The writing’s on the wall, so they say. I’ve a propensity for writing long stuff, but this last chance, I’ll try my very best to keep it short and sweet. I’m closing doors to blogging. Maybe on this blog. Maybe for my other Liwaliws as well. Maybe temporarily. Maybe permanently. There’s no big drama here. I’m just stopping. So there.
What a grand way to start my Cinemalaya Film Festival experience. I never had the chance to take full notice of this independent filmfest until this fifth round. I was always interested, always had the intention, but never seemed to have found time in the past to really be religious about it.
Saturday, 19 July, the first full day of the Festival run, ended as a field day for gay bashing. Ironic really, the Festival actually has a program on “LGBT Specials,” I’m presuming because there has been in the past years so much independent filmmaking of the “gay narrative.” There is also a Lino Brocka retrospective, which included an early work called “Tubog sa Ginto,” which was one of the first Filipino gay-lit I owned back when I was far much younger than today.
I decided to see “Tubog sa Ginto” and one full-length in competition, “Astig.” I’ve long known Tubog is “bleak” in terms of essaying the gay identity, but I was nonetheless excited to see it. There were rumors in the past that Time had not been kind to surviving reels of Brocka’s 1971 work. It came as no surprise that I’d feel heavy and slightly disgusted after the screening - it’s all about latent homosexuality that had no other logical conclusion but addiction to male flesh and suicide. But to put it in context, Tubog after all hailed from the dark ages of 1971.
Fast forward to 30-plus years, I experience Astig. I had no foreknowledge of any homosexuality-related angle in this film. Truth to tell, I took interest on Astig because of some of the actors. I have much respect for Dennis Trillo’s, Arnold Reyes’ and Sid Lucero’s acting prowesses. (Okay, they’re just my kind of “eye candy” too.) It was produced by no less than Boy Abunda, who being an out celebrity, supposedly many in the gay community also respect. I would also learn that co-alumnus and friend Maxie was involved in this (Cinemalaya? Astig?) when he personally thanked me for my “support” while I was queued at Tanghalang Abelardo. I do get a warm feeling for supporting friends’ endeavors, I’m parochial. But after the screening, my distaste for this film had me almost forget that feeling.
Astig is not really a gay film. There’s nothing in this film that bottom-lined same-sexual experience or attraction as theme, either structured to triumph gay love or “punish” characters for daring to express such. But it was gratuitous on gay sex as a plot device as well as embellishment for its urban jungle milieu. Thirty-plus years after Tubog sa Ginto, gay sex is still the necessary evil that corrupts or ruins the Astig a.k.a. “Survivor” of the urban jungle. So much for progress in filmic narrative.
Astig put minor gay (or at least homosexually inclined) characters at crucial points in the intertwined episodic narrative, where the leads were able to demonstrate overwhelmingly the Marianas Trench of their desparation. Gay sex was so filthily portrayed in this film - the poisonous carrot that was to be the moral ruin of the beatified heterosexual male, and the penultimate challenge in an Amazing Race to define what it meant to be Astig.
So we get Boy (Edgar Allan Guzman), a reseller of stolen merchandise, who although admitted to have received oral sex when he wanted it, took to the deep end upon giving oral sex to an unfeeling, opportunistic gay man, who was just too flamboyant with an abanico - the *tsk-tsk* shame-of-it-all in exchange for 600 pesos to close a fund gap for his teenage wife’s hospitalization.
And we also get Roland (Arnold Reyes), a Chavacano, who found himself too mortified but desperate enough not to resist the sexual advances of a property buyer, just to close a deal for what seemed to be unsaleable property. And just to sweeten the moral ruin angle here, the “discreet” gay man would just have to be part of a hoodwinking scheme. Of course, it wasn’t in the best spirit of the moral ruin angle to portray the fiasco as something Roland can be redeemed - reselling real estate is not as simplistic as exchanging cash for property papers.
What could Cinemalaya be about in consideration of all this? What does it say as to its claim of being the platform to “boldly articulate and freely interpret the Filipino experience with fresh insight and artistic integrity” (quoted from the website)? Oh, it was bold alright. But short-sighted and narrow-minded. It was very articulate of heterosexism and homophobia, not of the urban social milieu, but of the unenlightened heuristics of the author and producer. Considering Tubog has already walked through this manner of narrative, it’s definitely not fresh. And to consider also the overwhelmingly gay viewership it received on its Tanghalang Abelardo screening night, Astig just effed and gave most of us the finger: “This is for all the scourge you brought upon us!” How’s that for artistic integrity?
As early as May, I was already anticipating the long weekend vacation on Independence Day. I wanted take a vacation to somewhere “historical.” Since my visit to Taal town last year, I thought it would be a nice gesture - and R&R - for this shutterbug lakwatsero to make visiting places steep in history a personal tradition. As the long weekend approached, certain circumstances developed and prevented me from realizing this tradition. By late Thursday night, I really lost all motivation for holiday travel. But somehow, without really being conscious of my actions, I ended up doing things that more or less befit this “tradition.”
On Saturday, I was still craving for something to pamper myself. At my hunny’s suggestion, I decided for dinner that was more “lavish” than my usual. My usual would be carinderia fare, usually from one a few meters across the street where I lived. At my hunny’s suggestion I decided on Restaurante Pia Y Damaso (in Greenbelt). (I once had placed the restaurant in my mental to-do list.) Considering the restaurant’s motif, I think I’ve somehow indulged myself a bit of that personal tradition-in-the-making. But there was something else flavored into this dining experience as well.
Before I took dinner, having really nothing purposeful to do, I wandered a bit in Greenbelt and ended up browsing in National Bookstore. I was convincing myself that I was just looking. I was forbidding myself not to contribute more to my ever growing collection of dusty unread books. Of the several book purchases in the last two or three years that remain unread, some have already been borrowed and read by my book-voracious friend Eon. Who coincidentally was to be my dining companion, together with his partner Jayce.
So while going and just browsing in usual bookstore sections of interest, I thought I was already winning in my mental battle to restrain myself from impulse buying. I was about to leave right after Eon texted me that he’s en route to the restaurant when a promo shelf caught my eye. Several of Ambeth Ocampo’s books were on sale. (Getting an Ocampo book was also in my mental to-do list.)
I never got to buying an Ocampo book because the nagging side of me always argued on behalf of cost-benefit (e.g. a book that may never be read versus savings to cushion impact of obligations a.k.a. bills). But the irresistable appeal that got me buying finally was three-fold: the 101 Stories on the Philippine Revolution was available in newsprint (the bookpaper version was prohibitive cost-wise), it’s packaged with two other books (three combined approximated cost of the bookpaper version), and buying all three got you a free shirt. (You may now call me a promo-sucker cheapskate.) While in Pia Y Damaso, I browsed through 101 Stories - read that article which attracted me to the book the first time I saw it - and was conveniently our occasional conversational piece during dinner.
Prior writing this, I was reading the book again - I’ve time to read as I have no Internet connection at the moment, thanks to the rains that have probably battered my ISP’s facilities (again). More than once Ocampo reminded his readers - both implicitly and explicitly - to learn from this part of the Philippines’ checkered history. This reading was really getting me to thinking: in between occasional experiencing of creepy crawling feeling under my skin, in the process of reflecting, I also at times feel frustrated and helpless, even ashamed of our “forefathers.”
It’s not a bad book. (Well, typography-wise it is, could this be the reason it’s on sale?) It is very engaging in fact. But many things it reveal - more clearly than before, I’d suppose - are things that can be easily dismissed as “bad.” Here I’d read about insincere people in Biak-na-bato, two-faced lying leaders from United States, opportunist ilustrados in Malolos, Tirona-esque black propaganda, Artacho greed, and some more. I’ve re-acquainted myself with Indignation but where or how do I take this further? More than what I’ve done that I think qualify me a good citizen, what could I really do?
At least, as a tribute to our so-called Independence, I passed through the weekend shakened by History cleared of the sanitation (simplification) of the usual Araling Panlipunan textbook.
I couldn’t remember the last time I wasn’t able to, but this year, I wasn’t able to attend Manila’s annual LGBT pride march. I was at the airport when the march started; I was going to Cebu for the participatory planning workshop that will officially usher in the second phase implementation of the fifth round HIV project granted by GFATM. I got feedback from Eon, who I met for dinner last night. It seemed to me that Eon, who is a “virgin” to the event, enjoyed participating in the parade. (There are other feedback, of course, but it seemed to me “too controversial to print” *smile*)
Anyway, images from the parade you can find from the following Multiply sites:
Dear friends,
Warm greetings!
For the last ten years, several initiatives have been launched to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights (LGBTs), among them a bill in Congress that seeks to penalize discrimination against Filipino LGBTs. Several campaigns have also been launched to mainstream issues surrounding the LGBT community and to mobilize popular support for LGBT rights.
Certain gains have been achieved through these initiatives, especially in the areas of media advocacy, public awareness, and short-term campaigns. However, the institutionalization of LGBT rights in public policy remains elusive: the Anti-Discrimination Bill is still languishing in Congress, and governmental institutions mandated to protect the human rights of all Filipinos continue to ignore cases of abuse and discrimination against Filipino LGBTs. While different LGBT and human rights organizations have made efforts to mainstream LGBT issues, the climate of stigma and hatred against LGBTs still persists.
A new momentum for LGBT rights is therefore needed, and fresh strategies must be employed to attain deeper gains for the LGBT community. This is the motivation behind Project Equality, an initiative of different LGBT activists and organizations to re-launch the campaign for LGBT rights and to broaden support for LGBT rights.
Project Equality hopes to re-energize the effort to pass the Anti-Discrimination Bill, and at the same time open up opportunities at the local level to introduce ordinances that protect equal rights for all Filipinos. It believes that achieving equality requires more than just one legislation, and shall therefore support other bills and policy proposals that seek to eliminate stigma, remove gender biases, and affirm human rights for all.
Project Equality recognizes that LGBT rights is also a question of political participation, and thus it seeks to mainstream LGBT rights and issues among political parties and voters, in the process helping transform elections and other political processes as platforms for the voiceless. It likewise aims to use legal instruments to achieve short-term remedies to cases of human rights violations against LGBTs and to obtain jurisprudence on major LGBT-related issues.
We hope you and your organization could take part in this new initiative. We wish to invite you to an interest meeting for Project Equality on Saturday, November 22, 2008, at 1 PM at the Conference Room of the Phaltra Building, 139 Matahimik St., U.P. Village, Diliman, Quezon City. We recognize that the struggle for equality would require the support of organizations inside and outside the LGBT community, therefore Project Equality is open to LGBT and non-LGBT individuals and organizations alike. Your participation would be tremendously important and welcome.
For inquiries on Project Equality and for confirmation, please don’t hesitate to contact the undersigned (mobile: +639209059727, telefax: +6329316575, and email: jonasbagas@gmail.com) or Benjie Zabala (mobile: +639178960104, tel: +6324336933, or email: benjie.zabala@gmail.com).
Thank you very much!
On behalf of the secretariat
Jonas Bagas
