Showing posts with label philippines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label philippines. Show all posts

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Punong-Puno na Sa Pamumuno?

Isang pananaw sa mga unang araw ng pagtakbo at retorika ng pamahalaan ni Pangulong Benigno Aquino III

Sa katotohanan, kinatatakutan ng burgesya ang kamangmangan ng masa kapag sila’y nananahimik, at ang kanilang pananaw kung sila’y naghihimagsik.
- Karl Marx, Ika-18 Brumaire ni Luis Bonaparte

Nakakadalawang linggo na mula nang ating tanghalin si Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Cojuangco Aquino III bilang ikalabinlimang Pangulo ng Republika ng Pilipinas. Bilang isang mamamayang nahubog ang pananaw-politikal sa maliligalig na panahon ng pamamahala nina Joseph Ejercito “Erap” Estrada at ni Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, nauunawaan ko ang malawakang pananabik at matatayog na pangarap ng ating mga kababayan sa kanyang maaaring maibigay para sa pagpapayabong ng pamumuhay ng mamamayang Pilipino. Napakadaling makisali sa mga mapagdiwang na pahayag na ibinabandila ng mass media at ng mga kasapi sa mga kilusang repormista ng panggitnang-uri na siyang nanguna upang ipahayag ang mensahe ng pagbabago sa pagtungo sa “daang matuwid,” isang daan kung saan ang katiwalian ay walang puwang upang sirain ang tiwala’t ugnayan ng pamahalaan at sambayanan. Kung saan ang pamahalaan ay maituturing na lingkod ng sambayanan at ang mamamayan ay siyang magiging kaakibat upang makamit ang mga layuning pangkalahatan ng ating bansa’t bayan. Isang “bagong simula,” ika nga nila.


Takot Na Kami Masaktan

Sa kabila nito, marami rin sa mga nagmamasid ang nag-aagam-agam: masyadong masaya’t nananabik tayo na tila baga ang pagpanaog ni Aquino sa Malacañang ang siyang susi sa malawaka’t malakihang pagbabanyuhay ng politika’t ekonomiya ng Pilipinas sa ngayon. Na para bagang siya, sa kanyang pagkatao bilang tagapagmana ng mito ng tanod ng demokrasya mula sa kanyang mga magulang na sina dating Pangulong Corazon at Senador Benigno “Ninoy” Jr., ay nakatali at nakatadhanang “iligtas” ang Inang Pilipinas mula sa mga kuhilang Kinatawan sa kamara na walang ginawa kundi ang magpataba at ibulsa ang kuwartang ibinubuwis ng mamamayan pagkatapos ng suson-susong paghihirap. Na tila baga ang kanyang kamuntiang pagkakamali ay ating ipag-aalsa’t siyang wawasak nang lubusan sa pag-asa ng mamamayan sa mga demokratikong institusyon. Na para bagang masyado yata tayong ambisyoso, baka pag pumalpak, e malilintikan rin lang pala tayong lahat.

Kauna-unawa ang mga agam-agam na ito, sapagka’t naipit at nabaon sa isang mapagsisi’t walang-tiwala sa sariling kalagayan (self-hating and reproachful state) ang ating mga mamamayan sa ilalim ng siyam na taon ni Gloria Arroyo, na tandisang sumira sa mga institusyong panlipunan at nagwalang-bahala sa interes ng mamamayan sa kabila ng kanyang pagkakalagay sa puwesto noong 2001 sa pamamagitan ng ikalawang himagsikang-bayan (“people power”) sa EDSA. May takot sa atin na magtiwala ulit sa institusyon sa agam-agam na tayo na naman ang maituturong maysala kung magkaloko-loko na naman ang mga bagay-bagay. Nguni’t hindi ito makatarungan para sa ating mga sarili, kung nais natin talagang panatilihing demokratiko, maka-Diyos, makatao at makabayan ang ating lipunan. Tungkulin natin na manatiling mulat, may paninindigan at manatiling nakamatyag upang tiyakin na ang ating mga narinig na gagawin ay tunay na maisagawa ng kasalukuyang administrasyon. Na sana nga ang telos (patutunguhan) ay nakikita sa lakad ng bayan ngayon. Minsan ngang ibinahagi ng kapwa natin mga Atenista, ang SpongeCola: “dehado kung dehado, para saan pa ang mga galos mo kung titiklop ka lang?”


Samantalahin, Huwag Pagsamantalahan

Marami sa ating nagitla at lumundag sa tuwa nang marinig natin si Pangulong Aquino na ipahayag sa Quirino Grandstand noong ika-30 ng Hunyo na “kayo ang boss ko.” Ngayon lamang tayo, kung tutuusin, nakarinig ng isang pinuno ng bansa na kinilala ang kanyang utang na loob hindi sa mga kauri niyang nakaririwasa na nangampanya at gumastos para sa kanyang kampanya, hindi sa mga may-kapangyarihan sa lokal na nibel, at hindi sa mga institusyonal na padron kundi sa mamamayang humalal sa kanya sa unang automated na halalan sa kasaysayan ng bansa. Totoo, hindi madaling paniwalaang naging malinis ang halalan, hindi madaling paniwalaang hindi nakibahagi si Aquino sa mga tradisyunal na paraan ng pagkalap ng boto (na kung pagbabasehan ang mga nakatakdang batas ngayon ay itinuturing nang krimeng ikabibilanggo), kalokohang sabihing walang bahid-dungis ang halalang ito na hindi binago ang mga dinamiko, nguni’t hindi makatarungang sabihing nanalo lamang si Aquino dahil ibinoto siya ng ignoranteng masa na namanipula ng mga institusyon ng burgesya at ng kleriko-pasistang Simbahan (na natitiyak kong narinig niyo na sa mga tagasuporta nina Manny Villar, Richard Gordon at Gilbert Teodoro: huwag niyo sila pakinggan, pikon lang ang mga yan).

Dala nito, may mga taong nangahas nang magtakda ng kanilang mga nais at banta sa kasalukuyang administrasyon kung hindi ito magagawa. Pinalaki na natin ang minsanang pagtuya ni Aquino sa “wang-wang” upang siya mismo’y pagbawalan nating mag “wang wang” kahit mahuhuli na siya sa mga pulong dala ng trapik. Isang batikang brodkaster nga ang nangahas magsabing “dapat hindi na rin lumalabas si Noynoy kapag Lunes dahil coding ang plaka niya.”

Hindi lisensya ang pagkilala ng ating Pangulo sa ating halaga upang putaktihin siya na sundin ang ating balang naisin bilang mga kabahagi ng taumbayang “hindi nag-iisip at sumusunod lamang sa galaw ng tiyan.” Nararapat nating tandaan na sa ating paghalal kay Aquino, ating pinili siyang upang gabayan ang kilos ng mga aparato ng estado at lipunan at hindi karapat-dapat na baliin natin ang kaniyang plataporma de gobierno dala ng ating posibleng makitid na isipang iniisip lamang ang kakanin bukas. Bilang kabahagi ng isang pamayanan, tungkulin natin bilang Pilipino (at bilang taong may kinikilalang mabuti) na mabuhay nang may pagpapahalaga sa kapwa. Kailangan nating kilalanin na ang pakikibahaging politikal ay hindi isang paraan upang magkamal para sa sarili, kundi upang tiyakin na nanatili ang ugnayan natin sa ating kapwa sa mahinusay at mapagyabong na paraan.

Ano ang pinagkaiba natin sa mga trapo at mangungurakot sa mga sangay ng pamahalaan na binabaliti ang kanilang kapwa para sa kanilang sarili kung ating gagawin ito? Ano naman ang pinagkaiba ng isang Pangulong iisipin maski ang pinakamaliit na kibot ng kanyang leeg at kung paano ito makakasama sa sensibilidad ng tao sa isang aliping saguiguilid? Hindi ito makatuwirang kilos, at pinapatunayan lamang natin na tayo’y mga utak-alipin pa rin, sapagka’t “sumusukob sa mang-aalipin ang nangingibig na hindi lumaya.”


Higit Sa Lahat, Magpanagot

Sa pagsasabi kong hindi natin dapat samantalahin ang pagkilala ni Pangulong Aquino sa ating tinig, hindi natin isinasama dito ang katotohanang pangunahing karapatan nating humingi ng katarungan sa mga pampublikong institusyon. Hindi dapat kaligtaang si Pangulong Aquino mismo ay hindi pa rin sinasagot nang mahinusay ang mga patayan sa Hacienda Luisita na pagmamay-ari ng kanyang angkan. Hindi natin dapat kalimutan ang katotohanang nangangahas nang maghain ng kaduda-dudang mga pagbabago sa Saligang-Batas si dating Pangulong Arroyo na ngayo’y kinatawan ng ikalawang distrito ng Pampanga. Hindi natin dapat kalimutan ang daan-daang mamamahayag, aktibista at mga inosenteng mamamayan na pinaslang ng mga galamay ng rehimen ni Arroyo at hindi pa rin napaparusahan magpasahanggang ngayon. Hindi natin dapat kalimutan na ang ating mga kinatawan sa Mababang Kapulungan ay ang mga dating pangalan pa rin na sumuporta sa mga interes ng tiwaling pamahalaan at pumatay sa mga batas na sana’y nakapagbigay-kapangyarihan sa mamamayan para sa demokratikong pagkilos.

Dito natin marapat ibuhos ang ating pagkilos bilang mga mamamayang nagnanais ng pagbabago. Marapat nating bantayan at palaging paalalahanan ang ating Pangulo’t ang burukrasyang sumusuporta sa kanya na tungkulin nilang linisin at panariwain ang tiwalang ginutay-gutay ng mga rehimen nina Estrada at Arroyo. Karapat-dapat lamang nating panoorin ang mga nagaganap sa ating pampublikong lunan at pagdudahan din ang mga samu’t saring opinyon na dati’y tinatanggap na lang nating basta-basta.

Ibinahagi ng Hudyong manunulat na si Hannah Arendt na “ang pagpapatawad lamang ang tanging kilos na hindi lamang tugon kundi isang bagong kilos na di-inaasahan, di-tinakda ng kilos na nagbunga noon, at pinalalaya sa mga kahihinatnan nito ang nagpatawad at pinatawad.” Nangyayari lamang ang pagpapatawad na nagbubungang mahinusay kung ang katarungan ay naigawad sa maysala, kahit sa anyo ng mabigat na parusa. Kung tunay na ibinabandila ng pamahalaang Aquino na “walang pagpapanumbalik kung walang paggawad ng katarungan,” hinihingi nito na tayo bilang mamamayan ay manindigan na ang mga maysala ay magiging karapat-dapat lamang sa awa ng taumbayan kapag sila’y nalatayan na ng hagupit. Hindi naghihilom ang isang malalim na sugat kung hindi dadaan sa masakit na proseso ng pagtatahi nito.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

More Than P20: Why Manuel L. Quezon III Should Be A Senator

Being among those advocating for the Manolo Quezon For Senator draft on Facebook, let me raise a few points that makes me throw my lot for Mr. Quezon and what will work against him, and therefore explain my stand as to why he is among the best men for the job.

True, I have been following Mr. Quezon's writings for a while already, and his grasp of the current issues shows an intricate understanding of the workings of the political systems of the country, or whatever dysfunctional systems we might have so far. An understanding of these systems is vital to an elementary framework which will allow for legislation. Keyword: legislation. Among the tripartite branches of government we profess to have in the 1987 constitution, it is the legislative branch which requires much research, crafting of arguments, cross-referencing and understanding of the pulse of the national sphere. In our current bicameral systems which will hopefully be led to a peaceful transition in the aftermath of the Arroyo regime's removal, Mr. Quezon is in a way a part of the cosmopolitan elite most qualified enough for the job, seeing as he has an attuned-to-the-times personality not so different from that of President Quezon during the Commonwealth. That he is better suited for coordinated mobilizations is much better: he has the dynamism of the current generation with the traditional academic erudition (or whatever we have for it in this country) of the past generations so far.

The very fact that he does not seek it explains as well why he is all the more worthy of it: Plato has highlighted it in his "The Republic" that the philosopher-kings are the most ideal leaders because they do not seek office and yet are the ones who have trained all their life for the undertaking. His being an adopted member of the Quezon family quite highlights it all the more: antiquity has the Romans showing that the adopted proteges rule better than the natural children. See the rule of the Five Good Emperors and how it went downhill when Commodus assumed the post. (No, I am not talking of the Russell Crowe-Gladiator version which is bullshit; but you cannot deny Commodus has quirks unbecoming of the Roman Emperor.)

We do have to admit that he has problematic issues involved with his surname, however. The very "racist" proclamation of the elder Quezon and our general opinion of him as a power-hungry, two-timing negotiator has been well-documented in our history books; Manolo himself recognized this and has disassociated himself from it. It is precisely what Michel Foucault has already inaugurated: a constant critique of oneself's involvement. It is what made him an ardent critic of the Arroyo administration after speaking for them; it might be what makes him a transformative force in a decrepit, intellectually-desolate and obscurantist Senate.

I, being a student of the Socialist framework, have long acknowledged the fact that the current systems are self-destructive and therefore should be removed. And yet their disciplinary construction, based from the American model (which the elder Quezon himself heralded), has decidedly recidivist tendencies at the same time, which explains why we cannot do anything to reform it or do away with it. That Manolo Quezon himself does not label himself such shows a following of the post-modern post-structural thought (if he does not do so willingly and knowingly; I may of course be over-reading his actions) reflects a work ethic which is necessary in the process of state rehabilitation without bloodshed if we choose to: an understanding of how to preserve our gains yet violently cut off those which impede the state from making itself relevant to everyday life. Our past administrations have relied on the old guards and they have alienated the youth, and our elders disown them. We now have coordinators; are we to shun what we have of the "mean" we need so far? We have to acknowledge historical progression being incremental.

Quezon is among what we have. Let him make the most out of his capabilities, and it is the demos who calls for it.


Creative Commons License
More Than P20: Why Manuel L. Quezon III Should Be A Senator by Hansley A. Juliano is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Philippines License.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

The Myth of Creation (Panay Visayas)


(also known as "Tungkung Langit and Alunsina")
as adapted by F. Landa Jocano in Outline of Philippine Mythology (Manila: Centro Escolar University Research and Development Center, 1969).

One of the stories about the creation of the world, which the old people of Panay, especially those living near the mountains, do not tire relating, tells that in the beginning there was no sky or earth ?only a bottomless deep and a world of mist. Everything was shapeless and formless ?the earth, the sky and the sea were almost mixed up. In a word, there was confusion.

Then, from the depths of this formless void, there appeared two gods, Tungkung Langit ("Pillar of the Sky") and Alunsina ("The Unmarried One). Just where these two deities came from, it was not known. However, it was related that Tungkung Langit had fallen in love with Alunsina; and after so many years of courtship they got married and had their abode in the highest realm of ethereal space, whre the water was constantly warm and the breeze was constantly cool. It was in this place where order and regularity first took place.

Tungkung Langit was an industrious, loving and kind god whose chief concern was how to impose order over the whole confused set-up of things. He assumed responsibility for the regular cosmic movement. On the other hand, Alunsina was a lazy, jealous and selfish goddess whose only work was to sit by the window of their heavenly home and amuse herself with her pointless thoughts. Sometimes, she would go down the house, sit down by a pool near the doorsteps, and comb her long jet-black hair all day long.

One day, Tungkung Langit told his wife that he would be away from home for some time to put an end to the chaotic disturbances in the flow of time and the position of things. However, despite this purpose, Alunsina sent the breeze to spy on Tungkung Langit. This made the latter very angry upon knowing about it.

Immediately after his return from his trip, he called this act to her attention, saying that it as ungodly of her to be jealous, there being no other creature in the world except the two of them. This reproach was resented by Alunsina and a quarrel between them followed.

Tungkung Langit lost his temper. In his rage he divested his wife of powers and drove her away. He did not know where Alunsina went; she merely disappeared.

Several days after Alunsina had left, Tungkung Langit felt very lonely. He realized what he had done. Somehow, it was too late even to be sorry about the whole matter. The whole place, once vibrant with Alunsina's sweet voice, suddenly became cold and desolate. In the morning when he woke up, he would find himself alone; and in the afternoon when he came home, he would feel the same loneliness creeping deep in his heart because there was no one to meet him at the doorstep or soothe the aching muscles of his arms.

For months, Tungkung Langit was in utter desolation. He could not find Alunsina, try hard as he would. And so, in desperation, he decided to do something in order to forget his sorrows. For months and months he thought. His mind seemed pointless; his heart weary and sick. But he must do something about his lonely world.

One day, while he was sailing across the regions of the clouds, a thought came to him. H would make the sea and the earth, and lo! The earth and the sea suddenly appeared. However, the somber sight of the lonely sea and the barren land irritated him. So he came down to earth and planted the ground with trees and flowers. Then he took his wife's treasured jewels and scattered them in the sky, hoping that when Alunsina would see them she might be induced to return home. The goddess's necklace became the stars, her comb the moon and her crown the sun. However, despite all these Alunsina did not come back.

Up to this time, the old folk say Tungkung Langit lives alone in his palace in the skies. Sometimes, he would cry out his pent-up emotion and his tears would fall down upon the earth. The people in Panay today say the rain is Tungkung Langit's tears. Incidentally, when it thunders hard, the old folk also say that it is Tungkung Langit sobbing, calling for his beloved Alunsina to come back, entreating her so hard that his voice reverberates across the fields and the countryside.

(images copied from Deviantart: user happypeewee: http://happypeewee.deviantart.com/?offset=10)


~O~O~O~

People who actually read this blog might remember that I referred to this myth when I initally wrote a drunk-on-literary-steroids reflection on the devastation of Typhoon Ondoy. I do not change my opinion on what is happening, seeing how the north is being pummeled by Pepeng. Can somebody get Bro. Jun Banaag and fix this marriage for our country's sake?

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Ekonomiko Pa Rin Ang Tanong

(o kung bakit sa kabila ng aking pakikibahagi magiging walang-kwentang "footnote to history" lamang na naman ang mga mobilisasyon para sa nasalanta ng Bagyong Ondoy)

Marahil may mga bagay na kailangan akong alalahanin sa pag-alis ni Ondoy at maaaring pagsaglit ni Pepeng. Hindi naman siguro masamang sabihin na naging kabahagi ako ng sanrekwang mag-aaral ng Pamantasan na lumubog sa baha, gumawa ng iilang patawang patama sa ibang lugar na binabaha, at nakaranas ng existential crisis sa kung bakit inabot din ang Katipunan ng ganitong kalaking sakuna. Gaya ng naikwento ko na, naramdaman ko ang pagdating ng bagyo noon pa lamang naglalakad ako patungong Alingal Hall, kung saan pinagtulungan ako ng hanging habagat at ng mga luha ni Tungkung Langit na bigyan ng baradong ilong pagkatapos. Alam na natin ang nangyari. Napanood na sa YouTube. Naipost na ang lahat ng retrato at na-tag na tayo ng mga kaibigan sa ganoon kalaking problema. Seryoso: wala na tayong masasabi pa. Walang pinagkaiba sa isang malupit, nakapanunugat at matalim na pagtatanghal ng isang trahedya. Dalawa lamang ang posibleng ating magawa kapag hinarap ka ng ganitong sakuna, at least sa pananaw ng iba: ang magitla't umiyak nang mapait sa libu-libong namatay, o ang umiyak habang nagbabalot ng mga tulong, kundi ang makasama mismo sa pag-aabot ng tulong sa mga buhay pa nguni't lubhang nasalanta. Dito lang sa pagkakataon ko ito siguro masasang-ayunan, bahagya lamang, si Ninoy Aquino nang noong Abril 6, 1975, sinabi niya sa kapwa niyang senador na si Francisco "Soc" Rodrigo:

If we want our people to follow, I propose, we must cease arguing and start acting, doing what a freeman must do to assert his rights and defend his freedoms. Actions, not words. Selfless examples, not ideas. The time for talking is past!

Pero, siyempre, hindi yun ganoon kadali.

~O~O~O~

Oo, nakita ko ang buhos ng mga tulong sa loob ng Covered Courts para sa mga nasalanta. Nakita't nakasama ko ang sari-saring tao, Pilipino man o hindi, Atenista mang lubusan o hindi, bagong salta man o ilang araw nang puyat, para lamang makibahagi sa pagbabalot, pagsasaayos, pagbubuhat o pagpapasa-pasa. Ngayon ko lang ito nakita nang harapan, at sa totoo lang, hindi ko pa rin ito maipaliwanag. Yung kaluluwa ng batang ideyalistiko't mapangarapin ay laging sinasabihan akong "wow, ang galing, may kabaitan pa talaga sa puso ng mga tao. May pag-asa pa ang bayang ito." Pero sa sandaling lumitaw na ang retorika at dekonstruksyon sa isip ko, eto na naman ako sa pagbutas ng optimismo. Oo, sinisira ng katotohanan ng buhay ang pagkainosente ng bata; pero kung papaano at kung mabuti ba iyon o masama, sa ibang sulatin na natin talakayan. Sabi nga ni Nick Joaquin: "if you not change, you are a cretin, and who wants to be called a cretin?"

Malaon ko na ring pinagsusumikapang unawain kung paano ba pagbabanyuhayin ang kulturang Atenista bilang isang kilusang hindi pampribado't para sa kita kundi, alinsunod sa Vaticano II, para sa isang simbahang itinatanghal ang kapakanan ng mga dukha. Totoo bang kinalasan na ng Atenista ang minsang inilarawan at tinuligsa ng nakakatandang manunulat ng Matanglawin na si Juan Danilo Jurado (mula sa Matanglawin, Tomo XXVIII, Blg. 4: Marso-Mayo 2003):

Oo, inaamin ko na alam ng Atenista na karamihan ng mga tao sa ating mundo ay mahirap at walang salapi, ngunit bakit kung umasta ang Atenista ay parang nakapiring na batang naghahanap ng palayok na mapapalo? Kaya sila mahirap dahil tamad sila... Kasalanan na ng tao kung siya’y mamatay ng mahirap pa rin... Mahirap na nga sila, maram pai sa kanila ang magnanakaw at kriminal... Ay, kawawa naman the poor. Ilan lamang ito sa madalas nating marinig sa ating mga kapwa Atenista. Hindi ko maintindihan kung kanila itong mga sinasabi nang dahil sa katangahan o marahil dahil sa pag-aakalang lahat ng bagay ay nakukuha sa sipag na sang-ayon lamang sa burgesyang kapaligiran na iniikutan ng mga Atenista. Hindi ba’t ang kahirapan ay kasiguraduhan din ng ‘di pagtatapos ng pag-aaral at pagkasumpa sa habambuhay na paggawa? Hindi ba’t ang isang manggagawa o magsasaka ay tinitingnan lamang na parang mga makinang bayaran o dili kaya’y mga sakang tagatanim na kayang palitan at alisin “for a more efficient and lower cost of production”? Paano nga ba makakaalpas ang mahihirap sa kahirapan kung ang kakarampot nilang kinikita ay hindi man lamang sapat para sa pang-araw-araw na gastusin, lalo na kaya sa pag-ipon ng kaunti man lamang na kapital? Kung maraming kriminal sa mahihirap, mas maraming kriminal sa mayayaman... hindi nga lamang nahuhuli.

Paano naging ganoon kadali sa Atenista na makibahagi dito, kung papaanong naging madali sa kanyang samahan ang mga magsasaka ng Sumilao at Calatagan? Hindi mo maiiwasang isipin pero doon ka na rin patungo: DAHIL SA MEDIA MILEAGE, O PARA LAMANG SA PAGKALMA SA KANILANG MARURUMI'T NABABAGABAG NA KONSIYENSIYA. Ito pa rin ang lahi ng uring elitista-kapitalista-burukrata na noong panahon ng Unang Kapatang Sigwa (First Quarter Storm) ay tatakbo kaagad mula sa Barrio Forbes Park (ang "barriong mahal ni Marcos") at pupunuin ang Hotel Inter-Continental, takot na singilin ng bayang mang-uusig sa kanilang kakulangan sa pagiging Kristiyano at kalabisan sa pagkakamal. Ito ang uring liberal na ipinagmamayabang ni Ayn Rand; ang bunga ng pagpipilit sa lubusang indibidwalismo, ang sarili bilang pinakamahalaga sa lahat at wala nang iba, kaysa sa sosyalismong ang sarili kasabay ng bayan, ang sarili kasabay ng kapwa, ang sarili kasabay ng Iba.

Sige, narito, nagbigay na tayo, nagpagod na tayo, nagdasal tayo. At yon lamang, at sasabihin na natin kagaya ng mga taong sumama sa libing ni Pangulong Corazon Aquino na: "tangina pare i was at her funeral, I'm damn proud to be Pinoy pare! O kumusta na nga pala yung bagong SUV na winasak mo? Napakilo mo na? Ano na sa 10 mong kotse gagamitin mo?" Para kang nagkwento ng isang krimen na pwedeng-pwedeng gawan ng pelikula ni Carlo J. Caparas o ni Kaka Balagtas (kung di mo sila kilala, pagpalain ka; wag mo nang subukan) tapos mag-aalok ka ng dinuguan sa kinuwentuhan mo. Kumbaga, para masabi lang. Hindi mo tuloy makita lahat nung sinasabing magis, people- and professionals-for-others, sapientia, wala.

Nakikita natin ang ating kultura bilang isang kulturang reaktibo at hindi pro-aktibo. Ibig nating sabihin, kumikilos lamang tayo kapag nagkawasakan na, kapag nasalanta na tayo't lahat ng ating mga pagkakamali at saka magsisisihan, kaysa isipin ang mga posibleng nangyari sa hinaharap at magtatatag na. Kumbaga, lahat ng sinabi ni Machiavelli na dapat gawin ng isang pinuno upang maging mahusay at handa, walang habas nating di pinakinggan, dinuraan, tinapunan ng basura, pinagpuputulan ng puno, at tinaehan. At ngayon magtataka tayo na bumalik ito sa atin? Mga pare, wag niyo naman sabihing ganoon kayo katanga. Ang DepEd ba talaga ang may kasalanan niyan, ang mga magulang ninyong hindi rin alam ang maaaring gawin, o matitigas lang talaga bungo niyo? Huwag nyo naman piliting piliin namin ang preskripsyon ni Aristoteles sa mga taong "intemperate." At gaya ng ating lubusang pagka-atat sa masisisi, pinili nating bagsakan ng galit ng angaw-angaw na demonyo si Jacque Bermejo (na hindi rin natin alam kung siya ba ang nagsulat, nag-"sleep-type" siya, o talagang hindi lang siya nakapag-isip ng mas magandang Facebook status). Di ko tuloy masisi si Lourd De Veyra na magtanong: "KULANG NA BA TAYO SA TALINO?" Naalala ko tuloy si Tracy Isabel Borres; kumusta siya pagkatapos wasakin ni Anonymous?

Mukhang oo e. Kapag nakikinig ka pa sa mga political ad (oo, lahat) na lumabas nitong nakaraang dalawang buwan at may rasyonal ka nang pag-iisip noon, kaawaan ka ng Diyos kapag sinabi mong "lehitimong kampanya ito."

Hindi na ilang ulit ito. Noong ZTE-NBN Deal ay naglagablab tayo at iniangat si Jun Lozada nang binabayo siyang lubusan ng mga alyado ng Pangulo kagaya ni Benjamin Abalos at ng nag-aalangang si Romulo Neri. Noong niratsada sa Bastusang Pambansa ang Con-Ass, nagwala ang mga gising sa internet at magkakasama tayong nag-ingay sa iba-ibang lugar. Ito lamang pagkain ng "mahal" na Pangulo sa Le Cirque e pinaulanan natin ng batikos. At nasaan tayo ngayon? Wala. Tanungin mo ang karaniwang tao di rin nila maalala. Sinasabi nating magsisimula na ang himagsikang magpapabagsak sa pasista-militarista-patronistang pamahalaang ito sa libing ni Pangulong Aquino. At huwag nating kalimutang sampung taon tayong naghahayag ng mga "kontra-SONA." Nasaan tayo patungo? O mas magandang tanong: alam pa ba natin kung bakit natin kailangang may tunguhin?

~O~O~O~

Palagay ko natagpuan ko yung sagot ko noong, habang napilitan akong maglakad mula Barangay Bayanan hanggang Barangay Putatan, lakaran ng mga may 10 kilometro sapagka't naipit sa trapik ang bus na aking sinakyan pauwi ng Muntinlupa. May tambay na nakasuot ng itim na kamisetang sumisigaw ng mensaheng: HINDI PO AKO EMO, NAKIKIUSO LANG PO.

Uso. What's hip and what's happening. Kung ano'ng dumating, yun na. At pagkatapos, matutulog tayong mahimbing at sasabihing: "responsable akong mamamayan."

Anak ng tinapang nabulok pero kinain ni Arroyo.

Nagagalit tayo kapag sinabihang "minsan lang nagkamali, sinumpa na. Nakalimutan na ang lahat ng nagawang mabuti." At bakit nga ba hindi? Matagal nang sinabi ni Aristoteles: "ang taong makatuwiran ay gumagawa ng kabutihan nang paulit-ulit, walang likat." Sapagka't ang halaga ng katarungan ay di natututunan nang paisa-isa, patingi-tingi. Magpapalusot pa tayo na "minsan lang, di na mauulit." At ilang ulit na ba yang nasira, lalo't matagal nang nakita ni Machiavelli na "sadyang mapanlinlang ang tao?" Ilang ulit nangako si Marcos na ito na ang huling utang niya, at tignan ninyo ang naiwan sa atin. Ilang ulit sinabi ni Arroyo na ito na ang huling pagkakataong "makikisawsaw siya sa politika, pero winawasak niya't sinisiil ang karapatang sibil?" Hindi tayo matatapos kung bibilangin ko lahat.

~O~O~O~


Pero gaya ng sinabi na dati ni Pete Lacaba, mas epektibo ang retorika kapag tumatama sa imaheng nakikita mo araw-araw. Hanggang makakakita ka ng mga batang nagsasabing sila'y mga "Badjao" na hindi makauwi (pare, totoo ito. Kahit na may mga napipilitan o gago lang talagang nakikisawsaw sa tanging desperasyon ng mga Badjao, wag mong sabihing nanloloko na silang lahat; basahin mo uli si Jurado sa itaas), hangga't pinupunit ng kanilang inosenteng tinig ng kawalang-pag-asa ang ihip ng hanging amihan sa loob ng pampasaherong bus, at hanggang nakikita mong sa barung-barong sila pinanganak, sa barung-barong sila uuwi, at sa barung-barong sila babagsak nang patay, dilat at gutom, wala kang karapatang sabihing mamamayan ka. Wala kang karapatang sabihing Kristiyano ka. Wala kang karapatang magsabing Pilipino ka.

Habang nababagoong ang resume mo ng paglilingkod at itinatala mo para may maipakita ka sa iba, wala ka sa kalingkingan ng komadronang handang gumising kahit hatinggabi para magpaanak kahit barya-barya lang ang kita. Sabi nga naman ni Reynaldo Cruz Garcia: maraming mandurukot ang nakakurbata,

At liban pa roon, hindi ka tao pag kinagat mo ang mga info ad ni Bayani Fernando. Hindi natin kailangan ang bayaning alipin, kundi ang bayaning mandirigma ng Himagsikan.

Sabi noon ni Ninoy sa kanyang kapwa senador na si Eva Estrada Kalaw sa isang liham ng Pebrero 21, 1983, mga anim na buwan bago siya pataksil na pinusila sa tarmac ng Manila International Airport:

I realize many will criticize us for even thinking of possibly opening a dialogue with Marcos. Some will call this an imperialist plot designed and conceived in Washington. But if we are to prevent a communist takeover, we must help Marcos inspite of himself find a peaceful solution to our crisis.

I am sure the CPP/NPAs will be most unhappy by the holding of a clean and honest election because this will delay their timetable.

Clean and honest elections will provide fresh hope to people almost desperate. If we are to prevent the radicalization of our people to the left, we must present them with a credible hope and that can be accomplished if we can work out a peaceful transition scenario with the top actor: Marcos.

Only a hopeless people will turn to communism. We must therefore exert every effort to convince Marcos that a genuine return to democracy is the only sure path out of the enveloping red tide.

Only more democracy can defeat communism. Increased repression will only hasten the communist victory.

Alam nating ang layon ni Senador Aquino ay iwasang lubha ang pagdanak ng dugo. Isang pagtatatag sa dati nang pinanghawakan ni Rizal na:

"I do not mean to say that our liberty will be secured at the sword's point, for the sword plays but little part in modern affairs, but that we must secure it by making ourselves worthy of it, by exalting the intelligence and the dignity of the individual, by loving justice, right, and greatness, even to the extent of dying for them,--and when a people reaches that height God will provide a weapon, the idols will be shattered, the tyranny will crumble like a house of cards and liberty will shine out like the first dawn.

"Our ills we owe to ourselves alone, so let us blame no one. If Spain should see that we were less complaisant with tyranny and more disposed to struggle and suffer for our rights, Spain would be the first to grant us liberty, because when the fruit of the womb reaches maturity woe unto the mother who would stifle it! So, while the Filipino people has not sufficient energy to proclaim, with head erect and bosom bared, its rights to social life, and to guarantee it with its sacrifices, with its own blood; while we see our countrymen in private life ashamed within themselves, hear the voice of conscience roar in rebellion and protest, yet in public life keep silence or even echo the words of him who abuses them in order to mock the abused; while we see them wrap themselves up in their egotism and with a forced smile praise the most iniquitous actions, begging with their eyes a portion of the booty--why grant them liberty? With Spain or without Spain they would always be the same, and perhaps worse! Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? And that they will be such is not to be doubted, for he who submits to tyranny loves it.

"Señor Simoun, when our people is unprepared, when it enters the fight through fraud and force, without a clear understanding of what it is doing, the wisest attempts will fail, and better that they do fail, since why commit the wife to the husband if he does not sufficiently love her, if he is not ready to die for her?"

Nguni't dama pa rin ang liberal-demokratikong pagka-inosente. Kahit hindi nais ni Rizal ang dahas, may pangarap siya sa pagtatatag ng isang bansa. Si Ninoy, sa kabilang banda, ay ipinagtatanggol ang pamumuhay bago si Marcos. Sa kahulihan, kahit sabihin nating si Ninoy ang naglunsad ng himagsikan sa kanyang pagkamatay katulad ni Rizal, si Rizal pa rin ang tunay na rebolusyanaryong ideologo.

Ang masaklap lang, lahat ng imahen ng rebolusyon, coopted pa rin ng kapitalismong salot:


Kahit bagyuhin tayo ng ilang ulit, lindulin pa, paulanan ng apoy, hanggang ang kaluluwa ng Pilipino ay hindi napapalaya, ano ang silbi ng donasyon? Sabi nga ni Isabel Allende sa kanyang nobelisasyon ng Zorro: isa lamang itong malaking panggagago.

(pagtatapos: utang na loob ang sulating ito sa masinop na pagtatala ni Patrick Manalo at sa ilang mabungang talaban ng isip kay Leiron Martija.)

Friday, July 10, 2009

NOT SO DEMURE

NOT SO DEMURE:
Philippine Prostitution in the Spanish Colonial Era in Light of Pre-Colonial Notions of Sexuality

(a joint paper with Jore Vergara in Hi 165-B, Summer 2009 under Dr. Ambeth R. Ocampo)

We have a held perception that there exists in Philippine pre-colonial history a relatively peaceful society, occasionally interrupted by “inter-barangaic” wars. They believed in many gods and spirits, known today as paganism. We were a developing society then having a lot of sophistication and knowledge during our time. These include metallurgical works of gold, pottery, tools out of metals, stone and the like. With the increase in sophistication and knowledge, social stratification inevitably emerged, likely for the maintenance of an organized society back then. The main status symbol during the time was the gold ornaments stated earlier. Amidst all of this, however, our ancestors displayed a relatively primitive regard to fashion, based from how they dressed themselves merely by wearing minimal cloth, save possibly those belonging to the pre-colonial nobility depicted in the Boxer Codex.

Eventually we established foreign trade, supposedly for the purpose of expansion and cultural development. One of the important international relationships established during the time was the trade we established with the Chinese. The Chinese brought with them various items of porcelains and pots that attracted the eyes of our ancestors that they insisted on buying the goods the Chinese brought with them. However, instead of using these goods as a replacement of what we formerly used they used the goods bought from the Chinese as an addition to the burial rituals of a deceased. And after some time trading with these people, our ancestors have established a firm relationship between themselves and the Chinese. The Chinese became a main source of labor and trade in the Philippines.

Before our readers become bored with wondering how these narratives on pre-colonial history would be relevant to our tackling of a quite unmentionable topic in our Spanish colonial past, we deemed it necessary to situate most of the major actors in this phenomenon in their proper context. These connections, in a way, illustrate how a proliferation and intermingling of culture has already permeated the life of the various barangays of the then-disunited Philippines, broken up into separate petty kingdoms. Nascent communities were opening themselves up to various modes of trade and communion with other cultures, such as the Orang Dampuans, Banjar and the neighbouring countries within Southeast Asia (Agoncillo 1990, 23-24). Though there are questions as to the nature and extent of these exchanges based from archaeological evidence (Joaquin 2004, 37-38), recent finds dispel such doubts and these are already visible in museums. (1).

However, during this time of flourishing trade and cultural exchange, the successive fleets of Spanish colonizers came starting from Magellan in 1521 until Legazpi in 1565, first presented themselves as friendly people only looking for food and water in exchange for their goods in order for themselves to go back home to Spain and report their findings. In the course of our interaction with them, war broke out between their men and our chiefs (most notably Sulayman) which eventually led to the destruction of native settlements, paving the way for the establishment of European-style cities and towns. As a result, greater stratification that classified the colonized by race, work, position in society and even “limpieza de sangre” (Ocampo-BOC 2001, 103) was put into place. It seems, interestingly, that stratification will be and always is a constant mark of a civilized society, whatever stages of progress it undertakes.

With the current stratification during the colonization, there arisen a number of problems to be addressed now that there is a clear line between the rich and the poor, the employed and the unemployed, the city-dwellers and the provincial people. There were significant economical effects, more so among the working force comprised of mostly native Filipinos, classified in records as indios. And a notable profession here, due to the aforesaid reasons, is prostitution.

As any dictionary would define, prostitution is the practice of engaging in a sexual activity with any person as a means of earning. Despite the existence of prostitutes from both genders and varying purposes, prostitution, incidentally, universally affects the women of a society. Today, there are various reasons for a woman to engage in prostitution and the most common of them all is that it is the only option left for a woman to have a means of living within that community. For the denizens of colonial Philippines, however, this wasn’t the only reason for engaging in prostitution, which spans a plethora of social, economic, maybe even political reasons that stow away from whatever stereotypes we might have imbibed from our early age.

Thus, this paper intends to discuss about the other factors that have led to a woman go into prostitution or, generally, why prostitution was present, and eventually prevalent, in the first place in Philippine colonial history. In line with the belief that prostitution is one of the oldest professions, it is no wonder, in a way, that it would manifest itself in the wake of the Spanish colonization. Despite the proliferation of such “illegal” and “indecent” means of earning a livelihood, the demographics of its patronage reveal a quite peculiar observation. In a way, it seems that prostitutes are readily available amongst the citizens of the country. That such public and prevalent patronage is present seems to underlie a question of the pre-colonial Filipino’s sexuality which desires to break free from the “domestication” of colonization.

The discourse to be presented will be to do an appraisal of pre-colonial culture and their treatment of sexuality during those times. Having done so, we try to analyse the role of a prostitute with regards to her trade, the society wherein she moves in, and the motives by which she was driven to enter such a profession. We also look at how prostitution was treated back then, as well as the implications of their presence in the society they move in, in light of the dominant Hispano-Catholic culture. In the end, summing up all of the points of discussion then we conclude with an inference of how these still reflect in the modern Philippine society.

A Problematic Intercourse of Culture

To begin with, a study on a sensitive topic such as prostitution would warrant a look into the views that people actually possess of their sexuality. To say that a particular act is an act of prostitution would mean that somebody is committing a grave immorality, something that would not be welcome to a particular society. This is why it is not surprising that the first Spanish colonizers led by Ferdinand Magellan, more so the Italian chronicler Antonio Pigafetta, would have a field day in describing sexual practices that would be deemed bizarre by their Middle Age scruples (and even ours today), though this might actually be questionable: “The males, large and small, have their penis pierced from one side to the other near the head, with a gold or tin bolt as large as a goose quill. In both ends pf the same bolt, some have what resembles a spur, which points upon the ends; others are like the end of a cart nail… The bolt and the spurs always hold firm. They say that their women wish it so, and that if they did otherwise they would not have communication with them. (Pigafetta 1521, 66-67).”

The behavior of pre-colonial Filipinos with regards to their sexuality, it must be admitted, is not limited to the purpose of procreation. Sex is likely viewed by our ancestors as a manner of expressing themselves in a relationship with the person they are performing the act with, as well as an act wherein they gain pleasure. In much more controlled environments like those of Christian Europe, this is most likely deemed an aberration of character, a horrifying sin even. (2). It is no wonder, then, that accounts of Filipinos’ voracious carnal appetite would pepper accounts of friars such as the notorious Fray Gaspar de San Agustin who wrote a letter in 1698 about Filipinos, praising the chastity of Tagalog and Pampango women but would say that “Visayan women… are ready for everything and are not so fastidious. On the contrary, they are very ready to consent to any temptation.” (3). Almost a couple of centuries later, W.E. Retana, formerly an anti-Filipino journalist who eventually became Jose Rizal’s first biographer, would get into trouble with the Filipino colony (and Rizal himself) due in part to declaring Filipinas “of easy nature and by nature depraved.” (Ocampo-BB 1995, 81).

Such statements of savage and loose behavior, being seen from the point of view of the Spanish colonizers, do not likely do justice to our ancestors more so they are written with a prevailing superiority complex. In his annotations of Dr. Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, Jose Rizal, despite his quite biased historical scholarship, nevertheless puts in context the beliefs and points of view by which our ancestors believed they should act and behave with regards to the function of reproduction. When Morga decried the seeming absence of continence with regards to sex among our ancestors, Rizal rebuffed him

Because they saw nothing sinful in the act of the reproduction of the species. The ancient peoples, like many other peoples, did not see in it more than a natural instinct which has to be satisfied. The same Mosaic religion did not prohibit it except adultery. Only Christianity made the act a mortal sin, because (perhaps agreeing with the agnostics) it saw everything carnal as corrupt, bad, like something from the devil… Between prostitution, however, and Cenobite anti-naturalism, gloomy and barren, there is a middle ground: Obedience to natural laws without adultering them or frustrating the purposes that all things have. (Rizal-Morga 1962, 289, fn. 1).

These aforementioned debates and debunking of beliefs, bordering on accusations of myopia from both sides, is something which, if viewed with hindsight, something which they cannot be blamed for. It is only in the last three decades that an analysis of the dialectics between the cultures of the East and the West has been inaugurated by philosopher Edward Said: “as much as the West itself, the Orient is an idea that has a history and a tradition of thought, imagery, and vocabulary that have given it reality and presence in and for the West. The two geographical entities thus support and to an extent reflect each other.” (Said 1978, 5). Without examining orientalism as a discourse, one cannot possibly understand the enormous discipline by which European culture established itself by placing the Orient as a somewhat underground image. Misunderstandings between contact of culture between the East and the West, precisely because of their locations and distance, were driven to be curious and, eventually, suspicious of each other. This mutual distrust (despite claims to friendship and paternal protection of three centuries) will manifest itself in the criminal sectors of Philippine colonial society, which involves the sector of sexuality suppressed most by the Roman Catholic Church; prostitution.

Inspecting the Meathouse

To begin with, prostitutes are persons who engage in any kind of sexual activity in exchange for any form of income. Like in most cultures, it is females who are the ones most likely to engage in this trade or ‘work,’ though there are indeed isolated cases of male prostitutes. (4). Contrary to our stereotypes of a very pious population, the deemed crime of prostitution is actually very much rampant and active despite voiced-out condemnations from religious Orders. Various factors are present which could make a woman choose to become a prostitute, the most general one being economic (Camagay 1995, 108). Since many rural areas, then as now, are impoverished and poorly developed, many women from the province are attracted to work in the cities where in the end they end up being criadas or maids of a house where, nevertheless, the pay wasn’t that much (51). Sometimes they were turned over to brothels by the mistress of the house (114). Another more despicable means is when “a woman was seduced and persuaded to elope with a man who had not the slightest intention of honoring his promise to marry her, but who took her instead to a brothel. These men were known to be the pimps or brothel keepers, ‘recruiting’ women with their caressing yet deceptive tongues.” (Bankoff 1996, 41). The very term by which they were referred to, mujeres publicas, which literally means “public women” (and in a way resonates to an old euphemism used in Tagalog provinces, “asawa ng bayan”), shows the acknowledgment of their presence by the societies they move around. They do, however, need protection of “minders,” sometimes public officials, and they themselves have to be “street-wise” in order to avoid occasional incarceration. (42).

Besides their means of procurement, they were also subdivided into four categories depending on how they managed their work (Camagay 1995, 109-110):

1. A prostitute is kept in a prostitute house under the supervision of an ama (mistress) or amo (master).
2. A prostitute who managed by posting themselves in certain streets ready to offer their services.
3. A prostitute who managed their trade by going to the house of their client. This is especially made for the Chinese males of the society.
4. A prostitute who managed their trade inside of their own homes. These women catered to men belonging in the higher bracket of society.

Those in the first category are most likely women who were seduced by the pimps, by promising them better pay or better lifestyle through marriage. Denizens in the three remaining categories, however, suggest that they are women who were willing (or are forced to by circumstances) to become prostitutes for their own gain or for the livelihood of their family.

Unnerving as it may sound, the prostitutes undergo a quite vicious cycle which relatively ensures their permanent association with the flesh trade. After having been recruited or deceived and serving as a prostitute while doing other side jobs, she might be able to gain well-paying clients which will allow her to become a “professional” getting her living solely out of offering “services.” (Bankoff 1996, 42). Should she eventually retire, she can be part of the recruitment and training of new prostitutes, usually making her daughters engage in the same job or by means of referral, usually from the same province where she came from. In a way, the retired whore can still live off the rearing, “maintenance” and deposits of the younger prostitutes (43).

It must be noted, however, that not merely Filipinas were participants in this form of white slavery. Japanese scholar Motoe Terami-Wada gives us a quite vivid portrait of the Manila Japanese community’s complicity in prostitution, albeit during the tail-end of the Philippine Revolution. One Muraoka Iheji, an entrepreneurial “pimp” whose activities go far back since 1885 in Hong Kong, opened up a store and a restaurant, both in his name, as fronts for prostitution activities in 1900. Starting out with fifteen women (including his wife), the area eventually bloomed and by 1903 the Japanese Consulate in Manila would state that there are about 280 “barmaids” reportedly present (Terami-Wada 1986, 292-295), despite their earlier denials. Wada also noted that as early as December 1898, there were actually already houses of “ill fame” in “Kari Karieta” (possibly Calle Carriedo) which serves various personages. Confirmation came through reports of an American soldier’s arrest in such establishments and the experience of a certain Hirayama, notably a volunteer in General Emilio Aguinaldo’s revolutionary forces who usually hid in the brothels to avoid American authorities (296-297).

The Impetus of La Gota

It appears, in light of the aforementioned data, that prostitutes weren’t given much concern by the government despite the condemnation of the then highly-influential Catholic Church. (5). Only when there were occasional breakouts of venereal diseases were visible measures enforced, and they were not even deemed problematic. For one, “prostitutes were not being ostracized” during the time suggesting that they didn’t carry any kind of social stigma if they were labeled as prostitutes (Camagay 1995, 106). In addition to this, government policy over prostitution was quite ambivalent too (Bankoff 1996, 44). However, in the turn of the 19th century, local authorities imposed punitive measures against prostitutes in order to combat the spread of venereal diseases (Camagay 1995, 99). The measures against the spread of the disease include incarceration, deportation, and, wildly, marriage.

Incarceration of a prostitute lasted for 10, 15, and 30 days (101). Most of these prostitutes served their sentences in the Carcel de Bilibid. Usually, they would serve their term by doing hard labor appropriate for women. Upon finishing their sentence, the authorities of the prison would certify these women that they have successfully served their term. Yet instead of reforming them, incarceration created another place in order for them to practice their trade. Sometimes, the women would return to the prison during the Thursday and Sunday visiting hours, pretending to be relatives of the remaining detainees in order to get in the prison and “peddle their goods” once again (1988, 243).

Deportation was then considered the most severe punishment a prostitute could receive, such that even while wary of the activities of their daughters, the fathers and mothers of such whores would “spare no effort to prevent the daughter from being deported to Davao or Balabac.” (244). In a way, it suggests that the local authorities didn’t have an accurate consensus of who were the prostitutes back then and therefore only suspected who and who weren’t guilty. With such familial involvement, a means was created to supposedly circumvent the increase of prostitutes: marriage. The offer of marriage apparently served to circumvent or avert the deportation of a prostitute, since it was then perceived as another means of reforming them. There are numerous cases of such aversions since 1849, though there were also instances that such proposals came when the suspect was already serving the term, or even those who chose to join their “beloved” in exile (245-247). Nevertheless, it raises questions as to why there were men who would choose to marry women accused of prostitution when Catholic regulation (and probably, perception) would say otherwise. It seems, in a way, that there is no stigma involved with accusations of prostitutions with the working classes of colonial Philippines.

However, several factors convinced the authorities that regulation was more productive than futile attempts at proscription (Bankoff 1996, 44). One of these is still the spread of venereal disease cases that later created the Bureau of Public Health. At this point, punishment of a prostitute was minimal because of the consensus and licensing made by the bureau, publicly acknowledging that the “… Bureau of Public Health instituted the licensing of prostitutes in Manila… [it] did not only facilitate a census of prostitutes but more significantly, it checked the spread of syphilis in the city… licensed prostitutes were required to undergo examination twice a week…[italics ours]." (Camagay 1995, 115). This suggests that the government has allowed prostitutes to be, still, prostitutes only that they abide by taking an examination of syphilis. But aside from this, they were sexually ‘free’ to do it. Bankoff adds that “the licensing of prostitution was a symptomatic of a process by which pragmatism increasingly replace morality as the guiding principle in administration of justice in the Philippines. (6).

Cultural Checkpoints

By constant interaction, it is with the Chinese immigrants and traders that we share a lot of societal roots with in colonial Manila. However, what really persuaded the Spaniards in integrating the Chinese people within the colony is likely their appetite for labor and production. Quoting from Liao, “The Chinese played an important role in the support of skilled labor, materials, better methods of farming, and manufacturing for the development of the country. They became the backbone of Philippine trade and industry (1964, 19). In a point in time, they were deemed more efficient than our ancestors such that the authorities believe that “without the trade and commerce of the Chinese these dominions could not have existed” (31), further emphasizing their importance and significant contributions.

However, amidst this social inclination towards the Chinese in reliance of labor and the economy, the Spanish still had doubts about them. The Spanish government was especially alarmed with the rapid growth rate of the Chinese during the establishment of the Spanish regime, such that they eventually made it a policy to monitor and control their movements through the establishment of the Parian, close to the Walled City of Intramuros (Tiongson 1973, 22). Filipina prostitutes, interestingly, had a role of calming down the Chinese to prevent them from conducting revolts, which in a way is a worse blockade to commerce than the flesh trade itself. This is another reason why imposing punitive measures had a difficult time in the Spanish regime because prostitution assumed this position (Bankoff 1996, 44). That they would choose Filipinas to intermingle with reflects how close they are in the lower rungs of the social strata dominated by the Peninsular Spaniards (Ocampo-BOC 2001, 105). This implies that they might be receiving low wages (Tiongson 1973, 30-31) not equal to the amount of work they put into it. As such, they can only afford cheap entertainments such as prostitution.

Having brought up earlier in this paper the case of our relatively-free sexuality during the pre-colonial era (Camagay 116), we might then have an idea as to why we have embraced prostitution as a non-problematic means of livelihood. Once more, we note that “sex to the pre-colonial natives clearly entailed much more than the propagation of the species; it was also enjoyed purely in the pursuit of carnal pleasure” (Reyes 2008, 208). Sexual expression seems to be a given that men enjoy much to have sex with the women within their society (and therefore willing to follow their demands), which indicates a somewhat high regard for women. Contrasting this sexual expression in the context of a conservative and scrupulous colonial regime, however, suggests an entirely different picture, leading them to consider our women as “inherently loose.” (7). That Morga would describe our ancestors in somewhat condescending tones illustrate how problematic indeed is our sexuality in their view:

…“The natives of the Islands of the Pintados, especially the women, are very vicious and sensual, and their malevolence has led them to invent lewd (torpe) ways of intercourse between women and men. The men have a custom that they practice from their youth onwards. They make a hole in the miembro viril, close to its head, and pass through it a device that resembles a serpent’s head made of metal or ivory, which is then secured in place by material of the same substance. With this device they have intercourse with a woman, and are unable to withdraw long after coitus, for women are so addicted and fin delight in it despite shedding much blood and receiving other injuries. These devices are called sagras…” (Rizal-Morga 1992, 289-290).

If we will try doing a psychological analysis by hindsight through the collective unconscious according to Carl Jung, women who pursue prostitution (and are likely aware of the colonial past despite hundreds of years of suppression) are likely to willingly show this particular behavior. (8). Since earlier in our pre-colonial life we were sexually active in pursuing our desires then it is ingrained in our subconscious mind of what we were before. This is better commented on by the eminent Philippinologist Ferdinand Blumentritt who, in reproduction, stated that “…[v]irginity is not a virtue, for the girls easily give themselves up to any of their lovers, and only a small number of them are still virgin when they are brought before the altar for marriage. This may still be blamed on the time when there were still pagans and when virginity was not prized… Prostitution is present. [italics ours]." (Reyes 2008, 201).

If So, What’s New with Us Then?

Looking at how our pre-colonial culture practices a free mode of sexuality, we find that virginity is not given importance because it is deemed relative to a society which, though definitely pagan, is not necessarily to be considered heathen due to their views on the goodness of fertility and primacy of development. Such ideas, being deemed immoral and unworthy of Christian values, morals and lifestyle drove, the Spanish colonizers to habituate us in a belief of consistent sexual repression, therefore resulting in a Filipino woman to be more innocent, chaste, and having great esteem for herself. (9). However, this isn’t that much true in the colonial Philippines because of prostitution and prostitution itself didn’t carry a social stigma during the time (Bankoff 1996, 43). This means that people do not see prostitutes, who commit adultery and pornography most of their time, as a set of people who must be sanctioned but as a normal set of people just living their daily lives. Prostitution, as the norms of society would show base from evidence, was to be tolerated but should be regulated. Therefore, Christianity hasn’t fully been inculcated in the culture of the Filipinos because they still have their primitive sexual life within them and that is why prostitutes weren’t given a social stigma.

It might be probably an exaggeration, but it appears that we as a people seems to haven’t been in terms with our notions of sexuality and, as such, are not able to understand the context by which our ancestors come from. True, the majority of Filipinos’ scruples and Catholic upbringing seems to have a love-hate relationship with our mixed culture due to our desire to find our true identity as Filipinos, sons of this long-fragmented country, and yet cannot depart from the indoctrinations that more than four hundred years of foreign intervention has impressed on us. As such, we cannot understand how, as gleaned from experiences with issues regarding sexuality, we abhor prostitution and other “indecencies” yet in our consciousness we actually desire to know more about them.

Michel Foucault, in recognizing this dilemma, seems to offer a challenging solution:

… [W]e must not refer a history of sexuality to the agency of sex; but rather show how “sex” is historically subordinate to sexuality… It is the agency of sex that we must break away from, if we aim – through a tactical reversal of the various mechanisms of sexuality – to counter the grips of power with the claims of bodies, pleasure and knowledges, in their multiplicity and their possibility of resistance. The rallying point of the counterattack against the deployment of sexuality ought not to be sex-desire, but bodies and pleasure. (Foucault 1990, 157).

Considering prostitution as a crime and a menace to society is inevitably tied up with the logic and understanding of the colonizing Western culture. To comprehend through Oriental point of view (that is, the perspective of our ancestors) the significance of prostitution in Philippine society, we must look at the phenomenon of prostitution as an offshoot of our culture of sexual freedom, albeit a twisted means of resistance against the prevailing puritanical hegemony. If we are to consider our colonization as instrumental in fabricating our present Filipino culture, some might deem it right that we consign this “orgasmic” period of our history in the shadows, as it is a “shameful” spot in our national family tree. However, doing so blindly will also indicate our inability to come to terms with an aspect of the past we seek and wish to glorify. Doing so, we will be unable to use it to chart our future. Prostitution is a recorded and persisting part of Filipino life then until now, and the exploitative nature of the trade obscures the call for the liberation of sexuality. How we will deal with it is a reflection of the changing perspectives we have as a people, as a community, and as a nation.

Endnotes:
  1. The Ayala Museum has exhibited recently various excavations of gold ornaments made by pre-colonial Filipinos and implements made of porcelain and precious stones from China and differing countries from Southeast Asia. (Ayala Museum, “Exhibitions - Gold of Ancestors,” and “Exhibitions – A Millennium of Contact,” , accessed 20 May 2009).
  2. Such a belief will be echoed centuries later by philosopher Michel Foucault when, in making a differentiation between scientia sexualis and ars erotica, he would criticize the controlling power of the pastoral as a means of habituating the body, stifling it into “docile bodies” which reduces sex as a tool of production, stifling the body’s means of expression. As an illustration of this, he writes: “Up to the end of the eighteenth century, three major explicit codes – apart from the customary regularities and constraints of opinion – governed sexual practices: canonical law, the Christian pastoral, and the civil law. They determined, each in its own way, the division between licit and illicit. They were all centered on matrimonial relations: the marital obligation, the ability to fulfil it, the manner in which one complied with it, the requirements and violences that accompanied it, the useless or unwarranted caresses for which it was a pretext, its fecundity or the way one went about making it sterile, the moments when one demanded it (dangerous periods of pregnancy or breast-feeding, forbidden times of Lent or abstinence), its frequency or infrequency, and so on.” (Foucault 1990, 31).
  3. Blair and Robertson Vol. 40, 254.
  4. Camagay 1995, Appendix F, 184 & 186. In the records of prostitutes during the years 1862-1879 from the Philippine National Archives, a pescador (fisherman) named Faustino Nicolas, unmarried at 35 years of age, was the sole male prostitute.
  5. As an added note to this phenomenon, the Marquis de Ayerbe would write that “[t]ambien huyeron unas cuatrocientas mujeres de mal vivir que quedaron abandonadas por la marcha del ejercito ingles (also, about four hundred women of ill-repute were forced to flee Manila after they were abandoned by the English Army),” suggesting that the English invaders were procuring prostitutes for their own relaxation after the fall of Manila. (Joaquin de Urries 1897, 130).
  6. As early as 1591, then-Governor General Gomez Perez Dasmarinas has acknowledged and informed his lower officials within Manila that most of the indios were supposedly “addicted to theft and licentiousness, and the women were ready to sell their persons.” As such, it might be, to the consternation of the Orders and to the insult and detriment of the native Filipinos, that prostitution was propagated within the colonized settlements. (Blair and Robertson, Vol. 8, 81).
  7. It is not an isolated case. Up to today, many still have misconceptions with regards to the purpose of the Vedic Kama Sutra of India, thinking of perversions when in fact it was made for the maintenance of a lawful relationship.
  8. “Carl Jung.” Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia. (accessed 24 May 2009).
  9. It is no accident, it seems, that in recognizing the free sexuality of the pre-colonial Filipinos one would recall to mind our supposed epitome of Filipina virginity: Jose Rizal’s Maria Clara from the Noli Me Tangere. However, her somewhat aberrant and highly-repressed (and therefore sexually-tense) behavior at the mention of her beloved puts this idea to doubt, affirming our thesis on repression breeding more deviant behavior like prostitution.

Bibliography:

Agoncillo, Teodoro A. History of the Filipino People. 8th ed. Quezon City: GaroTech, 1990.

Ayala Museum, “Exhibitions - Gold of Ancestors,” (accessed 20 May 2009).

____________, “Exhibitions – A Millennium of Contact,” (accessed 20 May 2009).

Bankoff, Greg. Crime, Society, and the State in the Nineteenth-Century Philippines. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University, 1996.

Blair, Emma Helen and James Alexander Robertson. The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803. With historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord Bourne. Cleveland, Ohio: A.H. Clark, 1903-09. 55 vols.: ill., maps, ports

Camagay, Ma. Luisa T. “Prostitution in Manila during the 19th Century”, in Philippine Studies Volume 36, Third Quarter. Ateneo de Manila University: 1988, pp. 241-255. (cited as Camagay 1988)

___________________. Working Women of Manila in the 19th Century. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press andthe University Center for Women’s Studies, 1995. (cited as Camagay 1995)

“Carl Jung.” Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia. (accessed 24 May 2009).

Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: An Introduction. New York: Vintage/Random House, 1990.

Joaquin, Nick. Culture and History. Pasig: Anvil, 2004.

Joaquin de Urries, Pedro, marqués de Ayerbe. Sitio y conquista de Manila por los Ingleses en 1762. Zaragoza, 1897.

Liao, Shubert, Ph. D. "How the Chinese Lived in the Philippines from 1570-1898" in Chinese Participation in Philippine Culture and Economy. Shubert Liao, Ph. D., ed. Makati City: The Ford Foundation, 1964.

Morga, Antonio de. Historical Events of the Philippine Islands, Published in Mexico in 1609 recently brought into light and Annotated by Jose Rizal. Preceded by a Prologue by Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt. Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1962. (cited as Rizal-Morga 1992)

Pigafetta, Antonio. “Pigafetta’s Account, 1521” in The Philippines at the Spanish Contact. F. Landa Jocano, ed. Quezon City: R.P. Garcia, 1975. (cited as Pigafetta 1521)

Ocampo, Ambeth R. Bonifacio’s Bolo. Pasig: Anvil, 1995. (cited as Ocampo-BB 1995)

________________. Bones of Contention: The Bonifacio Lectures. Pasig: Anvil, 2001. (cited as Ocampo-BOC 2001).

Reyes, Raquel. Love, Passion and Patriotism: Sexuality and the Philippine Propaganda Movement, 1882-1892. Singapore: NUSP, 2008.

Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon, 1978.

Terami-Wada, Motoe. "Karayuki-San of Manila: 1890-1920," in Philippine Studies Volume 34, Third Quarter. Ateneo de Manila University: 1986, pp. 287-316.

Tiongson, Corazon R. and Boy Scout of the Philippines. Two Minority Groups in the Philippine Society: A study on ethnic relations. Manila: Committee on National Solidarity, 1973. (cited as Tiongson 1973).



Creative Commons License
NOT SO DEMURE: Philippine Prostitution in the Spanish Colonial Era in Light of Pre-Colonial Notions of Sexuality by Jon Andre Vergara and Hansley Juliano is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Philippines License.
Based on a work at kalisnglawin.blogspot.com.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

WALANG KUMPARE (Part 1)

WALANG KUMPARE: An Analysis of Local Government Units’ Role in the Current Politico-Economic Crisis and How To Mobilize Against an Arroyo-sponsored Con-Ass

(First of a series)

Leon Trotsky once mentioned how, despite the growing apathy of many people towards political processes, the complexities of political participation loom above everyone and are desirous of including them in it. In a liberal-democratic situation such as which the Philippines possesses, there is this desire to stay away from being involved in governmental undertakings in the desire to undermine the intrusion to their private and personal prospects, unknowingly alienating themselves to the ideal of communal activity and, in a way, an affirmation of themselves. It is no surprise, therefore, that repressive regimes have done well in preserving this order of assemblages in order to perpetuate themselves into power and, therefore, maintain their definite advantage over the majority of the population of the country, recalling to mind the Thrasymachean doctrine of justice being the advantage of the stronger.

In this light, we can somehow understand why there is a growing feeling of distance, if not outright disdain, for participation in issues of national importance. With the current train of thought and ethic of living tending towards selfishness (historian Teodoro Agoncillo would lament that “ang mga tao pag gumawa ang iniisip lagi, sikmura” [they only think of work for sating themselves]), it is noticeable that concern or dependence on the government manifest somewhat solely on the issue of dole-outs and influence-peddling. Former Representative of the 1st District of Tarlac, now Secretary for National Defense, Gilbert Teodoro would share how his fellow citizens, being tampurista or sensitive, should be “give[n] importance… Personal attention means a lot… Normally I am asked for job recommendations, there are a lot of people without jobs. But sometimes they even ask me to talk to teachers to pass their children who failed in school.” (Coronel 2, 2004, 114). That our institutions are experiencing severe cases of red tape, bringing out disproportionate results, produce and ill-implemented policies, shows how it is somewhat necessary to get to the root of the current political culture, if at least in order to pave a way to temper down the negative effects and improve such cases.

Inasmuch as the socialist view of political engagement dissuades any fetish for the analysis of what can be conveniently termed, for this elementary writing, as “micro-politics,” taking into account the necessity of dissecting the miniscule units of the political order is imperative in our analysis of the Philippine state. With this, it is good and worthy to consider and review the proposition of Michel Foucault with regards to the peculiarities and pervasive nature of power in the post-modern societies characterized by diffused centers of power, which follows a

…micro-physics presupposes that the power exercised on the body is conceived not as a property, but as a strategy, that its effects of domination are attributed not to ‘appropriation’, but to dispositions, manoeuvres, tactics, techniques, functionings; that one should decipher in it a network of relations, constantly in tension, in activity, rather than a privilege that one might possess; that one should take as its model a perpetual battle rather than a contract regulating a transaction or the conquest of a territory. (Foucault 1978, 26)

The disciplinary model being the dominant paradigm in postmodern societies, it is a useful tool in studying and, through this brief overview, dissecting the Philippine nation-state apparatus which is alleged to be composed of “feudal institutions, modern economies and post-modern perspectives.” Having a historical background of living as various petty kingdoms, with a paltry few analogies to the European fiefdoms prior to the centralized Spanish colonial government, they have been resurrected and inaugurated through the new provisions of the current constitution as Local Government Units (LGUs) starting from the provincial board headed by a Governor to the level of the traditional barangay. We might think of this public structures as created for efficiency and viability, but recent case studies (which will be shown in detail below) will show us that they have become highly infected, still, by the traditional modes of sovereign power due to the inherently sovereign means of governance practiced by local officials. That political patronage is still the norm in current modes of public administration shows us how our so-called “democratic institutions” have failed the desire and aspirations of the Filipino people for a truly representative, efficient and empowering nation-state.

In the recently-inaugurated desperate attempt of the current administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (through the machinations of their allies in the House of Representatives) to alter the Philippine Constitution through a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass), various sectors, both private and public, have voiced out their dissent and indignation against this blatant disregard to legality and the will of the people. However, it cannot be denied that the uproar is still mobilized in the centralized urban areas where political participation at least has ground. Rural and recently-urbanized areas have yet to express such dissatisfaction, more so they seem to be beholden to the administration due in part to favours given and developmental practices “initiated” in shady and dubious means, mostly even detrimental to the national economy but such information withheld from the people.

We therefore have to acknowledge the fact that despite claims to the contrary and the countless compromises made, the government has been traditionally composed of the Filipino elite sectors, specifically the legislature where they are usually composed of select “male, middle aged, and college educated, most likely with a degree in law. [They have] previously held a local government post and is a member of a political family, with a sibling, father or a grandfather who has been voted into public office. There is one chance in two [they are] related to a former legislator... The typical representative therefore is not the typical Filipino, who is likely to be below 35, with a few years of high-school education and annual family income of about P 150,000.” [Italics mine.] (Coronel 2, 2004, 4). That it is already general knowledge how the phenomenon of elite exclusivity in the House of Representatives has seeped to the roots of local public administration demands a thorough survey of these various cases and thus, formulate means for action from and for the people to combat it and, if opportunities would allow it, overthrow such systems.

It is therefore our desire in this brief study to analyze the nature of Local Government Units and pinpoint their role in the current dysfunctional model of political patronage, nepotistic rule and inefficiently-sovereign systems. The issue on Con-Ass is an advantageous starting point from which we can begin making and propagating new modes of organization to assert democratic processes. Through striking at the root of the problematic patronizing tree, we can see how to exterminate extraneous non-democratic processes from our institutions yet still promote working and effective systems of governance.

(to be continued)

References:

Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Translated from the French by Alan Sheridan. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1977).

Coronel, Shiela S. “Houses of Privilege” in The Rulemakers: How the Wealthy and Well-born Dominate Congress. By Shiela S. Coronel, Yvonne T. Chua, Luz Rimban, Booma B. Cruz. Quezon City: PCIJ, 2004, 3-43. (cited as Coronel 1).

_____________. “Born to Rule” in The Rulemakers: How the Wealthy and Well-born Dominate Congress. By Shiela S. Coronel, Yvonne T. Chua, Luz Rimban, Booma B. Cruz. Quezon City: PCIJ, 2004, 44-117. (cited as Coronel 2).

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