kultura

On losing the grit and grime*

*a version of this was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on March 5 2009.*

It is difficult not to like these guys who make up Red Jumpsuit Apparatus even when they have easily been dismissed as just another emo band. Because in truth, Ronnie Winter (lead vocals), Duke Kitchens (guitar, piano), Joey Westwood (bass), Jon Wilkes (drums) and Matt Carter (guitar), will not presume you like them. They won’t even assume that you know them from Adam. Instead they will ask you with all honesty: “Oh, there are people who know us here?” (more…)

kultura

the enterprise of the impossible

their first movie, A Very Special Love was anything but believable. Laida, Sarah Geronimo‘s character, was too giddy, too pa-cute, too over the top, for comfort. And Miggy, John Lloyd Cruz’s character, was so confusingly inconsistent: one moment he was a scary boss, the next he was someone who would go to an employee’s birthday party; one moment he was singing videoke, the next he was downright mean.

the love story was also such a stretch, given the fact that Laida was a new employee in the office where Miggy was boss, and she does look younger (no matter the clothes and make-up) than him. given Miggy’s general attitude towards his employees, it was unbelievable that he would even be remotely interested in this girl who obviously had the hots for him.

it is in this sense that You Changed My Life was an interesting sequel, because it had to have more than just the kilig factor and John Lloyd’s laglag-panty looks — both of which are on overdrive here. while Laida’s character had evolved and matured, Geronimo’s take on her was still on “I love you John Lloyd!” mode. it was clear that Laida here had very little sense that love doesn’t equal dependence, and that she couldn’t save this man from messing up his new job as head of one of his family’s businesses, even with more love for him. even more interesting is the fact that Laida, even when in her head she could always help save Miggy from self-destruction and shame, had no idea what kind of help Miggy actually needed.

he, who wanted to revive the business by taking on the challenge of an account that would require more than the company’s standard quota. he, who decided that the only thing he could do was overwork his employees, hire more contractuals, and remove all incentives so that he could have more money to go around. he, who screamed at the workers, without realizing the kind of work they were doing.

it was clear here that what Miggy needed was a change in ideology — not just Laida saving his ass by, well, becoming his employee (which was what she wanted to do). when the movie dared allow for the workers to stage a rally and stand by their refusal to work, i couldn’t help but be hopeful that there would be a spiel on workers’ rights. instead, all the movie did was talk about the value of the worker in the context of this particular family enterprise. instead, all they talked about was the universal liberal notion of “our company is our people” and we must “care for them” — without realizing that this sounded more about charity than about valuing the worker.

without Laida’s help, Miggy is forced to take responsibility for the company and its people. meanwhile, Laida was kept in the dark about how horrible this man she had fallen in love with was, a tragedy in itself given that she comes from a working class family and is in fact an employee of Miggy’s family.

which does make it almost impossible that this rich, super guwapo, yummy young man — an eligible bachelor as he is wont to be created by the movie — would fall in love with this spit of a girl, who barely knows herself and is obviously of a different social class. in reality, someone like Laida would dream of a man like Miggy, but never get him. in reality, Laida’s social class would dictate a particular ideology, the kind that would allow her to take stock and realize that she is an employee and he is the boss, and nothing else.

but this is a Pinoy love story after all. the kind that wants us to believe that the impossible is possible, that we can all be Laida and have someone like John Lloyd take us on a helicopter ride, pick us up at work everyday, do the sundance with us, and will want our powerhug. and yes, when I shift from Geronimo’s Laida character to the real John Lloyd, i mean to say this: that like the images of real and true workers’ empowerment, in the context of capitalism, this remains as fiction. and it is almost entirely impossible.

p.s.: Rayver Cruz‘s acting here was priceless as Macoy. as the third member of a love triangle that never happens, his longing looks should be put in a bottle for the enterprise of the forlorn. this kid will give many of those hunks on ABS-CBN a run for their money — and i’m not even talking about his dancing.

kultura

oh boy!!!

You know I was honestly pleasantly surprised at Vicky Belo for once, that Sunday when she dared say the unsaid, joke or otherwise, about competition and advertising. Because in recent years, since the whole beauty industry became all-powerful and all-encompassing, we have been bombarded with images that want to make us believe that everyone is equal where a cosmetic surgery and a beauty clinic are concerned. And while this all seems like the best thing to say, it is absolutely false. The inequality is even more clear when you put the billboards side by side: (more…)

kultura

classism at its best: the “jologs” and the blogosphere

when i heard about what happened at the U.P. Fair on Friday the 13th, i didn’t think it was anything extraordinary. i’ve been going to the u.p. fair since 1995, and what the blogosphere has labeled the “jologs” have always been part and parcel of the affair. even then, and everytime i’ve gone, an imagined mosh pit is expected, some minor scuffles might happen, and what i’ve learned to do is get out of the way. then and now, i’ve always called them the punks and nothing else. because that really is what they are. and because they paid for the same ticket to enter the Sunken Garden, there is never reason for me to insist that my space cannot be theirs.

and so when, via Manolo, i was treated to the blogosphere’s general agreement that the “jologs” who broke through the walls were the issue here, i was surprised. even more so when i realized that most other bloggers agreed as well with the Construct‘s assessment of the situation, which doesn’t only “condemn the jologs” but also quite clearly misunderstands the situation:

I believe it was a defining moment for the UP community. We have always regarded ourselves as the future leaders of the country, the advocates of democracy, and the protectors of our fellow Filipinos especially the masa. Last night was different though. It was clearly us versus them. The educated versus morons. The burgis versus the masa.

so many things are wrong about this, i’m surprised as well that no one has taken him to task, no one has spent the time and energy to explain what is wrong here, with this. so here i’ve made time and found energy to do so:

(1) to invoke the notions of “us versus them, the educated versus the morons” limns over the fact that the issue here is not who’s educated and who isn’t, it’s who paid for tickets but didn’t get into the venue. A comment to another anti-“jologs” entry, screams the truth about what was going on outside of the walls of the Sunken Garden — but no one seems to be listening. Thumbbook, as part of the “them” that Construct, well, constructs, recounts that after buying tickets, waiting in line for two hours, and finally deciding to watch the concert from outside, some things became clear to her:

Whoever organized the concert had obviously failed to consider that there will always be these young punk groups who will cause havoc. If you have the balls to call in the best rock groups, you have to be ready for a mini-summer slam in your hands. It was very disappointing. Everyone who had tickets and couldn’t get in were rooting for these punks! I hope next time, they organize rock concerts better. I feel bad for those who were hurt, but I put the blame on the organizers because they should have been responsible.

the truthfulness here is infallible, and in fact points a finger not at the punks (thank god, Thumbbook knows to call them what they are!), but at the organizers who sold tickets but didn’t want to let buyers in. if there should be an “us versus them” here, it should be the ticket buyers versus the show’s organizers. or is Construct saying that “them” from the outside, which of course includes those who cheered the punks on, were all uneducated? then that would just be wrong.

(2) to say that the morons = the masa, is to say that U.P. itself has ceased to accept the “masa” into its studentry, which is absolutely false. regardless of the demographics, U.P. remains as the only University in this country where the “masa” thrives, even with the P15,000-peso tuition fee. if Construct has yet to encounter his masa classmates, then it doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.  all he needs to do is start having conversations with people who aren’t part of his “us” and he might be enlightened. in truth, and i bet you, Construct’s “us the educated, us the burgis” who were inside the Sunken Garden, included the masa he so pinpoints as “them”.

and let’s say Construct can’t find a masa student to save his life, then there are all those manangs and manongs who keep the University’s wheels turnings: Ikot and Toki jeep drivers, mga manininda, mga staff, mga taga-Shopping Center, mga xerox boys and girls, mga janitor, i could go on and on. they are as much U.P. people as the U.P. student, and yes, they are all part of the masa he says don’t belong in the U.P. Fair.

(3) Construct insists that this was a “defining moment” because he had always considered himself as the “future leader of this country, the advocate of democracy, the protector of the masa”.  not only is this the cliche that has rung false for many a U.P. graduate (hello GMA’s human rights abuses), it is also obviously misunderstood here.if true that Construct believes that this is what his U.P. education stands for, then he should be able to see that the punks — the “jologs” as he calls them — are his responsibility as well. that the goal must be to understand them, not condemn them. that yes, they endangered his life, but why did it come to that? what was going on here, other than the black and the white of theus and the them?

because it’s too easy to simply label them as the masses who are uneducated morons and link them to your assessment of EDSA 3. if there’s anything a U.P. education must teach you, it’s that there are many grays here, and that if you deem yourself the “most educated” then you are also in the best position to understand. to call people names does nothing but reveal your own social class. if this was a “defining moment”, it is only so for people like Construct, who were under the impression that they owned U.P., that they are the only ones who are worthy. Smoke gets it right:

One gets the sense of outrage from The Construct: HOW DARE THEY BITE THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE WHO WILL ONE DAY LEAD THEM AND PROTECT THEM? KATY BAR THE DOOR! DON’T EVER LET THESE INGRATES IN! This, unfortunately, seems to be the subtext here.

a subtext that reeks of the most horrible case of classism, which the U.P. student — of all students — must have been cured of, if not made conscious of, by her mere presence in a University that includes the bigger community that surrounds it. Marocharim insists that the U.P. student brings into the university her own ideology. but you know, it would take apathy for any U.P. student not to be affected by the world that surrounds the campus, from which the campus lives, and within which the U.P. studentry is but another sector, not the whole deal. it is this as well that makes the whole consensus of exclusivity for the University problematic. to wall it up, as Smoke has discovered, is almost impossible. and yet this is what Construct ends with:

<…> This event, I think, will come under great scrutiny of the University officials. In the advent of crimes committed to members of the academic community by “outsiders” (the Veteran’s Bank robbery, the rapes, the thefts and robberies, etc…), I think that they will be considering “closing” the University and limiting its access to UP people. Sure, we’ll be like Ateneo or any other coño private campus, but check the demographics today. What’s the difference?

more than problematic though, the whole “close the university” conclusion is dangerous. because we are under a U.P. administration that has consistently been trying to make the University more exclusive to “U.P. people” that is, only U.P. students and employees: imposing a no-i.d.-no-entry policy, putting up gates and closing many of the university’s entrances and exits. and while we presume that this makes things safer for us who own cellphones laptops and mp3 players, it glosses over the fact that in the process, the members of the bigger U.P. community are being disenfranchised. if you are part of any of the communities (Krus na Ligas, Areas 1 2 and 3, the Hardins, among others), if you’ve been allowed to build businesses in this area (the talyers along many of the minor roads, the Bonsai Garden, for example), if you’ve lived here all your life but are not enrolled or employed by the University, why must you be disenfranchised from the spaces of U.P.? this is as much yours as it is theirs who hold I.D.’s and form 5’s.

truth to tell, the blogsphere’s classist consensus can and will be used by the University admin to continue its project of oppressing its own in the name of security. and in the end, all it will do is highlight difference among U.P.’s many sectors, and allow for the U.P.’s “educated”to deem their security as more important than the oppression of so many others who are part of the community.

this community is what makes U.P. different from Ateneo, demographics notwithstanding. it is this community that we learn to be mindful of, that we deal with everyday, that we do become dependent on. we live with them, we breathe the same air, we are in fact one and the same.

i don’t doubt that the punks could’ve started throwing stones at the people inside the Sunken Garden, and that they had the capacity to actually take down those walls. i do not question the truth that many of the people there — and i’m sure they weren’t ALL u.p. students — were scared shitless. but i also don’t doubt that this was the organizers’ fault as Thumbbook has said. Smoke goes so far as to mention the Wowowee incident in pointing a finger at whose fault this all is. all i invoke is command responsibility.

meanwhile, we have Construct, invoking the ideology of the “us and them, the educated and the morons, the burgis and the masses” which really does reveal more than just one blogger’s (and his supporters’) classist ideology. it reveals how careless we have become about invoking oppression.

komentaryo

stimulus via SSS? utang na loob!

i will not even get into the legality of Chairman Romula Neri’s decision to use Social Security System’s funds for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s stimulus package — Rep. Liza Masa is doing a good job of that already. nor will i get into the probability that this will expectedly be used by GMA to win the 2010 elections, because her government always seems to think that the downtrodden will be easily impressed by contractual jobs, with little pay and no benefits (oh such little faith in the intelligence of the oppressed masses!).

what i will insist on is this: the Social Security System is in no position to give out its money, because it has yet to even serve its members. and you know i’m not even one to complain about long lines (i come from the University of Pila after all) and rude employees (i’ve had my share of government offices after all).  all i ask is that the SSS be able to give its members what’s due them: our I.D.’s when we need them and access to our benefits with as little of those bureaucratic hassles as possible.

and yet what we are treated to is an unfair system that puts members through hell because it is disorganized, unjust, and downright unacceptable.

let me begin with this: those of us who live in the Mandaluyong and Pasig areas have to go all the way to Quezon City to get our Identification Cards processed because both the Mandaluyong and Pasig SSS branches have broken I.D. card machines. Mandaluyong has had a broken machine for oh, three years? and the Pasig branch for over a year. this is not just inconvenient, it is unforgivable given the fact that in order to get any — ANY! — of your benefits you must have at least your SS ID claim stub.

but of course when you are desperate, and in need, you will go that length of traveling from wherever you are in this country to that rare SSS branch that has an SS I.D. machine. so i get there at 7:30 AM, thinking that i was to early only to find that i was too late. i was number 442 — four hundred f*** forty two! — and my I.D. application was only going be entertained four hours later.  i had to wait outside the building, in the heat, with no food and no clean comfort room.

when you finally face the scowling SSS employee, she processes your papers with nary a smile, and you are told to return at 7AM the following day for the I.D. picture. and i do, at a little over 7AM, only to find that they started giving out cards at 5:30, when the first member arrived. and i was now number 96 — an improvement nonetheless, i think.

but now the issue is this: you are told to wait inside the building and not outside, and you are told to sit in proper order on the row upon row of seats. you are also told by the Security Guard that if you step out for any reason, you might lose your place and there will be no getting it back, sorry na lang kayo. and as the airconditioning is on high (it’s a huge space after all), and i’m stuck in my assigned seat (the guard is a scary scary man), i am forced to keep my pee in, kidney stones and UTI be damned!

i listen to those around me, and i realize that i am better off.  two men who met while waiting, started talking about having to leave — one for Dubai, the other for “Saudi” — both as construction workers. they expect to get their I.D.s today because they need it to travel.  meanwhile, a pregnant lady two seats to my left who, by the looks of it was well into her third trimester, was talking about how much money she needed for giving birth, and how difficult it has been being pregnant and trying to get her SSS maternity benefit. the old man beside me was holding his forms for dear life, newly-employed as he was, and needing an SSS I.D. to get his employment papers properly processed. he should’ve been there to collect retirement benefits.

we were all finally being told to enter these cubicles with the oh so rare computers for I.D. processing, one-by-one. and when we are done with the process of putting in a Personal Identification Number (P.I.N. — which not everyone had a sense of), and giving our electronic thumbprint and signature, we are told this: your I.D.s will be delivered via snail mail in seven months. SEVEN F*@%^ MONTHS!

and i couldn’t help but wonder about those who needed it already, because they are due to fly out and work elsewhere for home and family. i wonder about the old man whose papers might only be processed when he has his I.D. in hand. i do think about how unfair the whole process has been, because the difficulty is uncalled for.  had there been a machine in Mandaluyong, i can’t imagine that i would be number 442 OR 96. had there been more machines, and more people manning them, as well as more people printing out those I.D.s, i can’t imagine that it should take seven months to get these via mail.

and ultimately, i can’t imagine that any of this can’t be fixed with the P12.5 billion pesos of SSS money that Romulo Neri has so generously decided to dole out for the stimulus package. it is unbelievable that given the horrible third world system of the SSS, which puts its members through hell in its incapacity to serve properly and punctually, it is so willing to spend on “saving the world” even when it is not clear about where the money’s going. that the SSS will be “spending” its members’ money — that which they work hard for, that which they fall in line for, that which they expect must be easy to claim — makes this all the more despicable.

SSS Chairman Romula Neri wants to save the world. and as a member who has been oppressed by the SSS’ (lack of a) system, my response is simple: utang na loob!