Ka-Blog!

I am a
rebel Papa
Not your kind—
Silent and
suffering
But the
people’s kind—
Raging and
angry.

They say
how different from you
I have
become.
Don’t
they know
How I try
to follow your path?

Unspeaking
but firm you were
Against
theft
You refused
to take
What others
think you ought.
What you
have not earned
Was not
brought home to us—
Your
children.
Your
misunderstood silence
Was a
cracking slap
On the face
of the thieves
That surrounded
us.

I rage
against the pillage
Now that it
is my time.
But I have
never been silent
Unlike you.
I talk, I
march, and I talk some more
I
misunderstand silence.
I applaud
those who bear arms
Against our
mutual enemies.
 

You told me
once
“’We’ can not
win.”
But you were
wrong.
You did.
And as your
sunken eyes look westward
Your heart
beats unrepentant
Of the
poverty you earned.

Am I wrong
to hope
We, the
people, may soon win?
Victory
earned not in silence
But with a
cry of rage.

There are
many kinds of rebels Papa.
We are two
of them.

       
                              – 29 December 2005
                                 6:03 pm
                                 Quezon City

Some lies are being peddled against my person by someone named Ina Alleco Silverio. 

I wish to set them straight according to my own lights.

In her misguided effort at revenge, Ms Silverio says in her testimonial that I (am):

1) Graceful as a ballerina when he wants to be (and when pushed, prodded and begged by friends);

I do not dance, at least not now when my waistline’s gone.  I waddle.

2) Reads law mysteries in the john;

American court drama is no mystery.  Like its politics and culture, American jurisprudence all about money.  What is mysterious about that? 

Besides, whatever makes Ina think I am capable of thought in between spincter movements is entirely false.

3) Can consume 3 bowls of vetsin diluted with boiling water per day;

The large amounts of flavor enhancers I consumed with abandon in Hong Kong are not monosodium glutamate.  According to Marcos propagandists they are ground bones of dead Chinese!

4)
Makes the error of not wearing socks with new sneakers, then marches
for over two hours from the commercial district to government offices
in Hong Kong;

The error was asking for Gian Paolo Oliveros’ thoughts. 

5) The first person I’ve seen up close to drink Irish beer;

If Ina has seen Ilocanos slurp Pinapaitan soup, then I wasn’t the first one.  Guinnes and genuine Iluko Papaitan tastes the same.

6) Generous lender of pashminas;

I’m not! She took it out of my bag!

7) Underneath the seemingly serious image of writer/reporter/broadcast journalist is a fashionista waiting to come out;

I just asked her what jacket I should wear.  Is that being a fashionista?  Fashion to me is my pants zipped up.  Nothing more.

Can slay annoying people with a secret sarcastic comment;

My sarcasm is always laid bare for all to see.  I don’t have enough facial muscle control to hide what I think when I think.

9) Lord High Dungeon Master of the Strange Dragon Fruit;

Not finishing that delightful bowl of vetsin soup to the last drop, that’s what’s strange.  She should leave the dragon fruit alone!

10) You’d be lucky to be one of his roommates.

Ina’s officemate doesn’t think so.

There, I have succesfully destroyed all her lies with my honest and lucid clarifications.

Affiant further sayeth none.  Defense rests its case.

"Magandang araw.  Ako si Grace Saguinsin."

"Nasa Hong Kong ako ngayon para sa WTO Ministerial Meeting."

Kasama ko madalas sa loob ng Hong Kong Convention Center si Rep. Satur Ocampo ng Bayan Muna."

"Tutol ako sa globalisasyon kaya kasali ako sa mga rali laban dito."

"Nasa Christmas Walk ako niyan sa may Central District.  Nagwi-wish ako ng ‘World Peace!’"

"Pero sumaydlayn ako doon bilang konduktura ng bus."

"Para mayroon akong pang-shopping sa Mong Kok."

"At maging kasing ganda ko si Marilyn Monroe."

"Hi. Ako po si Teddy Casiño"

"For most of my life, isa po akong mamamahayag."

"Isa na po akong miyembre ng Kongreso ng Pilipinas.  Katabi ko sa larawan si Kinatawan Erin Tañada ng Quezon. Pareho po kaming Official Delegates ng Pilipinas sa 6th Ministerial Meeting ng World Trade Oreganization."

"Pero ako po ay tutol na tutol sa Globalisayon."

"Sa katunayan ay pinangunahan ko ang ilang mga mayor na rali sa Hong Kong laban sa WTO."

"Kaya naman, tuwang-tuwa ako noong nabigo ang Hong Kong Round.  Nasa Hennessy Road ako, nakikisaya sa tagumpay ng malawakang protesta laban sa imperyalistang globalisayon."

"Kabilang sa aking pagsasaya ang kumain sa Victoria Park, tulad ng libo-libong nating kababayan na nagtatrabaho sa Hong Kong."

"Sadya pong nakakapagod ng makibaka, sa loob at labas ng mga pulong opisyal.  Kaya naman nakakatulog na ako minsan sa kapaguran."

"O, tama na iyan, Bukaneg.  Sabi ko nang tulog na ako e."

Hi! My name is Ronald Magbuhos Papag, videographer par excellance."

"This is what I do if I am not reading my poems with my kumpare Pablo Neruda."

"Ang gusto ko paglaki ko, katulad ako ng idol kong si Charlie."

"Got to have these!"  (Purposefully blurred the image a bit.  Censored e.–Bukaneg)

"Pag nainom ko na sila, heaven siguro."

"Shet, pare.  Downer pala ang mga ‘yun!"

"Hirap mag-rali rito sa Hong Kong.  Gutom na ako.  Pero belekoy itong katabi ko e."

"Down, down, WTO!" (Seryosong pag-rarali muna, oke?")

"I wish to thank Gandang Ricky Reyes for my make-up."

"Anything para matapatan lang ang mga Koreano.  Cute ba?"

"Nais ko pong ipakilala ang aking pangalawang asawa."

"Mga hayop na imperyalista iyan! Ang hirap palayasin!"

"Ito ang dapat gawin sa WTO:   HIIIYYYAAAAA!!!!"

Look at the picture on the left. That’s me and Ina inside the oh-so-red media
center tent in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park. Our tasks done for the meantime, we found a
sliver of time to check our Friendster accounts and post our latest blogs.
         Ina and I have been
planning to exchange blogs since a few months ago. But since we came to Hong
Kong together and we are roommates at the moment, we decided to
exchange blogs about our other roommates. (So check her blog as well.)
         There are 12
of us in this small room in a building along Paterson Road. We used to be
13 but, like in Kuya’s house, one of us elected to leave voluntarily. He does not want to sleep on the floor with
me snoring wildly nearby. Some people
just do not know privilege when they see one.
        But enough
about losers. Malas lang naman din ang
labintatlo.
        I’ve known
Ka Satur Ocampo for 15 years already. I’ve never seen his demeanor nor his hair ruffled even once. But I got to see how his usually slick hair
looks like after he jumps out of bed in the morning. He is a regular Son Goku pala in the mornings. But I
suspect S.O’s powers are greater than the anime hero. Ka Satur has eluded the police and military
so many times in his underground career. Lalo na siguro ngayon since he
now has more-salt-than-pepper mane.
         Bayan’s Cynthia
“Cha” Vargas, RN has the unenviable task of talking to the desk whenever we
needed something, like comforters or pillows. She studied basic and advanced acupuncture and alternative medicine in Beijing so we all assumed
she knows the most about communicating with the locals. Well, we were both wrong and right. We were wrong in the sense that she isn’t
understood at all and we were right in the sense that she could pantomime
through almost everything—from the cold weather, the need to have our rooms
cleaned, to why the hell they are telling us that our rooms are good for five
people when even my store room back home looks decidedly bigger.
        Please do not pity us when I tell you we are
bunked together with KMU’s Norma Binas and Tita Elisa Lubi of Kodao. Much that we would like an occasional pillow
fight, can we possibly do that with them around?
         Bayan Chair
Dr. Carol P. Araullo, MD spent her birthday morning and night with us. What struck me as curious about her was when
I arrived at the room one afternoon and found her working on her laptop on the
claustrophobia-inducing hallway. She was
sitting on a low chair while the laptop was propped on a stool. I guessed it was her way to squeeze out more creative
juice for the paper she was preparing the other day. May
ibinubulong kaya ang mga pader?
         Here’s one for the books—I saw BM’s Grace Saguinsin wearing a pink skirt. Plus, her doggie bags are always worth the
late nights we spend waiting for her to arrive.
        When I was
a new recruit years ago, I once rode with BM Rep. Teddy Casino on a crowded late night bus going back to Manila. I swear this guy could fall asleep standing
up. Parang
kabayo. The other night, he did it
again. I thought he was writing
something on his pad but he was already fast asleep. (Check out the pic!) But I think Teddy likes my feet several
inches from his face when we sleep. He
wakes up looking refreshed every time.
         Gian Paolo
Oliveros and Ron Papag are a study in contrasts. If we let Pao be, we would be hard pressed to
see a space that isn’t occupied by a discarded article of clothing of his. Ron on the other hand is obsessively
compulsive about making his space as tidy as possible. It his feminine side showing daw. But the only thing feminine I see about Ron these days is the owner of
the Philippine cellphone number he surreptitiously calls in the dead of the
night while he is buried under the sheets.
         Lastly,
there’s Ina who I’m gonna exchange this blog with (so I can’t say much about her). Except this: she does not flinch when we boys
strip to our undershorts with her in the room. Married na kasi. #

==================

Ina Alleco Silverio’s take about the topic (it’s on "Trephination Procedures" as well.  Don’t ask me what it means.  It is not about food.):

The
Roommate situation

My
roommates here Hong Kong in are all lunatics.
The seriousness of their lunacy are in varying degrees. Am not going to write
who’s the worst and who should be dragged off in a strait jacket – but if you
know who they are, you can judge for yourself.
        Bukaneg
is obsessed with finding the best place to have breakfast. Or lunch. And
dinner. Also the snacks in between. Because of him, we’re always looking for
the best value for our money here, as we don’t have much money. He’s lucky
because he’s so easy to please, gastronomic fulfillment wise. A true-blue
gourmand, he, however, seems to finds no distinction between a HK$5 dollar bite
of animal entrails and a HK$60 dollar per serving of, say, Peking duck. He’s
the one who made us buy and eat the weird looking and not-normal tasting Dragon
Fruit. Every 2 pm, he sends out reports to Ngayon Na, Bayan – pretending he’s
outside in the streets mingling with the common folk when actually he’s just in
Victoria Park, inside a relatively warm and toasty tent, hahahahaha! He has a
picture of himself giving Chairman Mao a smack on the cheek.
        Paulo
(or Gian, to differentiate him from the other Paolo, whom we call Miguel or
P2), is fussy with his hair. I’ve noticed that he spends about 15 minutes
coming his hair every morning, making sure every strand is in place. He’s on
the prowl for the best facial wash – one that will help him clear up his
supposed pimple problem. I keep telling him to get Kao Biore, which is cheaper
here, but he’s worried that if he gets a tube and it runs out, he won’t be able
to replenish because it’s only sold in Rustan’s or something. (This, I think, is his one biggest personal worry in Hong Kong– how his face is faring from the cold. Hey Pao
– you’re cute enough as you are; but just get a freaking bottle of Clearasil if
you’re really worried!)
       As
for Ron, hmmm. What I can say about Ron? Ever cheerful, never complaining,
often the butt of Bukaneg’s jokes and the target of his constant ribbing about
tangled and complicated love lives. Ron blushes like a teenage girl, and it’s funny. He collects, for some
reason, bottles. He has a bottle of some darkblue drink in his room right now,
and we’re all betting that it’ll taste like Benadryl or Robitussin. Ron likes
sultana biscuits, wears blue boxers to bed, and usually skips breakfast. He’s a
mean machine with a camera, and his presentation on JMS’s speech is something
to watch. Kodao’s main –man when it comes to the camera-work.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* To those who know me by my Christian and legal name, I am Bukaneg to almost legal (and some underground) activists in the Philippines.  I promise to write a blog sometime why I am called this curious name.

Four of us harassed protesters here in Hong Kong have been
bonding together every chance we’ve got to salve our frayed nerves with cheap
but delicious Chinese food—Ina, Ron, Pao and myself. We agreed to sample one unique fare everyday.
        Last Sunday, it was boiled Chinese
chicken cooked along with the rice. On
Monday, it was the weird but attractive dragon fruit.
        Two nights ago, we explored Hong Kong’s alleys a bit and stumbled into a row of
eateries that I used to see on old Jackie Chan movies—steamy little ovens and
vats full of boiling entrails. They
smelled nice.
        Yesterday, in the hunt for cheap
eateries, we went back to that alley and sampled what to me is one of my most
satisfying noodle meals in a long time. The noodles were thin and undercooked a bit. And I found out that the Chinese love their egg noodless very long–for long life?  But its main attraction is the huge chunks of
tender cow entrails I saw cooking the night before. A liberal sprinkling of herbs gave it a tangy
kick that I have never tasted before.
        My tongue was so romanced by this
concoction that Ron Papag and I keep on coming back to that alley, not
necessarily the same resto, these past three days.
        For HK$16
per bellyful, it’s a nice bargain. Plus, I get to practice my chopsticks skills.
        Across the
upscale Sogo department store on East Point Road is a crowded and dirty-looking
stand-while-you-eat establishment that offers all sorts of juices and
vegetables on skewers. My favorite is a
hotdog, eggplant, bell pepper and green pepper combo. They fry it with some sort of egg-based
filling which they sprinkle with a soy-based condiment before serving it to the
customer on a paper bag.
          First I eat
the hotdog, then the eggplant, then the bell pepper and, finally, after
steeling myself, the green pepper. The
last always makes me hop like crazy. It’s hot! But it is my best
discovery so far to keep the chill away, even for just a few minutes.         
        Along Paterson Road, at
the ground level of the condominium unit we are bunking in is the 24-hour
Wellcome Supermart. For quick bites,
this is the best we’ve got so far. Here,
fried rice meals go for less than HK$10. They are nothing to be excited about but a ride down the lift is all
that is needed to fill our grumbling bellies. Plus they have lots of free bread on sample trays, which its Pinay
salesclerks keep on refilling for our benefit.
        Despite our
very tight food budgets, we have been able to sample some very exciting fares.  We have four more days to go. After all these hullabaloos are over, we may
be able to discover more eating places and more exciting food.
        The one and
only time I ate at McDonalds in a food haven like Hong
Kong should be my first and last. To eat in Western-style fast food joints here is unforgivable. 

When I was about eight years old, my father gave me a big and beautiful kite.  He bought it from a local artisan who had been working on it for weeks.  It had a thin wooden frame and four colors–red, blue, green and yellow.  It also had a long tail that undulated with so much grace and beauty up in the air.
        For an entire summer, I owned the biggest and the most beautiful kite flying over the corn fields and the mighty Cagayan River.  Never mind if my playmates have differing opinions about this.  Basta, my kite was the greatest up there.
       The sense of awe and wonder I felt then when I was flying my kite was unforgetable.
        I am feeling that same sense and wonder as I am writing this.  I am sitting at the Media Center of the People’s Action Week here in Victoria Park in Hong Kong and typing this using a Sony Vaio laptop that is not connected to anything.  It runs on its battery juice alone and I am connected to the web through its built-in wi-fi.  So First World, so wonderful, so different from back home where even jurassic dial-ups and DSLs are considered hi-tech.
        I am in Hong Kong to do a travelogue of the People’s Action Week, do daily radio reports and broadcast for our radio program back in Manila.  This is parallel, even a counterpoint, to the World Trade Organization 6th Ministerial Conference.  But more about our work later.  O kaya, bili na lang kayo sa Kodao ng ilalabas naming DVD. Naahh! Hindi Hong Kong Scandal ang title.
        I intend to write lots a’blog about this trip.  Pero patikim lang muna at baka ma-lobat na ako:

1.  Buildings here have 13th Floors.  Wala naman akong alam na Ruby Tower-like disaster dito, so okey lang naman siguro.

2.  The Chinese give you warm water if you ask them for drinking water.  Better for health daw kesa iced water.

3.  A cellphone load is a "charge" here.

4.  Lots of Hong Kong people are out near midnight still doing some shopping.  Wow!  (At least, dito sa Causeway Bay area.  This is the "happening" district yata.)

5.  They think four hairstyles on a single head is cool. I have not come into counting hair colors yet.

6.  They think it is okey to have very small shower rooms and have bigger johns.  I guess they shit more than they wash.  But they are not generally bad smelling.  (Unlike The Bedan staffmembers.)

7.  It is possible to arrive at one’s destination without seeing the light of day.  Very good transport system.

8.  Hip and upwardly mobile Chinese are not ashamed to be seen eating in side-street noodle houses.  Mas mabangis na social climbers ang mga taga-call centers sa ‘Pinas.

9.  Pinoys are shy about greeting other Pinoys on the streets or in groceries.  Pwera na lang siguro sa Central Park kapag Linggo.

10.  Pinoy rally organizers have a lot to learn from their Korean counterparts.  Hanep!  Disiplinado!  Sobra lang minsan.  Nagpapakamatay ba naman!

Ako na lang ang tao rito sa Media Center.  Ubos ko na ang kape.  Alis na ako.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* The picture is of me and Ka Louie Jalandoni, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel chairperson at Hong Kong’s Victoria Park.

I have no quarel with Brown Man Revival’s revival of the Eraserhead’s Maling Akala into a so sweet reggae tune.   Ayos tayo diyan.
        But hot black tea shot into my nasal cavities early this morning when, while having breakfast, I saw this band, 6 Cycle Minds yata sila, tried their version of Alapaap on live morning TV.
        The lead singer attacked the piece ala Martin Nievera crossed with Jaya.  May papikit-pikit at pailing-iling pa.
        The E-heads singing their orginal songs slightly off key is cool.  Kanta naman nila yun e.  But having a talent-challenged band do a more off-key cover of an already off-key original song is, like Gloria, sobra na.
        So perfectly mindless, six times over. (Pun intended.)
        I can’t carry a tune myself and I can only play a few notes on a guitar.  But I certainly know how good and bad bands sound like.  Too many The Dawn, E-heads, Yano and Gary Granada concerts in my youth, you know.
        What the Sony/BMG people had in mind–other than potential profits of course–when they thought of reviving 17 E-heads songs and let some (not all but some) hard luck bands do the singing, I don’t know.  So uninspired, they even named the album "UltraelectromagneticJAM". 
        Judging from the album reviews I read, that album is a Voltes Bazooka directly aimed at our senses.
        And now I hear they are having a concert to launch the album.
        Will there be more of these mindless revivals?  Will Lito Camo team up with Dong Abay?  Is Judy Ann Santos coming out with another album?  Are Filipinos in deeper trouble?