105.9 Retro FM

Listening to FM radio has been one of the many constant pleasures that has not been totally eradicated by advancements in technology and availability of free data at the click of a button. Especially in a place where digital information is not readily accessible to the majority of the population. In that regard, free TV and radio are still the main form of entertainment and news-gathering sources for most Filipinos. 

 Growing up in a province from the mid-80s to the late 90s, free TV and radio were the only electronic means I could link up to the rest of the world. Cable TV was not even available to our place by the boondocks and the net was a decade away from being a household commodity. All the information about pop culture and the trends in music (that I was starting to really get into) were supplemented by back issues of magazines, paperbacks, and comic books from second-hand bookstores, rentals, and local flea market sales.

All this time the radio in the room was on, constantly tuned in to the local rock station churning out the latest 'alternative' single after the next. And going to classes in the city meant commuting and being subjected to the more traditional programming of other stations the drivers favored. One of the noticeable things about that experience is that while I was totally indifferent to what I was subjected to on a daily basis, I have observed that most of the songs these various mainstream stations aired during the late afternoon and early evenings when I was on the way home from school, were singles I heard as a toddler and still continue to hear at the same span of time even today.

The usual songs you'd hear from these stations' programming at dusk were what I jokingly called 'jeepney hits'. Usually tracks from the early 70s to mid-80s slow rock, disco, folk music, new wave, synth-pop, Italo, and Pinoy novelty songs  dominated the air during early evenings. So it's not uncommon to hear Air Supply, Queen, Starship, Boston, Yes, Duran Duran, America, Toto, and the rest at this time.

I ignored it back then, too caught up in being a music snob to appreciate them. It's only after a few years, and being away from the place that I grew up for so long made me appreciate them when I heard the very same type of programming in a different place. Thing about music is that it brings you back to specific events when you hear a familiar tune. I even wrote about it a few years ago.

The good thing about having a station like 105.9 Retro is that it provides listeners an option to be in that zone anytime they want to without interruption. For a few minutes or even hours in a day, the familiar tunes you heard during happier times in a place you called home brings you back like a welcome time traveling vessel.

TAG: Advocacy for theater actors' welfare

Photo courtesy of TAG

Like any occupation, acting---or in this case theater acting---is actually as real and as taxing, and as exhausting as, for example, being an air traffic controller or a stockbroker. I can already hear the different sides fuming about the audacity to compare their respective professions to the other. Relax, nothing's being compared here. And nothing's better than the other. Just illustrating a point about the realities of an occupation common people like me always associate with the glitz and glamour, but are thoroughly unfamiliar with, especially when it comes to the real problems and challenges that happens behind the curtains when the audience is not present.


It's always a point of personal amusement as to how ordinary people could possibly aspire to have a life in the limelight or in front of the stage or camera. To only see the glamour side of it and not the real work---not to mention the intense rivalries, back stabbings, rejections and the humiliating kick-in-the-crotch kind of criticisms hurled towards you by overzealous directors and/or co-workers you share more than half of your waking time with on a regular basis.And to actually believe that the ease with which these professionals make their chosen craft appear so effortless that the average person thinks he can actually do it.


Just reading articles on the lives of performers should be enough to at least give you an informed insight on the profession you are aspiring to have, if that actually does not deter you in the first place. Like any endeavor that requires the participation of a professional, acting is real work. "Backbreaking", as some wrestlers would say, though their brand of theatrics borders on a much more brutal and literal backbreaking aspect of 'acting'. Just for that alone, our actors deserve unwavering respect.


Last October 10, a large gathering of theater actors and freelancers as well as representatives of other branches of the media converged at the PETA Theater Center for the First General Assembly of the Philippine Theater Actors Guild (TAG). This is a notable event simply because this is the first time a formal gathering about actors' welfare when it comes to working conditions and compensation has been formally discussed and launched.


Its inception was hardly the type of serendipitous circumstance that spawns good things out of  personal tragedies. But a dangerous incident of sleeping on the wheel while driving that involved TAG founder and guild president Kalila Aguilos proved to be the right catalyst to spur long-dormant sentiments into motion. 


In her Facebook status update following the incident, Aguilos stated: Does someone have to die before a law curtailing shooting / taping hours is passed? 


The long discussion that followed because of that declaration led to an agreement on the urgent need for at least a union to oversee the welfare of the actors and other concerns related to theater work. 


Shortly after that, Elmar Beltran of the Commission For Culture Of The Arts or NCCA invited her for a dialogue that was also attended by groups like Philstage, The OPM, AMP, AWF and KAPPT. That was where Aguilos realized there was no group that represented theater actors in the Philippines as a whole. Her further discussions with members of the theater community ultimately lead to the formation of TAG---whose main directive is to be a platform for the actors' development through additional education, training, welfare, and assistance in more practical aspects of the profession like health care, security, and taxes.


The October 10 event was well-attended by various representatives of diverse media backgrounds like music, the performing arts, film and journalism. Award-winning director Jose Javier Reyes delivered the key note speech, stating, in one of the most poignant parts of his talk: "This gathering is important. It is not only an expression of camaraderie, a renewal of friendship or a sharing of common interests. Tonight is a vital first step. This gathering is a statement. We want change".


If that declaration is not an indication of the the kind of working conditions our actors have to endure up until then, then I don't know what is. As I understand it, theater is high in prestige but not exactly something that commands an intimidating paycheck as far as chosen professions go. Not that money is the prime motivation of people getting into this life is the only reason why they do what they do. But as with other art forms, it can only thrive when adequate financial support and security to the ones making it are provided.


TAG's board of trustees are composed of volunteers from various sectors offering free advise or any other forms of ready assistance to actors. Board member Cesar Apolinario, GMA 7 mediaman and award-winning filmmaker said, " I know this is a long journey but I'm giving it a shot. This is pro-bono. It's the only prestige I guess and the fact that I will be able to help our actors." Other members include: Celeste Legaspi, Jett Pangan (The Dawn), Tony Moncupa, Mayor Guia Gomez, Ronald Pineda of Folded and Hung and Repertory Philippines' Menchu Lauchengco. The October 10 general assembly confirmed each trustees' position. Lea Salonga and PLDT's Butch Jimenez are currently being considered for their respective expertise.


But an organization can only do so much. Especially a civic-oriented, non-profit one like TAG. What it can do, aside from assisting the people it aims to assist, is also spearhead awareness toward the general public on the realities and current state of Philippine theater. Unless some serious noise or any form of public sentiment reaches the correct legislative body into doing concrete laws on theater people's welfare, it would be a constant struggle with no discernible outcome. 'Sometimes up, sometimes down' as that animated Disney Robin Hood song goes. 


As with all challenges and undertakings, the first step is the most important. And with that first meeting, became the compass that set the travelers on the right course.

Musings on holy weeks past

Black Saturday, 23 April 2011


As a child living in a rural area during the early 80s, I have witnessed and even partook on some of the old customs practiced by people in a Catholic country like the Philippines when the Holy Week arrived.

Before transferring to the housing compound in an aquaculture research facility where my parents worked, our family stayed in the center of a small town in a small municipality populated by die-hard Catholics and a small congregation of Seventh Day Adventists. It was a town where everyone knew each other, and was predominantly composed of old folks well over the age of 50. In our neighborhood alone there were a total of more than five people my parents addressed as either 'Tay' or 'Lola', titles of respect for elders.

Our elderly landlady was an Adventist who owned an impressive gallery of illustrated children's biblical books I enjoyed browsing and reenacting to everyone's amusement (Especially the David and Goliath duel. I tried fashioning a makeshift slingshot that ended up shooting a large rock straight into the Adventist church's glass window next door). At least in these books, a clear demarcation of good and evil existed and illustrated clearly enough for a 5 or 6 year old to understand, simply by looking.

Sitting on the wall of the Adventist Church, early 80s

Somehow all that Biblical reference balanced whatever fears I had about the reality of supernatural evil that I also found in great abundance in my father's equally vast comic book collection (I was five. Imagination runs rampant at that age.) that featured creatures you won't find in any issues of Kerygma or Bible Weekly anytime soon. Jesus Christ was up there with Knight Rider, Luke Skywalker, and The Incredible Hulk as the defender of truth, justice and the safety of your very soul before being relegated regrettably, many many years after, more as an expression of exasperation.

That knowledge somehow made me one of the most devout Catholics during that time, complete with prayers before meals as well as bedtime. And when Holy Week arrived, I also observed the proper protocols. That meant no boisterous noise from activities like outdoor playing, loud music/TV, and abstinence on eating meat. I even opted for not actually taking a bath on good Friday but my mother, an academician that leaned towards liberal thinking forbade it. All these activities because the elderly told me that Christ is dead at this time: and that the forces of darkness are at full power because of this.

Talk about absent security. I spent the next few years always armed to the teeth with a crucifix, wooden stake, cloves of garlic and salt during Good Friday and Black Saturday. A little dose of paranoia never hurt anyone. 

All of that information I had gathered from either our house maid, my father's stories on what his terror of a grandmother forced upon him and his siblings during the Lenten season, and the people on the streets I asked as to why several people were being paraded on the road torturing themselves by flailing their backs with a nasty barbed object that produced tiny rivulets of blood every time it hit bare flesh. 

It was a surreal experience. Shirtless men with covered faces and bloody backs; I think it was the face covers that actually did it: a hood totally covering the entire face and makeshift crowns made out of assorted leaves and branches that were no doubt inspired by Christ's thorn-version he wore all the way to Golgotha.

Flagellants in the Philippines, uncredited photo

And it was always a big deal. People were actually lining up along the road, waiting for the penitents to pass by, and some of them were actually carrying huge crosses where they'll be crucified, no doubt. God knows what kind of sins these people were so desperate of purging from their system that they believed they needed to resort to extreme acts like this. But who am I to question a Judeo-Christian tradition that existed thousands of years, anyway. To each his own method of appeasing the soul. 


Now that I'm an elderly cranky old man I am highly dubious of these people's motivations in doing what they do. Somehow I suspect it's not too far off from some Christian fundamentalists' suck up stance toward salvation ("Do you love God?! I have accepted Christ! I am saved! I am loved! Hello Julia!"). Yeah, nice try in accepting the savior only to smirk at hell-bound sinners who does not share your sentiments. Nice display of tolerance and compassion.


The brutal penitents, in the meantime, are probably shady characters with too much religious conditioning on the brutal God of the Old Testament that demanded equal suffering to crimes committed against his fellow man. Not that everyone who does that is actually some homicidal maniac or a thieving pederast but one has to wonder about the motivation behind such agonizing self-mutilation. 


One thing about them though, is that they actually put a lot of conviction to the term 'penance'. Not a lot of people with that kind of intense single-minded determination nowadays.

In praise of B-movies

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Proficiency

I recently had a lengthy discussion in Facebook with a cousin based in the US about the medium of instruction to be used on schools in the Philippines. It started with a status message I posted about a local TV program that featured a debate whether to use Filipino or a combination of Filipino-English in selected subjects. It was an interesting topic and allowed me to discuss my stand about most Filipinos's fascination and awe with English-speaking people. Hence the disturbing practice of forcing children to learn a foreign language at an early age where proficiency for their own tongue is still in the developing stage. What you'd eventually end up with is a person who's neither good at both and grasping at straws as far as clearly communicating what he wants to communicate properly. And it doesn't help that the so-called English "teachers" who guide the said children have neither the aptitude nor skill in English to effectively train people in the first place.

The explanation was so long I figure I may as well have blogged it.

The conversation in its entirety:

Roman: Interesting debate on Mel and Joey tonight about whether to just stick to Filipino or Filipino-English combination as the medium of instruction in schools. I think that's a very minor problem considering the guest science teacher they have at the show defined 'photosynthesis' as the green component in plants.

Jing: Roman, what's your take on this? (just curious hehe)

Roman: Personally I'd go for Filipino as the medium of instruction in our schools. And by that I mean teachers can explain their subjects in the language they and their students have no problem relating to or understanding. The debate has sparked an extreme form of mentality that references Gestapo-like directives that seem to constrict the use of language exclusively for only the medium chosen. As if foreign and common terms that do not have Filipino counterparts cannot be uttered in class anymore because, like the naysayers have been saying all along, it is not Filipino. Like mathematical concepts that have no known Filipino counterparts---specially complex subjects like Trigonometry or Calculus. But I came from a science high school and one of the best Trigonometry teachers there was able to explain and make us understand the difficult concepts in the subject because he explained the most difficult points and related it to their practical/realistic applications in our local dialect. 

I am no expert when it comes to Linguistics but the difficulty I see and have observed with imposing an English-only policy in some subjects is that 99% of the time, the teachers themselves have no command or aptitude whatsoever in that language. And 'Filipino' itself does not automatically mean 'Tagalog' either. It is a lot more dynamic than people think. If the boo boo above is any indication, I'm sure the teacher knows what 'photosynthesis' means. But look what happens when she explains it in a language that requires her to exert an additional effort just to get her point across. Now imagine that scenario in a classroom setting filled with bored and uninspired students. English is good, no doubt, but I think it should be a supplementary resource instead of the glorified entity people perceive it to be. And there is the mistaken idea that Filipino is limiting. On the contrary, it allows more freedom for teachers to express themselves better than when they are strictly adhering to an English -only policy during class hours.

Big talk about Filipino and here I am explaining myself in English right? True. But school has very little to do with this than my parents (your uncle specially), comic books, and television. I even sucked at grammar when I was in school. The thing is, before I started with this 'inglisan' crap I devoured hundreds of Pinoy komiks, endless reruns of Dante Varona, Lito Lapid and Chiquito movies on Channel 13 and Eat Bulaga. All before I even started first grade. The only reason I gravitated to English materials is because I wanted to read The Fantastic Four and understand what the hell Darth Vader was saying to Luke Skywalker on Cloud City.

Jing: Very well thought of and perfectly written :) I am glad I asked your take on this subject since I am not fully aware of what the debate is all about. I do not think converting the language of instruction to Filipino is limiting; learning EVERYTHING in English is limiting. As a health care worker here in U.S. it is (almost) embarrassing that I cannot translate medical procedures and anatomy in my own language.It would have been great to learn proper Filipino terminology, that would have saved me from explaining to my co workers my inability to properly and effectively translate..tsk tsk tsk..Thanks Roman.

Roman: Salamat Ate Jing. I don't think its your fault for not literally translating certain medical terminologies and jargons to Filipino. I doubt if there are literal translations of most of those in Filipino, anyway. And secondly, you are geographically located in a place where English is the dominant language. Of course you have to adapt. You see, the point is not the blow by blow literal translation of terms---that seems to be what everybody is so focused on when it comes to this topic---but the CLARITY of the message with which you wish to convey to the person you're talking to. 

It has always been about clarity and ease. If you can teach mathematics and science comfortably without worrying that someone will report you for not "ispokening ingglis" during class hours, then good for you and your students. Just because the textbooks are in English does not mean you can't discuss productively using Tagalog, Bisaya or whatever dialect you happen to find yourself belonging to. Just because you watched a Hollywood movie with friends does not automatically mean you should discuss the merits (or lack of it) of the film in English. You say "Hanep talaga lightsaber duel nina Darth Maul, no?" and not "Ang ganda ng ilaw-na-espadahang eskirmahan nina Darth Maul." Not only is the latter statement annoying and stilted, but that's how the majority of Pinoys view the topic of using Filipino as a medium of teaching. I think you get the drift of what what I'm trying to say.

It's also the reason why you react more strongly to "PUTANGINA MO" than "YOU SONOFABITCH."

There's just something about your own language that sticks and refuses to leave when spoken to you.