77 oras (part 6)

wala nang kasunod ang part 5a, kaya part 6 na. hindi ako makagawa ng note sa fb for some reason, kaya dito na lang.

"master, gusto ka namin makita. andito kaming apat sa tacloban, kita naman tayo." comment ni andrea sa wall post ng writer sa facebook.

"lilibre ka namin ng beer." sabi ni francis.

"at ng bora." dagdag ni reine.

"at oorder tayo ng cordon bleu!" hirit ni emman.

binabasa lang ng writer ang mga posts nila habang kumakain ng hapunan. iniisip niya kung makikipagkita ba siya sa mga ito, gayung alam niya na wala siya sa kanyang sarili nitong mga nakaraang araw. gusto niya makipagkita sa kanila, pero gusto rin niya panatilihin ang misteryo na bumabalot sa kanya at manaig ang kanyang pagiging isang dakilang emotera sa facebook.

masakit ang kanyang ulo. kaninang tanghali pa iyon mula nang kumain siya sa mcdo. hindi niya malaman kung bakit, pero bigla na lang na parang binabayo ang kanyang ulo, sabay na nanakit na rin ang kanyang mga kasu-kasuhan. sinubukan niyang matulog pero hindi siya mapakali, kung kaya't minarapat na lamang niya na maligo upang kahit papano'y mapreskuhan.

matapos niya maligo, biglang naisip ng writer si louie. kailangan ko siya makausap, sabi niya sa sarili.

sama-samang naghapunan ang apat na dayo ng tacloban. ngayong gabi, sa calle z naman nila naisipan kumain, dahil sa chismis na masarap ang bulalo doon. katabi ni francis si andrea, at di niya mapigilan na mapasulyap sa kanya. sa hindi malamang dahilan, binubulabog ni andrea ang kanyang isipan, pati ang pintig ng kanyang puso.

"uy may cordon bleu dito o!" bulalas ni emman sa menu. "malamang ito palagi inoorder ni master. hahaha."

"sabi niya mas masarap daw ang bulalo dito," sambit ni reine. "haynako sana andito siya para mas masaya. hindi pa ba pagrereply yun sa facebook?"

"hindi pa." iling ni andrea. "uy francis magsalita ka nga dyan, kanina ka pa tulala e."

"ha?" napatanga lang ito sa kanya.

(sana mamaya makapagpost nako sa facebook notes. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)

Disclaimer

I am allowing Pinoy Undeground to publish my essay "P.S. 150 1st Semester AY 2004-2005 which I posted here on my blog last January 20, 2008, under the title "rainy sunday emo blues."

I am also allowing the said community forum to publish my other entries found in this blog. :)

Hayden Camera: Setting Porn Free

Okay, so now I’ll be joining the media hype. Let’s ride on with Hayden Kho’s newfound popularity as a porn star/macho dancer/videoke master.

Today I heard that Councilor Nanette Costelo-Daza of Quezon City will be filing charges against Dr. Hayden Kho due to his sex video which is a “clear representation of violence against women’s rights and gender equality.” In his videos, the doctor/celebrity/ex-beau of celebrated plastic surgeon Dr. Vicki Belo was captured having sex with well-known women, such as actress Katrina Halili, model Maricar Reyes, and another model who hails from Brazil.

Since the videos involved well known people the media swarmed on it like flies on street pizza, making a big issue regarding Kho’s credibility, and packaged the female subjects as victims of his machismo. But are they really victims in this light?

In a site dedicated to the actress, Katrina Halili says she seeks justice because her woman’s rights were lambasted upon the spread of the video. In the news she says she is determined to have the person who spread the videos apprehended and hopefully stop the dissemination of the video in the internet, on CDs and DVDs.

Can’t the actress cut the crap out? First, wasn’t she aware that Kho was taking a video of their alleged Kama Sutra demonstration? Prior to the release of the actual sex video, there already is a video of her and Kho (dubbed as the “instructional dance video”) where they were dancing in front of the camera to the tune of George Michael’s “Careless Whisper,” wearing only underwear. She also has another clip where she was talking to Kho in front of the camera. Now she’s saying she seeks justice for being ripped off her woman’s rights. Hasn’t she realized that she already gave up her so-called “rights” by stealing another woman’s boyfriend? We all know that she and Kho had an affair while the doctor was still in a relationship with Dr. Belo.

On the video itself, we are fussing over it mainly because, as I’ve mentioned earlier, it involved well-known personalities. But what if it’s just like any other sex videos where unknown aspiring porn stars were involved? Then we wouldn’t have this issue, as it would just another sex video that seeks to help guys fulfill their vicarious thrills, and at the same time improve the Philippine porn business which earns around fifty million each year.

I do not understand why there would be charges against Kho, and only him (and his fraternity brother Erik Chua, who allegedly was the one who uploaded the videos over the internet). I think that Katrina Halili and Maricar Reyes should be charged as well, for violating their own women’s rights.

Civic groups, human rights organizations, and most of all, politicians, ride on with this issue mainly because the sex video apparently destroys the “moral values” of the Filipino society. But rather than filing charges to Kho and his minions, or bran the video as “blasphemous” or “immoral,” I think it is better to look at the video at a more educational, while at the same time liberating perspective.

The country is suffering from a fast moral decline and we know it. But the solution is not through apprehension or condemnation of those who exercise immorality. Rather, it is better to educate the people about sex and pornography not as forms of increasing one’s libido, but as creative ways in promoting procreation.

Sexual acts are seen as taboo by the public, but aren’t they the same ways in producing children? Then why be hypocrites in this issue? The act of procreation is celebrated through the movements done during the intercourse itself, and why should we deny ourselves of seeing that fact? While we brand sex as bad and immoral, then why do people do it in the first place? Hence, if the government, as well as the society who sees sex as dirty and illicit, then perhaps it’s time to promote artificial insemination instead. Now who would want that?

Statistics say that more crimes involving sex and malice is due to the increase of pornography and the decline of the society’s moral values. I say, it’s in the way the sex and pornography is interpreted. I think that today’s existing institutions can boost the society’s moral values back by using these materials, in a more educational viewpoint. By making people understand what sex and porn really are (sans the word immoral and taboo), then there would be no issue such as this would happen.

P.S. Katrina Halili, you packaged yourself as a sex symbol, and by that you should expect men violating your woman’s rights mainly because you want them to lust for you. I guess you have no right to ask for justice now that the sex video is released because after all, you asked for it.

Chase for the Wonder Boys

It was a year ago when she cried a river for her wonder boy.

Moons have passed, but it seemed that she only learned to eat her words of self-salvation, as she didn't mind chasing another heart-which, still could not be hers. It is difficult to understand why her heart follows a masochistic path, knowing that she would fall into deep pain. Yet she wandered forth and hoped to finally capture his heart.

Desiderata. Life is not a chase, but a walk by the shore. Try to see the waves and smell the breeze. It is only your spirit that can heal your burns, if only you would allow it to.

Wonder boys, there are many of them in your lifetime. But they are neanderthals who, are merely absorbed in their own parallel universe. Don't you think you deserve a sapien this time around?

Asan na si Mabuti?

Asan na si Mabuti?

Marahil ilang taon na rin ang lumipas nang makilala ng madla ang batang si Mabuti. Si Mabuti ang representasyon ng tipikal na batang mag-aaral sa Pilipinas, mapa-pribado o pampubliko man ang kanyang pinapasukan. Si Mabuti ang batang inatasan ng isang mabigat na responsibilidad habang nasisilayan ang samu't saring problema sa kanyang kapaligiran, at ang responsibilidad na ito ay ang mag-aral.

Si Mabuti ba ay nakatapos ng pag-aaral? Matapos maabot ng guro ang puso niya, ano na ang nangyari kay Mabuti? Nakaapak ba siya ng high school o kolehiyo? O nag-asawa siya kaagad? O nakakilala ng barkadang sasamahan? Naabot kaya niya ang kanyang pangarap?

Asan na si Mabuti?

Sa aking pananaw, si Mabuti ay nabubuhay sa puso ng bawat Pilipino. Sa iyo, sa akin, sa atin. Kung kaya't ang kinabukasan ni Mabuti ay nasa ating mga kamay, kung saan tayo ang huhubog at magdadala. Nasa sa atin na kung si Mabuti ay lalaking mangmang, adik, o propesyunal, or martir na asawa.

Marahil si Mabuti ay isa paring musmos, na pinipilit mamulat sa isang lipunang isip-bata.

Para kay Genoveva Edroza Matute (1913-2009)

Run, Anadel, Run

How does it feel to be able to run again, Anadel?

I know you never met gramma, but for sure she'd greet you with her signature beso. You see, she can be cold at times. But gramma's pretty cool.

I've been chasing for liberty, just so you know.

I envy your beauty, your meekness. And I hate it when you never recognized my presence.

Run, Anadel, run. Fate kept us apart. We never had the chance to play on the sandy beach.

We could have been sisters.

Run, Anadel run. The clouds will be your playground.

I do hope to see you again. One day we'd be able to do the things destiny once deprived us.

Anadel Juntilla
1986-2009

Freedom Viewed from a Kaleidoscope

If you are a child of the 90's, for sure you know Francis Magalona. Known as the Philippines' Master Rapper, he started to dig groundbreaking success with his album "Yo!" way back in 1990, represented by the hit song "Mga Kababayan". Most of his songs were made up of nationalistic lyrics, stating the right of the youth to exercise their freedoms in the society. He eventually became a household name thanks to the Royal Tru Orange commercial where he teamed up with some of then's hottest teen stars to dance, sing and rap in the 45-second video.

I was in gradeschool then, and yes, I was one whom you can call a child of the 90's. My classmates and I were big fans of Kiko back then, and even as I ventured towards life and beyond, he remained to be a great influence in my formative years. Kiko may not have known me, nor may he had realized it that much, but he provided a big contribution in the development of my present principles, as a person, as a member of the youth society, and as a citizen of this nation-state.

I admit I took Kiko's omnipresence in my life for granted. I hated some of his videos, rapped along some of his lyrics, and took for granted the airplay of his songs on the radio. But my neglect for his music's messages were not because of a fickle-mind's caprice; I thought Kiko would always be there. I thought, and always believed, that Kiko, Master Rapper Francis M., was immortal.

But I guess the prerequisite to immortality is death. The Master Rapper left the earth last March 6 after struggling with leukemia. Like most fans, I was saddened. I am saddened. Too bad I was miles away from Manila otherwise I would have been there at his wake, to pay my final rites for the man I considered to have molded my life as a writer, a lover, and a political animal. His death however awakened one dream I had, a reverie which I once chose to kill after losing hope-to grasp freedom.

My heart is still bleeding for his loss, but I knew that upon his passing, Kiko left me, his fans, and all the members of the youth a legacy which all of us bear the responsibility to continue: fight for our rights, fight for our freedom.

As a fan, as a writer, and as a dreamer, I end my requiem with an aspiration that is once again reginited through the lyrics of his song:

Gusto kong matikman ang sarap ng buhay,
hawakan ang bukas sa'king mga kamay.

I will hold the future in my hands. I will, Kiko.