid
Black & White Movement
Citizens for TRUTH (Transparency, Responsibility, Unity, Trust, Hope)
Citizens for Truth, Resignation, Impeachment, or Ouster (C4T)
Coalition for National Solidarity
Counsels for the Defense of Civil Liberties (CODAL)
De La Salle
FPJP Movement
Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC)
Interfaith Movement for Truth, Justice and Genuine Change (IFM)
Kilusan ng Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME)
Laban ng Masa
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)
Peoples Assembly for Genuine Alternatives to Social Apathy (PAG-ASA)
Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP)
Reporma
Union of Muslims for Morality and Truth (UMMAT)
United Opposition (UNO)
Unity for Truth and Justice
UP AWARE
UP Diliman Student Council (UPD USC)
White Ribbon Movement
Women March
Youth DARE
Thursday, September 01, 2005
31 AGOSTO 2005, KAMARA DE REPRESENTANTE
Sapagkat batid na nilang sa lansangan
ay di malayong sila'y masagasaan ng madla,
dinala nila ang paligsahan
sa kanilang bulwagan,
kung saan kanila ang mga patakaran,
kanila ang mga patakarang
sila rin ang may kakayahang bumaliko.
At sila'y nagtanghal
ng isang moro-moro.
Mga tanga,
akala'y maaaring takasan
ang sarili nilang mga anino.
Sapagkat batid na nilang sa lansangan
ay di malayong sila'y masagasaan ng madla,
dinala nila ang paligsahan
sa kanilang bulwagan,
kung saan kanila ang mga patakaran,
kanila ang mga patakarang
sila rin ang may kakayahang bumaliko.
At sila'y nagtanghal
ng isang moro-moro.
Mga tanga,
akala'y maaaring takasan
ang sarili nilang mga anino.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
ANG MGA SAGOT AY NASA MGA BULSANG UMAAPAW SA ITIM NA GINTO
Noong Agosto 6, 2005, si Cindy Sheehan ay nagpasimuno ng isang vigil sa labas lamang ng rantso ng George W. Bush, Pangulo ng Estados Unidos, sa Crawford, Texas upang hinging ito'y makipagkita sa kanya at ipaliwanag kung bakit ang digmaang pumatay sa kanyang anak sa Iraq ay sinimulan at nagpapatuloy pa rin.
Walang tunay na tugong ihahatid
ang may-ari ng rantso.
Kung magsasalita man siya,
ang kanyang mga sagot ay walang ipag-iiba
sa pag-unga ng kanyang mga baka.
Malamang ay muli niyang sasabihin
na ginagawa ng mga itlog na bakal
ng kanyang mga ibong mandaragit
sa lupa ni Abraham
ang ginawa ng mga kampon ni Herodes sa Israel
tatlong araw pagkasilang ni Kristo
sapagkat kailangang itaboy mula roon
ang mga demonyo.
Ngunit makikita mo ang kasagutan
sa nagtatabaang bulsa ng mga tagapagtambol
ng digmaang ito.
Dumanak ang dugo ng iyong anak sa Iraq,
Cindy Sheehan,
sa ngalan ng isang digmaang nagbubuhos
ng itim na ginto
sa kanilang mga lukbutan.
Noong Agosto 6, 2005, si Cindy Sheehan ay nagpasimuno ng isang vigil sa labas lamang ng rantso ng George W. Bush, Pangulo ng Estados Unidos, sa Crawford, Texas upang hinging ito'y makipagkita sa kanya at ipaliwanag kung bakit ang digmaang pumatay sa kanyang anak sa Iraq ay sinimulan at nagpapatuloy pa rin.
Walang tunay na tugong ihahatid
ang may-ari ng rantso.
Kung magsasalita man siya,
ang kanyang mga sagot ay walang ipag-iiba
sa pag-unga ng kanyang mga baka.
Malamang ay muli niyang sasabihin
na ginagawa ng mga itlog na bakal
ng kanyang mga ibong mandaragit
sa lupa ni Abraham
ang ginawa ng mga kampon ni Herodes sa Israel
tatlong araw pagkasilang ni Kristo
sapagkat kailangang itaboy mula roon
ang mga demonyo.
Ngunit makikita mo ang kasagutan
sa nagtatabaang bulsa ng mga tagapagtambol
ng digmaang ito.
Dumanak ang dugo ng iyong anak sa Iraq,
Cindy Sheehan,
sa ngalan ng isang digmaang nagbubuhos
ng itim na ginto
sa kanilang mga lukbutan.
ON VIDEO: 'TUPARIN NATIN ANG BANTA NG ATING PANAHON'
We now have a copy of the music video "Tuparin Natin ang Banta ng Ating Panahon," produced by Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria).
The lyrics for the song are taken from a poem of mine that appeared in Oust Gloria, a chapbook published by Kilometer 64. Bobby Balingit of The Wuds did the music for the song, while Lourd de Veyra of Radioactive Sago Project did the vocals.
Southern Tagalog Exposure and Teta Tulay of KASIBULAN Women Visual Artists' Collective directed the video. It was produced from illustrations and shadow animation by Teta, with additional photos and videos from Arkibong Bayan, GMA 7, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), www.op.gov.ph, and www.kgma.org.
Download the video here.
If you cannot view the video, you need to install the Xvid Codec. Download the Xvid Codec here for Windows and here for Mac.
We now have a copy of the music video "Tuparin Natin ang Banta ng Ating Panahon," produced by Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria).
The lyrics for the song are taken from a poem of mine that appeared in Oust Gloria, a chapbook published by Kilometer 64. Bobby Balingit of The Wuds did the music for the song, while Lourd de Veyra of Radioactive Sago Project did the vocals.
Southern Tagalog Exposure and Teta Tulay of KASIBULAN Women Visual Artists' Collective directed the video. It was produced from illustrations and shadow animation by Teta, with additional photos and videos from Arkibong Bayan, GMA 7, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), www.op.gov.ph, and www.kgma.org.
Download the video here.
If you cannot view the video, you need to install the Xvid Codec. Download the Xvid Codec here for Windows and here for Mac.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
RENE N. JARQUE, 40
It was with shock that I received the news that former Army Capt. Rene N. Jarque had died last Friday of cardiac arrest in Jakarta, Indonesia where he had been working since 2004. He was just less than two months short of his 41st birthday, and when I last saw him -- which was less than a year ago -- he looked strong enough to take on two men in a fistfight at the same time.
But more than that, it is saddening that the country has just lost one of the few honorable men to have come from its Armed Forces -- and at a time when no one expected him to die the way he did.
A 1986 graduate of the US Military Academy, Rene was a staunch opponent of corruption in the Armed Forces, which is most brazen in the highest echelons of its leadership. He sought to fight military corruption through armed means in 1989, and when that didn't succeed he turned to writing articles exposing various corrupt military practices in the different AFP publications. His facts were well-researched, his analyses incisive, his recommendations sound.
Because of his efforts, he was repeatedly subjected to harassment and was even placed under surveillance by his own superiors.
Disillusioned, he left the military service in 1998. He was then just a captain. One of his last works for the AFP was a paper arguing for a self-reliant defense policy, contrary to the present US-dependent one.
But the fight didn't end there. He would spend the next several years combatting military corruption and promoting AFP reform by continuing to write about these issues, this time for the major newspapers and magazines; as well as joining anti-corruption groups.
Even after he had taken his Jakarta job, he would every so often find time to return to the Philippines and speak in forums and conferences on corruption.
As a journalist, I had the pleasure of interviewing him in depth a number of times. He was one of my favorites among my frequent interviewees. Despite his hectic schedule, he always had time for interviews, whether personal or through e-mail, and to top that off he was both intelligent and eloquent.
He also had this way of making good friends with the journalists who interviewed him. He invariably took the initiative of keeping in touch with his journalist-interviewers even when there was absolutely no interview to make: from time to time he would send us jokes and other funny e-mails, aside from giving us the privilege of being among the first readers of his latest articles.
In early 2004, when he left for Jakarta, we lost contact with each other. Later that year, on one of his frequent visits to Manila, we saw each other again -- and without my asking him (which I had meant to do), he gave me his e-mail addresses and told me to just send him an e-mail if I needed anything. I was able to do several interviews with him that way.
Just nine days before he died, he had e-mailed us a copy of a speech he delivered before the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1995. It was about courage, integrity, loyalty and the soldier.
That was Rene N. Jarque -- a patriot in his own right, a brilliant thinker, and a good friend. An officer and a gentleman.
It was with shock that I received the news that former Army Capt. Rene N. Jarque had died last Friday of cardiac arrest in Jakarta, Indonesia where he had been working since 2004. He was just less than two months short of his 41st birthday, and when I last saw him -- which was less than a year ago -- he looked strong enough to take on two men in a fistfight at the same time.
But more than that, it is saddening that the country has just lost one of the few honorable men to have come from its Armed Forces -- and at a time when no one expected him to die the way he did.
A 1986 graduate of the US Military Academy, Rene was a staunch opponent of corruption in the Armed Forces, which is most brazen in the highest echelons of its leadership. He sought to fight military corruption through armed means in 1989, and when that didn't succeed he turned to writing articles exposing various corrupt military practices in the different AFP publications. His facts were well-researched, his analyses incisive, his recommendations sound.
Because of his efforts, he was repeatedly subjected to harassment and was even placed under surveillance by his own superiors.
Disillusioned, he left the military service in 1998. He was then just a captain. One of his last works for the AFP was a paper arguing for a self-reliant defense policy, contrary to the present US-dependent one.
But the fight didn't end there. He would spend the next several years combatting military corruption and promoting AFP reform by continuing to write about these issues, this time for the major newspapers and magazines; as well as joining anti-corruption groups.
Even after he had taken his Jakarta job, he would every so often find time to return to the Philippines and speak in forums and conferences on corruption.
As a journalist, I had the pleasure of interviewing him in depth a number of times. He was one of my favorites among my frequent interviewees. Despite his hectic schedule, he always had time for interviews, whether personal or through e-mail, and to top that off he was both intelligent and eloquent.
He also had this way of making good friends with the journalists who interviewed him. He invariably took the initiative of keeping in touch with his journalist-interviewers even when there was absolutely no interview to make: from time to time he would send us jokes and other funny e-mails, aside from giving us the privilege of being among the first readers of his latest articles.
In early 2004, when he left for Jakarta, we lost contact with each other. Later that year, on one of his frequent visits to Manila, we saw each other again -- and without my asking him (which I had meant to do), he gave me his e-mail addresses and told me to just send him an e-mail if I needed anything. I was able to do several interviews with him that way.
Just nine days before he died, he had e-mailed us a copy of a speech he delivered before the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1995. It was about courage, integrity, loyalty and the soldier.
That was Rene N. Jarque -- a patriot in his own right, a brilliant thinker, and a good friend. An officer and a gentleman.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
SAPAGKAT TAYO'Y MAY MGA PUSO
Parang mga punyal ang ating mga panulat.
Tayo'y humahawak ng mga punyal
sapagkat minamahal natin
ang kinakalawang na mga bisig na nagpapaikot
sa mga gulong ng mga makina sa mga pabrika
at nagpapaandar sa makinarya ng ating kabuhayan;
ang mga nagtatanim ng buhay
sa mga parang at sa buong sambayanan
na ang sariling mga buhay
ay lagi't laging saklot ng tagtuyot.
Minamahal natin sila
sapagkat tayo'y may mga puso.
Kaya't parang mga punyal ang ating mga panulat.
Parang mga punyal ang ating mga panulat.
Tayo'y humahawak ng mga punyal
sapagkat minamahal natin
ang kinakalawang na mga bisig na nagpapaikot
sa mga gulong ng mga makina sa mga pabrika
at nagpapaandar sa makinarya ng ating kabuhayan;
ang mga nagtatanim ng buhay
sa mga parang at sa buong sambayanan
na ang sariling mga buhay
ay lagi't laging saklot ng tagtuyot.
Minamahal natin sila
sapagkat tayo'y may mga puso.
Kaya't parang mga punyal ang ating mga panulat.
Friday, July 29, 2005
NOW ON MP3: 'TUPARIN NATIN ANG BANTA NG ATING PANAHON'
Download MP3 file here.
Produced by Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria)
Lyrics: Alex Remollino (Kilometer 64)
Music: Bobby Balingit (vocalist and lead guitarist, The Wuds)
Vocals: Lourd de Veyra (vocalist, Radioactive Sago Project)
Sound mix: Southern Tagalog Exposure
(Southern Tagalog Exposure and Kilometer 64 are member organizations of the ARREST Gloria alliance, while Bobby Balingit and Lourd de Veyra are individual members)
("Tuparin Natin ang Banta ng Ating Panahon" first appeared in print as a poem in the Oust Gloria chapbook published by Kilometer 64)
Download MP3 file here.
Produced by Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria)
Lyrics: Alex Remollino (Kilometer 64)
Music: Bobby Balingit (vocalist and lead guitarist, The Wuds)
Vocals: Lourd de Veyra (vocalist, Radioactive Sago Project)
Sound mix: Southern Tagalog Exposure
(Southern Tagalog Exposure and Kilometer 64 are member organizations of the ARREST Gloria alliance, while Bobby Balingit and Lourd de Veyra are individual members)
("Tuparin Natin ang Banta ng Ating Panahon" first appeared in print as a poem in the Oust Gloria chapbook published by Kilometer 64)
Thursday, July 14, 2005
SILANG IILANG MANG-AAGAW NG TAGUMPAY
Isinisilang at yumayao ang mga panahon,
ngunit di lumilipas
ang ating kahapon.
Sa mga panahon ng palitang-putok,
tayo sa larangan ang nagdadala ng bandila
at ang ating mga dibdib at ulo
ang nakalaang lurayin ng mga punlo ng kaaway.
Ngunit sa panahon ng lubos na paglalaho ng usok,
ang nagwawagayway ng bandila
ay silang iilang hindi halos umapak sa larangan.
Minsan nila itong ginawa sa Kawit,
makalawang ito ay ginawa nila sa EDSA.
At ngayon,
narito na naman sila --
parang mga manananggal
na naghihintay sa pagsilang ng bilog na buwan
upang makalipad ang kalahating katawan
at makapanagpang.
Magtatagumpay ba silang muli sa pang-aagaw ng tagumpay?
Kahit na ilang bukas ang dumating,
tuluy-tuloy lamang ang ating kahapon
hangga’t tayo’y may ugaling matulog kaagad
pagkatapos ng kahuli-hulihang putok ng baril.
Isinisilang at yumayao ang mga panahon,
ngunit di lumilipas
ang ating kahapon.
Sa mga panahon ng palitang-putok,
tayo sa larangan ang nagdadala ng bandila
at ang ating mga dibdib at ulo
ang nakalaang lurayin ng mga punlo ng kaaway.
Ngunit sa panahon ng lubos na paglalaho ng usok,
ang nagwawagayway ng bandila
ay silang iilang hindi halos umapak sa larangan.
Minsan nila itong ginawa sa Kawit,
makalawang ito ay ginawa nila sa EDSA.
At ngayon,
narito na naman sila --
parang mga manananggal
na naghihintay sa pagsilang ng bilog na buwan
upang makalipad ang kalahating katawan
at makapanagpang.
Magtatagumpay ba silang muli sa pang-aagaw ng tagumpay?
Kahit na ilang bukas ang dumating,
tuluy-tuloy lamang ang ating kahapon
hangga’t tayo’y may ugaling matulog kaagad
pagkatapos ng kahuli-hulihang putok ng baril.
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