Kislap

Alay kay R.D. at ipinapautang ko rin kay Patrick Manalo para kay R.R.

Kayo pa rin ang hinahanap-hanap kong sibulan ng tanglaw
Kahit napalilibutan na ako ng mga de-kuryenteng dagitab
Kahit hindi nawawala ang mga sinag kahit sa kadiliman ng gabi...

Sapagka't kayo'y malayo't hindi naaabot ng aming mga kamay
Sapagka't kayo'y hindi nanununog ng mga kapitbahay
Sapagka't kayo'y nagpapaligaya sa napapanglaw na paslit
Sapagka't kayo'y nagbabantay sa mga kawawang yagit
Sapagka't kayo'y mga tuldok ng apoy na sakdal init
Na iginuhit ang larawan ng aking mahal sa langit.

Dahil kayo ang sibulan at tungo ng pangarap
Ng mga mundong papasibol at magbibigay-buhay
Dahil kayo ang hantungan at huling hinagap
Ng mga daigdig na patapos na ang panahon at alay

Kayong mga bituing walang magagawa
Kundi ang magningning at bigyan kami ng gabay na tala
Kayong mga bituing siyang nagtatakda
Ng tadhana ng wala, kundi ng alaala;
Sana'y ang isa sa inyo'y lumiit
At dumalaw dito sa aming daigdig
At hayaan akong siya'y isilid sa isang lamparang di mababasag
Upang ihandog sa musang aking nililiyag.

IN THE NAME OF PATRIA: Nationalism and Modernity as Haunted Romance

We agree that modernity, in its basic structurization of its understanding of history, is predisposed to deny the propensity of man to revert to an understanding of time as somewhat without bounds, determined by the seasons, without predictability and therefore should be viewed with caution and preparation whenever possible. Modernity, in seeking to make history its pet, has sought to fetter it with countless chains (reminiscent of Rousseau’s fatally misguided description of what supposedly the state of man is) to make it more understandable, more easy supposedly to understand, and to put it to its logical extremes, deploy it as a means of controlling warm bodies for the purposes of fevered brains. And it is in these fevered brains that are born the notion of a community beyond the local, what the national is deemed to be. Benedict Anderson opens the second chapter of his seminal Imagined Communities thusly (2006, 9):

Why this harkening back to the images of the spectre? Why, one might ask, should we characterize the discourse of nationalism (or nation-building, for that matter) in terms of its ability to inspire feelings of hallowedness or haunted-ness? Perhaps we can take the argument of Rolando Tolentino, in his essay Pitong Welgista ang Napatay, which puts into question the sensitivity of love and hatred as being conflated already, the intensity of such emotions so equal in its capacity to imbalance and violate the normal, natural existence of the lover and the beloved that its ambiguity inspires simultaneously, though unconsciously, tremendum et fascinosum which cannot be identified whether it be because of orgasmic pleasure or of horrifying terror. And it is in this light, we shall see, that the spectre that haunts national imagining is that same phenomenon of conflation that presupposes and blurs the dichotomy of love and hatred, this time confusing creation with destruction and how it consists the struggle of the post-colonial being in striving to claim one’s own space in the world.

Using spectres as a metaphor or a conduit of human desire for expression when communication seems impossible is among the characteristics of subversive and emancipatory movements. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels opened the Manifesto of the Communist Party with a foreboding that seems to have been only imagined, conceived and given life in the depths of the hell where the proletariat has been kept bound, “the spectre that haunts Europe, the spectre of communism.” Even our own prime Filipino patriot, Jose Rizal y Mercado, in illustrating the anguish that is experienced by the Creole displaced in mainland Spain and even in the Philippine colony, has chosen to show Ibarra as haunted by the spirit of his wronged father at the throes of mortality, and then later being torn giving the presumed primacy of Madre Patria between Spain and what he feels is his true homeland, the Philippines.

The mirage that is projected through the spectre reeks of something unwelcome, something that has been forcibly eliminated yet is now governed by its own will to return, to manifest oneself once more, and therefore seek to actualize its presence despite its limitations, its non-corporeality. The spectre is there not to simply communicate a message, but seeks to bend the will of those who see it to its bidding, as might be gleaned from the evolution of Hamlet to an incomprehensible, therefore un-“decodable”, and therefore invincible being after conversing with the presumed ghost of his father. As a somewhat perverse embodiment of the Spirit that G. W. F. Hegel has defined as Phenomenon, the person that embodies the blurring of distinction between the world of ideas and the concrete world, the spectre seeks to actualize where it came from, what it is now, and how it shall be in the future in the futility of no longer existing in time but is now one with time. Its desire for communion can no longer be adequately satisfied by finite means, being in a sense going towards the infinite already.

Nationalism as sought to be achieved by former colonies, as a product of modernity, is a rejection of traditions past, traditions which they claim to have been determined for them by their colonial masters. They are operating under the presumption that they, progressing towards an inevitable flow of history, were interrupted in their potential evolution by the meddling of colonial masters. Thus, select emancipatory movements would seek to restore the pre-colonial being that their people have supposedly been in, the pure native condition (again, harkening back to Rousseauvian hallucinations). Yet as Nick Joaquin in Culture and History would argue, the act of intervention, that moment of contact is already an irreversible phenomenon, history being a sequential abstraction in flow with time, which moves forward towards eternity. To claim and attempt to restore the pre-colonial is as presumptuous as Lucifer’s ambition to displace the Creator: the finite attempting to conquer that which is beyond their capacity to even comprehend. Nationalism, therefore, is also haunted by the desire for articulation of an identity, one which, like innocence, once lost, can never be reclaimed in its purest form. One could only seek to renegotiate the relationship between those nationalities that have been “tainted” by the domination of other nationalities, mutually reinforcing their evolution without the certainty of their paths diverging. In a somewhat mundane insight, one could pick out the scalding verses of performer Stefani Germanotta (better known as “Lady Gaga”) as illustrative of a society’s haunted desire to reclaim itself from those who have crossed their way:

I want your ugly, I want your disease
I want your everything as long as it’s free…

I want your horror, I want your design
‘Cuz you’re a criminal as long as you’re mine…

I want your love and I want your revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
I want your love and All your lover’s revenge
You and me could write a bad romance…

In seeking to recognize itself through consciousness, the nation as a corporeal, imagined body is therefore assaulted as well of the inherent trappings of imagined bodies. Despite seeking to establish itself as the patria grande, one can only do so with the grudging tolerance of the patria chicas, the local hometowns. This fiction has been established through the romanticization of natality and even the romanticization of the tomb, and thus can only borrow its hallowedness from the fiction of tombs.

AHAS GALING SA BAUL... NGA BA?

(o kung papaano natin dapat tanawin ang balita ng deklarasyon ng pamahalaang Arroyo ng Batas Militar sa Maguindanao)
ni Hansley A. Juliano

Hindi nilikha ang sulating ito upang magbigay ng kasagutan, kundi upang ilatag ang mga tanong na dapat nating bantayan ang sagot.

Una, sinasabi sa ngayon ng GMA7 News na hindi raw totoo ang balitang ito batay sa pahayag ni Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, nguni't marahil dapat pa rin nating isulat para alam natin kung paano ba talaga marapat tanawin ang paggamit sa Batas Militar sa ating panahon. Iminumungkahi kong kung tinatamad kayo magbasa, laktawan ang mga block quote.

Nabalita lamang ito kamakailan, sa pamamagitan ng ABS-CBN News, na nilagdaan ni Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo nitong gabi ng Disyembre 2 ang kautusang naglalagay sa lalawigan ng Maguindanao sa ilalim ng Batas Militar. Maaari nating sabihing ang trigger sa sitwasyong ito ay ang mga balitang sumambulat kaninang umaga, na ibinabahagi ng Philippine Star:

Amid reports that martial law will be imposed today in Maguindanao, government forces raided several homes of the Ampatuan clan, seizing weapons and ammunition that police said were enough to arm an entire battalion.

On Thursday, military and police teams raided the mansion of Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., principal suspect in the Nov. 23 massacre in Maguindanao, seizing several high-powered guns and stockpiles of ammunition hidden in a compartment under a concrete stairway of the house.

...

The searches went on until yesterday when the raiding teams uncovered more than 260 boxes of ammunition of assorted calibers, 22 assault rifles, customized sniper rifles, handguns and various gun accessories that were buried in a vacant lot adjacent to the houses of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and his father, former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said the number of firearms seized was enough to arm 1,000 troops, or a battalion of soldiers or policemen.

Some of the weapons and crates of ammunition uncovered bore “government arsenal” markings as well as the name of its manufacturer, Arms Corp. of the Philippines (Armscor), with the manufacture date stamped October 2008.

...

Lawmen also unearthed gun replacement parts and several military uniforms at the site about the size of a basketball court.

Verzosa said the search for more weapons is continuing.

ANG SITWASYON: nakatagpo ng lehitimong ebidensya ng mga private army ng mga Ampatuan, na siyang maysala sa naganap na mga pamamaslang sa Maguindanao noong Nobyembre 23. Diumano'y kailangan ng malakas na sangay tagapagpaganap upang madisarmahan ang lahat ng ito. Dulot nito, kailangan maglatag ng Batas Militar sa Maguindanao.

Marahil maraming mga mambabasa, sa pagkarinig sa pariralang "naglalagay... sa ilalim ng Batas Militar," ang posibleng mabigla, magalit, o MAGWALA sa potensyal na ang deklarasyong ito ay kumalat sa iba pang lalawigan, o maski sa buong bansa. Kasabay ng katotohanang tatakbo si Pangulong Arroyo sa pagka-Kinatawan ng Pampanga, marahil mayroon nang naghaharaya na patungo na ito sa posibleng PAX (o mas okey sigurong BELLA) GLORIA. O sa maikli't kolokyal na salita, "ARROYO FOREVER!"

Maski ako ay nabigla at napaisip na pwede na natin sigurong ipapatay ang Pangulong ito. Nguni't baka naman nagiging OA tayo.

Kalikutin natin ang balita mula sa ABS-CBN:

While martial law is in effect, Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, armed forces Eastern Mindanao commander, will take over from Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., one of the suspects in the massacre, as the provincial military governor.

Asked to comment on the report, Presidential Adviser on Mindanao Affairs Jesus Dureza said: "I'll get back to you if there's definite word... Usually, martial law declaration is not announced until action starts on the ground. Otherwise, the purpose and objective is lost..."

Mapupuna mo nang malabung-malabo ang sirkumstansiya o mga pumapalibot na kaganapan sa paglikha nito. Magdududa ka na sa simula pa lang. Hindi na bago ang mga proklamasyong inihayag nang palihim a sa ilalim ng gabi sa rehimeng ito; tandaan ang ilang mga executive order na bigla na lang gumulantang sa ating mga dyaryo pagdating ng umaga. Tandaan ding nagngalit tayo sa paglaban sa Con-Ass na nilakad ng mga Kinatawan nang malapit nang pumalo ang hatinggabi. Marapat ding tandaang MAY STATE OF EMERGENCY SA MAGUINDANAO, SAMAKATUWID HAWAK NA MISMO NG PANGULO ANG PAMAMAHALA DITO. May predisposisyon na tayong paghinalaan at labanan ang anumang sabihin ng pamahalaan dahil napaso na tayo, lagi tayong niloloko, SAWA NA TAYO.

PERO BAKA EMOSYONAL LANG TAYO. Emosyonal dahil nais talaga nating malaman ang buong detalye, dahil pampublikong usapin ito at hindi dapat isinasapribado ang impormasyon.

Batay sa mga probisyon ng Saligang Batas ng 1987:

Section 18. The President shall be the Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces of the Philippines and whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such armed forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion or rebellion. In case of invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it, he may, for a period not exceeding sixty days, suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus or place the Philippines or any part thereof under martial law. Within forty-eight hours from the proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, the President shall submit a report in person or in writing to the Congress. The Congress, voting jointly, by a vote of at least a majority of all its Members in regular or special session, may revoke such proclamation or suspension, which revocation shall not be set aside by the President. Upon the initiative of the President, the Congress may, in the same manner, extend such proclamation or suspension for a period to be determined by the Congress, if the invasion or rebellion shall persist and public safety requires it.

The Congress, if not in session, shall, within twenty-four hours following such proclamation or suspension, convene in accordance with its rules without need of a call.

The Supreme Court may review, in an appropriate proceeding filed by any citizen, the sufficiency of the factual basis of the proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the privilege of the writ or the extension thereof, and must its decision thereon within thirty days from its filing.

Kung paiikliin natin ang sinasabi nito, marapat raw na sa loob 48 na oras pagkadeklara ng Batas Militar ay mapagdesisyunan na ng Kongreso kung pahihintulutan o pipigilin ang pag-iral ng Batas Militar. Kung pigili'y hindi ito puwedeng suwayin ng Pangulo, nguni't kung pahintuluta'y nasa pasya ng Kongreso kung patatagalin o paiikliin. Kung babalikan natin ang sinabi ni Tagapagsalita ng Kapulungan Prospero Nograles mula sa balita ng ABS-CBN News:

Nograles said: "Martial law can be impractical at this time as it requires the approval of Congress, which will most likely have difficulty mustering a quorum due to the holidays and the election season. Even if we have a quorum, I don't think our senators and congressmen will favor this because it will certainly cause public uproar which can endanger their reelection bid."

"A limited state of emergency in Maguindanao and nearby provinces is sufficient to address the problem related to the Maguindanao massacre," he added.

Lumalabas, masyadong problematiko kung pagpapasyahan ng Kongreso ito diumano sa panahon ng halalan. Nguni't hindi marahil malayong isipin na nagpapalusot lamang ang mga Kongresistang ito dahil ayaw na nila maabala, at papabayaan na lamang na naman nila ang bayang hindi nila pinaglilingkuran. Subali't tandaang tila wala ring alternatibong chain of command na maaaring sumalo sakaling hindi nga makapagpulong ang Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan. Samakatuwid, MAY PROBLEMA RING KONSTITUSYONAL. Nguni't hintayin natin ang pasya ng mga may kaalaman sa batas konstitusyonal, katulad ni P. Joaquin Bernas, S.J.

Ang pangunahing dapat nating gawin ay hindi ang magwala sa terminong BATAS MILITAR na para bang isang multo, kundi magtanong kung HINDI BA TALAGA SUKAT PA ANG ISANG STATE OF EMERGENCY? Hindi ba maaaring maglatag at mag-organisa na lamang ng Komisyong Tagapamahala ng mga may kakayanan sa public administration na walang kiling partisano, at hindi na gumamit ng puwersa ng armas? Kung sasabihing OA ANG MAMAMAYAN MAG-REACT, HINDI BA MAS OA ANG SOLUSYONG ITO?

At magtataka ka: ang pinaglilinis ng kalat na ito ay ang mismong institusyong maysala dito: ANG SANDATAHANG LAKAS. Kung lumalabas na parehong maysala sa sabwatan ang mga Ampatuan at ang Sandatahang Lakas, bakit hindi sila parehong patawan ng naglilimita ng kapangyarihan?

Nguni't muli, ako'y nagtatanong lamang para sa isang sambayanang nilubog sa kamangmangan sa batas.

Sa isang kalagayan na naglalabo-labo ang mga probisyon ng batas sa ganitong pagkakataon, hindi madaling maglatag ng pasya. Ito lamang ang alam natin: KAILANGAN MAWASAK ANG MGA PRIVATE ARMY. KAILANGAN MAWALA ANG ISANG SISTEMANG SULTANISTIKO. Pero kahina-hinala na isang di-demokratikong solusyon ang sagot sa isang di-demokratikong problema. Ang ating dapat gawin: MAGHINTAY, MAGBANTAY, UMUNAWA.

Sulit

Sulit na ang masigaw-sigawan ng gurong madaling makalimot ng iniisip
Basta alam niyang meron kang natututunan at mukha kang nag-iisip
Sulit na ang magsalita nang hindi ka binibigyan ng dagdag na puntos
Tutal hindi ang markado ang pangmatagalang sukat ng galing.
Sulit na ang magkandalintik-lintik na ang isip ko sa pagbabasa
Lalo't ang babaunin namang pang-unawa'y panghabambuhay
Sulit na ang maubusan ng baong wala sa oras sa pamimili
Pagka't ang paglalaanan naman ay siyang pinakahuli
Sulit na ang magkasalubong at mamasdan ang iyong ngiti...
Dahil oo nga naman pala, kahit hindi ako, pag-ibig mananatili.

Welcoming and Living Through the Season of Advent

As members of the Roman Catholic Church, we are invited to another year of service and living out the commandments of God through his son Jesus Christ. We define Advent, as per Newadvent.org, as the season which begins the Liturgical year. We quote:

During this time the faithful are admonished

• to prepare themselves worthily to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord's coming into the world as the incarnate God of love,
• thus to make their souls fitting abodes for the Redeemer coming in Holy Communion and through grace, and
• thereby to make themselves ready for His final coming as judge, at death and at the end of the world.

In many ways, Advent, if we are going to take to heart the implications and the traditions which are embedded in Catholic faith, is not at all characterized by the highly-materialisti c, highly-consumptive and highly-promiscuous (I will justify the usage of such words) sashaying and bacchanalia of wastage and consumption that almost if not all our media advertisements and shopping malls have led us to believe. Advent, in a sense, is not supposed to be about a feast: it is about trembling, about anxiety, about an urgency to reform one's life in light of being a resident of the world's "valley of tears." The onslaught of Christmas is not about the reindeers, it is not about Saint Nicholas (who by the way was already stricken off the Calendar of Saints), it is not about the mistletoes where all our hormanal imbalances are let loose, it is ESPECIALLY NOT ABOUT GIFTS, but about looking at how destitute our lives, whether we be materially sufficient, overflowing, or lacking, without the grace of God moving us into this Earthly existence.

To observe Advent, in a sense, is not at all to be deluded into memories of childhood innocence nor an excuse to affluence. In fact, we are invited to put away our vanities, our desires, and try looking at what we have done to merit being part of the Holy Catholic Church. The I, as invited to participate in Advent, should not find relaxation in Advent from the cyclical and day-to-day activities. In fact, Advent should be an evaluative and formative period: looking back at how we fared as Christians, what we have accomplished doing, where we have failed or faltered, and what could be done to remedy them and/or to go further what we have accomplished.

It is not surprising, given our concupiscence, that we shall find in most of our actions failures to reach out and live out what Christ really means and asks us to be. But this should not discourage us. We should always strive to improve, labor, work and act (the last three words having a lot of differences as Hannah Arendt, a Jew, in her book The Human Condition has outlined; the first for sustenance, the second for utility, and the third for community-building) . It is a tiring and demanding experience, yes, but then again salvation from our sinful condition was never easy to begin with. St. Augustine was not alien to it and wholly embraced it, as in this paraphrase by Bukas Palad:

Kay tagal bago Kita minahal
Gandang sinauna at sariwa
Akong nilikha Mo, uuwi rin sa 'Yo
Ako'y papayapa lamang sa piling Mo

But I do not, at all, attempt to depress the living daylights out of everyone with what I am saying. We do acknowledge our Lord Jesus's pronouncement himself that our laboring should be done with a smile and joyful praise to God. But the danger of always of thinking about what is joyful in the Catholic life might blind us to the necessary pains and sacrifices it entails, as what most of us who are still very much stunted in the Faith are prone to be. In seeking the joys and pleasures of life, we have traded off the road less traveled but should be for salvation and righteousness. There must be balance, indeed. We must remember, as John 3:16 immortally reminds us that God sent his only begotten son to save us and grant us eternal life. Therefore, in the same way we shall prepare all our gifts to our beloveds, we should also prepare ourselves for the accounting of Christ with regards to our duties as our brothers' and sisters' keepers.