kultura

no money for books?

napadaan kami kahapon sa Academic Book Fair sa SM Megamall, na usually naman ay mas boring talaga – at mas mahal – kaysa sa annual Mega Book Fair na ginagawa sa far away venue na World Trade Center. parang ang market kase ng ABF ay mga libraries ng eskuwelahan na ideally ay may budget para gumastos ng libo-libo for local and imported sets of encycolopedias, journal subscriptions, and “new releases” ng mga university presses. may discount pa rin naman, na siguro’y lumalaki pang lalo kapag maramihan ang bili.

itong “new releases” ang dinayo ko dun. dahil alam kong may centennial books na ilo-launch ang U.P. Press in relation to the centennial celebrations of the University. at sa ganang gumastos na rin lang ng limpak-limpak ang admin sa mga concert at commemorative products, aba, mataas ang expectation ko na ginastusan rin nila ng limpak-limpak ang mga libro.

but no, ang unang installment ng mga librong itinuturing nilang “the most excellent of the excellent”, ay mga librong matagal ko nang nakikita sa kanilang bookstore shelves. hindi ito “new releases” kungdi old releases, na binibigyan ng bagong buhay sa pamamagitan ng pagtaguri sa kanilang “Centennial Publications”.

wala naman akong issue sa usapin ng mga lumang libro. ang librong Ang Bagong Lumipas (translation ng A Past Revisted) ni Renato Constantino, na bahagi ng Centennial Publications, ay hindi nawawalan ng bisa. at maraming librong katulad nito.

ngunit subalit datapwat! anubanamang mag-isip ng iisang theme para sa mga cover ng mga librong ibebenta sa atin bilang “landmark collection”? anubanamang i-package ng mas maganda ang mga libro, magpanggap man lang na may budget na inilaan para sa mga manunulat at librong itinuturing ng Unibersidad na kumakatawan sa kanyang isang-daang taon bilang State U? at the very least, pampalubag-loob na ito sa mga “National Scientists, National Artists, and respected scholars” na ipinagmamalaki ng Unibersidad sa pamamagitan ng pagturing sa kanilangmga akda bilang Centennial Publications.

instead of any of the above, what did the press do for this first installment of “classic” releases to pay tribute to its scholars, and its readers as well?

nilagyan nila ng sticker ang cover ng mga libro, kung saan nakasulat ang “U.P. Press Centennial Publications”. isang 2″ by 1.5″ sticker in a color that’s barely gold bilang tatak ng pagpaparangal.

it’s just one step above using a stamp and purple ink.

unless soooobrang bongga ng susunod na installment ng mga libro, and that is not just in terms of really new releases but in terms of the authors they’ll publish and the relevance of these books, then this Roman administration will just prove itself uncaring of books, scholarship, and culture altogether.

at please, wag na nilang iwagayway ang kanilang nga concerts at commemorative books bilang proof of their love for culture. the former is really just a show of Filipiniana attire (in fairness, hindi nag-uulit si Roman ng outfit ha), and the latter, an excuse for propaganda for one U.P. admin to the next cloaked by historicism and scholarship. ang literary contest, tinipid pa, at walang runner-up prizes. anuba.

ok lang sana kung ang moda ng admin ng U.P. ay pagtitipid sa panahon ng krisis at sentenaryo. but no. kumusta naman ang P5 million para sa Centennial Notes! sa konteksto ng lalabing-isang naka-bracket 1 sa STFAP, ay, kahindik-hindik! kahiya-hiya.

The Breakdown of the P150 Million Budget for the U.P. Centennial Celebrations

Item                                Amount in Millions (P)

1. Centennial Lectures = P 13
2. Tri Media Projection = 12
3. Centennial Concert = 5
4. Centennial Notes = 5
5. Centennial Awards = 2
6. Centennial Literary Contest = 2
7. Audio Visual Presentation = 2
8. History Project = 1.4
9. Coffee Table Book = 1.5
10. Digital Film Making Contest = .7
11. Centennial Music Video = .7
12. Centennial Address Book = .5
13. Centennial Glass Plates =  .5
14. Centennial Song Contest = .4
15. Centennial Newsletter = .3
16. Events Poster = .15
17. Capital Outlay Projects =  5
18. Administrative Expenses = 5
19. Honoraria =  1.5
20. Centennial Commission
a. Operations =  1
b. Travel = 2.5
c. Contingencies = 10

Total: P147.15 milyon

*Inaprubahan sa Pulong ng UP Board of Regents September 28, 2008, UP Los Baños.

komentaryo

presidential torture

of course this president is torture enough. that grimace that she seems to always have on her face. her capacity at giggling in kilig and laughing at jokes made at the expense of a nation in calamity. and we’re not even talking about her ability to say one thing and do another. and to lie through her teeth.

and then this, a perfect example of how torture is but part and parcel of GMA’s presidency. and how people still suffer for their politics – when it’s the kind that is not one of a heckler’s, or a rightist’s, or that of an America-loving-Pinoy – in the closet and otherwise.

According to the Manila Times editorial today, the NCR director for the Human Rights Commission Dr. Renato Basas has confirmed that various forms of torture have been employed by the GMA administration. And while she has also ratified the U.N. Treaty Against Torture, the editorial also says that obviously

“The unfortunate reality is that absolutely prohibiting the police, the jail managers, the military and others charged with the duty of ensuring that law and order prevail is not among the top priorities of Malacañang.”

A measure as well of GMA’s fear in the military’s power over her, thus the decision to coddle the Palparans of this world and celebrate then as fantastic officers, despite witness upon witness saying otherwise. Proving otherwise.

i caught Storyline‘s episode on the desaparecidos of the present. And while sometimes the show’s format doesn’t work (more on this next time), last night, it just did, as it allowed King Catoy to just speak to the camera, with no real sense of an interviewer. Catoy told the story of his 2003 abduction, and spoke of the activists with him who were summarily executed: human rights worker Eden Marcellana and peasant leader Eddie Gumanoy.

what struck too close to home was the fact that he and two others had identified Master Sgt. Donald Caigas as one of their abductors. Caigas would also be the one name that would surface in relation to Karen Empeno’s and Sherlyn Cadapan’s disappearance, and apparent torture and rape. the latter story was witnessed and told by the abducted farmers who would come to be known as the Manalo brothers, Raymund and Reynaldo.

it was Raymund Manalo who claimed that he saw Palparan twice during his three-month detention, before he and his brother escaped to tell their story. in one of those instances, Palparan told him to tell his parents to stop going to protest rallies.

blindfolded, hands tied behind him, and kneeling on the ground, King Catoy was also told the same thing: stop going to rallies, stop whatever it is you’re doing with these activists. stop being yourself.

and everyday, we live through the torture of knowing that many others are disappearing and dying for doing what they do, believing what they will, living a life for justice and democracy that we all should want to live. because people are stolen, are made to disappear, are tortured and raped, and are killed, not simply for their politics. in GMA’s time (as with Marcos’), they are being made to suffer for being themselves.

kultura

KC and skin whitening

That we are enamored by KC Concepcion is understandable. It’s not so much that we saw her grow up, or that she’s the girl born with a silver spoon in her mouth – many other young stars are the same. We find her interesting because in the past, she remained distinctly resistant to the idea of the limelight, having one-foot-in-one-foot-out of the showbiz industry she was born into. (more…)

kultura

dreaming of difference

To re-introduce the second season of reality show Pinoy Dream Academy, ABS-CBN showed reruns of the first season on Studio 23. So everyday last week, we were reminded of how great the talent actually was last year. Too, it was a reminder of how many of them turned out: those who haven’t become near-extinct have been forced into becoming “actors” instead of just singers; those who are seen more regularly on television have been forced to fit into the mold of the “acceptable” TV star. (more…)

komentaryo

of real women: ces and cheche, hazel, mary and juana, karen and sherlyn, erlinda and connie

hazel, a Pinay OFW working as a dancer in Japan cries rape against an American serviceman, three days after she arrived in the land of the rising sun. the case has been dropped by Okinawa police due to “lack of sufficient evidence”. nanay melly, left behind in the philippines, feels helpless, and distance is beside the point. there’s been no government support for her daughter, who would otherwise be seen as a “bagong bayani”, who bringshome the bacon, if not the dollars.

mary, a Pinay OFW from Dubai, comes home and decides to get liposuction. the pressure to be thin(ner) than she is, is too much; media images of acceptable women tell her she is otherwise. she dies on the operating table of the Borough Medical Center in Libis Q.C.

in 2006, Pinay nicole got justice in the lower courts, as Lance Corporal Daniel Smith was convicted of raping her. even then, the GMA gov’t allowed for Smith to be kept under US custody in the US Embassy. now, a year and a half later, news has leaked that the Court of Appeals Justice Vasquez Jr., is leaning towards Smith’s acquittal.

juana, an OFW since 2003, was suppose to get her permanent residency in Canada in 2006, as per Canada’s federal live-in caregiver program. as she went through the required medical and criminal clearances, she was found to have cancer. juana asked that the good health requirement be waived for humanitarian reasons, given the fact that she had worked well enough to meet all other requirements for residency. the Canadian gov’t sees her as a liability, a burden to the health care system. now, with stage 4 cancer, the chances remain slim that juana will be granted residency; even slimmer that the Philippine gov’t will help her cause. she has until august 8 to leave Canada.

nanay erlinda cadapan, mother of U.P. student sherlyn who has been missing for two years, finds herself on ANC program “Media in Focus”, beside a female PNP officer who tells her “you are more than welcome in my office anytime, Mrs. Cadapan.” the emptiest line she could possibly hear after two years of searching in vain for sherlyn, and dealing with the police and military’s refusal to cooperate and investigate their own ranks. nanay connie empeño, must feel exactly the same way.

at the end of the segment that featured her, nanay erlinda asks a rhetorical question: bakit po kaya si ces drilon, sampung araw lang ay nahanap na ng gobyerno, samantalang ang aking anak na dalawang taon nang nawawala, at napakarami po naming witnesses, ay hindi ninyo kami matulungan sa paghahanap?

to which host cheche lazaro, maybe surprised that her colleague ces was being dragged into the discussion, or maybe aghast that this woman dared put a media personality on the same level as a student activist, or even that nanay erlinda dared pinpoint a clear discrepancy between how hi-profile personalities and the everyday person is treated by gov’t, says: ano po bang gusto ninyong gawin ng gobyerno para sa kaso ninyo?

as if the answers aren’t obvious enough. as if media itself isn’t guilty of creating the kinds of lives that real women have in this country; or isn’t guilty of perpetuating the notion that we don’t have answers to such cut and dried questions.

as if we didn’t know that if gov’t really cared for its women, then none of them – none of us – would be in the news. for being other than what we want to be, away from home and family, and our sense of selves.

(and it is for these very reasons, that we are hard put to celebrate successes such as this one. via tonyo and adobo:)