blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

"So often have we been haunted by the spectre of subversion which, with some fostering, has come to be a positive and real being, whose very name steals our serenity and makes us commit the greatest blunders... If before the reality, instead of changing the fear of one is increased, and the confusion of the other is exacerbated, then they must be left in the hands of time..." Dr Jose Rizal "To the Filipino People and their Government" Jose Rizal dominates the Luneta, which is sacred to the Philippine nation as a place of martyrdom. And many perhaps all of those executed in the Luneta, with the exception of the three Filipino secular priests martyred in 1872, have read Rizal's  El Filibusterismo . Dr Rizal's second novel is a darker and more sinister one that its prequel but has much significance across the century and more after it was published for it preaches the need for revolution with caveats,  which are when the time is right and who will in...

Satire as genre in visual art, performing arts and in literature is used to ridicule society's shortcomings, vices, mores and conventions. While it HAS to be FUNNY, it's main goal is constructive, to give chance to the satirized to REFORM themselves. Satire in the Western Canon is from the Romans like Horace and Juvenal whose styles set the standard for satire throughout history. My favourite satirical work is Petronius Arbiters' The Satyricon which I first read while attending the University of the Philippines. It is a major work of literature for the single reason that it satirizes Roman society of the first century AD as well as giving linguists a clue on how colloquial Latin was spoken. The chapters on Trimalchio's Dinner Party are hilarious to the extent that F Scott Fitzgerald once considered "Trimalchio" as a possible title to his novel which eventually became "The Great Gatsby" Satire ridicules the pompous and the holier than thous and i...

Dr Jose Rizal died so that people can read books! One of John Steinbeck's less known essays but perhaps the most remarkable is the one entitled "Some Random and Randy Thoughts about Books" which came out in his collection of Americana essays in "America and Americans". The prescient Steinbeck foresaw a day where there would be no reason why there should be books but he bravely predicted that there will still be books. This was the subject of my 2007 blog post on books and libraries being obsolete . Steinbeck who lived through the Depression, World War II and pre and post war totalitarianism as a reporter knew that books are the most subversive but magical thing our species has ever created. In fact he writes that in these oppressed countries, people don't ask for food first (since dictators make sure no one is hungry at first) but books. "A book is somewhat sacred" Steinbeck writes, because they invariably TELL THE TRUTH. People will distrust ...

The Patron Saint of RH! Of course, Dr Rizal did not say he was for RH (reproductive health). During the late 19th century, the problem was not overpopulation but people ejected out of their land by the abuses of the friars. The problem was the friar, the over abusive friar!  Rizal's family was a victim  after the Dominicans kicked out the people after they had raised the rents. But if Rizal were alive in the second decade of the 21st century and practising medicine at a clinic/surgery at traffic choked Calamba City, I dare say he would be for RH! He would come to the conclusion that the bedlam that is Calamba City is due to overpopulation coupled with poor city planning. Even the most liberal of Catholic theologians would consider Rizal as "shipwrecked in faith" since he by the time he was writing the Noli , he had denied orthodox Roman Catholic dogma.  The late Father Raul J Bonoan SJ published a study on the Rizal-Pastells correspondence and came out with the un...

This is my response to Dean Jorge Bocobo's Noli Me Tangere: Jesus Says to Mary Magadalene Jose Rizal’s title for his novel is an irony. As the writer’s foreword to his work says, there is a social cancer so malignant that mere touch can send the sufferer to spasms. The ancients can’t do anything but to expose the afflicted on the steps of the Temple in hope that someone can extend a blessing. Thus the afflicted body is not in a glorified state and is corrupted. In the case of the Resurrected Jesus, the body has been glorified and rescued from corruption (death). Mary of Magdala is cautioned from not touching Christ’s glorified body since she herself hasn’t been glorified yet. This is well within Jewish belief that a defiled body cannot be allowed to touch the holy. Now before the moral relativists read this to mean that women are defiled, Mary of Magdala represents all of us except in one thing. She has been faithful to her Master to the extent that she kept watch while the male di...

I just came from this year's installment of the book fair at SM Exhibition Center at the Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City. The book fair has been held in MegaMall, the World Trade Center, and now at the SMEX. But the SMEX is much smaller than the WTC, thus it felt a bit crowded. The usual bookdealers were there and they cater to the academic sector. But the university presses had a good selection of works by Filipino writers. This suggests that even with the high inflation rate and the economic crunch, publishers still are upbeat. This is evidenced by the crowds that were buying books. The National Historical Commission (NHC) booth is a history bibliophile's dream. Aside from books by Gironiere, Rizal, Del Pilar,Mabini and Sinibaldo de Mas, the NHC recently reissued Patricio Mariano's translations into Filpino of Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo . These early translations of Rizal's novels are in itself literary gems. In my family's library, we h...

This Rizal bust is my most precious heirloom. The bust is my only real link to the Philippine Revolution. It dates back to 1899 during the war of la Republica Filipina against the invading United States of America. My great grandfolks were involved in that struggle to defend the Republic against the new colonizers and some offered their lives "sin duda, sin pesar" as Rizal had put it. That and only that is the reason why my father before me was not able to and I CANNOT PLEDGE allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, despite the temptations and opportnunities that come with it. I simply cannot do it in good conscience. I have only one country and that is Filipinas! Anyway, about 4 years ago, the cat once toppled the bust from its pedestal and voila,while we thought it was made of ordinary stone, the bust was made of high quality marble. No senior members of my family can explain why the bust was painted with enamel paint. When the cat toppled the bust, Rizal...

Much has been written about Jose Rizal to the extent that Rizal historian Ambeth Ocampo has achieved a sort of historiographic megastardom (All of my Ambeth books are autographed by him!). Ambeth has written many popular essays on the national hero. But very little has been written about the history of science in the Philippines. Rizal figures in the history of Philippine science as children are taught. Textbooks say he is an inventor,naturalist, psychologist etc. Some authors would even concoct titles for Rizal as the first "hydraulic engineer" for making an irrigation system in Dapitan! (Didn't the Ifugao have a headstart on that?) But none would say that he was probably the first Pinoy to have read Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species" and "Descent of Man". Darwin's books revolutionized our understanding of biology and laid forth the idea that a Creator God isn't needed for the diversification of life. This idea made the two works more...