Dream theater

Tourists coming up to Baguio not only to watch a parade of plastic flowers and marching bands playing "What does the fox say?," or buy La Presa strawberries, or drink lattes and frappes in an over-sized mall precariously sitting on top of a fragile hill, but to catch the opening night of the latest original play by a local playwright to be performed by local actors in one of the several performance spaces that should have sprouted all over Baguio between now and 20 years ago.

Ticket prices to a play in Baguio today average P100.00. Well, I'm no economist but should I be happy that in October-November, 1996, when I staged "Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll" at the then BCF (now UC) Theater, our tickets went for P40.00?

I came, I saw, I stayed and searched for kindred souls to go on journeys with, share struggles with, and triumphs too, people who shared the same passion and love for the craft... artists I could collaborate with.

"Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll," directed and featuring myself and Ferdinand Balanag, production managed by Rl Abella, stage managed by Ado Cabjuan and sister Ningning, lighting designed by Perry Mamaril, who else was with us then?, ran for a few performances in BCF (now UC) then went on to have a re-run at the Bulwagang Juan Luna of UP Baguio. That first one screamed, the dream's not totally outrageous after all, it can be realized!

The next thing we knew, we were performing a play with a cast of 12 to an audience of 7, in a theater that powers-that-be in Baguio attempted to turn into a casino (the community opposed it, won, yet the slot machines and card tables are still set up inside, they say). Bubble burst.

But what can I do, theater blood runs in my veins, and aside from loving this art form too much, and despite the box-office flop that is "A Prelude to Kiss," I have also fallen in love with Baguio by then and I was free falling. Spread yourself as wide as possible to provide the strongest resistance possible and fall as gently and smoothly as possible.

I collaborated with some people, but turned out I hired more. Theater is a wonderful art form, but an unforgiving industry. One day you're treating the cast to a hefty dinner or a well-stocked open bar at a cast party, and the next you're handing over a watch to a cast member as payment because there's no more money to cover his "professional fee."

I couldn't resist, like seeing a plant with a bud at the end of a stem, you water it, cultivate the soil around it, commune with it, motivate it, urge, push... hoping that one day you'll be there when it blooms, in full splendor, color...

A singer sings like she's never sung before, the actor becomes someone he never knew he could become, telling stories that are worth telling, what a joy. The audience responds to that unique experience only theater can bring about... oh God.

It's hard when you pour your heart and soul into something that others just do to pass the time. But yeah, it's not right too to expect others to see things the way you do. Some read books to let their imagination take flight, some do because the movie was a blockbuster. That's just the way it is.

And theater just can't put food on the table, that's a fact too. But when you do hire people, they expect to get paid. Doesn't matter what your reasons are for bringing people in, or what they brought with them once there. While you envision an art work that could provoke one, two, three persons, or everyone in the audience to action, to thinking, to looking deep inside themselves or at the world around them in a way they've never done before, break on through that fourth wall and touch their hearts with a line, a soliloquy, a gesture, a sigh, a tear drop, some are just there because... I don't know, for reasons other than causing a supernova?

Anyway.

I'm tired. Time to get on the rest of this adventure with a clean slate. There are so many other ways to reach that audience, touch that heart, without unwittingly forcing others to be on a journey they had no plans of taking, get in a boat they don't want to row... what am I saying? I don't know.

Would've loved a better curtain call. But I guess this one ain't that bad at all too.

It's been great.

Thanks.

Filming a musical, staging a festival, participating in a revolution and nursing a flu

I really just have to remind myself that I am not that 23-year-old young man in tattered denim pants and jacket embarking on a new adventure in a new yet very familiar city where 8-hour long rehearsals during the day can still be capped with a night out in town at night.

Not that I've been barhopping though, but the last few weeks were toxic. The days leading tot he weekend of February 21-22 were spent polishing scenes scheduled to be filmed on the first two of a four-day shooting schedule. We plunged into those first two days blindfolded: although the play was a familiar one, filming remains a mostly un-chartered territory for the group. Editing the those first few scenes now, I can see how much we still have to learn about film production.

First two days done, and we schedule more rehearsals. We lose six dancers who were cast in supporting roles in several scenes, new dancers were brought in and we start from scratch. We receive word that the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation, Inc. has allotted some funds for the staging of the 5th Baguio Music Festival. We doubt if we cold still take on the responsibility of putting up a marathon concert, so we tried to get beg off. But we also couldn't let the opportunity to provide a gig for 20 or so local bands and individual musicians go, so we reconsider. In the meantime, almost everything's ready for the last two days of the filming of "Pangarap," a musical on the life of one Fernando Bautista.

Insert a People's Summit right here: February 25. Wasn't able to be of much help during the preparations, but I tried to be there early enough on the day of the summit. Projector set-up, registration ongoing, refreshments table organized and we were overwhelmed by the number of participants. We were expecting around one or two hundred, and we had over 600 who came, some had to sit outside the auditorium already.

Energy was inspiring, you know each one just wanted to do their share in making Baguio a better place for all of us.

Back to Pangarap the next day. That Saturday was also the day of the street dancing parade of the Baguio Flower Festival, and I didn't want to underestimate the traffic that it could bring. I arrive at the venue before sunrise ahead of the most of the throngs who were expected to fill up every inch of space along the parade route. There's a barber's chair on stage, I finish most of the coffee I got from 7-11 downstairs and take a nap.

We go through the next two days more smoothly, we did learn a lot from the first weekend. In the meantime, we have confirmed our participation in the 5th Baguio Music Festival. The following Monday after a very, very long Sunday, we were neck-deep in pre-production work for the planned open-air marathon concert at Wright Park. 22 bands and individual musicians so far, our budget can barely cover all expected expenses, but we end up adding more bands to the list. How can you say no to fellow artists who, just like you, are struggling to make ends meet? We order 120 souvenir t-shirts to be printed to be given away for free to every single participant. Did I mention that our budget can barely cover all expenses? We also decided to buy a television set to be given as donation to the Wright Park Pony Boys Association - a good source of amusement for the pony boys particularly on lean days when hardly customers show up for a ride.

The sun was brightly shining when we started setting up the stage and the sound system on March 8, Sunday, also the last day of Panagbenga 2015. Wright Park was a good choice, I thought, away from the crowds at the Central Business District.

By 3PM the first band was onstage doing a sound check. We requested for each performer to limit their time on stage to a maximum of 12 minutes, enough for 2-3 songs. But, once up there, you can hardly do anything anymore when they suddenly segue into an encore or a long ad lib. We were running late by 30 minutes by the time the first hour was up. Schedule kept moving by 5 minutes or so with every performance, some bands get irked, but hey, we're just trying to spread the love and give everyone a chance to be part of this.

The dusty, folk, rock and country music-filled concert, ended around 10pm and it was already midnight when I got to sit on a chair at home. I fall asleep in my chair.

I wake up to a slight fever, a bit of coughing and colds. I shrug it off and start doing post-production work on Pangarap. The body aches came later that day, but still had enough energy to go on working, even able to squeeze in some yard work, which I have neglected the past weeks, in between the splicing, sound processing and rendering.

Felt much better by midweek, so I proceed to start prepping The Living Room for the weekend's Yoga session - mopping, waxing, scrubbing the floors, moving furniture and plants around, even thought of re-opening the weekend cafe. The chills, fever and coughing lingered, but seeing the studio take shape just kept me going.

Went out yesterday to buy the necessary inventory for The Living Room's kitchen. Wanted to make curry, some yogurt, falafels, etc., but after I got home, the fever has gone up, the couch has worsened and I barely had enough energy to make the yogurt. At midnight I woke up shivering and no amount of blankets, sweaters, sweat pants, socks could keep me warm enough to stop the chills. I was shaking so bad, couldn't stop it and it really felt like I was going into hypothermia.

I was in and out of sleep, a bit delirious every now and then RL told me this morning - I was mumbling and mouthing off all sorts of things last night and most of it I have no recollection of whatsoever. I woke up this morning with a very heavy body and a really bad headache.

And, back to work.

Ang mabuhay ng dahil sa'yo

More than three decades ago, I was in first grade and I joined an elocution contest at school. I vividly remember the day of the contest – I was dressed in crisp white pants and an equally crisp white shirt. My grandmother couldn’t find the bow tie she bought for me that morning, and so she fashioned one from a black sock. The improvisation worked perfectly, looking now at the old photograph of myself on stage with one arm raised as I delivered the lines.

She also chose the poem I recited – The Unknown Soldier. I don’t remember the author anymore, so I searched for the poem online and several results for ones with that title came up. I read several hoping that a line or two from any one of them would help me remember which one I spent late nights on learning, memorizing that time in 1980. Two poems looked promising, they both sounded quite familiar.

I will never know the details of the tragic mission that led to the death of the 44 men of the Special Action Force. I know only what everyone else knows: they died a very painful death. So painful that the pain was felt all across the nation. And as the president decided that being there when their bodies were brought back from ground zero to the capital wasn’t enough to cancel his appearance at the inauguration of a car manufacturing plant, the pain just went deeper, and the people are furious. For really, how can he be so heartless?

A close friend of the family is related to one of the slain, but I myself do not know any one of them personally. And while I’ve recited poems almost all of my life, I never did learn how to write one myself. This is one of those moments when I wished I could.

But I do want to put this out there, to the unknown men who laid down their lives for Bayang Magiliw:

They have lowered flags at half-mast in your honor. We are all trying to get a handle on this and millions of our countrymen are eager to have their voices heard, to praise you and your honorable sacrifice. I cannot even begin to imagine what life must be like being one of you: keepers of the peace, defenders of the people and this nation. Unlike you, next to you, I am a coward. I don’t have the courage to carry a rifle, aim it at another human being and pull the trigger. I am not brave enough to get hurt that way, and even more afraid to cause another human being that much pain.

They are supposed to be fighting for something lofty, noble, but they had just committed a most dishonorable deed, those murderers. And while we struggle to come to terms with your tragic death pointing fingers are people whose names follow words like excellency and honorable, yet commit the most deplorable and dishonorable crimes against the people, I hope that we will also not forget that you died not only because of such deplorable and dishonorable acts of our leaders, but also because fellow Filipinos indeed aimed their guns at you and pulled the trigger.

Out of the countless ways we can live our lives, you chose to live yours serving this country. Now that is indeed honorable. Not all of us are given the chance to die for our motherland, but most of us do have the chance to live our lives for her. And that is, perhaps, the least we can do to honor you, the 44 martyrs who died serving our country.

Noy, wala na nga, wala

Aling kalapastangan pa
ang hihigit kaya?
Sa kawalan ng dangal 
at pagkaimbi
Gaya ng pagtalikod
sa kabayanihan ng mga magiting
na sa bayan ay buhay ang inalay
Aling kalapastanganan pa?
Wala na nga, wala

#NasaanAngPangulo?

Pagpapahayag ng dalamhati at pasasalamat sa pakikiisa

Hindi po namin ninais ang kahit ano maliban sa maiparating sa mga kinauukulan ang aming dalamhati sa walang saysay na pagkaputol ng mga puno sa Luneta Hill.

Ang sa amin lamang po ay hindi makatuwiran na bale-walain ang kapakanan ng mas nakararami para lamang sa kapakanan ng isang korporasyong siya nang pinakamayaman sa buong bansa.

Hindi rin namin pinipigilan ang SM na magpayaman pa kung nais talaga ng pamilya Sy na mas yumaman pa sa kabila ng pagiging pinakamayaman nang pamilya sa buong bansa. Huwag lamang sana sa paraang makakasakit sa iba.

Sa mga hindi sumasang-ayon sa aming paniniwala't prinsipyo, hindi po natin kailangang magtapon ng mga bintang na walang batayan at walang katotohanan. Gayunpaman, nawa'y nagkakaisa tayo sa mithiing isulong ang tama at makatarungan at mga adhikaing ikabubuti ng ating komunidad, ng ating bansa, ng daigdig.

Maraming salamat po sa mga naki-isa. Mabuhay po kayo.

Mabuhay ang Baguio, ang mga taga-Baguio, ang kalikasan at ang kinabukasan nito.

So why did SM have to kill those trees?

The trees on Luneta Hill were cut to pave the way for the construction of a "sky garden." (But why destroy an existing forest to put up an artificial one?)

The trees on Luneta Hill were cut to pave the way for the construction of a parking facility to help ease traffic at the Central Business District. (But wouldn't attracting hundreds more cars to one area actually worsen the congestion?)

The trees on Luneta Hill were cut to pave the way for the construction of a "sky garden" and parking facility that would solve the soil erosion problem in the area. (But wouldn't a retaining wall the construction of which would not require removing the trees achieve that?)

The trees on Luneta Hill were cut to pave the way for the construction of a "sky garden" and parking facility to help absorb the impact of climate change. (But Baguio receives excessive amounts of rainfall and wouldn't removing hundreds of trees and concreting that much earth space reduce the water absorption capability of the area and what happens to the lower lying areas, particularly Harrison Road which has been having minor flooding issues lately, where all that extra water run-off go?)

The trees on Luneta Hill were cut to pave the way for the construction of a "sky garden" and parking facility because we want to earn more money even at the expense of the welfare of the community...

ahh, ok.

The Death of Pine Trees on Luneta Hill: A ConspiracyTheory

The months of December and January seem to be jinxed as far as Baguio's environment is concerned: on December 12, 2014, the Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the lower court with regards to the environmental case filed against SM, DENR, DPWH, et. al. effectively giving Henry Sy the go-signal to destroy one of the few remaining forest covers in the city's Central Business District for a parking building. And this morning, Baguio woke up with this news: Most of the area eyed for their expansion plan has been cleared of trees.

Upon hearing about this latest tree-cutting activity by SM, I just had to go see it for myself. For the first time since December of 2011, I entered SM City Baguio and went straight to the balcony before any of SM's personnel recognized me. I didn't really think they'll drag me out, but who knows. I whipped out my point-and-shoot and started clicking away. These are the pictures:

Photos taken on January 17, 2015

I manually counted the number of trees left standing - there must be around 90 or so left. We can easily say that a total of 100 trees - combination of Alnus and Pine - have been removed. 

Their lawyers will proclaim: there is no legal impediment preventing them from pushing through with their plans. The late Judge Estevez of the Baguio Regional Trial Court himself proclaimed: our arguments against the planned sacrifice of the welfare of the community for Henry Sy's benefit were not enough to stop the expansion plan, and this decision got the nod of Associate Justices Magdangal M. de Leon, Stephen C. Cruz and Zenaida T. Galapate-Laguilles. In their eyes, SM violated no law. In their minds, there is nothing wrong with killing a hundred trees to benefit one corporate entity. For them, SM followed the law to the letter. 

Perhaps, but SM, along with its co-conspirators, violated the very spirit, the true intentions, of those laws. Shame on every single one of them who used, perverted the law to justify environmental rape.

SM City Baguio is not the only guilty party here, no amount of cosmetics can hide the guilt of their enablers.

1. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources led by Sec. Ramon Paje, all the way down to his subordinates at the regional office, who not only legalized SM's immoral plans with their stamps and signatures, but even defended the planned killing of trees in the press and the courts. 

2. The Department of Public Works and Highways led by Rogelio Singson all the way down to officials at the City Buildings and Architecture Office, along with Evelyn Cayat of the City Planning and Development Office, for clearing the way for SM to get away with the murder of trees including circumventing our own zoning laws. 

3. The City Executive, led by Mayor Mauricio Domogan, he who merely said, when asked by the protesters for his help, "I cannot do anything." 

4. The Baguio City Council, or majority of its members during the term 2010-2013, who could not even hide their bias for SM and spent most of the time during that City Council hearing defending SM and castigating the protesters.

5. Members of the judiciary and the bar, from the aforementioned Associate Justices to the late Judge Antonio Estevez to the Fortun and ACCRA Law Offices and even lawyers from the Solicitor General's office who are supposed to protect the interest of the state and therefore the interest of the people of the Philippines who used their skills and talents to enable SM to destroy.

6. Members of the so-called Fourth Estate, supposed guardians of the truth, who willingly sang SM's songs, forwarded their half-truths and outright lies for free movie passes and a gadget or two. 

You, all of you, have all joined hands to destroy Baguio forever. You spat on the faces of every single one of the thousands of members of the community who wanted nothing more than to defend the integrity, heritage, beauty and natural environment of Baguio City. Shame on you. 

Our environmental laws are designed to be circumvented - that's how SM City Baguio got away with murder. 

And to SM? A while back, they sent their emissaries led by Vice President Bien Mateo to present what was supposedly a re-designed expansion plan. In that meeting, attended by some members of the protest movement including Atty. Chris Donaal, Ms. Glo Abaeo, Mr. Gideon Omero, Mr. Nelson Alabanza, myself, et al, they said that out of all the remaining trees on Luneta Hill, maybe only less than ten will be affected with this new plan. Last night, 60 trees were cut. 

Liars. 

As for me, SM just proved once again that they will do everything they can for more money. This kind of greed is what's preventing this country from moving forward. 

So they've cut a hundred trees on Luneta Hill, and a friend asked, "what's the point now of appealing the decision of the Court of Appeals all the way to the Supreme Court when most of the trees are already gone?"

Around 90 trees remain on Luneta Hill, and they are still worth fighting for.