I agree with Tito Sotto! Changing names etc.

Photo not mine: CTTO

I agree with Sen. Tito Sotto. Our national anthem is up for an update. It's a million years old and the lyrics especially the last line speaks of a romantic era where dying in a revolution against the colonial oppressors is the ultimate sacrifice patriots could do for their country. Would you die for your country? Me?  Hell, no! It's not fun.

Filipino politicians have the propensity to change things especially ones they can legislate easily. They love changing the names of streets, avenues, buildings, towns, provinces after names of their long departed relatives or political allies. I guess it's all about name recall, or vicarious immortality where they want their heritage, in this case surnames, perpetuated.

Take the case of the Municipality of Montalban, Rizal. My mother had an uncle who lived there and we visited the place maybe three times and the town was beautiful then, the mountains, the river where we bathe, and the myth of Bernardo Carpio were the main attraction of the place. 

Artwork not mine: CTTO

I was told that all earthquakes emanates from Montalban and that there were two giant boulders colliding with Bernardo Carpio trapped in the middle trying to prevent the rocks from crushing himself. He was cursed to do this Sisyphean task because he fell in love with the wrong lady. 

The mythical giant is still alive, according to folklore,  and the earthquakes occur every time Carpio shakes his shoulder. I guess his shoulder shakes created the west valley fault. nah, just kidding. Its the other way around. The area where Bernardo Carpio was supposed to be trapped is in the west valley fault which explains the legend of the origin of the earthquakes.

Montalban does not exist anymore, instead in its place the Municipality of Rodriguez emerged. What happens when the name of a town is changed?

A lot. The myths, the historical references, traditions,  the romance it evokes, so many things that are intertwined with the name. I guess it's like meeting a person you know as Charice introducing herself/himself as Zyrus. The person changed too.

I had the chance to visit Montalban a few years ago and I was a bit disappointed to see the hundreds of vacant/abandoned row houses project in place of the once forested feet of the mountains. 

The sad thing is, the Rodriguez Family is a virtually forgotten and they are hardly remembered in most of Rizal Province except in the isolated municipality of Rodriguez. I hope the provincial board has seen their errors and return the municipality's name to Montalban.

Politicians should be the last thing to consider when naming public places, buildings, parks etc. History, aboriginal names, folk tradition, municipal identity, fruits, animal, insects, rock formations, etc. aa lot of names that evokes natural beauty, myths and palates, to choose from. 

Politicians names should be there at the bottom of the list of names along with the obscene and the sexually explicit. In fact sewers and water treatment plants, drug rehab centers, nuclear plants, mine shafts, etc. should be named after them.,

Where was I?

 The Lyrics, nah, I was joking. The lyrics needs no changing, its the senator and the people in the government who betray the government that needs changing, in fact, all of us needs changing.

Martial Law: Fact in the books, the truth in experience

Tomorrow, September 21, 2016 is the 44th anniversary of the declaration of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos. 

I was born in 1972, a martial law baby. My clear memory of the 70's, I was enrolled in the Kindergarten, 1977. Taytay then was a rural town with acres of rice lands and plenty of vacant lots, not crowded like today. You could go out of the house with the door open and not fear anything would be stolen. This was because most of the people in the neighborhood knew each other that went back generations, so the relations goes beyond being neighbors, it's almost family.

Growing up in the martial law era and a child at that, it's impossible for me to have an idea of what life was before the declaration, I could make no comparison, but all I knew was I grew up in a relatively peaceful environment. 

But there's one thing that I remember about the 70's, the curfew. I was forbidden by my parents to go out of the house when darkness comes. I am told that policemen and soldiers kidnap children and put them into jails.

But the curfew scare was really unnecessary because it was rare to see children playing outside the house. Well, for one, there's no street lighting except on the highways. 

Also, the TV, every time President Marcos spoke all the TV channels would stop regular broadcast and air his speech. Other than that, I don't have bad memories of martial law. I was in  grade school, so, I guess I'm still innocent.

My parents were simple folks. My father was a heavy equipment operator and my mother was a plain housewife. We live in a small house. We had no business and had no properties to speak of like the rest of millions of ordinary Filipinos. We were not rich but I never felt we were impoverished, at least we ate regularly and went to school regularly. Life was simple, as long as there's work, as long as there's food, life goes on. 

I guess to common Filipinos then, life is what is lived. Marcos, it could not be denied, did accomplished a lot of good projects. 

Many Filipinos do not have a bad feeling about martial law it's because it didn't affect them directly. And millions of Filipinos still speak of Marcos with admiration, my mother included. try to ask your parents and grandparents, and see for yourself.

Whatever freedom martial law curtailed like freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, sequestration of businesses etc. for most of the common Filipino laborer, these things are beyond them. I mean, imagine what the common laborer talk about. Whenever I tag along my father to his work, the talk was usually about the project, beers, basketball, etc. Common folks engaging in common conversation, what is freedom of speech to them?

Of course, for the victims of martial law it's a different story. They have every right to be angry. They have every right to tell, to educate people. But to the common Filipino who lived in peace during the martial law, they have different stories. They are not victims and I don't think they will think of themselves as ever being victims and they will not be convinced as being victims of martial law. They have different experiences. To many, martial law is good but for most, martial law is neither good nor bad. And this drives the anti-martial law people nuts because they find that it's getting more and more difficult to  proselytize to people the evils of martial law. Their call for vigilance is an anachronism.

I guess in the long run, time will come, and I hope it would, that martial law will just be another fact in our history.

Anyway, I always thought that historians, like grammarians, are supposed to describe and not prescribe. So, start writing facts and leave the search for truth to the philosophers.

Me, I don't care Marcos, Cory, Pnoy etc.. One of the best years of my life was during the martial law era--childhood. 

Alyas Robin Hood and why it's not good and Julio Valiente makisig na lalake

This meme has made the rounds on Facebook and the picture says it all. This "new" TV series is a genuine rip-off of DC's "Arrow". 

I have always complained--its obvious by the way--that our local superheroes are direct copies of American superheroes. There's Darna=Wonderwoman. Gagamboy=Spiderman, Captain Barbell=Shazam, etc. 

Now, here comes Alyas Robin Hood, which from the title alone proudly flaunted it's lack of originality. 

Okay, what's my problem here?

The hero looks like Oliver Quinn and not Robin Hood. Hood is an English folk hero. His story is well known. 

Judging from the title alone, I guess the story would be, hmmm, like that of Robin Hood. Steal from rich, give to the poor, and a few garnish and spices here and there, and what you have is Robin Hood. 

Now, how do you re-tell a new-old story that would interest the viewers without the viewers realizing that what they are watching is an old-new story? Maybe give Robin Hood a few tweaks like he could be a lesbian, or a helpless and demure lady during the day and a tough WWE thief-archer at night, or he could be a tough-thief-archer at night and a gay masseur during the day. 

Instead...

Why not create a TV series about a purely Filipino fictional hero. Instead of re-inventing and re-hashing and re-heating foreign heroes, why not go local! Carlo J, Caparas' "Julio Valiente" is a good example of a local fictional hero. Of course, the secret identity thing is copied from most American and foreign fictional heroes, but at least Caparas tried to infuse Filipino in Valiente. 

The guy wears a salakot and uses a cloth-guided-heat-seeking dual bolo, which judging from the movie, is capable tracking and taking down villains at an effective range of ten meters.

Valiente's blades are made from an adamantine (wolverines claw is made from adamantine) like metal capable of splitting bullets.

I have to admit, Valiente's story line is unmistakably inspired by Zorro, but at least there's an attempt to Filipinize him.

Of all the weapons , they have opted for  the English long bow. But Filipinos do not have long bows. It is not our main weapon. In fact, historically speaking, bows were not even mentioned as weapons used by our patriots against the Spaniards and the Americans, considering that they offer more range than the itaks and the bolos which was the main weapon of the indios.

I have nothing against the English long bow and we do have our own bows but at the very least, the network or whoever is in charge of GMA's TV entertainment section should have thought of a native Filipino weapon like the bolo or arnis. 

Why not arm the hero with our own bolo, which the American soldiers found very effective in close combat. The bolo proved its worth during the Second World war when used as a close combat weapon. In fact, the Germans had the surprise of their lives when their bayonets were met by a meter long cleaver like blade. During WWII an American Negro soldier named  Henry Johnson was able to fend off and kill bayonet wielding German raiders using a Filipino bolo knife. So, if the foreigners admires our local weapons, why not use this as the weapon of choice? Like Valiente. 

Or arnis.

Anyway, TV could be used as powerful tool to promote our culture but instead of doing that, they do this.

American coconut, Spanish Hermit and why Digong made me think about foreign policy stuff

I was a young boy when I had my first experience of seeing white Americans. They looked big, huge, tall and they wore ties. While they were walking down our street, I saw many children my age following them, touching them while flashing a "V" sign and shouting  "Victory Joe!" 

Because it looked fun, I too joined in following the pied pipers.  The Americans were smiling and some even threw candies to the children.

This was the late 70's and many World War II veterans were still alive to tell stories of the war and the "liberation". The Americans were the hero and MacArthur was venerated as a national hero and his famous promise "I shall return" had become part of the  everyday Filipino language. 

Look at how small they look at us.

In the 80's, when our family converted to the Southern Baptist denomination and my father became a Baptist pastor our home had frequent American visitors. Baptist missionaries who were planting churches in Rizal often worked with my father doing evangelistic crusades and Bible studies. Back then, I had this experience of awe whenever these missionaries came into house. I admit I felt proud then; I felt important as I saw my neighbors looked in awe at the white foreigners coming in and out of our house. Even up to now there are still neighbors who remember the American missionary Jack Branan, my father's friend, who used to frequent our house.

Americans easily open Filipino doors then, I guess the GI Joes of the war were still revered by the adults of the time who were mostly war veterans and those who were old enough to witness the liberation and the war reparation and reconstruction led by the American soldiers and engineers.

My parents and siblings have developed friendships with these missionaries. They were good Americans and have been great help in providing spiritual, medical, and other help to the Filipinos.

But time has changed. About three decades ago, I had this hundred year old looking neighbor who told me war stories and how his brother died when the Americans liberated Manila from the Japanese. I was amazed by the way he spoke because his Tagalog was interspersed with Spanish words. I found out that one of his parents was a Spaniard and his brother and sister in law, who was also a neighbor, both spoke Spanish too which made them very ancient in my eyes, from the Conquestadores era. 

From the Old Man, I heard a different story. A story so opposite from what I was used to hear that I had difficult time processing it. To him, the Americans were the villains. It was the Americans who dragged the Philippines into the war. World War II was not our war, it was the white men's war. He was quite literate and knowledgeable which was surprising because he looked rugged. Then I realized then, at a young age, that history and stories were not what they were at all. There was always the other side. There were a lot of truths in his words and since then I had read a few works about history and the war, how the Americans colonized us and how they introduced a lot of good things into the country but the cost especially with the introduction of their culture and values and the displacement of our's almost destroyed our cultural identity. Our language reflected this, obviously, we speak neither pure English nor pure Filipino.

Anyway...

The Americans (i.e. the government) must have been dazed and confused by the insolence of President Digong. They must not have imagined that their " little brown monkey brothers" would suddenly snarl and bark at them. The US  is  used to Philippines presidents who automatically aligned their policies to the American's. But here comes Digong who it seems is aligning the with the US mortal enemies, Russia and China. 

Why? I am offering my guesses here. Digong knew that in this South China Sea conflict, the US needs the Philippines more than the Philippines needs the US. 

I remember when Obama visited the Philippines during the Aquino administration, a reporter asked Obama if the US would defend the Philippines once attacked by China and Obama answered in a most obscure and vaguest manner that the US would think about it, all those fancy words amounted to this synopsis. Which is really what the US has been all about when it comes to its mutual defense treaty  with RP. This was the time when Pnoy was fighting off the Chinese incursion by threatening to invoke the automatic reprisal in the RP- US mutual defense treaty. It was embarrassing to see our president almost begging the Americans to send in their ships and ousts the Chinese off Scarborough shoal and out of our Exclusive Economic Zone.

Now things have changed. The Americans have taken for granted the Philippines plea for help and have dillydallied for so long that when they found the Chinese have established themselves in the South china Sea and that their interest is threatened, they sent their armadas to conduct regular right of passage patrol, costly. But the truth hurts for them, the Chinese have already established control. It must be insulting for the Americans to hear high pitched Chinese voices telling them that they are in Chinese territory. 

Where would these ships dock if the Philippines deny them ports. 

Anyway...I'm way over my head here, just getting rid of thoughts here and there.

Where's the haunted house? Taytay's fast disappearing old houses.

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Motorcycling to the old Taytay market to buy stuffs for lunch, out of nowhere I was hit by nostalgia when I saw this ruins. Here once stood one of the beautiful houses in downtown Taytay. It used to have large trees and palms in the yard and the gargoyles standing guard on top of every column of the iron wrought fences gave it a Gothic aura, "Transylvanian" or "Dracula-ish".

The place is now abandoned and the old house torn down and what remains are some walls and the fence. Although I don't know who owned the place and I had never seen the people living in it, which added to its mystery, I felt a certain amount of affinity for the place.  As a child, I often pass by the house and was amazed and a bit scared by the gargoyles. The mosses growing on its adobe walls completed the appearance of a haunted house. I thought it was one.

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I don't know what happened but a few years back, the place was turned into a flea market and then when it did not make money, it was abandoned altogether. Maybe it was sold, or was taken over by the local government because of tax delinquency, etc.  I don't know if the house is historical but the fact that it is a unique house should have aroused people with artistic and cultural inclination in the municipality and local government to save the place because it would have done well if it was converted into the town museum or an art gallery or both. 

M any may not know this but  Taytay, Rizal is famous for its woodworkers skills hence it is known as the sash capital of the country. It's carpentry and sash works is  well known for its quality, but I don't know if this is still true today considering that many woodworking shops have died and few survived and i could only wonder if the manual skills have been passed on. Another things is, with the depletion of hardwood tree in the forests of Rizal and the resulting log ban made lumber scarce and expensive.

What is the best showcase for the woodworking skills of Taytayenos? It's in their old houses. Unfortunately, with age and no maintenance most of these houses are in disrepair while many are torn down to be replaced by concrete houses.

Some of these old houses should be saved for cultural reasons, to showcase the town's woodworking skills, i.e. if there are still houses to be saved. But I guess it all depends on the owners if they are willing to donate to the local government for heritage reasons. But the thing is, every town should have an old house, a haunted one if possible. 

Where is Taytay's?

Lent: Healing, Spirits,Amulets and the weirdness of it all...

I was watching TV. 

Well, I was watching TV passively since I was engaged on the computer FB-ing, surfing and looking at some bonsai pictures for ideas on how to developed my bonsai materials when my attention was caught by a TV news feature about a man who allegedly can heal people's sickness through the power of a spirit that possessed him.

This has started a series of crazy thoughts.

Of course the Church is quick to announce a caveat about the phenomenon saying that people should be careful about the healing and they should discern whether the spirit is from God or from the enemy, Satan (by the way "Satan" means the enemy).

Holy week is a special day for spiritist/faith healers in the Philippines. Good Friday and Black Saturday is the most potent day for their rituals and prayers. They believe that they have access to powers and spirits in the belief that God is dead during this period. 

As to they do prayers and rituals during periods when they believe that God is dead is itself a telltale sign that they are dealing with different spirits other than the Christian Holy Spirit.

This belief in the multitudes of spirits is inherent among the Filipinos who were originally animists; they believed in multitudes and hierarchy of nature spirits. This animistic worldview has changed very little even with the introduction of Christianity to the islands in the 1500's. 

Many Christian traditions and holidays are infused with indigenous animistic elements while many indigenous animistic beliefs are infused with Christian elements hence there is no polarization between two different world views. in fact they co-exist harmoniously in the Filipino's belief system. Instead of delivering the Filipinos from animism and converting them into Christianity, what resulted was the fusion of both faiths into one belief system that resulted in Folk Christianity, which is very different from the theological and philosophical Christianity of the west.

But what do I have to say about this?

Well, this primitive belief in the spirits and amulets only show the psychology behind it: primitive, unschooled, heretical...etc. No one should believe that there are power in amulets, incantations, trees, spirits, ghosts, mountains. Hell, all these beliefs are alike to believing in Santa Claus, St. Valentines, The Greek Mythology...

The true faith is this: God, the father in Heaven, created humanity. But humanity sinned against God, the father. God the father loves humanity so much that he gave his Spirit, who is God the father himself but not God the father himself, to a virgin woman so that he could go down on earth as a man, God the son himself but also God the father but different from God the son but the same as God the Father but different: God the Father is God the son Himself but they are two but one.  To offer his death as a propitiation to God the Father, who is God the son himself, for humanity's sin and transgression against  God, who is himself  God the son, so that humanity will be saved from the punishment of God the father, who is also God the son. 

Hmmm. Theology sucks.

On second thought...the weirdness of it all. Santa Claus seems more comprehensible. Anyway, we are just human beings seeking trying to understand powers and realities that are beyond us. 

So...let's eat.

Jeepneys and jeepney stuffs about jeepneys

The backbone of our transport industry. I cannot imagine
our roads without a jeepney. But I could imagine it without
jeepney drivers.

For sometime now, I have not traveled on a jeepney. Having a motorcycle made it unnecessary. So, when our motorcycle had a mechanical problem, I had no choice but to to take a jeepney from Cainta to Taytay. 

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say. And seated on a jeepney, feeling the breeze touching my face while listening to the stereo,  I realized that I do miss riding on it, but at the same time I was also ruing about the physical discomforts and the pains of the trip. Some things have not changed like suspensions and driving skills (or the lack of it) and  the drivers ignorance of Newton's law of inertia (you don't hit the brakes abruptly! full tank you, driver!).

The refitted WWII vehicle changed very little mainly its seating capacity and the fitting of more powerful engines. 

Personally, I prefer that the jeepney's external appearance not to change for cultural and sentimental reasons despite the fact that it is aerodynamically blunt and violates almost every articles and provisions of the automotive engineering's laws and constitutions. 

Willy's GPW or General Purpose Wheeler which was
shortened to "Jeep." This our jeepneys ancestor.
According to history Pinoys converted this
WWII vehicles left by the Americans
to passenger vehicles by retro-fitting it with seats
 and roofs. Sarao pioneered the mass production
of jeepneys based on the GPW.

It has a deeply ingrained identity. The boxlike body and the front grill with  two headlights and front grills, human-face-like if you ask me, retains its Willy's jeep ancestry. The multi-leveled bumpers that could turn Mad Max green with envy is a remnant of WWII battle tank philosophy that was designed for resistance and ramming, the very opposite of the impact absorbing bodies of modern vehicles .  There are accessories that are excessive like multiple side mirrors and tire flaps, signal lights, fog lights, and other auxiliary lightnings and powerful sound systems that could either induce heart attack because of the thumping bass woofers or seizures due to the the high frequency tweeters--I have not ridden a jeepney that has a balanced sound system--, but these defines the jeepney. 

Aside from these superfluities, there are now jeepneys equipped with DVD- karaoke system and airconditiong and it sometimes makes me wonder if they have their own portable nuclear power plants to feed these gadgets electricity. 

Its body paintings and other works of art are also another thing that should not change. The jeepney is considered a travelling canvass of Filipino artists. These designs say a lot about the drivers and the operators.

The INC's tricolors. This can be seen everywhere: on session
guitarists guitar on TV, Taho and puto vendors pails,
windows and doors, tricycles, bicycles, t-shirts etc.

Religious affiliations for one: a red-white-green sticker or a Romans 16:16 verse or an Ibong Mandaragit words printed on the mudguards says that the driver or the operator is a member of the INC. 

Rosary and the Lord's Prayer booklet hanging on the rear view mirror, statuette of the Virgin Mary:, a Roman catholic, 

Evangelical verses like John 3:16 etc, could mean an Evangelical affiliation. etc. Observe the logos and colors, there are meanings,(overt or covert), and order in the chaos of colors and designs.

Where the money for the jeepney came from: An anchor or a ship's helm obviously says that the owner is a seaman. "Katas ng Saudi" this is getting fewer and more and more I am seeing "Katas ng Barko", "Katas ng Uling", Katas ng Saging", "Katas ng Gulay" and other "Katas ng ___"

Family oriented: Portraits of family members, the bunso, acronyms of names like Jomajenroblinron (for Johnny, Maring, Jenny, Roberto, Linda, Ronaldo) etc.

What else? Humorous sayings like "God knows Judas not Pay" Hmmm...naughty stuffs like "bulbuhok", ...nevermind.

Horns...I don't know where jeepney drivers get these horns. Cow moos, gunfire, laughter that could make your hair stand on its ends. I was riding our motorcycle when a jeepney stopped in front of me, then I heard chimes and an elevator voice over message:"thank you for riding". Where do they get these things? 

I had a horrible experience with smoke belchers.
I was riding at the front with the driver who
abruptly cut another jeepney to pick up
a passenger. This is stealing among jeepney
drivers. So, the other driver ran after us,
cursed our driver and then aimed his exhaust
pipe adjacentto the driver's seat and pumped
black, acrid,dirty, poisonous smoke on the driver,
me,and the rest of the passengers.  

I cannot imagine our streets without jeepneys and its mechanical idiosyncrasies. But it does not mean that the iconic Filipino mass transport vehicle should not change. 

Engines for one, they are still using junked engines from Japan, Korea and other industrialized countries. The poisonous exhaust is horrible. Needs no explaining.

There are moves for alternative fuels like gas or battery but the jeepney's body are made of cast iron that only steam and diesel can power it. Body works and the materials used should change too.

Suspension. I don't know if these vehicles are still using the Christie-Battle-Tank suspension.system but it's obvious that it was designed for cargoes and not for human beings. 

The jarring and the throwing from the seats, head bumps, because of the vehicle's stiff suspension, may cause cramps down there, below;  cramps basketball players experience when they play without their supporters. I often experienced this when I was still studying in Morong, Rizal. Ask anyone who is travelling to south of Rizal province and they will tell you what the word "fast" and "blender" means.

Seats. For heaven's sake there are things that discomfort and injure passengers like protruding welding joints especially in the seats, the sharp objects that is used to hoist the tarps against the rain, extra signal lights placed on the headroom, the protruding cabin lights that bumps the head, slippery floor, low headroom, etc.

Windows. I mean, why are they still using tarps?

Driving skills. I have respects for jeepney drivers. They have outstanding skills for maneuvering, evading, slipping through tiny openings, it's as if they were riding a bicycle. But their skills are for military applications; they will make excellent battle tank drivers.

Anyway...I have run out of energy. I have an asthma attack,. It's hot, for heaven's sake, I gotta do something to take my mind off the ailment...blah, blah,blah, blah,..Good bye.

Why aswangs are (mostly) women? 2

I have never seen, which does not mean there never  was or is or will be, an aswang movie about a male aswang. All of the movies made and produced are about beautiful, seductive and hapless victims of circumstances- most of the times abused- maidens that suffer from identity crisis vent on revenge or in wait of their hero who will redeem them from their horrific circumstance.

Aswangs, manananggals, white lady, bruha,  mangkukulam, mangagaway, etc. most of these mythological (or folkloric) creature of the night are mostly portrayed as (beautiful) women that transform their selves into a ferocious fetus-eating or internal organ-eating vampire or an ugly devil worshiping witch at night. I supposed there is always that element of beauty,  mystery, romance, fear, sex and danger in our conception of night creatures--it's a universal idea that exist in almost all of folk mythologies.

It is easy to conclude (hey, who would not) that Filipino society is sexist or maybe there is some sort of Freudian subconscious-sex hang ups, which I supposed there always will be, that exists in our society. There maybe some truth in this, but generally, Filipino women plays an equal though different but not necessarily inferior role in our society: they have their own autonomous domain which is the family and the home. Men may be involved in the community decision making or politics but inside the home, the women are the mistress.So, women are mostly responsible for the safety and the well being of the family and any loss or any untoward incident in the home like diseases or deaths, it is mostly the women who are held accountable.

Traditionally it is also the women, hilots and the comadronas, who are responsible for facilitating birth. Any untoward incident like miscarriages and infant deaths would naturally be associated with the the actions of women present in the birthing. It may be so that these hilots or comadronas, to absolve themselves, would invent  stories  about beings that eat fetus and they may, by association, portray them as women. It is not difficult to picture a myth or story about fetus-eating or infant-life-sucking women vampire  that  passed from generation to generation because of the simple fact that it is always the women  who are always present during birthing; the husbands and other males are always told to be out of the house while the wife is in labor. 

Or maybe, it is simply because women or wives are hated by their in-laws hence they are pictured as evil creatures out to destroy or cause harm in the family. Rumor mongering, back biting, which are natural among in-laws, may have created, implanted or strengthened the idea of women aswangs in our minds.

Anyway, these are all stupid stuff that I thought of and read about. I think the most obvious reason is that women drive men crazy because of attraction, love or what have you; there's love, seduction and fear all rolled into men's tiny brain which sometimes cannot be processed thus driving men crazy enough to make stories about aswangs or other stuff.

The trend is changing: Aswangs are now associated with male homosexuals because they literally sucks the life out of....nevermind. Maybe there will be a future movie about male.....aswang starring Piolo.

Why vampires in the Philippines are women? (How to kill em) 1

I wonder why fetus-eating vampires or manananggals  in Philippine myth are mostly women. They are portrayed as beautiful women that split their bodies in half , the lower and the upper part. Before the transformation...errr...rather, their mutilation, they go to banana patches to hide their lower extremities after which the upper body, propelled by bat wings, flies off in search of victims especially fetuses and defenseless children and once in a while adult women and men. It is difficult or almost impossible to kill manananggals in flight because, well, they are airborne and bamboo spears and bolos are useless against them unless they are caught off guard feeding which is almost impossible because they have bat sense of some sort that warn them of danger. Maybe a 50 caliber or 88 mm flak canon could kill them in the air ; but , then again, these are mythical creatures and they are way beyond science and technology.

This is the picture that caused a panic in Pozorrubio, Pangasinan. The folks there formed an anti manananggal-posse armed with bamboo spears, bolos and garlic. They roam around  at night to defend the village against the manananggal. One unlucky dog spotted under a truck, which I figured was a cross between an askal and a golden retriver hence it's size,  was thought to be a weredog and was almost killed by the men. The police had to intervene lest the suspicion turned on to people and who knows what could happen next. Irrational fear could make these people do irrational things like killing a neighbor suspected of being a mananggal or burning down the house of someone accused of being a shape-shifting aswang. Hmmm...I suggest the government educate rural villages about photoshop or photo editing to inform the folks that pictures can be manipulated.

Manananggals have one known weakness, their defenseless lower body. To kill them, it is necessary to find the lower body which according to folk myth are usually hidden in banana patches or in a forested area  (for urban manananggal, in a closet) well away from people. Once the lower part is found, it is killed by pouring holy water or putting salt, garlic, or much better would be to combine them all in a cocktail or soup of some sort (well, according to myth, anyone of these things could do the trick but one has to be on the side of caution, it is better to safe than sorry) pour it on the exposed innards and then hide and prepare to defend yourself because the manananggals would come back to check their lower body to find out why they're having phantom stomach ache.

Destroying the lower body of manananggals do not kill them instantly it only kills half of them, so, the other half, the torso with the arms and the head still survive for a period of time; the upper will eventually die either of hunger, infection, constipation, no bowel movement, full bladder....things that happen when one loses the small intestine, the urinary something and the anus. Once the lower body is destroyed,  best thing to do is to hide and wait for the upper to die naturally or to wait for sunlight to kill it. It would be futile to fight it out with raving-mad-angry manananggal who found out that her lower body was dead. Manananggals  are allergic to sunlight, like most night vermins and it naturally kills them.

Well, anyway...this getting too long. Haven't answered the question...another post.

EDSA Revolution: Where was I?

EDSA Revolution was celebrated with a lot of pomp and a lot of trash. As I was watching on TV how the supposed heroes of EDSA reenacted the meeting or the salubong of the  Enrile and the Ramos forces across Aguinaldo and Crame, I watched in horror as helicopters and people from top of floors of  buildings released tons and tons of yellow confetti’s. My gulay these people were inconsiderate of the street sweepers; they were killing the Metroaides. 

What's wrong with me? This was a momentous event in our history! In the true Spirit of EDSA, I would love to see the politicians clean up after their drama and give the poor street sweepers the break--EDSA brotherhood and all the dramatic stuff...bah!

Anyway, where was I during the 1986 EDSA Revolution?  I was 14 years old then.  TV and radio were filled with news about the defection of Ramos and Enrile. While the news was being broadcasted, people in our neighborhood were all excited because, according to them, there were tanks, helicopters parked at EDSA and people were allowed to see the inside of these military hardware—the officers did not mind; there were also free food being distributed. Many of my neighbors especially the youth trooped to EDSA because they were curious of what’s going on. Anyway, patriotism and all that stuff was the farthest thing on their mind. If I were a little older then, I would have joined them to EDSA not as a revolutionary but as an uzi (usisero or gawker). I was too young to think of the moral and political as well as the historical implications of EDSA. But, if you ask me, little or nothing’s changed, really. Who cares! The poor are still poor and the rich and corrupt are getting richer and more corrupt.

But the songs did stir up some emotions in me especially Magkaisa by composed by Tito Sotto and Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo by the APO Hiking Society.

                                                        Magkaisa by Virna Lisa

                                               Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo

Of course to further prove the uselessness and the uniqueness of EDSA, another EDSA, EDSA II, happened were Erap was ousted and jailed by GMA  and her cohorts because of jueteng and drinking only to see that GMA was a far worse president than Erap: the lady was a Machiavellian villain.  Then there's the miscarried EDSA III where the poor common-methamphetamine-alcohol-loaded masses revolted to bring Erap back to Power. My friends and I were there to uzi at EDSA III. We were just lucky we went home early because if not, there was a possibility that we would also be arrested along with rioters. Then there was the aborted EDSA IV where the people got tired of GMA's lying and her husband's embroilment with bribery and corruption with government contracts  so civil society joined hands in plotting to oust GMA through another EDSA, but GMA got tired of EDSA so simply banned assembly on EDSA. Good move! Ban assembly on EDSA so that there will not be another EDSA. 

Why not just rename the highway Manny Pacquiao Avenue and be done with EDSA. 

Satan, Demons and heroes

                           Today, this movie would be considered cheap and poor. Funny rather than scary.

When I was in my grade school, my father, a pastor, brought me along to our church’s evangelistic crusades. The most popular way to evangelize during that time, the 80’s, was through film showing. I could never forget the movie that was being shown then, Burning Hell. I could not remember the story of the movie or the actors, what I could remember was the fire, the worms, the suffering, the pain—it was a graphic movie about what the sinner would expect when they go to hell. 

After watching that movie for many times, I started to have nightmares. I slept alone on my cot (or papag in tagalog) and each night I would wake up in the middle of the night, sweating, afraid and sometimes feeling cold because of the fear of hell; I was wishing that I had my parents beside me. To battle this fear I would pray for the Lord Jesus Christ to come into my heart to be my savior. This happened for most of my childhood, the nightmares, and every time I feel afraid, I always invite the Lord Jesus Christ to come into my heart until I outgrew the fear of hell in me and until I outgrew the belief the name Jesus Christ was a powerful talismanic-incantation for dealing with nightmares.

Of course scare tactics work i.e. for a time until one becomes too scared to the point of numbness. It was never my father's intention to scare the hell out of me. I am not taking this against my late father, I loved and still very much love the man. He was a pastor and all pastors suffer from, different degrees, messiah complex.

Anyway...

Graphic illustrations of the devil as a horrible creature having horns and tails are used to scare the hell out of people. It was effective before in the middle ages, dark ages where people are superstitious, ignorant and illiterate.  But in this age of cyber tech and relativism (whatever the hell is that word), cgi effects and the internet especially you tube where anybody may see gross videos of photo-shopped creatures that looked very real, I mean visually speaking, Satan or the devil has never looked better, and realistic, may I add.

In movies and in computer games, these creatures that look like satan or the devil are now heroes. Maybe people are starting to realize that because a creature is ugly, scary and gross, it does not necessarily make them evil. Really one of the faults of giving satan or the devil an animal-human description is that people focuses more on the look than on the nature of satan. I have a friend who looks like satan and he was called demonyo or satanas by everybody, but he was far from being evil. Take the snake for example, because snakes were thought to be the serpent that lured eve into the fall, they are killed out of fear because they are thought to be treacherous and fierce animals.

Lochner’s depiction of a horrifically beautiful scene seethes with the realistic bodies of the naked damned who scream as they undergo torture by legions of distorted, animalistic creatures.

Jahrakal, the troll warlord, one of the heroes in the Warcraft DOTA game.

Hellboy, A demon, raised from infancy after being conjured by and rescued from the Nazis, grows up to become a defender against the forces of darkness.

Anyway, my break is up...maybe I'll come back later and talk about what this beautification and heroification of demons etc. blah, blah, blah.....