Bohol has a problem

There will always be pros and cons to everything. Especially if your home province is used to rebelling against authorities. Historically, Boholanos waged almost a century of rebellion against Spain and isolated itself from the benefits of the outside world. Nowadays, Boholanos still think that the world revolves around them. Discovering what's outside is a slow painful process most Boholanos could not accept.

And I see a problem here. One of the hindrance to development in whatever form, is Bohol's incessant claims to tradition even if  that tradition is obsolete and no longer conforms to international standards.

This is evidently clear in the production of calamay.

Boholanos, especially those from Jagna, the originators of calamay, claim that their calamay were invented more than 100 years ago. This "invention" of putting the calamay in its original packaging- the coconut shell- involves a lot of problems that would result a domino-effect.

One problem is, these coco shells, aside from the fact that they were ''imported" from Mindanao, are not hygienically prepared. I remember years ago when I went to Jagna to observe and take pictures of the calamay-making industry. I was shocked when the shells they used were just put outside of the producer's house after it was sanded down to get that "clean-shell" look. Worst, those shells, after a hot calamay was poured into them were put in rusty milk tins to cool down. Even that red tape is not hygienic.

After several tourists buying calamay found some already moldy, they spread the word like wild fire affecting the sales of calamay in Bohol. Some were patient enough to send letters of protests to concerned entities. These bad calamays and furious customers paved way to a legislation from the Bohol provincial board to make the calamay better.

Has it?

These calamay producers are still using coco shells nowadays despite health issues. Because Boholanos  insist that this is THE tradition.

Some five years or so, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) assisted the food sector in the province of Bohol so they could cope up with the demands of the international market. A company from Tagbilaran introduced a vacuum-sealed calamay during the International Food Expo in Manila as a tickler on what's going to happen in the food sector of the province. That technology extended the shelf-life of calamay to months because of the packaging. However, the new packaging has never seen the light of day in Bohol. If it indeed was introduced, it lived shortly.

As I was taking a shoot at a calamay last week for the annual Sandugo product expo, I was literally trying to break the shell and pulling the calamay out to make a shot. Like the calamay itself, shooting it nicely is a problem.

For a hundred years, calamay producers are still stuck to their coco shells and air the same problem of shelf life and quality. The same problem they have experienced since a hundred years ago.

Despite the claims that Boholanos are the well-traveled of all Filipinos (there is even an unverified claim that a Boholano already owned a prime lot on the moon), still people in that small island act as if they were unreachable from the outside world. They want to dictate what should be in the market rather than what is the demand of the market.

If Boholanos, especially calamay producers, would not get out of their shell (pun intended), nothing good will come out of their production. They will just remain small time entrepreneurs.


(The author is 100% Boholano, by affinity and by sanguinity.)

The God-makers of Jakosalem

These people at Jakosalem Street in Cebu City do wonders with just a piece of wood. For a short time, they would make an amazing sculpture of saints and gods in their image and likeness. And they always amazed me to no end. I wish I have their patience and creativity.

Our culture and heritage provide us wisdom, not our cell phones

(Note: This article is posted at CNN.com and I copied it as is. It is written by Elizabeth Lindsey, Ph.D. Ms Lindsey is an anthropologist. The article struck a chord in my soul because of the truth that we human beings have the innate want for company of other humans. No man is an island, the adage says. We need to reach out to them, physically should I say, so that we can feel them, and be one with them. Our culture and heritage should be passed down because in the end we would be called what we are. This is an eye-opener to all of us.)

(CNN)-- In an era of technological advancement, we're bloated with information yet starved for wisdom.

From the boardroom to the bedroom we're connected 24/7, yet loneliness is at an all-time high.

More people are reaching for mobile devices than for the hand of someone in need. Where did our humanity go?

Our current crises are a reflection of our internal turbulence, our own private torments.

The truth is we're trying to find our way. But where do we turn for answers?

For centuries, cultures throughout the world have used indigenous technologies to navigate life's complexities. From navigator-priests in Micronesia to mystics in India, vast sums of knowledge are available if we but recognize it.

We are living an illusion that calls itself reality. We track the every move of city dwellers in New York as if it's breaking news while forsaking those with valuable insight. An African elder said, "You worship the jester, while the king stands in plain clothes."

In a society that celebrates youth, we have forsaken the wisdom of age.

As a child I was raised by three old Hawaiian elders who planted and fished according to lunar cycles, who knew the names of the winds and rains, and who relished their intimate relationship with the natural world. They remain among the greatest environmentalists I've ever known.

Today such insight is marginalized if not altogether dismissed. I believe that when an elder dies, a library is burned, vast sums of wisdom and knowledge are lost. Throughout the world libraries are ablaze with scant attention.

My work is as an ethnographic rescuer, a conduit between past and future generations. The urgency of this effort cannot be overstated.

Two years ago, a 108-year-old Chi Kung grandmaster died in a cave where she'd gone into hiding when the Maoist regime came into power. Like many others, Master Wen's knowledge, the sum total of generations before her, was lost.

My doctoral work in ethnonavigation led me to study with Pius "Mau" Piailug, a Micronesian Palu, navigator-priest, who was considered the greatest wayfinder in the world. Wayfinding is the native science of noninstrument navigation.

Mau, who passed away six months ago, was descended from a lineage of navigators who sailed over 3 million square miles of open ocean without the use of instruments or maps.

They synthesized their data from patterns in nature such as the rising and setting of the stars, the sequence and direction of waves, even the slightest color of the underbelly of clouds and the flight patterns of certain birds. This was quite an accomplishment considering that it was during a time when most European thinkers believed the world was flat.

Fortunately, Mau's life and wisdom were well-documented. Future generations now have access to a man whose intellectual and scientific achievements in their own way rival that of putting a man on the moon -- his sea, our space; his canoe, our capsule.

As I write this, I am in India, where I have had the privilege to study with a mystic and a Brahmin priest, the descendant of 14 generations of the greatest classical musical artists in this country. And I am heading for Bhutan where I will travel to the rural countryside to be with sages.

For me, this is much more than a flirtation with adventure. It is a life-long love affair with humanity's story.

Pic grabbed from tx.english-ch.com

Misteryo: Demystifying the Aswang and the Filipino

Last night you were, unhinged. You were like some desperate, howling demon. You frightened me. Do it again. –Morticia Adams

The other day, while waiting for sleep to come, I chanced upon a TV program over at QTV about the mysterious world we are in, aptly titled Misteryo.

The topic was about Aswang, that vampire-like witch I used to fear when I was younger and would have me goose-bumped when some occasions arise.

Hosted by Ryan Eigennman, the program transported me to Cavite where a supposed “victim” was being studied and protected by albularyos (generally, witch doctors). That albularyo insisted that the woman was indeed a victim and mumbled some Latin version of a Roman Catholic prayer. The victim was a woman who had miscarriage.

The program took pains in interviewing everyone in the family, even putting cameras in the roofs just to record the possible coming back of the aswang. Interestingly, only a cat sniffed their cameras. The albularyo justified that aswangs could trick us and took forms with whatever they want.

There was also a “self-confessed” aswang who allowed an interview to justify herself that she did not cause the miscarriage.

Instead of being terrified I was in fact laughing at the interview. The usual pinakain ng bato (swallowed a pebble allegedly coming from a dying aswang, mostly a relative so he/she could die peacefully and that the aswang tradition will live on) was rather cute.

It reminds me of my Lola who used to terrify us with her stories of the unknown. She would insist she saw aswangs and other mythical beings of the night. We would cower in fear, usually under a comforting blanket. Those stories would sometimes leave us children prisoners in our house while the adults would go out not guilty of child neglect doing whatever business they do outside of the house during the night because the children were safely tucked in bed having nightmares of aswangs.

To demystify aswangs, the program also interviewed a doctor who said that the cause of the miscarriage could be attributed to several factors like the shape of her uterus or stress-related problems because pregnancy could do a lot of psychological harm to a woman.

The series is quite clever and a bit informative. I salute it for the reason that it once again revives our culture no matter how ignorant we may seem to be from other people. Although I for sure know that these mythical beings never ceased to exist especially in rural areas. But still, the aswangs, manananggals, tiyanaks, etc. are part of what we are as Filipinos. These mythic ghouls make us more than an interesting nation.

We have an Aswang Festival in Roxas City, right?

American Idiots

I do not know what happened to them but Filipinos mostly staying in the US of A have become idiots specially if they come back to the Philippines. I hope not everyone of them are.

In a recent meeting with them, these Americanized Filipinos have become irritatingly boastful that by just hearing them talk, you would think some American invasion is going to happen in the Philippines. They wanted everything to become just like in the States.

That TV ad Walang ganyan sa States is all I could recall.

They criticize everything in this country. Almost everything. From roads, traffic, the government, the Filipinos, everything. Even cockroaches were not spared. Walang ganyan sa States.

They wanted to have that hole to have a sign telling everyone that it was supposed to be a hole. We Filipinos can tell even without anyone telling us what is a hole and what it can do.

They wanted to sue a restaurant because the hot plate where a sizzling order they served burn one of their kind. We Filipinos know from sight that a sizzling food need not to be touched until it cools down.

They would not pay an entrance fee of 150 PESOS! because no dance instructors danced with them. They forgot they were served free drinks and have stayed two hours already. And the event did not tell them dance instructors were available. It was a concert.

They promise to sue because they were caught jaywalking.

And worst, they know to the solutions of just about everything because "we know better in the States." If I know, they were just outcasts of the racist American society so they turn their revenge on the Filipinos.

But even then, if killing someone is not against the law I could have killed a few.

I have become one of them. Puro reklamo na lang.

Cartoon from changingeyes.blogspot.com

What happened before and in-between?

When Ninoy Aquino was assassinated and the subsequent People Power that followed, we proudly declared to the world that we are proud to be Filipinos. We wear shirts declaring that or some sort.

That declaration suddenly died down.

When Manny Pacquiao took all the boxing crowns, the emergence of pride in the form of slogans came again.

After that- nothing.

Now that Cory Aquino died, another onslaught of those proud Filipino slogans is seen in Facebook.

What happened in between? Are we not a proud Filipino when we had a dictator? When a Filipino film director slayed the more stable and established directors at Cannes? When we are poor as ever? When we were considered as inventors of yoyo? When rampant graft and corruption has become a way of life of President Arroyo? When some unknown child become an ice skating champion somewhere even if we don't have snow here?

But what about you? When have you become a proud Filipino?

(Pic from anton.blogs.com)

Yakuza Asshole

I was aghast when I went to Ayala Center Cebu a few weeks ago.

Just right after the metal detector machine, a Japanese couple, or so I believe they were, with two kids were having a nasty fight. With Koreans, Taiwanese and Japanese invading this nation, you can tell their citizenship through the way they talk and walk. My ears are now adept to the sound of the Korean and Japanese tongues that I just could tell those couple were Japs.

Back to the incident unfolding right in the middle of a busy Ayala, I believe it was a fight despite of the fact that the "wife" was just standing, head bowed and the "husband" shouting as if Ayala was his living room. Suddenly the male Jap slapped the female Jap. Her face getting redder and I was imagining it would burst out of shame. The hapless children, also devoid of voice, looked somewhere but did not move.

No one came to her rescue. I felt sorry for her and the kids.

I don't know how the Japs treat their women. I've never been to Japan and the Japanese I've known were mostly women and the men mostly very meek and mild. What I've read and seen from Memoirs of a Geisha were superfluous I think. That was a time when women were considered servants and whores in their society.

I knew from my readings that they used Filipinas as comfort women during the Japanese occupation in the country.

I knew these Japs were suicidal killers just like their kamikazes.

But I also knew they have overcome that notion and the prejudices we have against them. And being a first world country, I believed the Japs have come to terms with humane treatment, the role of women and gender equality in the society.

But seeing that incident was frustrating. I think everyone was willing but could not place themselves as to what extent should we be of help. Language and cultural barriers posed a problem and might have complicated the scene more.

In the end, all I did (and just like what everyone was doing) was stare and with a heavy heart left the site and did our business as if nothing happened.

But still the look of that woman- afraid, ashamed of the incident- left an imprint even in my dreams.


(Picture from http://flickr.com/photos/khawa6r/268383361/)

Live streaming: Pacquiao-Hatton fight overshadowed by rude Filipinos

I don't know why when Filipinos could no longer reason out, they resort to name-calling and other racists tags.

Is this a cultural thing among us Pinoys?

Instead of watching the Pacquiao-Hatton fight in the internet, I was "bewitched" to the right side of the channel to see the chatroom full of rubbish comment from Filipinos and later by some Hatton fans. Not even a sociologist nor a psychologist, I can see how we fare with other people's reactions. By other people I mean those people other than Filipinos in the chatroom. And by saying how we fare I mean we are the worst kind.

I remember well when we were playing games in my younger days, the losers usually would call us names when defeat was inevitable. Sometimes even involving a crying game and some threats of telling mothers and fathers. Worst, a brawl would usually follow.

From these chatroom I can only conclude one thing: Filipinos are racists!

I am glad the connection dropped.

AND MANNY PACQUIAO WON IN THE SECOND ROUND. HATTON DROPPED TWICE IN THE FIRST AND TKO'D ON THE SECOND.

Flirting for the Country

Aside from the fact that she is flirting and eventually getting the attention and extra manipulations from the foreigners, this whore (I would like to presume basing on her actuations) caught everyone's imagination at Tingko Beach. She is spreading a different malaise every time she walks around and when she sings the karaoke. Off-tuned of course. (Take note of the reaction of the kids in the background)

A World Apart: Lent in Cebu and Bohol

I woke up early today because my neighbors had their videoke gnashing through my ears despite of the fact that today is Good Friday.

In Bohol, as far as I can remember, you are not allowed to play loud music during the Lenten season, much more a videoke. If you could not resist the urge to listen to some music, at least play only the standards, classics, love songs or the classicals AND tone it down so that your neighbors would not think you are protesting against the Church and the death of Christ. The latter have to do a lot of convincing among the folks at home.

In Cebu, there seems to be a lack of respect for the observation of Lent.

Is this something cultural?

But Bohol and Cebu are literally neighbors and I am sure 90 percent of the people in these two islands, be they vacationeers or locals, are Christians. Why these two provinces differ culturally in the celebration of Lent?

"Ang di marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan..."

I adore Cesar Montano. Not because he is now a star, but because he is the type of guy who knows where he came from and never deny that fact just because of his present status. Montano has done many good things for Bohol and he is a proud Boholano. Way to go Cesar Montano!

This is also a note of million thanks to the Ayalas, specifically Bea Zobel Jr and the Ayala Foundation for the great things they have done to make Bohol even prouder of its cultural heritage. We salute you Ma'am for being a Boholano by heart.

Montano, Ayalas toast Bohol heritage

By Pablo Tariman

Philippine Daily Inquirer

First Posted 02:39:00 12/15/2008

THREE years ago in Bohol, actor Cesar Montano showed me the interiors of the Baclayon town church, built in 1727 by the Jesuits using coral-stone blocks from the sea and egg white and plaster to glue the blocks together.

With it gilded altars, Baroque and Classical inner façade and its retablos highlighted by images of saints, I told the award-winning actor, “What a beautiful venue for concert!” Later, I would test the acoustics and found it excellent.

Earlier, I learned that film scorer Nonong Buencamino recorded the choir music used in the Marilou Diaz-Abaya film “Muro-Ami” in this church and the award-winning film was actually shot on Bohol Bay.

Later, Montano also told me about the church’s historic pipe organ, which was installed in the choir loft in 1824 and years later found itself in a state of disrepair.

Experts say the Baclayon pipe organ has the character of Spanish Baroque organs and its parts could mimic the sound of birds through the little pajarillo pipes. It can also enhance melodies with the tinkling of the cascabeles, an ornamental stop with bells on a wheel drum and campanillas.

Through the assistance of Patricia Zobel de Ayala and the Ayala Foundation Inc., the organ’s pipes, wind chests, manual keyboard, pedal and other accessories were repaired extensively and restored to their original form.

Saturday morning last week, I saw Montano at the Tagbilaran airport and told him about the Baclayon concert, which would officially herald the coming to life of the newly restored Baclayon pipe organ.

In the evening, I found myself on the church choir loft with Montano and wife Sunshine Cruz, watching a concert featuring composer-conductor Cristobal Halffter and pianist Maria Manuela Caro on the pipe organ.

In the audience were Jaime Augusto Zobel, Sofia Zobel, Patricia Zobel and Bea Zobel Jr., who is 

behind a renewed restoration program involving Bohol’s cultural heritage.

So fragile

Pianist Maria Manuela Caro opened the concert with Antonio de Cabezon’s (1510-1566) Tiento del Primer Tono, followed by a Handel largo solo arranged by AR Parsons.

As the first two numbers unfolded, one realized the musical instrument was so fragile. It needed a focused assistant to keep it in tune and go through its complicated parts, like its ornamental stop and its tambor (big wood pipes) used to create rumbling sound similar to a drum.

Bach’s Aria and the 7th Variation of the Goldberg Variation had a fairly good reading, and I suppose this piece is better off played on the piano to preserve its original nuances.

One got to finally hear the uses of the big wood pipes and the reed stops with Juan Bautista Cabanilles’s “Batalla Imperial.”

The piece is a musical replica of a military battle and was properly the most virtuosic piece played on the program.

The evening was highlighted with Halffter playing Christmas carols from different countries. He concluded with a contemporary piece that ended with the use of the organ’s pajarillo pipes echoing the sound of birds, and we thought that was the most charming and compelling number from the concert.

The significance of this concert is that the Zobel family helped bring back to life the remaining musical symbol of the town’s cultural heritage while also assisting the town embark on a massive restoration campaign to preserve its historical, cultural and natural sites, including local traditions in craftsmanship.

Late in the night after the concert, Lani Schoof (wife of Hans Schoof, owner of Baclayon’s Peacock Garden Resort and Spa) treated Montano and company to a late-night cap.

Schoof, who is German but very Boholano (and Filipino) at heart, earlier showed us his Rizal collections in his cigar room, including furniture from Heidelberg where Rizal stayed in Germany.

It was an uncanny coincidence Montano had played Rizal in Abaya’s “Rizal.”

Montano remarked before the night cap ended: “It would be nice to hear Cecile Licad play in Bohol next year after this historic pipe organ concert in our historic town.”

Pic of Montano and fellow Boholano Rebecca Lusterio (Panaghoy sa Suba) grabbed from getinvolved.wordpress.com

SM City's misguided values

Brouhaha over ‘bahag’ in giant mall 

By Tonette Orejas, Vincent Cabreza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:30:00 11/18/2008

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Department of Tourism officials and leaders of tourism councils in four regions have scrapped the SM City Clark as future venue of the North Philippines Exposition to protest attempts by mall officials to stop dancers wearing a g-string from performing there.

Reached in China through text messages, DOT Central Luzon director, Ronaldo Tiotuico, confirmed the boycott led by the DOT and tourism councils in the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Cordillera and Central Luzon.

SM City Clark apologized for the incident. “We are sorry that there has been some misunderstanding regarding the event,” SM City Clark said in a statement sent to the Inquirer.

Apology

“It was not our intention to prevent the group from performing in their costume as we are aware that this is a cultural show.”

The statement said the SM City Clark management was setting an appointment with DOT Central Luzon Director Ronaldo Tiotuico “to apologize to and clarify the matter with him. We have and will always be supportive of DOT activities.”

In the statement, Tiotuico said SM City Clark’s executives tried to stop the performance of the Pines City National High School’s Teatro Pino on Friday because the performers wore “skimpy attire and therefore are bound to scandalize the children watching the show.”

He attributed that statement to Lana Erroba, SM City Clark assistant mall manager. Erroba, he added, said that to Edith Collado, vice president of the Philippine Exhibits and Parks Corp., the DOT’s partner in the event.

Tiotuico said DOT Cordillera Director Purificacion Molintas condemned the incident and demanded for an apology.

Photo from koolbirks.com

Badjaos on My Mind

Badjaos at Tagbilaran Port

The constant presence of Badjaos baffles me. Is begging in any ways they can really part of their culture? Are they the complete picture of Filipinos?