The Other Luna: Theories of Memories

Ilokano writers  more than 40 years ago. 
Front row: Severino V. Pablo, 
Jean Alejandro (5th) and Peter La Julian
Standing: Joe Gonzales (in dark glasses)  of San Fernando, La Union 
and Pelagio Alcantara (in polo shirt) of Sto. Domingo, Ilocos Sur

Drying laundry at the Padsan in Laoag City

a red rose inlaid on her cheek,
she shudders at the sight of a lover
under a full moon.

it was a season when water lilies
were abloom
and the crickets sung sans end.
in the late afternoon
the other sonja, balancing a jug on her head,
climbed the bank of Padsan.
it was the last time he saw her,
a little girl in pigtails.
when she came back she was a woman
of intellect, her brains brimming
with theories of knowledge and memories,
a career secured in a university
in the mountain city.
and the boy? he followed her to the end
but he lost the way, his sad poems
etched in a corner somewhere in a garden
of sunflowers.
*****


the young woman in a corner of his mind

now i have you at last, the old man said to himself, delirious. i have you now, he heard himself whispering. 
she was lying naked on top of him on the bed, her young body pressed against him like rock and he could feel her fibulas and femurs, sacrum, breasts, her ribs. a, the fragrance of her searing flesh. she was kissing him with wet, delicious lips, opening her hot, strong legs to heaven. and he almost passed out in ecstasy and bliss.
bad, bad old boy.
***
view

this place is ugly
yet i can't see ugliness
in the presence of a goddess,
her hair flowing in the wind
her eyes sparkling like the far-away stars
in a night of dreams

AQUINO'S infantile COMMENTS ON THE MARCOSES

"Filipinos will never forgive the Marcoses," runs SBA yellow media refrain.

Ilokanos are also Filipinos.

Decades after the fall of Ferdinand Marcos, Simeon Benigno Aquino III and his ilk are still stuck with the "Never Again" syndrome. This is a poisonous psychological baggage, divisive and fascistic, that follows the logic and discourses of what they have been hating all these years.

Simeon Benigno's mental aberration is a curse that has been preventing the country from moving forward.

No matter what other Ilokanos say to the contrary, there will always be an Ilokano insurrection against the Aquinos and their oligarchies that include oligarchy-controlled media outfits like the ABS-CBN television network and other media personalities and Marcos bashers.

It is Simeon Benigno III who owes Filipinos a lot of explanation:

1. Why did he allow the then suspended Philippine National Police Chief Alan Purisima to run the Mamasapano operation, where Muslim rebels and other Muslim groups in Maguindanao killed 44 PNP Special Forces? Why was he not held accountable for this fiasco?
2.  Why did his father, Sen. Benigno Aquino, Jr., promised in 1983 to then Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammad Mahathir to drop the Philippine claim to Sabah in exchange for his support for the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos? That is, when the late senator himself would replace Marcos as President of the Philippines.*
3. Why did the father of Simeon Benigno III hobnob with the former caudillo of the Communist Party of the Philippines? This Red Pope of Philippine communists now leaving in style in some European country? 
4. Why did the 1987 Cory Aquino Constitution delete Sabah as part of Philippine territory?
5. Why is he tolerating Budget Secretary Butch Abad who mentored Janet Napoles, the mastermind the P10-B scam filch from lawmakers' pork barrel funds?
6. Why is Simeon Benigno III in a hurry for Congress to approve the Bangsamoro Basic Law that would give Muslims a big chunk of Philippine territory? The envisioned Moro substate would be ruled by Sharia law that is incompatible with Philippine laws.
7. Did he eat his boogers when he was a young boy? Was he not then a psychiatrist case?
8. Ad infinitum

*Read Inquirer article: "Ninoy Vowed to Drop Sabah Claim to get KL Support vs. Marcos"

Quote of the day: "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."-- Mahatma Gandhi

PILLAR OF ILOKANO LITERATURE DIES, 91

SANTA MARIA, ILOCOS SUR--Dr. Dedicacion Agatep-Reyes, the other half of the so-called Main Pillars of Ilokano Literature, died of a lingering illness last Saturday in her hometown of Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur.  She was 91.

Dr. Agatep-Reyes,  was the first President of the University of Northern Philippines based in Vigan City, which is celebrating this year its 50th anniversary. She was the widow of Dr. Godofredo S. Reyes, 13-time president of GUMIL-Filipinas, the national association of Ilokano writers, who died several years ago, also in Sta. Maria.

Dr. Cion, as she was popularly known, will be buried in the Catholic Cemetery in her hometown on October 30.

The Reyes couple used to host Ilokano writing seminars and conferences in their house in the coastal village of Suso here.

Ilokano literary luminary, Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, who is currently in the country in connection with the Mother Language Education Program, in a statement,  said of Dr. Reyes:

"She is a pillar of Ilokano life, letters, language and academic life. As president of the University of Northern Philippines, she worked through the filth and mud, and nonetheless, made it sure that her province would have its share of the best in thought and professional training for its young. Today, the university ranks as one of the best in the country.

"Through Nana Cion and Dr. Godo Reyes, who was also Ilocos Sur governor and congressional representative, Ilokano writing had its heyday despite the challenges, opening their home and their Suso Beach Resort for those numberless gatherings where we had to talk about the lyricism of our sad, sad, sad Ilokano lives."

US-based journalist and creative writer, Peter La. Julian, in an e-mail message, said that the Reyes spouses left a wide void in Literatura Ilokana that would be hard to fill in the coming years. "They had always been supportive of Ilokano writing since the inception of seminars and conferences as activities for the improvement of the regional literature, " he said. (Guerrero Coloma)

The late Dr. Dedicacion Agatep- Reyes poses for posterity with Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili
 of the University of Hawaii during an Ilokano international literary conference
in San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte in 2011.

TIME WASTED and THE UNDISCOVERED WORLD OF SENIORS

Just wasted time reading an article about Felix Manalo, the founder of Iglesia ni Cristo.

It was a well-written piece, a kind of "praise" article designed to promote an indigenous church whose leader was once a member of the old Philippine churches.

The writer did not go deep into his subject, relying mostly on second-hand information and what he saw from the outside--for example, the INC's magnificent and imposing houses of worship across the country including the Philippine Arena, billed as the world's biggest of its kind, which is an income-generating project.

INC followers and ministers believe that Felix was the last messenger of God, citing some verses of Isaiah in the Old Testament and the Apocalypse of the New Testament. This is questionable. This is a big lie.

A Filipino as the last messenger of God?  This is a desecration of the Holy Writ.

It appears that the writer swallowed Felix hook, line and sinker.

Anyway, he is not an investigative reporter who goes for the bloody facts about this church that is being at present wracked with corruption and that has illegally detained some members who bravely spoke about wrongdoings committed by ministers. Including high-ranking officials who have been accused of high living.

***

They have eyes that can't see the blue mountains and beyond where a flock of black birds in V formation disappeared in a sky of utmost blue.

A senior citizen's lament:

This is a world probably of no return, where voices of young children are seldom heard and silence is an eternal presence. Finally, you are aware that you are indeed old but it should not be a reason for sadness.

The best is yet to come, they say, and so we keep busy and look forward for the undiscovered gifts of an unexplored world.
  

SCUTTLE FB ACCOUNT?

Reply to Apo Crispin Dannug, Jr. to his reaction in Facebook:

After 43 years, we are still stuck in the "never again" syndrome of martial law that we judge as wholly evil. Is there a man that is entirely evil? This is a poisonous mental baggage, divisive and fascistic even as it follows the logic and discourse of what we have been hating all these years as we look back in anger--an undercurrent that consumes us, that we refuse to confront, that has blinded us to look and move forward.

****
Facebook account. Knocking it out of sight today. Maybe forever. Let them rage, let them raise hell to kingdom come, let them, let them proclaim their righteousness. But have they noticed that their minds ceased to exist? They have become what they hate--dictators to the max.

ITI PANNAKAITAL-O NI NICK DE SADUT

Nagasatka, lakay.
Panawen ita ti uleg
Kasinsin ti kuton
Dagiti kalapati
Ken rumkuas ti bagio
Ken allawig.

Anian a pintas, daeg
Iti tapaw dagiti bantay.

Anian a gunggona
Ti sangatersia nga agawa:
Maysa a kontrata
Agingga nga aggargarawka
Iti rabaw ti daga.
(Dida la ketdi apiten a masapa
Ti Chivas Regal ken Larkmo.)

Rebbengna a maidayaw
Ni bossmo:
Inimdenganna ti kantam
Ken dagiti sagut
Ni kasimpungalam.
Nagdissoda iti nalukneng
A paset daytoy a parsua
A ti isipna ababaw
A kas iti bubon-kastila.
Iti mabiit bumagunton
Ti palasio ti darepdepmo
Ket makisalipton
Ti stereo ken telebisionmo
Kadagiti riaw ken ariwawa
Dagiti dungrit nga ubbing
Iti nakayanakam a kalsada.
(Ania ngata ti sumaruno
Nga aramiden ti tao
Kalpasan ti idadanonna
Iti lubong ket makitana
Dagiti kinawaengna?
Agsurat iti pakasaritaan
ti biagna, iti libro a tapoken
Iti maysa a suli ti bassit
a biblioteka?)

Nagasatka, lakay
Panawen ita ti uleg
Kasinsin ti billit ti bato
Bumtak dagiti bulkano
Ket maipasngay dagiti nalungpo
A maladaga a naikari
Nga umuli kadagiti tronoda.

THE BANALITY OF GRACE POE AND CHIZ ECUDERO

     Release us from the chains of mediocrity and banality of Ms. Grace Poe and Sen. Chiz Escudero who want to lead Las Islas de Los Ladrones, whose dysfunctional culture has elected into powerful public offices denizens like clowns, criminals, womanizers.

     Poe and Escudero, motivated by surveys, have gone on the campaign trail--this activity is only legally permitted in 2016. They are telling gullible Filipinos they would be doing things to improve their lives--this is also the promise of the other presidential tandems that include Vice-President Jejomar Binay and Sen. Gregorio Honasan.

     This was also the promise of Fidel Ramos, Gloria Macapagal and the convicted economic plunderer Joseph "Erap" Estrada who boasted of having seven wives and building each a house of their own.

     Such promise will always be broken. When the past presidents came to power, they led in the corruption and the ransacking of the national treasury. They created more political dynasties whose insatiable lust for power and wealth defies reason and control.

     Such has been done and will always be done.

     Yet, is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Is there hope in Miriam Santiago and Bongbong Marcos, both of whom, along with the late Sen. Joker Arroyo, did not vote for the ouster of Chief Justice Renato Corona in a rigged impeachment trial?

    Now come Poe and Escudero, behaving like second rate actors adored by a nation of dumb oxen, with their sterile, obsolete and corrupt minds. They are making noises, trivializing the campaign, as if it is easy to be president and vice-president, respectively. 

    These are supposed to be exalted positions.  Believe it or not, here we are again, in a country where such contested seats of power are just domains of popularity and beauty pageants.  As if Poe is running for mayor in some obscure Philippine town, and Escudero, as chief executive in an urban area.

    Here they are insulting our collective minds.

    There are no debates, no platforms to speak of?