Or Why This Must Be Beyond the Grasp of the Obtuse Carlo J. Caparas
(Speech Delivered at the UMPIL Convention, GSIS Museum, August 29, 2009)

by Virgilio S. Almario

(Translated by Marne L. Kilates)

Towards the end of An Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy, Karl Marx suddenly mentions the mysterious appeal of Greek art and epic poetry. Why do they “continue to give us esthetic pleasure and are often considered the standard and incomparable ideal” of art and literature even up to the present?

Deliberately or mentioned only in passing, this was a big anomaly Marx himself felt was present in the political economy he had constructed. It is not possible that what had been created in ancient slave society could continue to be admired in the modern capitalist state. According to Marxist analysis, the appeal of Greek art should have died together with or after the death of Greek society and civilization. And like the great thinker that he was, Marx tried to explain the problem in the succeeding chapter. He compared ancient slave society with civilization’s age of innocence and proposed that the appeal of Greek art might be equivalent to the joy we feel towards little children and our happiness in recalling times past and unrecoverable.

But his explanation was rather brief and “un-Marxist.” Especially remarkable was that it even used, perhaps unintentionally, the Hegelian metaphor for civilization. Or perhaps his materialist dialectic was simply inadequate in grasping the “mystery” of art and literature—the esthetic of how art is art and literature is literature. Even here in Asia, the Taj Majal, Angkor Wat, and Borobodur are not just simple tourist attractions. Part of the fascination for them is their amazing ancient mechanics and technology which today’s mechanics and technology would be hard put to equal. Not only is the Mahabharata amazing because it is prodigiously longer than the Iliad but more so because of the imagination that shaped the narrative and lured the listener or reader into the intricate details of war and adventure and let them “believe” in the intervention of the gods and the use of wondrous weaponry. From the orthodox Marxist perspective, these are products of labor, and because they are products of labor, they are the result of the prevailing relations of economic production. Thus, the products of labor are fated to disappear when change occurs in the prevailing relations of production that created them. The Angkor Wat is the result of what was then the setup and which has since disappeared—the religious society of Cambodia. Darangan has been the Maranaws’ folk epic even before they embraced Islam. But today’s tourists are wide-eyed, not at the power of the religion that dictated Angkor Wat but at the opulent imagination that was poured into the intricate ornamentation of the walls and other parts of the temple. Until the American period, the Muslims’ chanting of the Darangan epic echoed along the banks of Lake Lanao in order for them, as it were, not to forget the magnificent narrative of their forefathers. And it is here that I am more trustful of the critiques from the Frankfurt School, especially those of Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, and Herbert Marcuse, who insist on a distinct and independent respect for the subversive and revolutionary work of esthetics, the interior and psychological components of form in order to recreate a reality that cannot be dictated upon by the relations of economic production and class conflict.

The Freedom of Literature

Literature has its own and firm standard as to why it is literature. It recreates the world through the world it creates in literature. That is the basic tenet of its freedom and, if ever, of its liberating power. Perhaps, this was what Marx couldn’t accept while addressing the problem of the long-lasting attraction of Greek art and literature. Why literature is literature is precisely what the obtuseness of Carlo J. Caparas cannot, at the very least, contemplate.

[My mention of Carlo J. Caparas needs an explanation. How does a junkie comics-maker suddenly become part of this decent conversation? That’s why I must, first of all, apologize for this. But it was a good opportunity that I wrote this as the National Artist controversy rages—the DNA (Dagdag National Artist) proclaimed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo one Wednesday, on 29 July 2009. Caparas is one of the four DNAs and currently the busiest and most diligent in defending himself against the brickbats coming his way. In cahoots with him are second wife Donna Villa, co-conspirators NCCA Executive Director Cecille Guidote-Alvarez and Undersecretary Vilma Labrador, and fellow racketeers like Manuel Morato who just about stormed the radio and TV networks, and tabloids to (1) defend the prerogative of the President of the Philippines in selecting National Artists, (2) insist on their own qualifications as artists, and in the hard labor of ass-licking (3) praise GMA to high heavens as a good leader. The case concerning Presidential discretion has been elevated to the Supreme Court. But Caparas’ assertions of his own qualifications are laughable if not altogether strange for unintentionally using the “class struggle” or what he considers as the class struggle in national literature. The PDI put on record his 10 August statement thus:

“I am thankful for this experience because I have seen the height of our
society’s hypocrisy. The elite are angry because I was able to enter their
territory. I’m from the bakya (masses). They are not.”

Caparas wants to split literature in the middle according to its readers. The one kind with its scarce population of readers, he calls “elitist” literature, where current National Artists F. Sionil Jose, Bienvenido Lumbera, and yours truly, belong. At the other end of the weighing scale is literature “for the masses,” which he leads as merchant for his comics creations and commercial movies.]

In brief, literature has one standard because there is, after all, only one literature. Other literatures always need modifiers to their names, for example, children’s literature, academic literature, political literature (especially the type used in political campaigns), campus literature, popular literature, and Caparas’ specialization, commercial literature. The adjectives are needed to clarify either the noble or the earthly intentions of the writer who entered these distinct worlds of writing and not to let him bear the weight and dignity of the overall standard of literature. There should have been a daily literature (the origin of the journal, the daily, and the diary) to distinguish the service-in-a-hurry rendered by newspapers but this kind has become a republic unto itself under the name of “Journalism” although there are often journalists who attempt in their articles or columns what they dream to be recognized as “literary” essays.

A Case of Rulers and the Ruled

On the other hand, Caparas’ protestations using the labels of “elitist literature” and “literature for the masses” bears many traces of the long-opened dichotomy of society into the small ruling class and the broad ruled and oppressed classes. Such protestations echo the pre-War debate among writers on Art-for-Art’s-Sake, represented by Jose Garcia Villa, and the socially committed writers led by Salvador P. Lopez. But the split intensified even more during the period of activism at the close of the 60s decade until the early 70s, and was due as much to efforts to present the protests against the Marcos regime as Marxist in nature, including the concurrent and surrounding political upheaval. If there is such a thing as class struggle, according to the formulation of PAKSA (Panitikan para sa Kaunlaran ng Sambayanan)—the writers’ arm that the activist movement created for the National Democratic Front—then class consciousness pervades all writing and authorship. Accordingly, there is a reactionary literature that serves the interest of the ruling class, and opposite is the hoped-for revolutionary literature that participates in the oppressed classes’ struggle for more freedom and justice.

Caparas’ problem is that the writerly manner he wants to revive has long fallen into disuse. After almost half a century, the prophets of socially conscious writing have widened their horizons, taken longer views. These days, to be politically correct, the socially conscious writer must recognize other prevailing oppressions besides those coming from the ruling classes lording it over the economy and society. Even if Caparas is for the masses, he might not make the grade if assessed from the safety standards of phallocentrism—since he seems to be flaunting his machism—by the feminists and by the standards of racism from the Blacks, as he seems to be moving in the opposite direction of the dominant mindset of Orientalism in Europe, the United States, and other White societies.

Neither can the obtuseness of Caparas comprehend the notion that it is not sales that dictates the standards of literature. If his commercial standards were applied, then J.K. Rawling should have won the Nobel Prize after her second book, and so should the creators of Marvel superheroes whom Caparas imitates. But where are the bestsellers from the ranks of Gabriela Mistral, Octavio Paz, James Joyce, William Faulkner, Boris Paternak, Kawabata, Wole Soyinka, Derek Walcott, Nadine Gordimer, Tagore, and Wislawa Szymborska? Well, the best selling among Nobel Prize winners would be Saul Bellow and Gabriel Garcia Marquez but they would eat dust behind the bursting warehousefuls and container-shipfuls of orders just on the first day of release for the newest Harry Potter book.

Commercialist Yardstick

And Rizal would be pathetic if measured according to the commercialist yardstick. It is not even known if the hundred copies of the Noli ever ran out that’s why he needed financial help once more from his Propagandist friends to be able to publish the Fili. And he would be pitiful, from Morato’s point of view, if he happened to walk alongside the likes of Caparas on Manila’s sidewalks. No one might recognize him while fans would swarm over their favorite, Caparas. For all we know, this might be the origin of the urban legend that Rizal did not die at the Luneta. Because no one among the ranks of the guardia civil would know or recognize Rizal, they arrested a different person. According to another legend, a Rizal substitute submitted to the arrest, got himself imprisoned at Fort Santiago, underwent trial, and sacrificed himself to the firing squad on 30 December 1896. And so it was even hoped that Rizal was alive and would later surface to lead the Filipino people during the time of the Americans.

But Rizal himself is proof contrary to the senseless claim of Caparas’ commercialist yardstick. How many Indios could have read the Noli and Fili? Maybe less than ten. Or maybe none, since none of them knew how to read novels, especially novels in the Spanish language, the language of education, the education denied them by the colonists. And only a small group of ilustrados could have claimed they read Rizal before the Revolution of 1896 broke out. And that was enough. It was not necessary that every Filipino set eyes on the Rizal novel. Enough that there was a small and “elitist” group that could read Spanish that was stirred by Rizal’s analysis of the colonial society to spark the tinder of revolution and form the subversive Katipunan that tore down the three-hundred-year-old redoubt of colonization in the Philippines.

Still on the other hand, for what purpose is the enticement of hundreds of thousands of people into the comics and commercial movies if not to entertain them and make money from them? Well, the weekly “to be continued” comics episodes simply outdo the similarly weekly sermons on hope and self-sacrifice of the Church. Both are legal opiates of the people. No wonder then that a security guard could succeed in the comics and be able to build himself a house in Ayala Alabang, in the same manner that a bishop of the new faith had been able to build a church to the tune of P1 billion culled from the alms of the blind and the sick. The millionaire prophets of commercial literature are never shot in Bagumbayan nor are made to drink hemlock.

The Desire of Literature

And so Caparas would neither understand Walter Benjamin when he says, “a literary work can be politically correct only if it is correct by literary standards.” This is an extremely metaphorical, if not altogether venomous, statement even for the activists at UP who have complete faith in the decisive function of the “economic base,” and especially of the “relations of production.”

Benjamin’s statement is founded on a liberating principle that has to do with why art is art and literature is literature. It proposes a literary consciousness that is within but not necessarily subsumed to a social and political order, moving according to its own and independent hopes, motivations, visions to create change in both the world of literature and in the present world that overarches literature. According to this point of view, literature is not society’s obedient tool for economic and political change. Instead, it actively moves and participates in scrutinizing the present and in shaping the possibilities of the future.

In 1957, Northrop Frye stated that the whole structure of civilization was not only the imitation of nature, like the idea of mimesis that we picked up from Aristotle, but a general form of desire—the desire of man to shape nature according to his own will. Example, he needs food and shelter. This is the desire that urges him not to be satisfied with tubers and caves for his uses but to put together and create the art and science of agriculture and architecture. Fry involved Marx when he said: “The efficient cause of civilization is work,” only to add “and poetry in its social aspect has the function of expressing, as a verbal hypothesis, a vision of the goal of work and the formation of desire.” Thus, according to Frye, the expert envisioning of archetypes is the work of critics in order for them to look at literature not only as mirror to nature but as part of civilization or the overall history of the human desire to give nature a human shape.

It was way back in the 1920-30s when the Frankfurt School spread the idea that there are no honest mirrors. If literature were a mirror, it was a deceptive one. Each metaphor or figurative in literature is a mechanism for distorting the truth. Distortion that results in what they call estrangement or what Slovski calls defamiliarization or even Todorov’s fantastique. Every metaphor in literature is a product of the intense and acute experiencing of the reality of the world so that it comes to us in the reading as not-ordinary, puzzling, and often unbelievable. And here, I think, is what must be marked from the Moscow, Prague, and Frankfurt schools. Distortion in literature happens in language—through the various games and operations of language—by way of amazing and unexpected comparisons and ironies, in imbuing the sentence with tone and music, in compressing or loosening the line of verse or paragraph, in the restraint or letting loose of emotion after the prolonged contemplation of memory and experience, in the refining of the roughages of pain and joy in daily life.

Popular Literature and History

Now, Caparas sobs, the “elitists” look down on him because he is only a comics writer. Apart from belittling his own livelihood Caparas is truly ignorant of history.

If he even bothered to read Rizal, he would have discovered that Rizal first admired a popular writer like him. This is Balagtas, also recognized as the first great poet of Filipino literature. Balagtas rose to fame at a time when the awit at korido was the equivalent of the comics for the masses’ popular consumption. What did Balagtas do in Florante at Laura? He raised the level of the metrical romance from whimsical verse narratives about princes and princesses to an original and symbolical romance of love for the beloved, for parents, and for country. Apart from Balagtas’ refining of the verse form and use of fresh metaphors, Rizal admired Balagtas’ political vision, thus pronouncing him a great poet and philosopher. When Florante expressed his grief thus:

Sa loob at labas ng bayan kong sawi
Kaliluha’y siyang nangyayaring hari…

He only wanted to present the grave conditions of the kingdom of Albania, but Rizal read in the verses the grave conditions of the latter’s Filipinas and became a beacon that guided the national hero in his writing of the Noli. Another Balagtas admirer and the most popular poet of the 20th century, Jose Corazon de Jesus, makes such melancholic sentiments reverberate thus:

Ibong mang may layang lumipad
Kulungin mo at umiiyak;
Bayan pa kayang sakdal dilag
Ang di magnasang makaalpas?

And this was the song sung during the American period and until EDSA I against the Marcos dictatorship.

The author himself cannot hinder or thwart the power of his own words. It is possible that Filipinas was not in Balagtas’ mind when he made Florante protest about “my country of grief” but Rizal was able to read it. Surely Batute could never dream of the Marcos dictatorship but his complaint about the “bird that’s free to fly” found its home and lodged in the heart of the Coristas. On the other hand, what did Caparas do with the comics? Did he attempt to shape them in order to, in the Frye’s words, make them part of the shaping of civilization?

No. Because he wrote for the comics only to earn a livelihood. At best, to entertain the masses. “Entertain the masses?” That is the most despicable purpose of writing. As filthy and as evil-smelling as the capitalist motive of profiting from anything sold. The capitalist studies the masses’ preferences, needs, dreams, and weaknesses to sell them products no matter that it might kill the consumer or destroy our planet. Likewise the entertainer studies the masses’ preferences, needs, dreams, and weaknesses in order to sell his comics, telenovella, or CD no matter that beggars and the homeless swarm the streets and the country drowns in debt from the World Bank. Which does not mean that the writer must become the “voice of the masses.” There are voices upon voices “of the masses” who only want to replace the trapos in Congress to become the next trapos.

The Country of Literature

Truth is, literature cannot be the “voice of the masses.” It was a Marxist illusion, a crazy dream of the apostles in Christ’s time for a “literature from the masses and for the masses.” Often the writer with this ambition has two options. First, study the cultural condition of the target masses and adjust to their capacities the kind and manner of writing he must do. Second, study likewise the cultural condition of the target masses and give them the kind and manner of writing that will elevate them from their condition and unite them in a revolution against the prevailing order.

If the “voice of the masses” really and truthfully studies his target public, he will soon discover what entertainers, capitalists, and traditional politicians have long known. Because it is a beggarly life, the public’s heart and mind are as beggarly. They are the same victims of the powerful exploitation and deception by businessmen and politicians and of the long history of frustration in dreaming of salvation and the instant satisfaction derived from public entertainment, vices (from liquor to drugs, from numbers games and lotto to the casinos), and sex. Thus the mass mind is far removed from the Marxist ideal of the “proletarian consciousness.” Instead of being progressive and revolutionary, it carries all the qualities of a seemingly eternal state of ignorance—broken dreams, distorted values and worldviews, and a superficial, easy-to-please kind of happiness.

What is the prevailing condition of culture? Here is how Joaquin Sy summarizes it while mourning the death of Aunt Cory:

And nowadays we are a nation having corruption anomalies for breakfast,
Wowowee and Eat Bulaga for lunch, candied scams for the afternoon snack,
and for supper an eat-all-you-can of scandals, after which we are lulled to
sleep by the Korean telenovellas and the comics stories of Carlo Caparas, whose
naming as national artist is being protested by national artists as I write this.

In these conditions of the national culture, where could the two options of the “voice of the masses” lead him? To bring down or to elevate? In the first option, it is impossible for him to write literature tailored to the capacities of his readers. He will be incomprehensible to the masses anyway. In the second option, he will need urgently to become a propagandist, a fiery propagandist, rather than a poet or novelist. As W.H. Auden said, the masses will not rise even if you wrote a thousand “When All Your Tears are Dry, My People” and read it daily at Plaza Miranda.

Country and society are now captive of this historic cultural condition. A cultural condition that begs for the transformative and liberating force of education, if not of a radical political and economic revolution. This maddening cultural state of affairs is being nurtured by Caparas as a commercial writer and by his capitalist and political co-conspirators. They nurture it to hold it captive and to profit from it. This is the same cultural condition that casts literature outside the prevailing order. Contrary to the good fortune of Greek art, which Marx admired, the poet and artist today are outsiders. On the one hand, he would not be welcome to the ruling classes. The capitalists will not patronize him because there is no profit to be had from his literature. Poems or short stories don’t make big and instant earnings. He will be considered a dangerous risk by government and other established institutions. On the other hand, neither would the oppressed classes love him. Why? The people can’t understand his own insistence on the humanity of man, because that’s not what is taught them by religion, television, their favorite commentator, or by the textbook they read in elementary school. Due to their ignorance, which is no different from the ignorance and obtuseness of Caparas, they might even condemn literature as “elitist”—useless because it doesn’t bring coffee and bread for breakfast, a dud at the tills because it fails to deliver sex and violence, too obscure if filled with mythological allusions (native or Greek), and when bold enough to expose the rot of their society, they themselves might accuse it of being an Enemy of the State.

Ferndale Homes
25 August 2009

___________

NOTE:
This translation was originally intended for Filipino readers who don’t speak the National Language, but subsequently was requested by our Korean guests at the UMPIL Convention for their Asia Magazine issue on Philippine literature, which is only timely. So I provided an Endnotes which has been converted here into a Glossary (below) because the format of Facebook does not allow footnotes or endnotes. The glossary terms follow the sequence of mentions in the text. I take full responsibility for whatever inadequacies of translation.

GLOSSARY
Carlo J. Caparas. Comics writer and movie director whose naming as National Artist for Visual Arts and Film is being disputed by the arts and literary community in view of the questionable quality of his work, and because he is one of four more persons whose names were arbitrarily added by Malacañang Palace, citing “presidential prerogative,” to the list recommended by the CCP and NCCA. The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) are the two agencies mandated to conduct the selection process for the National Artist Awards. The dispute has been elevated to the Philippine Supreme Court, which has issued an injunction postponing the awards until all issues are cleared.
UMPIL. Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (Writers Union of the Philippines)
GSIS. Government Service Insurance System (which has its own Museum of Art)
Virgilio S. Almario. Leading Filipino poet, critic, literary historian, and university professor, also called Rio Alma, who was named to the Order of National Artist for Literature in 2003 and is one of the main protagonists in the National Artist dispute and a petitioner for the Supreme Court to suspend the awards and rule on the violations of the selection process.
“DNA.” Literally, “Additional National Artist,” the mocking epithet for the persons the President inserted into the official list of persons who underwent the regular selection process.
GMA. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
PDI. Philippine Daily Inquirer
PAKSA. The acronym spells the word, THEME, or “subject” in Tagalog. It stands for “Literature for People’s Progress.”
Noli. Short for Noli me Tangere, the first of two novels written by the Filipino national hero, Jose Rizal
Propagandista. The 19th century Propagandist movement of Filipino exiles in Spain seeking initially colonial reform
Fili. Short for El Filibusterismo
Manuel Morato. Former government official and supporter of Caparas and company
Guardia civil. The equivalent of a Constabulary or National Police in colonial Philippines
Indio. Pejorative for Philippine natives used by the Spaniards
Ilustrado. The educated elite of natives and mestizos (half-breeds) that composed the intelligent middle class during colonial times
Katipunan. “Sons of the People” revolutionary organization
Ayala Alabang. A wealthy and elitist enclave south of Manila
“Bishop.” A very popular “born-again” evangelist
Bagumbayan Field. The old name of Luneta Park (now Rizal Park), where the national hero was executed by musketry
UP. University of the Philippines (known for its progressive ideas)
Balagtas. Francisco Baltazar Balagtas (1788-1862), considered the premier Tagalog poet, author of the metrical romance, Florante at Laura, which apart from being a masterpiece was first recognized by Rizal and others as an allegory for the suffering of Filipinos under the Spanish colonists.
Awit at korido. Songs and ballads. Metrical romance
Sa loob at labas… “Within and without my country of grief / Betrayal reigns…”
Ibon mang may layang… “Even the bird that’s free to fly / Encage it and it will weep; / So shouldn’t our lovely country / Hunger to free itself?”
EDSA I. The People Power Revolt (on EDSA, Epifanio de los Santos Avenue) in February 1986, as distinguished from the second EDSA uprising that deposed President Joseph Estrada and put then Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroy in his place
Batute. Huseng Batute: nickname for Jose Corazon de Jesus
Coristas. Cory Aquino supporters
Trapo. Another name for “tradpols” or traditional or “dirty” politicians, but the term preferred by Filipinos because “trapo” has the same sound as the word for rag
Aunt Cory. “Tita Cory.” Popular appellation for Cory Aquino
Wowowee and Eat Bulaga. Popular noontime television shows
“When all your tears…” Poem by National Artist Amado V. Hernandez usually read at protest rallies
Plaza Miranda. A Manila square that serves as a freedom park or venue for both political campaigns and protest rallies

Prez Cory passed away today, at about three o’clock in the morning. Let us pray for the repose of her soul, for strength for her family during this difficult time and for the future of this country that she loved so much.

Would you believe my mom was present in Edsa One even when she was pregnant then? I’ve always thought of my mom as a Cory lookalike. Both ladies have soft voices, they’re known to have minds of steel and hearts of gold. They’re both pious, graceful, gentle, lovely women.They both encompass the same values: compassion towards others, selflessness, piety, and wisdom.  There really is more to be said of women of refinement, of elegance.

Talo ng madasalin ang matapang. Ang Cory natin, nadaig si Hillary sa pagiging presidente. Hihi. To think this Lady Clinton really wanted the office Obama’s holding now. But then again, this is seeing things from a Pinoy’s perspective.

The religious Cory beats beauty queen Imelda and her theatrics any day for that matter.

Maybe that’s why I think highly of the color yellow. Not only coz it’s such a happy color but it reminds me so much of my dearest Mommy and in turn gives tribute to such a magnificent mover of the nation. I think all Filipinas should try to emulate the shining example as shown by Tita Cory, The Good Mother of our Country.

May the future of Philippine democracy shine as bright as the soul of the late President Corazon Aquino.

Here’s a video tribute made by Kuya Aldo’s friend, Fr. Johnny Go, sj.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOa1YR_dCZo&feature=channel

That is who she was to the nation.

Here’s something to show how much she was loved by her husband. This beautiful song was sang by Jose Mari Chan in his album, Constant Change. The lyrics below were of course, written by Pres. Cory’s dearest Ninoy during his incarceration at Fort Bonifacio on October 11, 1973 for their 19th Wedding Anniversary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKQ83LttyD8

I Have Fallen In Love by Jose Mari Chan

I have fallen in love
with the same woman three times;
In a day spanning 19 years
of tearful joys..and joyful tears.

I loved her first when she was young,
enchanting and vibrant, eternally new..
she was brilliant, fragrant,
and cool as the morning dew.

I fell in love with her the second time;
when first she bore her child and mine
always by my side, the source of my strength,
helping to turn the tide..

But there were candles to burn
the world was my concern;
while our home was her domain..
and the people were mine
while the children were hers to maintain;

So it was in those eighteen years and a day..
’till I was detained; forced in prison to stay.

Suddenly she’s our sole support;
source of comfort,
our wellspring of Hope..
on her shoulders felt the burden of Life..

I fell in love again,
with the same woman the third time.
Looming from the battle,
her courage will never fade

Amidst the hardships she has remained,
undaunted and unafraid..
she is calm and composed,
she is God’s lovely maid..

For more info regarding our country’s heroine, please see http://www.coryaquino.ph/ca_website.htm

Hey everyone!

Since may LSS mode tayong lahat sa MJ songs, I’d like to quote lyrics from the Man in the Mirror.

“I’m Gonna Make A Change, for once in my life. It’s gonna feel real good, gonna make a difference, gonna make it right.”

Ayun.

And so in the spirit of that moving song, I’d like to invite all of you to take part in the fund-raising event of KaEskwela, a non-profit band of volunteers “who have come together to extend assistance to public schoolchildren.”

KaEskwela will be holding a block screening of “Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince” on July 17, 8:30 pm at the THX Cinema of Robinson’s Galleria.  Proceeds will go to KaEskwela’s Build-A-Library Program. Tickets sell for Php 250.  A Harry Potter box set, HP collectibles and other prizes will be raffled.  For ticket inquires, please contact Mr. Brix Bayuga at 0916-6634443.

Please note that this non-profit band of volunteers is not connected with the Dept. of Education’s Brigada Eskwela program, a project for the physical maintenance of public schools.

For more information regarding KaEskwela, please see http://brigadaeskwela.multiply.com/

For the price of an unquestionably enjoyable movie, we can all make a difference in the lives of public schoolchildren.

See you there!

^_^

Brixie gave my birthday gift way ahead of time. Last June 10, a bunch of us hopped into a van that took us to Bayan-Bayanan Primary School in Barangay Pita, Dinalupihan, Bataan.

This school is a beneficiary of KaEskwela, Inc., a group of “friends who have come together to extend assistance to public schoolchildren.” One must note however, that this non-profit band of volunteers is not connected with the Dept. of Education’s Brigada Eskwela program, a project for the physical maintenance of public schools.

It was KaEskwela’s second visit to this school. The first was last April 19, wherein KaEskwela donated a number of educational supplies (a computer set w printer, an encyclopedia set and some books for the library) for the students of the Primary School. This time, a number of volunteers brought rubber slippers, notebooks, bags, pencils, erasers, crayons, pencil cases, sharpeners, rulers, pad papers, umbrellas, raincoats, clothes for the kids - perfect for the start of the school year.

Among the students of the school are Aeta children who used to walk to school for three hours every day. The Aetas have found out how essential it is to learn how to read and write to avoid getting cheated by unscrupulous merchants. Now, they just stay at a dormitory near the satellite school and return home to their families on weekends.

Teacher Raffy shared with me a shocking revelation. He pointed out that one classroom can have students of different levels - each column serves as the division for Grades 3,4, and 5 students. I can only imagine the quality of learning the Bayan-bayanan kids are receiving as compared to well, just any private school in Manila. Philippine rural education still has a long way to go.

The children were just adorable. And funny too. One kid, refused to get a bag coz the only ones available were too feminine for his taste. Another one rolled his eyes at the Spiderman bag given to him and chose a pink Hannah Montana one instead. As soon as their classes were dismissed, they passed by the room we were eating and they all shouted/waved their thanks, carrying their newly-acquired bags, school supplies and wearing their new slippers.

I’m much obliged Brixie for sharing this experience with me. Part of my job in my former company was to handle CSR programs and I miss doing those. I’ve always enjoyed our annual sponsorship to the Associacion de Damas de Filipinas, an orphanage in Manila located near Plazang Dilaw. The kids there were so fun to be with, I was once inspired to hold my birthday party there so that my fam and friends can also have a grand time with them. I can still remember the kids’ warm smiles and hugs, their delightful song and dance numbers which they gladly perform for visitors.

After the Bayan-bayanan trip, I felt energized. We read a lot of depressing stories on the news and it’s easy to be disappointed with the tons of mistakes our government makes. But see, instead of just proclaiming our dissatisfaction, and thinking there is nothing we can do, I believe we can. Whining is for the lazy. Go out, explore other worlds and you can see how very blessed you are. For in fact, despite lacking financial possessions, the Bayan-bayanan children carry with them a certain joy that I don’t think stems from getting new footwear. I think they were simply happy knowing we were there for them. Blessed as we are, we can share our time and effort to be able to assist those in need.

KaEskwela will be holding a block screening of “Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince” on July 17, 8:30 pm at the THX Cinema of Robinson’s Galleria. By participating in this fund-raising event you will be able to take part of KaEskwela’s Build-A-Library Program. Tickets sell for Php 250. A Harry Potter box set, HP collectibles and other prizes will be raffled. For ticket inquires, please contact Mr. Brix Bayuga at 0916-6634443.

KaEskwela is always looking for more people who wish to join the group or just donate. We accept books (old or new, reference books, storybooks/fiction, textbooks), school bags, shoes, uniform, school supplies, educational VCDs, visual aid learning materials, flash cards, computers and money. Just email kaeskwelavolunteers@yahoo.com for donation arrangements. Rest assured, all donation turnovers are properly documented, and you will be sent photos of the schools accepting donations, or acknowledgement letters from school officials.

For more information regarding KaEskwela, please see http://brigadaeskwela.multiply.com/

For the price of an unquestionably enjoyable movie, we can all make a difference in the lives of public schoolchildren.

See you there!

Let’s all give a round of applause to our fam’s pride….

My dearest Kuya Aldo, the guy who got into St. Gallen Symposium, Switzerland TWICE. ^_^

http://www.up.edu.ph/upnewsletter.php?issue=54&i=900

Only 200 out of 1,200 students are given the opportunity to join in this international gathering of the world’s intellectuals. To know more about St. Gallen, please see this link.

http://www.stgallen-symposium.org/index.htm

After the symposium, my Kuya went on a backpack tour round Europe - Rome, France, Spain, and Germany.  He’s preparing to be my tour guide kasi e. Hihi.

Congratulations again Kuya Aldo! We are so proud of you! Luvyah!

^_^

For all those who sent their greetings: Thank you.

Knowing that the people who matter took their time to show that they care uplifts my already buoyant spirit.

Early this morn, I offered a long prayer of gratitude for all of you. With such wonderful people in my life, how can I not be happy? Many thanks.  Hugggz.

^_^

P.S. Busy pa rin sched. I know, some photos still await posting. As soon as sched clears, I will, pwamis.

How convenient it is for pharmaceutical companies to finally produce the H1N1 vaccine just as the World Health Organization declared the flu a pandemic.

Talk about ensuring that there’s enough demand for their product. Hmp.

Masaya to. Educational. ^_^

http://www.fekids.com/img/kln/flash/DontGrossOutTheWorld.swf

To say we dismiss the ordinary life does not mean we are dissing what is simple and genuine. In fact, one can and must dream, even if one attests to holding on to what is simple and true.

It’s not the state of affluence that we are talking about here but more of one’s perspective and sincerity in life choices and deeds. To proclaim wanting to live a simple life is easy. Words are cheap after all. But it does not mean one may use it as a tool for abusive mendicancy nor as an excuse to rot in complacency. That is the definition of the ordinary life which one must shun.

Given a set of circumstances and obstacles in life, it is our duty to God and our family and of course for our own self-respect to drive ourselves to growth and excellence. The world in all its magnificence, asks that much from us.

Para mas madaling maintindihan… Eto, shnare ko sa FB, share ko din dito.

Sayang naman para makita na rin ng sumilip sa Multiply ko na never ko naman nameet (at hindi marunong mgspell ng u-n-a-d-u-l-t-e-r-a-t-e-d, mind you). Oh well, let’s not be bothered by trifles.

This was one of the declamation piece I did eons ago, back in in high school, for our Advanced Literature class. St. Scho Marikina really has a good English program for its students and I’m always thankful for the good foundation I had coz of the supportive and dedicated teachers in that esteemed institution.

Anyway, I chose to perform this in front of the class then coz I was touched with what Longfellow tried to say. I have always believed in the lessons of Longfellow’s poem and have tried to follow this ever since.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

A PSALM OF LIFE

TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream ! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real ! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal ;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way ;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle !
Be a hero in the strife !

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant !
Let the dead Past bury its dead !
Act,— act in the living Present !
Heart within, and God o’erhead !

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time ;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate ;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

…Chalk magazine po ako. May issue. Maliit na pix lang. Hihi.

Super thankies to Beautiful Elka dearie… ^_^

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One can, for a period in one’s life, believe in promises not really meant for you. If you trust the one who lies to you after all, the desire to have faith and to not give in to fear, is immense. Truth will always be unsettling but it is crucial to handle it with courage, grace, and most of all, kindness. Because in the end, nothing would matter. And pain and sadness fades no matter how great. Who cares really, when there is joy in abundance to be found everywhere?

And everyone is happy. That is all that matters now. It took time for me to realize I am not for an ordinary life. Nor an unhappy one riddled with deceit and tiring histrionics.

God made the world too beautiful for staid and dreary thinking.

And what I really want to blog about is…well, I just want to share this feeling of gladness. One blessed morn, you wake up, soft light falls from your window, you breathe in the fresh air and think “The world is just too magnificent isn’t it?” Don’t you sometimes feel like you’re about to burst with so much happiness?

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Yeah, the Bohol pixes and musings will be posted soon. Just as soon as my sched clears.  Pwamis.^_^