Category: books

The Sisa Prize 2023

VIRGINIA COULDN’T BE MORE WRONG.

Women writers have more on their plate than most other writers. There are familial roles to fulfill, community demands to meet, biological and mental stressors to deal with. Given the little that writing pays, and the limited options for writers in general, women are given no reason to drop everything and write.

Here, where we come from, a room of one’s own is not all that women need.

THE SISA PRIZE is a writing prize for Filipino women residing in the Philippines.

One that’s premised on the kind of madness it takes for women to create in the context of a present that burdens them uniquely and differently, with more than what should be bearable.

One that creates a space for (re)defining the contemporary Filipino woman writer — her sanities and hysterias, her kinds of power and her weaknesses, her becoming and refusals included.

One that we hope will ultimately make it worthwhile for more women to spend time writing, despite the fact that, and because, they are women.

Sisa Prize Categories for 2023

Submission Details

Terms and Conditions

March 8, 2023

Way to live. Way to die. Way to write.

In 2019, when Greta Thunberg, 16, was scolding, thundering at, global leaders about the sorry state of the planet and warning of climate change coming, astrologers were warning of a worrisome conjunction of planets Saturn and Pluto—both malefic in ancient lore, transformative in current thought—culminating in January 2020 in Capricorn yet, the earth sign associated with governments, the global economy, the establishment, the patriarch.

The forecast that most resonated was of a black swan event that would shake world powers-that-be into seeing, acknowledging, that the status quo is NOT sustainable; that the planet, and the poor and the homeless, can take only so much abuse; that CHANGE is inevitable.

I was imagining a sudden escalation in global warming that scientists hadn’t seen coming, a surprise package from mother nature’s deep state with disastrous geopolitical and economic effects worldwide.

But, as it turns out, COVID-19 is no black swan – scientists and fictionists both, and the likes of Bill Gates, too, had been warning of a health pandemic such as this for years.

As it also turns out, the killer virus is only indirectly related to climate change, and more likely directly a consequence of the way we humans have cut down forests with arrogant disregard for our fellow creatures in the wild and the ecology of the whole, all in the name of ‘development,’ because, you know, it’s the economy (that matters) stupid, or so the capitalists preach/ed and practice/d.

Said to have jumped from bats through pangolins to humans, if not custom-made in some lab for biowarfare purposes (as conspiracy theorists insist), the culprit is a tiny replicating beast of a virus that we can’t even see except through a high-powered transmission electron microscope, but which is so contagious a challenge to the human immune system, it has been impossible to downplay the spread and the dead, the dread and the panic, around the globe.

Life is dramatically different, ang daming bawal. We are not to touch our eyes nose mouth in case our hands (wash hands!) are carrying the virus (from something / someone we touched, among other possibilities). It’s not easy because our eyes nose mouth are exposed, and sensitive, to the elements, and it takes a lot of control not to scratch that itch now and then.

Suddenly we have to wear masks and avoid human contact, the idea being to contain and delay the spread of the virus until a cure is found or a vaccine developed that is both safe and efficacious, and the only way is to stay home and keep every other human at arm’s length or two. Even family. Even in the confines of home, in case anyone turns out to be asymptomatic a carrier. Which is all so counter-intuitive for us humans who by nature like to touch, need to touch, thrive on touch, particularly in anxious times like this when the impulse is to huddle and cuddle and hug for strength and comfort. Pa-konsuwelo sa urban poor in cramped hovels, argh.

As if being locked down in our private spaces were not bad enough, it’s been a trial worrying about, problematizing the logistics of, access to food and meds and other essentials. Ang daming nawalan ng trabaho. Worst hit are the majority poor who pre-COVID-19 barely subsisted kahig-tuka from meal-to-meal, day-to-day, a drop here, a trickle there, consequently reduced to lockdown hunger, no kahig, no tuka. Asa na lang sa, hintay na lang ng, manaka-nakang hulog ng langit na madalas ay kakarampot na nga, nananakaw pa. And let me not get started on our overworked healthcare workers who deserve better care and better pay.

The good news, finally, maybe, as 2020 draws to a close, is of vaccines coming, raising hopes that things can go back to normal sooner than later.

I wouldn’t bet on it.

Getting access to enough vaccines for at least 60 (some say 70, some 80) million Filipinos in order for the herd to achieve immunity is going to take some doing. Ang pangako ni Dutz na Pamaskong bakuna, malamang ay sa Semana Santa pa at the earliest.

As above, so below. The year 2020 closes with another important conjunction. Jupiter, (benefic) planet of expansion and imaginative vision, and Saturn, (malefic) planet of structure and discipline, align in the first degree of Aquarius, the air sign associated with higher aspirations, humanitarian concerns, the collective good, ruled by Uranus, the “awakener” who brings unexpected shocks in aid of raising human consciousness.

There will be changes, maybe new beginnings, over the next two, three, years. We will be reminded again and again about the interconnectedness of all things. Ang sakit ng kalingkingan ay sakit ng buong katawan. We will be reminded again and again, over and over, until we get it right, that it IS the economy, stupid, liberal capitalism, to be precise, that has messed up the planet and humanity.

A new socio-economic order is the new grail.

Way to die

There was that video clip on cable TV of an angry, grieving daughter whose father had just died of COVID in hospital: “My dad was a good man, he didn’t deserve to die like that!”

Indeed. No one, except perhaps a jack-the-ripper, deserves to die a painful and lonely COVID death. I would rather die painlessly and happily, in my own good time a la Edward G. Robinson in Soylent Green, but not to be processed into food for the masses please, rather, straight to a crematorium, ashes to ashes.

In that 1973 film of a dystopian future—forests gone, oceans drying up, humidity all year round, the greenhouse effect in full swing—assisted dying is the norm, and Edward G.’s character, after saying goodbye to loved ones, is hygienically dispatched with his choice of music (light classical) playing in the background and film footages of rich green fields flashing on a panoramic screen. The payback: government gets to convert his remains into green wafers to help feed a hungry populace—”Cannibalism!” the critics screamed. So yeah, cremation is good. Dust to dust.

But seriously, when I first read of some conservatives in America saying NO to quarantine and social distancing and YES to just letting the elderly die of COVID-19, even encouraging them to welcome death for the greater good, for the sake of the economy, this senior-cit went WTF! Talaga? E, kung ganoon ang scenario, let the elderly have a choice naman: either to run the risk of dying painfully of COVID, or to die ahead painlessly and in the company of loved ones. To be fair, and humane. Konting puso naman.

It’s life-changing enough, growing old and counting down. The added threat of COVID-19 and the forced early retirement is a monumental hassle, freak-out, bad trip. And given so much time and reason to dwell on things existential, it’s disconcerting, because otherwise taboo, to be talking and thinking about death.

Why nga ba are we discouraged, warned against death-talk, or the mere mention of the word? Sabi ng matatanda noong bata ako, baka kasi akalain ni Kamatayan na tinatawag siya, kaya rin may kasunod dapat na knock-on-wood three times to drive away any evil spirits summoned.

The notion of death as a bad thing. As misfortune. As punishment even. Needs rethinking.

Way to write

When the lockdown happened, I stopped work on a half-done Ninoy Aquino book project because suddenly there was no time. Suddenly the husband and the daughter who were usually out all day if not all night were home 24/7. A whole new world, LOL. Goodbye, solitude.

There was, besides, a scary virus to read up on and avoid catching, pandemic news to keep track of, a non-performing prez to rant at and about, COVID-19 (and other) deaths to mourn, healthcare workers to champion, relief work to help with, there was just no extra time.

I did try to sneak in a blog post, essay a reading of the new normal unfolding, pero hindi ako makabuo-buo, hirap na hirap mag-wrap-up, a measure I suppose of how uncertain I was about everything. Malay ko, baka naman the Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid-19 knew what it was doing, baka naman kayang gawin ang ginagawa sa Vietnam at sa South Korea, baka naman by Christmas ay maayos-ayos na (so to speak) ang buhay-buhay, as the prez promised.

Natauhan ako bandang katapusan ng June. On the 25th nabalita na gustong palitan nina Cong. Paolo Duterte, Lord Allan Velasco, at Eric Yap ang pangalan ng Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), gawing “Pambansang Paliparan ng Pilipinas.” Dapat daw kasi ay pambansang wika ang gamit at dapat daw ay malinaw agad na ito ay nasa Pilipinas.

“We want it to reflect the legacy of the Filipino people, our everyday heroes. The name bears no color, no political agenda. It only signifies our warmth as Filipinos in welcoming our own kababayans and foreign visitors,” sabi ni Pulong.

“House Bill No. 7031 is part of the efforts to reposition the Philippines as a choice tourist destination once the COVID-19 pandemic is over and travel restrictions are lifted,” sabi ni Velasco.

No political agenda. Bola. Clearly the agenda is to deny Ninoy his place in the nation’s and the airport’s history. If we allow this to happen, what’s to prevent them from eventually renaming it FMIA [Ferdinand Marcos International Airport] —in Imelda’s lifetime, they imagine; in a Bongbong presidency, they hope.

Biglang nabalikan ko tuloy si Ninoy. These last months have been all about reviewing and updating the 1980 to 1983 timeline in particular, and reading up on the Agrava fact-finding reports (majority and minority 1984), the Sandiganbayan and Supreme Court rulings (Marcos and Cory times), a convict’s belated full-of-holes “confession” that pointed to Danding as promotor (1995), the early presidential pardons by GMA (2007 to 2009), and Fe Zamora’s seven-part special report for the Inquirer (2010). Close readings for the nth time, and now I’m seeing the signs of long-term planning for both the assassination and the cover-up, how Machiavellian, how Marcosian.

Yes. Much easier to write about the past, no matter how maddening. A kind of escape from what’s turning out to be an endlessly harrowing and painful present.

Except that there is really no escaping the present for long. No ignoring the COVID threat, no shrugging off climate change, no excusing state terrorism and historical revisionism.

Without losing sight of the past, writing in, on, the present is the urgent challenge of these trying times.

*

This essay was written for the e-book IN CERTAIN SEASONS: MOTHERS WRITE IN THE TIME OF COVID, handog ng CCP at Philippine PEN.

Free e-book download link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/07tdoup69koebsw/In_Certain_Seasons_012321b.pdf/file?fbclid=IwAR0Y42SPJsUzNaTOIZDBPYowntgaXJ06h6jT3N12t_koOHyd4537riY8qzs

a ninoy aquino book

i’ve been writing a ninoy book for a year now.  working title: The life and the death of Ninoy Aquino / A timeline 1932 -1983.

i only meant to come up with a simpler shorter version of EDSA Uno (2013) upon the request of  high school teachers.  maybe four slim volumes, one per day, that students could pass around.  and a first volume, of course, to quickly introduce the main players—marcos  and imelda, ninoy and cory, enrile and ramos—setting the stage for february 1986 and People Power.

it was easy enough coming up with quick factual timelines of ferdinand’s and imelda’s lives, the milestones pre-EDSA being well-documented and pretty much public knowledge, never mind the marcos revisionism.  the opposite is true, however, of ninoy’s life.

except for the broad strokes—major milestones marking the road to martyrdom at age 50—much of ninoy’s narrative has yet to be told from beginning to end in one go, particularly where it clarifies his radical relations with the left that had marcos tagging him a communist sympathizer; where it delves into the pain of imprisonment and the military trial that convicted him to death; and where it tells of ninoy’s last three years, what he was up to in America, and why he decided to come home when he did.

Like Marcos, the 50-year-old Aquino was a complex, contradictory figure who was in flesh-and-blood quite different from the devotee of Gandhian non-violence into which some sectors of the Philippine opposition are now converting him for their own political ends. But of one thing there is no dispute: Aquino was a profoundly courageous man. It was this streak of stubborn courage that earned him a death sentence in 1977, after five years of imprisonment had failed to extract from him a pledge of allegiance to Marcos. And it was this courage, wedded to a driving ambition and a deep concern for the strategic interests of his class, that propelled Aquino toward his appointment with history that dog-day afternoon of 21 August. ~ Walden Bello (1984)

going on four decades later, ninoy is being dismissed as just another ambitious politician who came home from exile and died on the tarmac, and so he became a hero, because he died on the tarmac.  and what about daw his non-record as a senator—twice elected and not a single law attributed to him.  and who daw cares about EDSA now, now that the marcoses are back anyway, and the color yellow has lost its glow, no thanks to the color-blind who choose to see red instead.

meanwhile a young academic has played up ninoy’s role in the birthing of the CPP/NPA brand (as though ka dante and joma would not have met but for ninoy); he has also expressed serious doubt in ninoy’s denial that he was ever a communist because daw ninoy did not live to define his terms.

thing is, ninoy did, define his terms, in Testament from a Prison Cell (1984) and it’s surprising that the young scholar seemed to not know of this primary source.  well, maybe it’s cory’s fault.  post-EDSA, ninoy’s political views were never spoken about, much less discussed, or ever referred to for guidance.  i suppose because cory had her hands full fending off rightist pretenders to the throne; better to play it by ear than to invoke ninoy, because then they’d have pounced and screamed “communist!” too.

in fact ninoy was no communist, no anti-imperialist, for sure.  but he admitted to being a keen student of theoretical marxism, following every twist and turn of local communists, reading practically all the published works of local reds, and interviewing communist intellectuals for first-hand information every chance he got.  in fact, he was a christian social democrat who sought to “harmonize political freedom with social and economic equality, taking the best of the primary conflicting systems—communism and capitalism.” [Testament from a Prison Cell 30-31]

and so a book on ninoy muna, for the record.  nothing quick or sketchy, rather more detailed than usual, in a timeline format that is reader-friendly and easy to add to, delete from, or re-arrange for fine-tuning.

it starts with a quick run through grandfather servillano’s and father benigno’s stories, because patterns repeat.  whenever possible, i let ninoy tell his own story while accommodating too the voices of family and friends, critics and enemies, and local and global media through the years.

sources are cited religiously in tracking his climb and claim to national consciousness as well as his politics and worldview as it evolved from magsaysay to marcos times and from imprisonment in fort bonifacio to exile in america, until he decided it was time to go back home, face death in manila, than be run over, accidentally or not, by a boston taxicab.

happy ninoy aquino day!

fanning the bernal flame

in any account of the 2nd golden age of philippine cinema, lino brocka and ishmael bernal top the list of best directors, and always in that order.  when a bernal fan asked me why, gayong even alphabetically her idol should come first, i said, well, chronologically brocka came first, and his debut film Wanted: Perfect Mother (1970) was a huge box-office success.  bernal’s first, Pagdating sa Dulo (1971), a film within a film, was a critical success but a commercial flop.

bernal was a bit too high, too sophisticated, for the beginner that he was.  only now are cineastes one in saying that bernal was ahead of his time.  no wonder it took a while for people to rise to his occasion.

it helps, of course, that some of bernal’s best films have been showing intermittently on cable TV since 1994 courtesy of cinema one, and that sari dalena and keith sicat kept the flame alive with their documentaries on ishma.  and when Pro Bernal, Anti Bio finally went to press in july 2017, rogue magazine’s jerome gomez was quick to ask for excerpts that came out as “Stardust Memories” announcing the imminent launch in november.

kicked off with personal funds, and some more from friends of bernal — this is my chance to thank you so much, evelynne horrilleno, dannie alvarez, noel anonuevo, tisi and winston raval, pis boado, bobbie malay and satur ocampo, julie de lima-sison, deanna ongpin-recto, maribel ongpin, leny de jesus, ricky lee, raquel villavicencio, laida lim, butch perez, and mt. cloud bookshop — Pro Bernal, Anti Bio (2017) is co-published by ABS-CBN publishing inc. and the indie book producer everything’s fine (EF).  of the 1000 print-run, the publishing house took on 300 copies to distribute in mainstream bookstores.  the rest EF is paying for (50% down, 50% due a year from launch) which is why katrina continues to seek collaborators on bernal events where we can peddle the book.

it was a boon that mark yambot, head of abs-cbn publishing, allowed us to dictate the content and the look and the feel of the book (though we did concede on a few minor details :-), thanks to katrina who took over the project the moment i dropped the manuscript — raised funds, negotiated with mark, and harassed the printing press peeps about quality control hanggang sa dulo.

BOOK LAUNCH/S
mark graciously arranged for and attended two november launches a week apart.  the soft one in trinoma on the occasion of cinema one‘s filmfest screening of sari & keith’s Ishma! the docu, before which mark asked katrina to say a few words about Pro Bernal, and where she met cinema one‘s ronald arguelles.  the hard(core) one in victorino’s where i finally met mark, and author bernal was represented by his sister ging ledesma and nephew andrei, and co-author jorge arago by his sister sol and her kids robin and nico sagun.  #intrafamilia

noel añonuevo and joel saracho who were with katrina in trinoma were again in victorino’s, joining dannie and deanna, bobbie and satur, raquel aka kelly, national artist bien lumbera, randy david, nic tiongson, tom agulto, sari & keith, celina cristobal, boni ilagan, roly peña, joe carreon, lucy quinto, leo martinez, bembol roco, and elmer gatchalian, among others.  friends from left, right, and center, what a rare and fun gathering!

erwin romulo slipped in, got a book, and slipped out.  and then there was oliver ortega aka bolix, the book’s designer who was unfazed, undaunted, by my quirky format.  i finally got to ask him about the margins, ang kitid sa itaas, nakakapanibago, but there had been no moving him (or the margins).  ayun pala, there’s such a thing as “the golden ratio”.  fascinating!  #angtaray

ARCHIVO
december 6, Archivo 1984 Gallery, a makati museum of local art and memorabilia, held a film showing of bernal’s Pabling (1981) and invited katrina to come and sell books.  marti magsanoc bought a pile, some of which are available in The CCP Shop, archivo’s branch in pasay. #BernalNight

BOOK REVIEWS
krip yuson’s rave review Reliving Ishmael Bernal came out in philippine star on december 10, elaborating on an earlier facebook post: “What a wonderful book: ANTI BIO PRO BERNAL, on Direk Ishmael Bernal’s life, films and milieu.”  two days later came jessica zafra’s ProBernal AntiBio is the best Filipino film book of the year, maybe of all time!  thank you, krip and jessica (and butch perez, for getting a copy to jessica)!

ISHMAEL BERNAL GALLERY
february 2018, we were invited by sari dalena to do a small exhibit for the Ishmael Bernal Gallery of the UPFI film center.  katrina got to flex her amateur-curator muscles, plotting out the friendship of bernal and arago from UP undergrad days through to bernal’s filmmaking years to bernal as actor on the Dulaang UP stage, with memorabilia unearthed from jorge’s old office and movie stills we had salvaged from his room in binangonan in 2012.

books were sold, Nunal sa Tubig (1976) was on loop, and i got to chika with sari and keith, fidel rillo, lem garcellano, dannie alvarez, sol and jorge’s favorite bayaw steve sagun and kids, especially with obet and team who had worked with jorge back when virgie moreno was director of the film center.  also i finally met and got to thank carlo vergara who did the bernal and arago avatars for the book. #zsazsazaturnnah

SOFIA
in early march, ronald rios, head of the Society of Filipino Archivists for Film that’s doing a Reflexive Cinema series — a three-year celeb (2017-2019) of the centennial anniv of Philippine film in partnership with CCP and NCCA — invited us to the screening of Pagdating sa Dulo in CCP’s dream theater.  katrina read excerpts from Pro Bernal to introduce the film and, after the screening, joined producer george sison (the peace and prosperity new-age guru) and production designer cesar hernando in the open forum.  #ReflexiveCinema

LIT FESTIVAL
april 19-20, katrina was back in CCP, this time for NBDB’s philippine international literary festival.  she was given a booth in the main lobby, where her own books were among the 75 (+1) launched by the ateneo de naga press on the 19th, making it easy to slip from tindera to author mode, haha, and she finally got a copy of the book to eli guieb whose work on Nunal sa Tubig (1976) was part of the anti bio, and who said that he had a new essay on it.  Nunal lives!  #PILF2018

GAWAD URIAN 2018
in may, we heard that the jazz musician winston raval was receiving the Natatanging Gawad Urian, the first ever awarded to a musical director-film scorer-composer.  the awards night was to be co-produced by cinema one, so katrina asked, and was allowed by, ronald arguelles and the manunuri to sell books at the event held in ABS-CBN’s vertis tent in QC.  she finally met winston who flew in from the states and who, with wife tisi de los santos, was part of bernal’s kansas family (and of Pro Bernal).  winston was musical director of 18 bernal films, among them Nunal, Manila by Night, Himala, Tisoy, Relasyon, and Ikaw ay Akin (for which his ’70s band vanishing tribe won urian’s best music award in 1979).  #LifetimeAchievementAward

CINEMA CENTENARIO
impressed by their mini film festivals and curation of film screenings, katrina emailed cinema centenario, asking if a bernal collaboration was possible.  salamat kina hector barretto calma, dev angeo, ivy peralta, and rollie inocencio who were quick to reply and arrange for the all-day bernal film fest last july 29.  focusing on bernal’s restored films, they were set on Himala and Ikaw ay Akin but were needing a third film; katrina offered to ask george sison for Pagdating sa Dulo, and he was quick to say yes (thank you!).

of the three films it was bernal’s first film Pagdating that got the most interesting responses from a larger audience.  in between screenings katrina was part of a talk with young critics circle’s aris atienza on bernal and his work.  the conversation, i hear, spanned everything from that comparison between brocka and bernal to the state of film workers and film culture in general.

cinema centenario also took in some copies of Pro Bernal for selling, and put up a wall of bernal’s photo collection.  bernal would be thrilled that microcinemas are now part of the landscape of culture — small scale, rebellious, creatively defiant — and at teacher’s village yet!   #PHCinema100

CCP CINEMALAYA
when katrina sent a letter to CCP artistic director and vice president chris millado about the possibility of a book event for bernal’s memoir, she didn’t think it would happen so soon, but things just fell into place.  cinemalaya 2018 was paying tribute to actor bernardo bernardo by screening the bernal opus Manila by Night (1980) and there was a timeslot before the screening for a fringe event that was a perfect fit for Pro Bernal.  salamat, chris millado!

serendipitously film scholar joel david, author of Manila by Night: A Queer Film Classic (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018) who is based in south korea, was home in time for the aug 7 event and gave a talk, moderated by patrick flores, no less.  billed “Queer and Defiant: Ishmael Bernal, Bernardo Bernardo, and Manila By Night” it meant a command appearance for me in CCP’S silangan hall.  time to finally meet personally and thank joel and patrick, without whose intellectual and moral support i might still be struggling with the anti bio.  #deeplygrateful #ilovetheinternet

salamat rin kay minda casagan of the CCP film division, who was a student of bernal, at kay bebang siy and her team at the intertextual division, who always go the extra mile for katrina and the bernal book.  twas also great to chika with raffy guerrero after so long (Genghis Khan pa!) and to meet the colorful khavn de la cruz of Balangiga fame!  salamat rin, of course, kay vito hernandez, kasosyo ni katrina sa Pro Bernal sa hirap at ginhawa.

QUEER & DEFIANT
maybe it’s just the fag hag in me, but i love how “queer”, as it applies to film classics by and about LGBTQ people, is now synonymous with “awesome” and “amazing” because daring and brilliant.  and fun! because honest and candid and, even, positively shameless about breaking taboos, as bernal and bernardo were in life and in print.

the reading by noel anonuevo and rody vera of selected excerpts from Pro Bernal, Anti Bio, with bernal (noel) and BB (rody) having a conversation of sorts on Manila By Night on the one hand, and kabaklaan during martial law on the other, was a blast.  noel and rody got so into the spirit, and body language, of the two, it was like nabuhay muli ang dalawang bakla, and nakaka-miss sila.

it was also interesting, exhilarating even, how noel’s and rody’s reading / acting / vocal impersonating brought alive the text.  sabi nga in bolix, nagkaroon ng isa pang layer.  iniangat at nabigyan ng kakaiba pang dimension, kumbaga, ang mga iniwang salita ng dalawa.  salamat, salamat, noel at rody!  sa mauulit!

of course i’m now looking forward to a reading of the bosom buddies mismo, with noel as ishma and, um, maybe joel saracho as jorge?  #extra challenge!

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Pro Bernal, Anti Bio available here:

UP Press Bookstore
Mt. Cloud Bookshop
Popular Bookstore
Artbooks.ph
Cinema Centenario
Uno Morato
Archivo1984
The CCP Shop