Movies and SM
For the first time in months, my wife and I went out on a date last Sunday night. We needed that; we’ve been extra busy these past months. We went to see a movie.
For the longest time, we’ve been intrigued by the movie "The Vinci Code." Unlike our know-it-all seatmates who felt they had to loudly comment with every new scene, our interest stems from the fact that we’ve read "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" and Dan Brown’s "Angels and Demons" and "The Vinci Code". Plus, we are friends with Thaddeus Ifurung who just loves to talk about religion, the occult, the Church and things of this sort. Further, I’ve seen all National Geographic specials on the controversy and I’ve bought a DVD copy of the Opus Dei documentary.
It was so refreshing that we were given no choice but to see the movie at the Robinson’s Cinema at Novaliches. In case you didn’t know, SM Malls have this policy about not showing movies that are "For Adults Only."
You see, if it can be helped, we’d rather not go to SM.
Ever since I’ve become an activist, I have always lent support to the embattled union at SM. One of the first strikes that my wife and I went to together was the SM strike in the mid-90s. Every three years or so, the few remaining regular workers are forced to declare a strike in order not to be given the unceremonious boot by the giant mall chain.
For the uninitiated, SM owner Henry Sy (the Fortune Magazine Billionaires’ Club mainstay) is the worst practitioner of workers’ contractualization on these shores. He only hires workers for three months to avoid paying them regular wages, benefits and separation pays. I am hard-pressed to find a meaner Filipino son-of-a-bastard than this asshole.
I have friends and relatives who worked at SM. None of them were given contracts longer than three months. After three months, they have to wait for another year to be taken in.
I have known union members who died because of deprivation. I saw many strikers bludgeoned to a bloody pulp by Sy’s armed goons.
During the last strike, while the strikers and us, their supporters, were walking away after being beaten out of the picket lines, an SM guard threw a rock at me and hit me squarely on my back. My fat notwithstanding, that hurt like hell.
But what really hurt was this: that a rich man is willing to kill just so he can scrimp on what is morally due his workers.
Every now and then, SM harps on the fact that they do not allow sex-themed or controversial movies. They say they are doing this for morality and the Filipino families’ sake.
I wish Dan Brown to write more novels about real evil here on earth. And I invite him to go to the SM Malls.
Evil lurks there.
