Category Archive for: pangyayari

komentaryo

dear UP Manila,

one hopes for some kindness.

four UP Manila students will be appealing their case to the Board of Regents today, March 28. this past semester, all four went to all the classes they registered in, they were accepted by their teachers, and they fulfilled requirements. this past semester, they aimed for graduation and went through their thesis classes.

they did so despite the fact that they could not and did not pay their tuition fees on time. they went to school, did the work, no matter the financial problems that befell their families. they forged through and hoped that soon enough, there would be money to pay for tuition. they did the work, regardless. (more…)

komentaryo

remember by reading: EDSA Revolution 1986

two links for those who are truly interested in understanding and forming an opinion about the EDSA Revolution of 1986: a version of Chronology of a Revolution was published by the Foundation for Worldwide People Power in 1996, and Himagsikan sa EDSA: Walang Himala! was published by the same, in the year 2000, after it got an Honorable Mention in the Centennial Literary Prize in 1998. both have been online, and free to read, since 2000 for Himagsikan and about two years ago for Chronology. 

click here for the Chronology of a Revolution.
click here for Himagsikan sa EDSA. (more…)

komentaryo

Criticism: not (fun) in the Philippines*

The world knows of the Philippines by now, for reasons other than a senator who refuses to admit to plagiarism, being the setting for the bustling Asian city in “Bourne Legacy,” and a cybercrime law that might be the worst piece of legislation against freedom of expression since the world wide web.

There was a time when we could call out the Western eye for gazing at us exotic: the ones who eat duck fetuses, the pretty brown-skinned girls with wide smiles and a fascination for, who fascinate the, white man. In these times of transnationalism and globalized cultures though, these assessments might be closer to being correct. (more…)

kultura

Dolphy, national artist*

It’s difficult to imagine childhood without Dolphy, even when all he was to me was the image of a father on television, even as who I identified with was Maricel Soriano or Claudine Barretto playing his daughters in two different sitcoms, across two different generations. At some point this father image became interwoven with that of Enteng Kabisote, father to Aiza.

The images are real to me, the characterization of fatherhood that was protective but had difficulty providing, that was faced with the rich mother-in-law who disapproved, that struggled financially but had a posse who depended on him, underground as the economy was that they all created and fueled. (more…)

komentaryo

powerless

i hate it when government — anyone in power for that matter – responds to any crisis by falling back on prayer. the only thing worse than that is to have a president that uses prayer to talk about solidarity and “productive actions.” now have the Presidential Spokesperson Coloma say: “While we are praying, perhaps it is good if Filipinos would focus on what they can contribute to make our republic even stronger” and one realizes this whole discourse on solidarity in productivity is really about taking a jab at government critics — the ones who are going out on the streets on January 21 to protest the Meralco price hike, and certainly the ones who remain critical of this government’s inefficiencies / insufficiencies / incapabilities even as we are not out on the streets.  (more…)