Thoughts on Davao, Duterte, the Death Squad and why I'm very, very afraid

I was curious about those smoke stacks spewing black smoke right by a busy city thoroughfare, so I asked the driver what it was. A power generator operated by Aboitiz, he said, adding that the region needed it to address its power shortage problem. I wondered though if that coal-powered plant couldn't be located somewhere else, but wondered too how much farther it would've had to be to affect the citizens of Davao significantly less.

Don't judge a city by its Ayala Mall, that wouldn't be a fair judgment, or a realistic visualization. Just as Binay wanted the rest of the country to have this image in their minds that the whole of Makati looks like Greenbelt - a bustling, highly urbanized district nestled amid trees and green open spaces, there are depressed areas there too... the rest of Baguio isn't like the Technohub, in the same way that the rest of Davao is not all Abreeza Mall. I happen to be visiting the city and staying somewhere near the rather swanky commercial center.

So if the Davao example is what convinced you that Duterte's promise isn't merely ampaw, hold on a sec...

In fairness, Davao's streets look cleaner than those of a lot of other cities', maybe it's the norm in the whole city, but I've learned from the Olongapo example where the main thoroughfares, where us, non-residents normally pass, are spotless but the inner streets show a different picture, that it could all be cosmetics. But let's say it isn't so, and I have no problem believing that.

(Update: looks like it isn't mere cosmetics, as on our way to the airport on our last day there, we passed the inner streets to avoid traffic, and they were clean. Bravo, Davao)

First, I felt afraid, not exactly petrified, but afraid. It's sad that all the good things about Davao are now connected to Duterte's tough guy, I have huge balls pronouncements. The streets are clean because if you litter... damn, I can't get the image of the Davao Death Squad and dead minors, guilty of petty crimes, or perhaps not even, out of my head. I know he will make you eat that cigarette if you happen to take a puff outside of that square, those designated smoking areas.

I made sure I was well inside that square when I smoked a cigarette in Davao because, well, it's the law and also because, well, I don't wanna eat a lit cigarette nor do I want to die.

One of my hosts joked, "it's really a beautiful city. If you're good, life is beautiful in Davao. If you're bad, life ends here in Davao."

Nervous laughter.

The fear was palpable. And I'd rather be inspired to not smoke in public, litter, jaywalk, etc., than to be afraid. I want to look up to our leaders, follow their lead because I respect them, not because I'm afraid of them.

On our way to the airport, I saw some gangster graffiti on the walls of an underpass, not sure if gangs are a serious problem in Davao, but I do believe the graffiti are the handiwork of minors. I wondered if any one of the vandals have fallen victim to the Davao Death Squad.

I read the other day how Duterte planned to eradicate, oh wait, he has since changed that to "suppress," crime in 6 months. The plan revolves around improving the lot of our police force in terms of salaries, equipment and legal protection and giving them marching orders to kill suspects who will resist arrest violently.

I arrive in Manila, turn on the TV and the news: a tricycle driver in Davao was killed by a policeman who thought the former was stealing his motorcycle. The tricycle driver was in fact just helping, lifting his bike that fell.

Correction: now I'm petrified.

Domogan vs. (Molintas vs. Claravall)

That's the way it's going down, the incumbent against two challengers. And at first glance, common sense tells us that the former has the upper hand. Again.

To win against Domogan, one must not only get all the opposition votes, he must also get a substantial number off of the incumbent numbers. In the last election, after several landslide loses, Molintas got to close the gap - from the usual 20,000 vote-margin down to just around 4,000.

In 2013, Mauricio Domogan garnered 49.5% of the total votes cast for Mayor, he almost won by majority vote while Molintas got 44.7%. The rest was split between Jun Labo (3,000+) and perennial contender Hernandez along with Puzon and Mina who got negligible numbers.

49.5 percent. That's a big number, and getting a huge slice of that would be the holy grail for the opposition. It's actually a 4-cornered fight, but given Hernandez's dismal showing in 2013 (666 votes), maybe his candidacy would hardly matter in the end.

My two centavos' worth, based on what I see, hear, feel and their respective performances in the candidates' forum held last month at the Baguio Convention Center :

DOMOGAN, The Incumbent

He's gunning for a third and final(?) term as Mayor. His battle cry is this: continue the good work he's doing. Depends on where one is coming from, the promise may be a pro or a con.

He's been trumpeting the city's increased revenue over the last over two decades with him at the helm in one way or another - from below 500M to 2B. Of course he won't mention that it stayed at half a billion for 15 years or so before making that huge leap to a billion in .ca. 2008. But never mind that, fact is, Baguio's economy is on the up, and for those directly benefiting from the boom, a promise of continuity will be attractive.

But at what cost, that so-called boom? The environment under Domogan's reign hardly got any attention. It seemed like when it came to a choice between commerce and environmental sustainability, his administration seemed to have always favored the former. The direction in which he took this city is dangerously unsustainable. When the Mt. Sto. Tomas issue erupted, I don't recall any strong words from him about the damage that his congressman wreaked on a forest reserve, compromising the water supply of thousands of citizens. Instead, what I remember most is his hands-off remarks, and how sure he was that Aliping will able to explain and defend himself in the "proper forum."

He has shown very little regard for the city's heritage too with the fencing of City Hall and his stubborn stand to turn the Melvin Jones into a concrete parking facility.

Yet, the fact remains, he got 49.5% of the votes the last time, and he will remain as the choice of the apathetic and the shortsighted.

MOLINTAS, closer and closer then...

...Claravall finally threw his hat in the ring. In 2013, if we were to tally all the non-Domogan votes, that would have been 50.5%. Never mind Hernandez's 666, but the rest would have been enough to unseat Domogan. This time. Molintas would have just needed to step up his previous efforts to IP a bit to close the gap, but currently, the opposition votes are now divided between him and Claravall.

What's he putting on the table? His track record as a champion of the oppressed, being a human rights lawyer. He is forwarding a platform that balances equitable development and environmental protection. He is knowledgeable about the issues afflicting Baguio today, and his pronouncements during the forum were backed with facts and legal realities.

From where I was sitting, he did very well in that forum, I must admit.

CLARAVALL, the dark horse

I have been hearing of the former judge's name being floated since the early 2000's, I concede that there was some clamor for him to run. He almost did in 2013, but backed down due to unresolved issues with the Molintas camp - who's right or wrong depends on who you are more inclined to believe.

I have been eagerly waiting for what the former judge will put on the table since he filed his candidacy last year. I must say that I went to that candidates' forum last February specifically to hear his voice, and frankly, I was not satisfied. He kept to making motherhood statements hardly backing up his answers with facts and a clear vision on how to get it done. When asked about certain problems that Baguio is faced with today, his answers mostly focused on why they should be solved and not much on how he intends to solve them.

I said, well, cut him some slack - it was his first salvo in front of a large audience. Perhaps he was nervous, rattled, etc. Although a friend pointed out, and quite rightly so, that for someone who's presided over countless cases in his sala, handing down decisions with a bang of a gavel in front of an audience - public speaking should be a walk in the park.

His battle cry - "Bangon, Baguio, Bangon!" This will definitely strike a chord among the concerned, the citizens who care about the city beyond their fenced and gated homes. But to those who are just happy to be in a secure job or see their businesses grow, those who only see the opportunities that Baguio has to offer today, those who equate condominiums, hotels, overpriced donuts and coffee as a sign of progress, the question may be, "bakit kailangang bumangon kung hindi naman nakatumba ang Baguio?"

But, Claravall seem to come across as a breath of fresh air, that's something Baguio needs right now. Couple that with a more solid platform and game plan, and he's golden.

IN THE END, politics is numbers

Addition, addition, addition, as Rey Bautista Sr. used to emphasize during his son, Peter Rey's campaigns. Everything you do must be aimed at adding to your numbers. Domogan's promise of continuity may not add to his current numbers, but it will keep the contented citizens on his side.

Molintas will most likely lose some of his votes to newcomer Claravall, the key for him is to work hard to keep that loss to a minimum, and hope that Claravall will bite significantly into Domogan's share of the electoral pie.

As for Claravall, he must be able to convince the unsatisfied that he is the right man who can turn things around in Baguio. He needs a big slice off of Molintas' 39,000+ votes and some of Domogan's 44k. As for my one vote, I need more how's because I already know the why's.

If it's going to be a tight race, 34%, or 29,697 is what's needed to bag the Mayoralty race, leaving 66 percent which hopefully will be divided equally among the other two opponents.

Hernandez's 666 votes may matter, after all.

And my 1 vote goes to... hmmm, perhaps I'll wait a while longer.

Ask 'em too how'd they do it: THE BAGUIO THEY PROMISE

That's one thing Mauricio Domogan didn't exactly tell us when he promised, back in 2010, that he will solve the city's garbage problem in the first few months of his administration if he's made to sit as mayor again: HOW HE PLANNED TO DO IT.

Six years, two terms, and millions of pesos later, the problem persists.

But while I may have criticized him over policies - his proposal to cement over the Melvin Jones grounds for a parking facility and to put gates around Burnham Park, the fencing projects at City Hall, etc. - actions that I believed were contrary to the welfare of this city and its residents, the fact is Mauricio Domogan is my Mayor today, whether I voted for him or not. And as a resident of the city he leads, it is my responsibility to do my share to help uplift the quality of life of the people of Baguio.

This coming elections, Domogan is asking for another term: should we give him the chance? Running against him are:

- Perennial opponent who posted the biggest threat to Domogan's reign in the 2013 elections by trailing by only 4,000 votes as opposed to the 2010 elections where he trailed the incumbent by almost 20,000, and

- political returnee, former judge Del Claravall.

They will all promise us a lot of things, and with all the challenges that Baguio is facing today, hearing all those promises will give us a glimpse of the direction this city will take under the leadership of these candidates. But more than that, as a voter who isn't 100% decided yet, I'm really interested to know how exactly they plan to deliver those promises. I owe it to the city I call home to place her under a competent leadership, and The Baguio We Want Movement's local candidates' forum on Monday, March 7 may give me that opportunity.

For more information about the forum, click HERE to access the event page on Facebook.

EDSA didn't fail us, we failed EDSA

The whole thing has been brewing for a few days already, and my mother has been in and out of the house. Been hearing about the goings on from adult conversations in the house and the rest of the neighborhood. Marcos cheated in the recently concluded snap elections. The minister of defense and the chief of the armed forces  have resigned. People are gathering at EDSA to protect them, Cardinal Sin has called for more warm bodies.

That morning, my mother was talking to several grown-ups in the neighborhood (I was 12) - she was renting a jeepney to ferry whoever wanted to join her at EDSA. Next thing I knew, everyone was getting ready to go. I wanted to go with them, but this time my mother told me I couldn't for things could get ugly. Odd, for I have been to countless rallies with her - several times not only as a participant but also as a performer along with my friends who belonged to my mother's community theater group, the Workshop for Creative Survival.

When one Ninoy Aquino was assassinated, I was turning 10 the following month at the time, I remember being at all these rallies all over Metro Manila - I remember Mendiola, Liwasang Bonifacio, Plaza Miranda, I remember WOMB (Women for the Ouster of  Marcos and Boycott), Inang Laya, the smoke-filled (mostly courtesy of my mother's cigarettes) Hiraya Gallery mezzanine office where the cool people hung out (and where I was a child would alternately try to pick something from the conversations or just be amused by the animated characters around the table). That was where I, while doodling on Tito Bobi's desk overheard a story about a woman who was captured by the military, her vagina was carved out with a hunting knife by the same soldiers who gang-raped her earlier. The story was told by a photo journalist.

Back to February 25, 1986 - not this time, I watched that jeep full of Road 7, Project 6 residents leave with a heavy heart. Whatever was happening in EDSA, it was huge, I thought, and I wanted so much to be part of it.

It wasn't as easy to follow goings-on then as it is today. There were only five TV channels available - 2. 4, 7, 9 and 13. Broadcast was erratic. The radio was on too and almost everyone in the neighborhood was tuned in to Radio Veritas.

I remember getting scolded several years earlier for toying around with our stereo. After playing my Voltes V 45 vinyl a hundred times, I got bored and thought I'd put on whatever I could get my hands on in our collection of records. I picked out one with an interesting cover and put it on in full volume. Turned out to be one of those subversive recordings - it was Martial Law, and people have been arrested or made to disappear or killed for less. My grandmother immediately turned the stereo off.

I remember wondering about who Carpio was, and why every teenager in the neighborhood was afraid of him. "Pasok na tayo, Carpio na..." I would hear the "tambays" in the neighborhood say. Ahh, curfew.

Suddenly, there it was: Marcos Flees. It's over, and the real winner of that election, Corazon Aquino, would now sit as the first ever woman president of the Republic of the Philippines. I remember - I could literally feel the country's collective sigh of relief, a nation's victory over tyranny - I could now play that Inang Laya or any other album in our collection.

And my grandmother, along with myself and the rest of the family, could now sleep better at night not having to worry if my mother will make it back home after a rally or a play or whatever other activity she may be involved in that, during the Martial Law years, could be considered subversive.

Fast forward 30 years later, and Bongbong Marcos, unrepentant son of the tyrant that EDSA rid us of, is threatening to make it a step closer to being back in Malacanang. There are young people clamoring for the return to the "Golden Years" of Martial Law. Duterte proclaims without batting an eyelash: I am a dictator, so what? And a lot of us applauded him.

These days, Cory's being lambasted for her supposed lackluster performance as the first post-martial law president. Try hurdling six coup attempts while running a transition government.

The prevailing sentiment is this: EDSA, the People Power Revolution, did nothing to uplift the lives of Filipinos, that it failed us.

But, no, EDSA didn't fail us. It gave us what it was supposed to give us - freedom. It's what we did with that freedom that failed us. And if the current trends remain 'til election day this May, we're just about to fail ourselves again.






     

VANI: a better fighter, pound-for-pound, than Manny Pacquiao

Just like any other kid, he's made some bad decisions here and there. But like a man, so to speak, he owned up to them, learned from them, moved on and came out a better person every time.

I can't imagine him running for public office, taking an oath to serve his country, but showing up only for a few days while receiving a salary for three years. That would be wrong, and he won't do something like that.

He steps onto the ring not knowing who his opponent will be motivated only by his conviction that all men are created equal and all men must have equal rights, regardless of the color of their skin or their sexual orientation.

And these fights he fought not because he stood to earn millions in prize money, pay-per-view buys, endorsements, etc. Nah, he fights to defend his rights as a human being, he steps onto the ring not only to fight his fight but to fight for the rights of others like him. Now there's a real fighter.

And for that, Vani, my gay son, is a much better fighter, pound-for-pound, than Manny Pacquiao.

Related articles: 
Are you gay? 
Father and his gay son
Be and let be

I want to ride my bicycle (but the Mayor won't let me)

Just like many others, I too do double takes when a flashy coupe zooms by, yield to imposing "get-out-of-my-way-or-I'll-run-you-over" SUVs and once in a while find myself daydreaming of driving one of those.

I personally drive a 25-year old mini van. A Toyota Liteace which just came out of a car hospital - for just like its owner, its joints needed some lubricating, get its bearings... repacked, re-greased, replaced. While in there, I thought it might as well get an oil change. It's running so well now and i'm very happy. it breezed through this morning's emission test. But in those daydreams, I find myself wanting to sell the van, add to it to get a car that's at least a few years younger, with an engine that's a bit bigger, stronger.

A prospect presented itself - a Chevrolet Trailblazer, just about a decade old, reasonably priced. Sell the van, then scrounge up more to cover the cost. What usually bursts the bubble for me is this - how much gas would that V6 engine eat up for every engine start, uphill climb, occasional trips to San Juan, La Union or Manila, and would our family's carbon footprint be justified?

I don't think so. See, it's not like the van's 1800-or-so cc cannot provide for our needs, or even my need as an artist who often does location shoots from way up north to a bit down south on various, often unforgiving terrain. The Liteace has taken us to highest point in our country's highway system, up to Sagada and Besao and even over that treacherous under-repair road to Batad, Ifugao last year. Sure the van came back home to Baguio with a few added "sound effects": more squeaks and thuds, but nothing the Manong down the road can't fix with an adjustable wrench, WD40 and few taps here and there.  

An 1800, even with some 6 or 7 passengers on board, runs comfortably at 100 kph along the sleep-inducing TPLEX. That V6 can surely go much faster, but who needs 120, 130, eeeek, 160(!) when the country's superhighways pegs the limit at 100 kph anyway?

Besides, I can hardly afford to keep the van gassed up - which brings me closer to the title of this article (pardon the long intro and the digression/s)...

...see, climate change is upon us, believe it or not. Excessive man-caused carbon emissions at the top of the suspects list. And while the van sevices the whole family, a lot of times I find myself driving that van alone. Yes, that van that's designed to accommodate as many as 9-passengers, okay, maybe 7 more comfortably. Sometimes on long drives to the lowlands, more often to downtown Baguio. I cringe a little when I get caught, nay, WHENEVER I HELP CAUSE TRAFFIC in the city's Central Business District and realize how much space that van is taking up and how much carbon is spewed out onto the atmosphere to bring me, one person, to my destination. Destinations that, while may be quite physically challenging for my middle-aged knees to walk, are easily accessible by bicycle.

So the past few weeks, my SUV daydreams have been replaced by ones with me wearing a helmet pedaling to town. That's certainly more affordable than an SUV with a V6 engine, and I wouldn't have to sell the van. And in a city battling with worsening vehicular traffic and air pollution, a bike makes sense.

But the city government of Baguio, under the leadership of the Hon. Mauricio Domogan, Mayor of Baguio City, is the bubble-burster his time - bikes have just been banned not only along Session Road, but in the whole Central Business District.

While other cities have been doing all they can to accommodate and encourage cyclists to help mitigate vehicular traffic and lessen emissions, Baguio once again takes a step backward with this ban. Just like it does whenever the city condones environmental destruction in the name of development (read: commerce, and that isn't always equals development).

Ahhh, to borrow lines from Freddie - I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike... but Domogan won't let me.

Photo lifted from the comment of Jp Leung on a post on my page

Kung handa ka nga sa Rehimeng Duterte

Ayun, matapos ang ilang beses na paroo't parito, tatakbo si Rodrigo Duterte, Mayor ng Davao na kilala bilang tigasin, matapang, walang-takot na amining handa siyang pumatay ng ganun-ganun lang, nang hindi napapatunayan ng korte, "beyond reasonable doubt," kung ang isang tao nga'y nagkasala basta't sa mata ni Duterte ay dapat na nga siyang itumba.

Ang daming masaya sa deklarasyong ito, mga naniniwalang siya nga ang magsasalba sa bayan mula sa katiwalian, sa korupsyon, sa kriminalidad, sa kahirapan at iba pang sakit ng lipunang Pilipino.

Ang sarap nga namang panoorin sa TV, nakakaaliw, kung ang presidente ng isang bansa ay nagmumura, bumubuga ng mga katagang pang action movie na walang sinabi sina Julio Valiente, Leon Guerrero, Asiong Salonga atbp. sa bagsik ng mga salita.

Handa ka nga ba sa isang Rehimeng Duterte?

Ingat ka sa lansangan, lalo na siguro kung lalaki kang mahaba ang buhok, gulanit ang maong - alam mo yun, yung sa mata ng karamihan e kung hindi man tulak e gumagamit ng droga. Baka kasi mapagkamalan kang yun na nga, tulak, o baka may kamukha kang wanted na kriminal dahil isang bala ka lang. Pwedeng-pwede mangyari yan pre sa ilalim ni Duterte - sa iyo o sa kahit sino. 'Di ba't yun ang nagustuhan mo sa kanya, kung paano niya diumano nilinis ang Davao?

Teka, siya nga ba mismo ang pumisil sa gatilyong kumitil sa buhay ng ilang "suspected criminals" sa Davao? Hindi naman siguro. Ilang taong nabigyan ng baril, ng kapangyarihang kumitil ng buhay - paano kaya naiseguro na yung iniwan nilang bangkay sa bangketa e tunay ngang nagkasala? At kung nagkasala man, buhay nga ang dapat nilang bayad sa pagkakamaling iyon? Meron din kayang mga nagkaatraso lang sa isa sa mga tauhang ito?

At dahil labag sa batas hindi lamang ng Pilipinas kundi ng kahit saang sibilisadong lipunan ang ganyang uri ng hustisya, handa ka rin bang ibasura ang konstitusyon, ang batas? Dahil kung payag kang gawin ito sa Davao, payag kang gawin ito sa buong bansa, at malamang ay payag ka ring balewalain ng Rehimeng Duterte ang iba pang mga batas kung sa tingin niya ay hadlang ang mga ito sa kanyang uri ng hustisya.

Ingat ka rin sa pagpuna sa isang tulad ni Duterte, sakaling mahalal nga siya (salamat sa boto mo), kung hindi man siya, ay baka masamain ito ng mga taong bibigyan niya ng mga baril at kapangyarihang mamaril.

Handa ka nga bang sabihin na karahasan ang paraan para ibangon ang ating bayan?

Ako kasi, hindi e.

The coming out of Henry Sy and his empire

After all that has transpired, I must admit that deep inside me I still believed that they, Henry Sy and his family, still possessed a bit of sense of decency. Until Banco de Oro, a Sy-owned bank, came up with these:

Somebody up there in the Sy empire thought of this, somebody up there gave the go-signal to the advertising agency to go ahead and explore this idea, somebody up there must really believe in what these ads stood for: a self-centered, uncaring, apathetic existence is the ideal, and caring for things other than one's self and own interests is laughable and indeed must be mocked. Shame on all of you: from the Sys to the advertising professional prostitutes who must have swallowed their own sense of morality for that fat BDO paycheck. 

Despite all these...

1. SM City Baguio's attempt to destroy a forest for a parking building and the questionable and immoral way in which they gave this attempt a semblance of legality and morality
2. The way SM City Baguio corrupted several government institutions, several government personnel, journalists, people from the community, et al to advance their selfish interests
3. The way SM City Baguio made a mockery of our legal institutions when they defied a court order (a Temporary Environmental Protection Order) and killed decades-old full-grown trees and having their battery of highly-paid lawyers justify the act by twisting the facts, the law and common sense
4.  The way SM City Baguio, through its henchman Bien Mateo, shrewdly and deceptively pretended to listen to the clamor, the plea of the people to set aside their selfish interest in Baguio and save as much of one of the city's fast disappearing remaining forest covers for the benefit of its people, its children, its future by presenting a re-designed plan that would save all of the remaining trees on Luneta Hill, only to once again mock the trust that the convenors of the protest movement sincerely offered and went ahead with the killing of the practically all of the remaining trees in the area
5. Etc., etc., etc.

... Still, I hoped, believed that they somehow, yes, like most human beings do, that they still had some sense of decency, of compassion, or responsibility and that one day Henry Sy, or Hans, or Teresita, or this Bien Mateo or one Jansenn Pe will wake up and realize the immorality of their expansion plan and stand up for the good of the community, the rights of Baguio's people and her children to a healthy and safe environment - that they will realize that it can't always be just about money, something they already have so much of to last for as long as they live and for many generations to come.

But no. With the above ads, SM and its minions and henchmen just outed themselves: they are indeed the epitome of greed, of what is wrong in the world today, of bad, and yes, of evil.

And as long as there are Sys lording it over this country, and as long as we continue to empower them to do so, there is no hope for this country.

Henry Sy doesn't care, SM doesn't care and BDO will always find ways to make money, even at the expense of others.

Shame on you, shame on you!

#BoycottSM
#BoycottBDO
#BoycottEverythingSY

#16 Road 7, Project 6, Quezon City

That yellow structure on the right side of the frame, directly behind the basketball hoop, that's where I grew up - #16 Road 7, Project 6, Quezon City. That entire row of houses running the length of the basketball court - plus a few more meters on both sides, all of that's #55, actually. But my grandmother didn't like that number, so she just decided on her own that our house would be #16.

The house wasn't always like that. Back then, it was wooden, elevated high enough to avoid getting flooded during the rainy season. A creek behind the house rises dramatically during downpours. We had a "silong," under the house, which eventually was turned into three small apartments. When the "silong"was first walled off, an uncle, a bachelor at the time, used it as a pad. That's where I spied one morning that he had a girl with him. They would marry eventually and live in one of the "apartments."

Road 7 wasn't concreted back then - the asphalt surface was where I learned to ride a bike, skinned my knee countless times, drew a sun on when clouds threatened rain...

Road 7 had a unique light. Sunrise came from the rice fields across the creek, it would enter the window of the kitchen, the grills making a nice pattern on the floor. I took that light with my breakfast of diluted Blend 45 cup of coffee, into which I dipped my pandesal with Dairy Creme.

With the harsher late morning light that gets harsher towards noon comes Kulot, the taho vendor. Pre-lunch snack. If mom was in the country, Kulot would usually get a mouthful for shouting too loud and waking her up. She's up, I'll ask for some change for my taho. The puto vendor usually comes soon after Kulot leaves.

At the two in the afternoon, most of #55 (and #16, too) would be asleep, siesta time while the rest of the neighborhood would either be idling at any one of the few sari-sari stores, reading the week's comics (Hilaga, Holiday, Funny), or playing bingo near the row of houses near the balon (where that group of #55 houses in that area get their water) surrounded by kangkong and talbos ng kamote. For me and my gang of friends, that meant getting out our panungkit and net bags and off we would go to explore the rest of Project 6 and nearby barangays (Pag-asa, Vasra, Sanville, Carmel, etc.) for generous homeowners with fruit tree in their front yards. Depends what time of the year it was, the loot would either be or a combination of mabolo, santol, makopa, kaimito, duhat, avocado... 

If we're not in the mood for fruits, then off to Alley 11 we'd go to buy fish hooks and nylon strings and the panungkit becomes a fishing pole. There's always dalag to be caught in that creek behind our house. If we're not too lazy to just sit at the banks, we'll chop down banana trunks, skewer them together with bamboo and the resulting raft can take us all the way to the public market area downstream.

The basketball court wasn't always a basketball court. We called it the "playground," the space wasn't cemented and that's where we ran around to our hearts' delight - all morning, all afternoon, in the evening we took over the street when there were less cars passing. There were monkey bars there when I was little, rusty, missing a joint here and there which was a castle, a fort, a car, a space ship, a house or anything our imagination wanted it to be.

One day, the main road where the jeeps passed, Road 3 underwent major repairs. The asphalt surface was removed in preparation for its concreting. It took a while for the cement trucks to come, and while the workers prepared Road 3 for concreting, #55 Road 7 (along with the lone #16 house) prepared areas of the house that may need concreting. And after weeks of digging, removing, grading, and whatever else needed to be done before concreting, the trucks came - and Road 7 was ready. It didn't matter what time it was that they poured concrete, we were there, the whole neighborhood each one with their own bucket to catch the excess cement that was pushed to the side when they leveled the surface.

If you wanted your kitchen or bathroom floor concreted, you caught a bucket-load, ran as fast as you can to pour that at your own construction project at home, and ran back to get more.

The concreting of Road 3 took a while, but by the end of it, a lot of the homes had concrete walls, floors, the pathways from the road side to maze of homes in the area were cemented too, and the playground... that was the time it was tuned into a concreted basketball court.

We were one of the first to have a television set in the neighborhood, and prime time TV meant having heads at our window in the evening. If my banig wasn't set up yet for the night, then I'd sometimes let some of the neighbors inside the house to watch a Friday special, Piling-piling Pelikula. At the end of whatever it was we watched, everyone would spill out onto the street to talk about it. Us kids would reenact some of the notable scenes such as the zombies in Panday running after Bentot Jr. We'll take turns playing Bentot Jr. 

There was Mang Rudy, the handyman whom you called for anything from dog bites to changing the fuse to fixing a leaking pipe.

There was Mang Frank and his taxicab, Kuya Dan and his well-maintained owner-type jeep.

There was Mang Inggo and his vegetable garden.

There was Mang Ipe and his sari-sari store and Pool Table (or pul, chips instead of billiard balls on a square table with holes at the corners where you shoot the chips in).

There are more memories, I can actually leave this blog entry open and just keep on adding as they come, and I wouldn't be able to really say, "that's it, all 14-15 years' worth, give or take a few months after we moved to a new house in 1988 whenever I'd run back to #16 Road 7 whenever life makes an unexpected turn.

Our house, where I swear I saw elves climbing the sink, out the kitchen window and down the creek, was sold some time in the nineties. And the new owners tore it down and built that concrete multi-storey structure.

I believe that's when I stopped visiting Road 7, Project 6, Quezon City.

It's hard to see what the picture above actually shows - the dull gray of the road all, the imposing roof over the basketball court, and the walls. All I see is my wonderful childhood.    





 

Duterte, Marcos, genocide and why I'm very, very afraid

Someone I know has already admitted to slowly falling for the rhetoric, she adds though - "Ng slight." She's not alone, and that scares me.

Duterte had no problem saying in public that he's more likely to be jailed for murder and genocide than plunder. I will not steal, but I will send people to their death, maybe even entire groups of people. Why should he worry? Hardly anybody thought there was anything wrong with that. 

Although he did also say that if elected to a higher office (read: the presidency), he will do all he can to restore the death penalty. So I'm not sure if the murder/genocide will be State-sanctioned under his presidency, or if it will take the character of the infamous/famous Davao Death Squad, which sent criminals, both petty and hardened, ALLEGEDLY, to their graves. The youngest victim of this vigilante group was said to be 14 years old.  

It scares me to think that by next year, the most powerful man in this country has no problem having a person who has not been proven without reasonable doubt to have committed a crime... killed, and that a lot of us are applauding that. Are we ready to believe that to turn things around in this country, the people need to be afraid, not empowered, but very, very afraid? Are we really ready to just cheer to have a president who promises genocide? 

And here comes Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. with, "what am I to apologize for?" when asked about his father's regime. The regime that caused the disappearance or death of thousands, that suppressed our freedom, the regime that made a whole nation live in fear while those in power and their cronies plundered, murdered with impunity. 

Every day, social media is filled with "Buti pa noong panahon ni Marcos" posts, memes, videos, etc., a brazen Orwellian attempt to erase the horrors of Martial Law from our collective memory 

Marcos is being touted as a possible Duterte running mate. It's gaining ground. And I'm afraid, very very afraid. 

Macondo, Benguet

The sun has yet to come out in Baguio for the month of July. It's the 16th already, 25th anniversary of the devastating earthquake that brought the city down to its knees in 1990.

Monsoon season in Baguio - time for afternoons  by the fireplace, power interruptions, landslides and moldy clothes. We just moved to a new house - much smaller than the one we were staying in the last couple of years, but this feels more like home. We lost a huge yard, gained a fireplace. We can always plant in pots, but the fireplace, ahhh the fireplace. Mom & Pop closed down their grocery store, but kept the flower shop. They still sell firewood but there has been no deliveries the past couple of weeks. So we've had to make do with the dozens of boxes we've emptied trying to settle into this new house.

We've lived in practically all major areas of Baguio since we decided to settle here in 1996. Suello, Campo Sioco, QM, Gibraltar, Gen. Luna, Leonila Hill, Aurora Hill, Asin Road, Quezon Hill, Tacay Road, Mines View, Tam-awan, back to Asin and back to Mines View.

Once we were offered to squat on a parcel of land up Mt. Sto. Tomas. For P5,000 or so we could've built anywhere in a specific area. But we didn't want to free ourselves from rent that way. We could've probably made a killing the last few months at the height of the La Presa gold rush. Ah, well.

We've been here a few days, and only got a glimpse of the mountains of Ambuklao twice, very briefly when the fog cleared for a few minutes. Power went out for an hour or so earlier. It's back now, cable's out so I put the Godfather II on the DVD player for the nth time and let that serve as ambient sound while I try to get some work done.

We commemorate our 20th year together tomorrow, Rl and I. What a ride it has been! What's in store in the coming years? Would a house of our own finally be in the horizon? Who knows. In the meantime, we just want to clear enough space in front of the fireplace as it seems like the rain will go on for a few more days.

Lights fade out, lights fade in

New home. New beginnings. New rituals and traditions.

New stories.

B/PROUD: Karlo & Vani, a Father and His Gay Son

B/PROUD: Karlo & Vani, a Father and His Gay Son

In fairness to the MAPEH teachers

That may not have come across very well... my sentiments on MAPEH teachers taking over mentor posts in Baguio City National High School's Special Program for the Arts. As one commenter pointed out, they too underwent training on the subjects covered: Music, Arts, Physical Education, Health. But here's why I think it's not enough.

We are talking about students who have shown potential to become really good in either one of the different specializations, and if the idea is to hone, enhance, develop such talents, we need teachers who can provide way more than basic education in Music, or Arts in general, which is basically what MAPEH teachers are trained to provide.

If my car needs its oil changed, I can to basically any car repair shop, even a gasoline station, to have it done. The personnel there may know a bit about car engines, where the spark plugs are, where the air filter is, but they won't be able to take down that whole engine and work it from the inside out because they have neither the knowledge nor skill and most probably the tools to overhaul an engine. So if I need to enhance the performance of the engine itself, that would need a specialist. Someone who, on top of knowing how to change the oil, or the air filter, or the spark plugs, also studied the art and science of car engines, has a deeper understanding of how each piston, each spark plug, each moving part contributes to the over-all performance of an engine. Someone who knows how different one engine is from another, because each one is different, with different parts, different capabilities, knows that some engines run on diesel and some on gasoline, that some will do better on open highways at high speeds while others do better climbing hills.

The previous article did not mean to put MAPEH teachers down, I'm sure most if not all of them are good on the subject, but their training was meant not for a special program for theater, or visual arts, or dance, or media arts (by the way, MAPEH covers basically two fields of expertise: visual arts and music, and theater/media arts/dance aren't covered by the subject).

With this, I can only hope that the school would go out of their way to really equip the new teachers with the appropriate knowledge and skills to be able to really produce the country's future artists who can help each of us have a better understanding and appreciation of the world around us, and life in general.

Bangsamoro Band-Aid Law (Or offering an ARMM and a Leg)

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Not-so-Special Program for the Arts

Some years ago, ca. early 2000's, every summer, I would get invited by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts to help facilitate a theater workshop for teachers from all over the country. They were members of the faculty of the Department of Education's Special Program for the Arts, and I would usually various classes on theater: Acting, Directing, Stage Management, Technical Direction, etc.

A lot of the teachers assigned to this special program were former P.E. teachers, and for some of the participants in that workshop with whom I continued to work with outside the workshop, it was inspiring to see them grow into their new tasks: help mold their students into the country's future artists and culture bearers. Such a program used to only be available at the Makiling High School for the Arts, and having the privilege of knowing some of the school's alumni: Raymond Red, Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino, Soliman Cruz, to name a few, I was really excited by the idea that the Department of Education has expanded the program to pilots schools all over the country.

When the opportunity for one of our children to be in the program at the Baguio City National High School (BCNHS) presented itself, we grabbed it. Our daughter has been taking ballet lessons and was really showing some potential. She took the written entrance examination and passed it, and the next couple of weeks were spent preparing her for the next step: a dance audition. She passed that too.

On her first year, as part of the first batch to be in the recently implemented K-12 program, much of their time was spent learning indigenous dances along with some traditional folk dances. Our daughter would come home excited to show us a new movement she learned and the story behind each step.

They got to experience performing infront of audiences too as their group would usually be invited to showcase a dance or two at various functions within and outside the school. I was already thinking of how much farther she can get in the field of the performing arts when she gets to college. I personally knew some of the first alumni of the BCNHS Special Program for the Arts and was immensely impressed by their talents. I worked with some of them when I had  a brief stint as an artist-in-residence at the University of Baguio (2005-06) and they delivered like professionals in each of the productions we staged.

From the early to the mid-2000's, Baguio City National High School was already slowly evolving into one of the city's arts and culture destinations - then, they regularly staged exhibits, plays, dance and musical performances that showcased amazing young talents. But in recent years, that stopped.

A couple of months ago, some of these alumni, most of whom have pursued more lucrative careers in other fields yet maintained their interest in the arts, while others actually started careers in various institutions engaged in different fields of creative expression, invited me to do a talk for this year's graduating batch. They were particularly concerned about the last few batches' apparent disinterest in pursuing careers in the arts.They were simply uninspired.

A new person was has been installed to head the SPA program of the school and one of her first directives was to trim down the "specialization time," or the time the young artists spent working on their craft, from two hours per day to just an hour. As a theater artist myself, I can't imagine what can be accomplished within just an hour. For theater, warm up and vocalization exercises already take up to 15 minutes leaving only 35-40 minutes for rehearsals or acting exercises to allow for at least 5-10 minutes for the students to cool down and prepare to go to their respective academic classes. It's basically the same with dance. Clearly, the new head has no real experience nor knowledge about the performing arts, or perhaps even the arts in general.

And then we received information that all the current mentors/advisers of all the specializations - dance, theater, musical, literary, visual and media arts were being replaced, mostly by MAPEH teachers. The current mentors have undergone several workshops, training sessions under different institutions through the years, and now they will be replaced by Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health teachers most of whom received their education through textbooks. The reason for the replacement isn't clear, but I'm almost certain that politics isn't totally out of the equation here.

Given the above circumstances, we now believe that the program may just do more harm than good as far as the children's potential creative talents are concerned so we decided to pull our daughter out of the program.

A bureaucratic approach to the program is what's slowly killing it. With Master's Degrees and Ph.D.'s being a dime a dozen these days, people may be given such lofty positions in the government bureaucracy, including public schools, on the basis of their years in service (which do not necessarily translate to wisdom/knowledge or actual skills) and 100% attendance in their post-graduate studies.

Sayang, is the only word I can think of. The Baguio City National High School's Special Program for the Arts held so much promise. But right now, it's just not special anymore.







 

Baguio in the time of Domogan

‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ In Baguio today, it's more like - those who choose to ignore history cannot learn from it.

Here's a portrait of today's Baguio: a tiny highland city a kilometer and a half or so above sea level with an estimated resident population of half a million with hardly enough resources to sustain such a huge population, its carrying capacity further burdened by tourists whose numbers can go as high as a million on occasion, water has been rationed since time immemorial where most households receive water only for a couple of hours once a week, a city facing a waste management crisis and its administrators are hardly doing anything substantial to address the problem, pollution levels are at an all time-high and continue to rise, crime is also on the rise and, perhaps with the exception of the few years under Japanese occupation, the quality of life of its residents are at an all-time low.

Fairly recent developments - City Hall approved and defended a mall's planned expansion which had almost two hundred trees, most of which are decades-old pine that served as one of the few remaining forest covers in the city's central business district, the Rose Garden at Burnham Park was "developed" which significantly reduced its natural space and replaced with concrete and a dancing fountain, the city's congressman caused the death of hundreds of pine trees in a forest reserve and the contamination of the areas water resources compromising the welfare of thousands of residents, and its aesthetically-challenged, shortsighted, unsentimental Mayor who has occupied various seats in the local government of Baguio for more than two decades is determined to trample on the historical value of two heritage sites: the Baguio City Hall (where they want to build a fence around it and concrete structures right in the tree-covered gardens that beautifully frame the government building) and the Melvin Jones Football Grounds (that the Mayor think nothing about digging up to erect a parking facility - his solution to the city's worsening traffic situation). 

It is interesting to note that the current mayor, Mauricio Domogan, seem to be obsessed with parking facilities having figured prominently in the Jadewell on-street parking fiasco that caused his erstwhile political sidekick, Bernardo Vergara, the mayoralty but he was lucky enough to survive the backlash and still bagged the city's lone congressional seat in the 2004 elections).

Both the Baguio City Hall and Burnham Park where the football grounds eyed as the site for this parking facility is located are declared heritage sites - as such, any improvements, alterations, construction activity must go through and be approved by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP). Why?

I was fortunate enough to have been able to visit Paris, France as a young man, and I will never forget the experience. Perhaps it worked to my advantage that this was way before the advent of digital cameras, so I took in all of that Parisian visuals with my eyes and not through an lcd screen and saved all of it in my mind and not in some memory card, the reason why I can still vividly recall not only the images but the whole experience itself. 

Paris has a soul, it is alive and the city speaks to you, it tells you her story with every cafe, building, park, boulevard and side street. All infrastructures in the city complemented the city's heritage, its feel, its soul. Two major structures built a century apart do jump out of the renaissance painting that is the Parisian skyline: the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. 

Mayor Domogan is not proposing to build an Eiffel Tower and a Louvre. Not at all. 

At the City Hall grounds, he wants a fence that will serve as "protection" from vandals and is not meant to deny the public access to the grounds. A stage is also part of the this improvement design "to be used by performers..." Local advocacy groups have denounced the project. Mayor Domogan defended it saying that the construction project is not meant to deface a historical site and that this will, in fact, enhance its historical value. 

Why am I not buying that? I just have to look at the "improvements" done at the Rose Graden in Burnham Park where parcels were cemented over reducing the area's natural space significantly and and how the place ended up with a "dancing fountain" but much less roses. I have just to look up at the mostly empty flyover at the Baguio General Hospital rotunda and the traffic jams right below it. I have not gotten over the hideous concrete pine tree at the top of Session Road (the construction of which was lauded by Domogan and its eventual removal by another mayor he denounced so vigorously). The man just can't be trusted with a backhoe and a cement mixer. Who knows what he's got up his sleeves this time.  

Let's not forget his proposal to put up gates on top of the fences around the whole of Burnham Park.    

At the Melvin Jones grounds, the proposal is multi-level underground parking facility, with shops and other commercial establishments on ground level, and a rooftop with artificial turf so "football may continue to be played." I first heard it from on of the horses' mouth, so to speak, soon after the 2010 elections when then congressman-elect Bernardo Vergara announced during the opening of a football tournament their (his and Domogan's) plan to construct an underground parking facility in the area.

Mayor Domogan refuses to acknowledge, and this sentiment is shared by much of the councilors who have either come out to support the ridiculous proposal or have said nothing at all about it, the area's historical value. He also doesn't see the aesthetic value of a wide open space surround by towering trees. He also ignores such an area's ecological value and what could happen if such a huge rainfall catch-basin, aquifer, carbon sink is cemented over. He just has to have his parking lot. 

In the meantime, City Hall prohibits activities such as football and other similar sports to be played there as these result in the destruction of the lawn. No football in the football grounds, but yes to destroying it totally and building a parking building?

Baguio was much like Paris in a way before - it had a distinct character. Vestiges of both its colonial past and indigenous heritage against backdrop of pine forests. The city even had a distinct aroma. The cool climate is fast becoming Baguio's only tourism draw and that's why we need to come up with events such as Panagbenga to prop up the industry. Soon, as more cars ply the streets or get caught in traffic jams spewing carbon in the air, that cool climate might just go too for as early as now, we have been experiencing temperatures north of the thermometer that most Baguio folks never experienced before. 

Paris has managed to keep its character while our current administrators seem to be doing all they can to destroy Baguio's. Session Road used to be a showcase of Baguio's colonial past - but not anymore, viewing the historic road from any angle today only offers a noisy collage of over-sized commercial billboards. They ignore the very laws that they are supposed to enforce to satisfy their conscience-less capitalist cohorts. Much noise was created about that new building on Session Road that violated the permit issued to its owners who built additional floors on top that exceeded that number of floors that those same owners originally applied for. After much noise? Nothing, it's business as usual. 

There's very little left of what Baguio is all about, and Mayor Domogan is determined to erase all that. He's no urban planner, he's no engineer, he's no architect, he obviously doesn't have an artistic sensibility, or any eye for aesthetics, yet his administration has all been about infrastructure. Ugly infrastructure. He's a lawyer, but that doesn't even come into play when it comes to legally defending the city from abuses such as SM City Baguio's insistence on making the biggest commercial establishment in the city even bigger at the expense of the welfare of the people. 

The city's heritage cannot and must not be ignored, and I'm not only talking about old buildings and parks here. I'm talking about all the past administrators of Baguio who made sure that the city progressed without sacrificing the city's heritage, its raison d'etre and most importantly the welfare of its citizens. That is a very important aspect of the city's history, and Domogan must ignore that, must learn from that.    

We inherited a beautiful city from those who came before us, we cannot, must not allow Domogan to hand over a decaying city to our children on behalf of our generation. Because that's what it all boils down to - we are turning over a dying, soul-less Baguio to our children.  

Chavi's point

I'm quite sure this particular client never reads my blog - in the middle of a ridiculously rush job, dozens of text messages coming in with edits, suggestions, directions coming in as I was trying to put together a story on the timeline. A text comes in from Ferdie asking if I was home. I am. On my way Chavi and Millie. Cool. A bottle of Jim Beam. Yes. I take a break at sunset. I can continue after dinner.

We reminisce about Baguio of two decades ago. We talk about our sons and daughters today. The challenges of playing the role of parents to teen-aged children. Of course we'd like them to be safe, avoid the mistakes we made.

Cue: Kenny Rogers' Coward of the Country.

"Promise me son not to do thing I've done... walk away from trouble if you can."

That's the biggest mistake we're making, actually, Chavi offers. Sure we made some stupid mistakes, and we don't want them to make the same mistakes as much as possible. So we tell them about those mistakes, try to make them understand and learn from those mistakes. But we have to realize that for them to learn from those is for them to actually make those mistakes too.

Good point.

"Now it don't mean you're weakIf you turn the other cheek
And I hope you're old enough to understand
Son, you don't have to fight to be a man"

I don't know, just take care, very good care, always.

Enough, please

No spare, spare none and waking up

The day was ushered in by a beautiful sunrise, I usually wake up before light these days as it has been for the past several years. While there are times when I wish I could stay under the covers a bit longer, I've learned to love waking up as the sun rises. 

This was a particularly good batch of yogurt, even our guest at home agreed after she helped herself to a bowl topped with honey. Even the first press of coffee was wonderful, I step out for a bit to check on the tomatoes and lettuces that Aeneas and I planted a couple of weeks ago and are now finally sprouting - they too seemed happy to welcome the new day. 

I drive Leon to school and our guests to the bus station to get a ride to Sagada - wished we were going too, and off to the rest of the morning's chores. Then I spotted this...

Life goes on for as long as it can, then lights out, and we don't know for sure what comes next. For now, this is it, the one and only life we have on this planet.

Jeepney wisdom, nothing like it. Go ahead, seize the day, bring about happiness and joy, that's what life, this life, is all about. Spare none.

Good day.