Memories of places in the old country

Bridge to Potia, Ifugao in North Philippines. The River is Magat that flows to the outlying villages of San Mateo, Isabela.

The main canal of the  Magat River Irrigation System that passes through the old village of Oscariz, Ramon, Isabela

"Well-behaved women seldom make history."--Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
"Forget injuries; never forget kindness."--Confucius

MONDAY NOTES

*    It may be good to make preparations before crossing the bridge to the Great Divide. The separation of reality and what may not be there. But why think about it as if you are waiting for the assassin who vowed to kill you? Get out of the room of fear and see the sun shining in all its splendor in the azure sky.

  

    *Why destroy time in useless imaginings? If time is no longer on your side, what the heck? Make the most of what is left, for the best is yet to come.

THE LOST MARBLE SOUNDS

Moving at right angle
Inside of me
In the square of nowhere:
The flowering dream
Entangled in the clouds
Around a ball of fire
In late afternoon
In the extreme weather
Here in Menifee.

Marga Denise de los Santos Julian

GOING WHERE THE FLAVOR IS--PECHANGA!

A Sunday in Menifee and Jeric's 21st birthday
Going in a convoy of two cars to the gambling casino to celebrate Jeric's 21st birthday.
Few vacant parking spaces at the parking floors. A great number of gambling aficionados this Sunday
Buffet at Pechanga during Jeric's birthday today, Sunday, July 20, 2014
Present at Dining table:
Anib and Dianne Julian
The blogger and wife Estelita
Daniel, Dianne's father
Anib 11
Philip, Jeric's boardmate at UC Irvine
Whitney, Anib 2's Vietnamese girlfriend
Justin, Anib 2's Filipino friend
Tip for the Mexican waitress: $10
Later, we played the slot machines. The blogger, playing on the 5 cent machine, won $50 but gave $20 to Daniel and $30 to Estelita, who lost it at the $1 machine. Anib, on the $1 machine, lost $500.
We had a great time.

 

The friends of the Julian brothers crowded around a slot machine as Jeric played. We went home towards midnight. The young people left earlier.

EYES WIDE OPEN

PETER LA. JULIAN

THE QUALITIES OF A LEADER

     F. Sionil Jose, the most translated Filipino author, is an Ilokano, who traces his roots to Cabugao town in Ilocos Sur. He attends writers' conferences and seminars for young and old Ilokano mannurat. A fixture in these affairs, he writes in English only and regrets he could'nt write in our language. But he identifies himself with Ilokano writers, saying he is proud to be an Ilokano and describe us as the most industrious ethnolinguistric tribe in the country along with Cebuanos and Batanguenos.  
     In his column in the Philippine Star dated May 5, 2014, Jose challenges the Moros (which include Tausogs--the laziest tribe, he said, along with Warays) to visit the Ilokos. He did not state the reason for the visit. But the blogger understands that if the visitors find economic development in the region this is traced to various causes specifically the kind of leadership wields by the leader.
      In said article, Jose said that the Bangsamoro leader has to work harder to realize the objectives of Bangsamoro now that it has been given the opportunity to rule itself as a independent entity within the Republic.       What are the qualities of a good leader? Jose enumerated some of these qualities when he said thus: 
     "What, really, is a leader? What are his qualities? Integrity is one of them; honesty in his dealings with his fellowmen; but most of all honesty with himself, his capacity to recognize the "objective reality" not just about himself but, most of all about the people he has to lead, to know what's wrong with them, for as a leader, he must be a change agent, capable of convincing his people for the better."

THE COUNTRY'S UNABATED KILLINGS

A CASE OF POLITICAL IMPUNITY?

     The killing of Gonzaga, Cagayan Mayor Carlito Pentecostes appears to be the left's version of the political impunity that the blogger talked about before Ilokano writers during their annual convention at the Cabacungan Inn in month. (Most of the delegates came from Gonzaga, a few towns away to the east from Claveria, a seaside town.)
     Leaflets were left by the killers to "justify" the killing, citing sand-mining in the town as the cause of the summary execution.
     But a spokesperson of the Pentecostes' family said the killing was politically-motivated. He said that there was no longer sand-mining in the town. It was understood that before they kill anybody, the killers believed to be members of the  New People's Army, would usually warn their quarry before they do their thing. They never warned the mayor, according to the spokesperson.

QUICK TRIP

     The blogger and his wife made a quick trip to and from Manila yesterday. We had the final immunization injections and obtained the last of the travel documents. The re-scheduled embassy interview of the wife will be in May. It will be a breeze as it was a breeze yesterday. 
    One sour note: The cab driver that took us from the Victory Terminal in Sampaloc to St. Luke's H extension in Ermita was talkative and did not give the supposed change of P200 the wife gave him--the fare was supposed to be only P80. The cab meter was not even running. Just like the trike driver that charged us weeks ago P120 for a few meters drive to our hotel at UN Avenue. A, the denizens of the dirty city ruled by the convicted economic plunderer Joseph Estrada! 

'NO MERCY' PRESIDENT OF A COUNTRY

     The family of Cadet Aldrin Jeff Cudia, who was ousted from the Philippine Military Academy, went to the Palace to ask for assistance. But the President of this country did not give them mercy. As the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley said it in 1819, there are "Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know/But leech-like to their fainting country cling."/
    Viva la revolucion en las Islas de Los Ladrones!  

The blogger, as a national awardee in English poetry, poses with the late Kerima Polotan-Tuvera, then one of the country's best writers and essaysts. At the Focus mggazine in the Port Area, Manila. 

                                    

A FUTURE MILITARY LEADER

 
   
      He is the valedictorian of the graduating class this year of the country's top military school, the Philippine Military Academy at Fort del Pilar in Baguio City. Cadet First Class Jheorge Llona is said to be the son of a farming family in the Bicol Region.
      Earlier, Cadet First Class Aldrin Jeff Cudia, was dismissed by the academy for allegedly lying about his being late for two minutes in his class. There was a public outcry for this act and an investigation was made by the Human Rights Commision.The CHR recommended that the cadet be allowed to attend the graduation rites and receive whatever honors bestowed on him as class salutatorian.
          Cudia was not allowed to attend the Sunday ceremonies.
          Llona was quoted to have said the following statement regarding the dismissal of Cudia: "The civilians do not understand the honor system very well."
         Such statement raised a howl of protest from civilians, calling him arrogant and dumb for not thinking of the consequences of what he said.
          Some civilians raised the possibility that Llona, several years after joining the Armed Forces of the Philippines, will not be bound by the academy's Honor Code. And he will fall prey to the temptations of corruption as his fellow PMA alumni did and are doing.
         Remember the debilitating military coups led by PMA graduate Honasan, the infamous Kuratong Baleleng rubout instigated allegedly by Lacson and the ransacking of state funds by Garcia and other misdeeds committed by "PMAyers?"
          We civilians do not understand the honor system? Is there a difference between the honor system of civilians and that of PMA?
          We as taxpayers spent P2-million per year for the education of Llona for him to become an "officer and gentleman."
          Now Llona is insulting us, our intelligence, our brains.

THE 9-0 VERDICT AGAINST THE PMA CADET A LIE?

     It appears that the 9-0 verdict against the Philippine Military Academy Cadet Jeff Aldrin Cudia did not reflect what really happened. The cadet who voted for Cudia not to be ousted from the academy has come out: he was pressured to change his vote. Those who applied the Honor Code on cheating are themselves cheaters?
     Apply the case of the Police Officer who led the arrest of Delfin Lee, accused of large-scale estafa. He was sacked as head of Operation Tugis that bagged Lee. Did PNP Chief Alan Purisima, a PMA graduate, sacked him, or did he promote him? Is Purisima lying to a fellow PMA graduate, who earlier protested his ouster?

THE PMA CADET DESERVES ANOTHER CHANCE

   In the front page of the Inquirer, there is this photo of First Class Cadet Jeff Aldrin Cudia in his Philippine Military Cadet uniform. How elegant and brilliant he looks!  He could be an asset to the country plagued by corruption with lawmakers as the biggest robber barons. In fact, Congress has been accused of harboring the biggest criminal syndicate in the Philippines.

     But Jeff will not graduate from the academy this year. For not telling the truth, he was ousted by his peers and the PMA approved the decision of his fellow cadets.
     What a waste of time, effort and money, the taxpayers money. (Two million pesos per year was spent for his education to become an "officer and gentleman.")
     For four years, the PMA nurtured Jeff, only to be expelled from the academy. Reason for the ouster: he allegedly did no tell the truth why he was late for his class by two minutes. By two minutes!
     No forgiveness by the mother and his brothers!
     And Jeff will discard his uniform, throwing it away like garbage?
     Can the mother (PMA) and his brothers (fellow cadets) guarantee that this country will be free of dishonest officials and violent PMA graduates like Honasan and Lacson? How honest are these people? And how about Garcia, a PMA graduate, who stole millions from the state coffers?
     We don't what will happen tomorrow. Who knows Jeff will be a great Philippine leader, an exponent of truth, honesty and integrity?
     The United States of America gives a second chance to erring cadets of West Point, its top military academy. Despite its present troubles, the USA is a great country where millions of Filipinos live.
   
   
     

PRAISE, PRAISE UNTO TO THE PERIPATETIC ILOKANO WRITER AND TEACHER

     Praise, praise to the peripatetic Ilokano writer and teacher of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is on sabbatical leave but he has been lecturing on things that matter and discovering his fellow tribal "bayanggudaw" in Mindanao and soon be writing about them.

     The blogger says that no mannurat will come after Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili with the brilliance and illumination he makes of his many worlds of beauty and ugliness and sorrow and pain.

Thte teacher, seated, and the blogger at the Mandarin restaurant
 in San Fernando City, La Union, Philippines

A CASE OF FAMILY-BASED CORRUPTION IN THE PHILIPPINES?

   .

   Sen. Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada maintains he is innocent of the crime in connection with the illegal use of his pork barrel. (He earlier claimed he did not personally know Janet Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the P10-B scam involving senators and other government officials.But there were photos that showed Jinggoy attended parties and other events hosted by Napoles.)

     As a blogger-journalist, we are constrained to ask the questions:

     1. What is the P30-million project under the name of Jinggoy that was supposed to have been funded by his pork barrel? If it was  implemented, where is the project?
     2. What is the P71-million project allegedly under the name of her mother, then Sen. Loi Ejercito? If it was implemented, where is the project?
     3. What is the P10-million project allegedly under the name of Mrs. Ejercito? If it was implemented, where is the project?

     Years ago, the father of the senator, President Joseph Estrada, was convicted of economic plunder by the country's Supreme Court.
 

FACES OF POVERTY

EYES WIDE OPEN

PETER LA. JULIAN
 

     At a crossing near the Cultural Center of the Philippines building in Manila, a frail elderly man approaches our car, and stretched his hand for alms. He was holding a child with a 100-peso bill clasped tightly on her hands.
     A family of five takes a bath at the murky and smelly waters of Manila Bay near Roxas boulevard.
     A man takes a dip in the waters, and lingers for some minutes. He takes off his tattered shirt, washes it, twists the water off the cloth, then puts it on his thin body as he comes out of the bay toward land.

Begging for alms in Baguio City, near SM mall

DID THE COMEDIAN RAPE DENIECE CORNEJO?

     No such rape could have taken place, according to the lawyer of the comedian Vong Navarro. She cited the CCTV camera that recorded the coming of Vhong Navarro to the condo unit of his alleged victim.
     There was rape, according to Lawyer Howard Calleja, counsel of the victim, citing the circumstances involving Vhong and Deniece Cornejo.
     Charges of serious physical injuries and illegal detention against Cornejo and Cedric Lee could get the goat of the two and several others that include an allaged martial arts artist. 
    This is also the case between the lawyers, their arguments and their logical reasoning.

Quote of the day: "Happier thoughts lead to essentially a happier biochemistry. A happier, healthy body. Negative thoughts and stress have been shown to seriously degrade the body and the functioning of the brain, because it's our thoughts and emotions that are continously re-assembling, re-organizing, re-creating our body."--Dr. John Hagelin

ORTHOGRAPHY STIRS CONTROVERSY

ILOKANO ORTHOGRAPHY STIRS CONTROVERSY

BY PETER LA. JULIAN

        LAOAG CITY--An Ilokano orthography or how to spell words in the language, which is being used by school children in Ilocos Norte, has raised a storm of protest from Ilokano academicians, scholars, writers, teachers and other stakeholders.
     The said orthography is said to have been crafted by the education department of Ilocos Norte in accordance to the Ortograpiang Pambansa or national orthography designed by the Komisyon nga Wikang Filipino for the country's various languages now being used as mediums of instruction under the Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education program.
     In a statement, the Joint National and International Committee for the Protection of the Ilokano Language, said that the KWF-endorsed Ilokano orthography and the spelling proposal violated the implementing guidelines of the MTB-MLE with respect to the role of "stakeholder participation" in the drawing up of the orthography.
     The JNICPIL is composed of various groups and organizations of academicians, scholars and writers based in the Philippines and abroad.
     The organizational stakeholders include Nakem Conferences Philippines, Guild Of Ilokano Writers Philippines, Guild Of Ilokano Writers America including the Chavacano Ethnolinguist Group.
     Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili, coordinator of the Ilokano program in the University of Hawaii at Manoa, claimed that JNICPIL was never consulted in the drawing up of the Ilokano orthography, the proposals and guidelines of which were contained in an 8-page booklet circulated among teachers in Ilocos Norte.
     Dr. Agcaoili, author of Ilokano books and Ilokano-English dictionaries, claimed that scholars who read the booklet said that it "is not productive, or will not fulfill its role as better alternative to existing Ilokano orthography, with its overly popular form and not being able to articulate a more intellectualized discourse needed in knowledge productio.
     The JNICPIL Statement urged the KWF to make public the process involved in coming out with the KWF-endorsed Ilokano Orthography that has been patterned after the Tagalog Orthography.
     The idea of making all Philippine languages conform to the orthography of one dominant language is an outdated practice, reminiscent of language planning done by fascit governments in the past, according to the Statement.
     According to the booklet, the letter F has been replaced by the letter P in the spelling of ordinary Ilokano words and the pronoun or its derivative has been separated and stands alone in sentences (example, makasurat ak instead of makasuratak as used in Bannawag, the Iluko weekly magazine, and other Ilokano journals and newspapers.)
    Earlier, Dr. Agcaoili said that his Timpuyog dagiti Mannurat nga Ilokano Global Hawaii, the Hawaii-based writers guild, protested, "but all we got is a lame letter from the Department of Education, saying that the KWF Ilokano Orthgraphy went through a consultation process."
     The booklet was authored by a certain Joel Bagain Lopez, an official of the Deped in Ilocos Norte
     Dr. Agcaoili did not say what groups or government agency were involved in the consultation process
but the MTB-MLE guidelines specifically name agencies like the Department of Labor and Employment, public and private schools teacher organizations, national student organizations, among others.
     The signatories of the Statement are all stakeholders of the Ilokano language, according to Dr. Agcaoili, and  "we wish to participate in all aspects of htis MTB-MLE and not to be used as pawns at the service of some narrow views or agenda."
    A copy of the Statement was personally given to Dr. Virgilio Almario, KWF chair, during a literary seminar at the Dep-ed auditorium in Laoag last Saturday by Prof. Herdy La Yumul of the Mariano Marcos State University.
     During the open forum, Almario said that KWF was not endorsing the Ilokano Orthography and that the issue should be resolved by Lopez and the stakeholders, according to Yumul.
     In attendance was Lopez who told Yumul, one of the country's top bloggers, and other participants that he was only following  Deped order, and that he was willing to sit down and discuss the matter with stakeholders of the Ilokano language.


   
   
   
   

     The Philippines hosts several languages--eight major ones and several others--and with speakers having different articulation of letters of the alphabet, is it possible to have a national orthography? We doubt the practicality of having one but the department of education is said to have devised a way to write words in various languages. How did they do it?
     We have not seen the memorandum to the effect regarding Ilokano orthography based on the suggestions of some members of an Ilokano writers organization. This has raised a howl among writers, especially those in Nakem Conference, saying the imposition of the IO is a kind of linguistic injustice.  

FIRST ILOKANO CARDINAL

   

     From the lead paragraph of the first page of the country's most prestigious newspaper, Philippine Daily Inquirer, where the blogger was a correspondent:

     KIDAPAWAN CITY--The chant "Habemus cardinalem" (We have a cardinal) reverberated around the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) congregation and across the country on Sunday night as news spread that Cotabato Archibishop Orlando B. Quevedo had been appointed by Pope Francis to the College of Cardinals.

     And the blogger says with pride in the language in which the new prince of the Church was born,  "Addaantayo iti Ilokano a Cardinal" (We have an Ilokano Cardinal).
     Indeed, the soon to be installed Cardinal comes from the hardy race of Ilokanos who inhabit the narrow piece of coastal land in Northwestern Luzon, but now are found all over the country and the world especially in Hawaii and the US Mainland. 
     Archbishop Quevedo was born in Laoag City in 1939 but his family moved to Marbel, Cotabato in Mindanao in 1947. He was an altar boy and sold the weekly paper, Mindanao Cross, which celebrated its 65 year anniversary last year. He studied at the San Jose Seminary in Quezon City, was ordained priest in 1964 and became prelate of Kidapawan in 1980.
     He went on to become bishop of his adopted province of Cotabato and archbishop of Vigan City- based Nueva Segovia whose territory include the three Ilocos provinces and the Cordillera Administrative Region.
     Hail to the first Ilokano Cardinal! 

GOODBYE, DON NARCISO

 

   The blogger never met the old men when he was alive. He was supposed to have been living in the Waipahu area, Hawaii, where residents are mostly Ilokanos. He was living with her daughter Elsie's family who is married to my nephew Gerry. My wife and I were in Hawaii at that time  and we visited Elsie, a nurse, and Gerry, vice- president of a care home association in Hawaii, at their well-appointed home. The old man had left for the Philippines months earlier.
     Elsie's father, 88, died several days ago in his native San Nicolas home in Northern Philippines and the couple arrived last Monday for the wake and the burial of Don Narciso this coming Saturday.  The blogger attended the wake of the old man two days ago. It was from Gerry that I learned about Don Narciso who established the famous Mamaclay Metal Works that had several branches in Ilocos Norte. It was a profitable business, according to Gerry, and the Mamaclay family was one of the richest in the town at that time, he added. 
     The old men and his wife had five children, all professionals. Elsie's younger brother, a brilliant physician, one of the best in the profession, is the president of the Ilocos Norte Medical Society. 
     He who had a full successful life will be buried in San Nicolas. His body will be kept in a pantheon in a high-priced memorial park in the town.

     Update: Gerry and Elsie are going to the Philippines in September 2014 to attend the death anniversary of Don Narciso

RUBY TUASON EXPOSES THE COUNTRY'S HOODLUMS

 
   There is hope after all in Las Islas de Los Ladrones with the Lady coming forward and exposing those guys comprising the country's biggest syndicate.
    Add to this another whistle-blower Dennis Cunanan who told media the three senators called him at his office to "expedite" the use of their pork barrel, which would then be release to a fake NGO of the alleged scam queen Janet Napoles.
    But the blogger does not focus on the story.
In fact, this is only an attachment, nay a postscript/prescript

to what has already been written: The Country's Hoodlums and Don Juan Tenorios.

      Don Juan Tenorios are scattered all over Las Islas de Los Ladrones in the name of lawmakers--senators and congressmen. They have all the money to seduce the so-called weaker sex, building mansions for mistresses, creating bank accounts for them and their illegitimate children.
    One Don Juan Tenorio, whose senator son has been accused of pocketing millions of pesos from kickbacks through the use of his presidential development assistance fund, is said to have sired more than 80 children from many women some of whom were Las  Islas de Los Ladrones beauties and actresses.
      Womanizing, of course, is not the monopoly of these politicians who have a way of dipping their fingers on the state cookie jars. (Now you know why the country is called Las Islas de Los Ladrones?)
     This business of keeping women not their wives is also present among  writers. Needless to say, these are not starving writers as most of this kind are in a country, where the population apparently has no interest in reading books or in the arts. 
   The president of a provincial chapter of the organization claimed that the leader is "that way" with one female staffer of their magazine and that the wife (of Don Juan Tenorio) sensed something wrong and asked the chapter president for the phone number of the girl who is also married and is the kept woman of another man. 
     

     The other officer, according to another member, has also given a bank account to his alleged girl friend in the organization. The lucky girl has P300,000 at her disposal?  Come again, Heramylinda? What? Did you see the pass book?
     How do you describe these acts of Don Juans who are supposed to be models of good behavior because they are writers?  
         

ST.MATTHEW REMINDER ON SUNDAY FOR CHRISTIANS INCLUDING ILOKANO WRITERS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Matthew 6: 22-23

    "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness."
     This is the official Ilokano version of the Philippine Catholic church as translated by the blogger, a mannurat, when he, given the imprimatur by the Batanes Bishop Mario Baltazar, became  member of a 7-man ecumenical group that translated the whole Bible in Baguio City:

Mateo 6:22-23

     "Ti mata ti pannakasilaw ti bagi; no nasalun-at ti matam, nalawag ti entero a bagim. Ngem no saan a nasalun-at ti matam, nasipnget ti entero a bagim. Isut' gapuna a no nakudrep ti silawmo, anian a kinasipnget!

Of course, this is not the Scripture reading in the December 5, 2014 Catholic Mass in the Philippines.

   

PHILIPPINE POVERTY: THE MIND OF A BISHOP OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

      
     "Poverty is our destiny."
     Thus says a Facebook commentator, reacting to the following statement by Bishop Gilbert Garcera of the Diocese of Daet, Camarines Sur: 
     "The overpopulation that breeds poverty was not a problem because poverty itself was not a problem."
     "Poverty even brought people "closer" to God and was instrumental in realizing God's plan for Filipinos to take care of other nationalities by inducing migration and working abroad."
     Should not the Pope scold this Philippine bishop for this kind of thinking. It is as if he is "encouraging" poverty in this country in a period called the Asian Century where all nations in this part are expected to enjoy prosperity. 
     Filipinos going abroad to "take care of other nationalities"? He is referring, of course, of Filipina domestic helpers, who are maltreated, raped in Saudi, Kuwait and other Middleast countries, and sometimes come home to the Philippines in coffins.
     Skewed priestly logic. Justifying failures of the structures of change that include the Church with its princes and other ecclesiastical potentates living in style, while a great number of Filipinos, mired in poverty, eat once or twice a day.