Category: literati

September to remember

Even while a “junglegate” tempest is currently brewing in literary circles, we, journalists who do not belong in that ivory league, continue to write from the trenches. But we must stand with the hurt and the hurting, literary brilliance on the part of the suspects with their proclivities notwithstanding.

That’s from Inquirer columnist Ceres P. Doyo‘s “Soliloquy in D flat major”, also an invitation to the Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) where her signing sked for a new book — How I Became a Writer 2: Essays by Filipino Writers, edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, published by Vibal — and other titles is 4 p.m. tomorrow Saturday.

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The bad news is, the Supreme Court reversed the November 2018 Sandiganbayan decision that convicted Imelda Marcos of 7 counts of graft. The decision, penned by Associate Justice Rodil V. Zalameda, seems uninformed of the 2003 Supreme Court ruling that the recovered funds from Swiss foundations, involving more than $200 Million, to be ill-gotten wealth, stolen from public monies. Biglang may reasonable doubt kuno. “An ‘insult’ to decades of public accountability efforts,” say ni former PCGG commissioner Ruben Carranza to Karmina Constantino on ANC Alerts. Nakakainit ng ulo. Obviously the campaign to whitewash the Marcos name, even if only for their history books, continues apace.

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Nakakataas naman ng kilay ang drama ni Senate majority floor leader Migz Zubiri, first complaining about how tired he is, what with the impeachment trial and budget deliberations, and then suddenly admitting, agreeing with the DDS, na dapat ay may pahintulot muna ng local courts bago inilipad si Digong sa Holland, and this on the heels of VP Sara exclaiming for all to hear that she doesn’t trust our courts, or something like that. Tila gulung-gulo’t hirap na hirap si Sen Migz, taga-Mindanao ba kasi? Closet DDS bai, for whatever reason? At masakit sa ulo at sa puso ang impeachment trial ni VP? Smile, Migz, you’re on candid camera ;-)

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Babalik pa kaya sina Sen Alan Peter at Sen Pia Cayetano? Babalik pa kaya sina Sen Loren Legarda at Rep Leandro Leviste? May mga nagpupustahan na malamang, in the hundreds, some in the thousands, of pesos, maybe more, just like noong nabalitang aarestuhin si former Speaker Martin. Parang championship match, pustahan na lang. Either hindi na babalik dahil takot makulong a la Marcoleta and Estrada. Or babalik dahil innocent sila until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The latest though from NBI director Melvin Matibag to Tony Velasquez on DZMM is, pabalik ang mga Cayetano over the weekend. Sana all.

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Marra Lanot of the charmed literary circle (1944-2026)

Never met Marra or Pete Lacaba, but knew of them, of course. In ’99 our paths sort of crossed when Eggie Apostol asked for a copy of Himagsikan sa EDSA — Walang Himala! (2000) after it won an Honorable Mention in Erap’s 1998 Centennial Literary Contest. Her Tagalog wasn’t good, she said, so she was going to ask Pete to check it out first. She got back to me a few days later with the good news that Pete said yes to the People Power Foundation publishing it but that the manuscript needed editing, which Marra would be happy to do.

I looked forward to Marra’s edit because it was a puzzle that only the Sanaysay category named no major prizes, just four (4) Honorable Mentions. Was our Tagalog, Pilipino, whatever, not good enough? I had dared ask the Judge at a post-awards party and he said, “Dapat nagpa-edit ka.” Eh di eto na nga, thanks to Eggie.

And thanks to Marra who didn’t touch my prose, what a relief. Pero marami akong natutunan tungkol sa pagsusulat sa Pilipino. Ipinaalala niya ang mga patakaran sa paggamit ng “rin-din” at “raw-daw,” gayon din ng “ng-nang” (that I thought I had down pat from HS Balarila days, though I did tend to play around with them, haha). Idiniin din niya ang mga bagong patakaran sa mga salitang inuulit, tulad ng “sunudsunod” at “libulibo” na “sunod-sunod” at “libo-libo” na, at wala na ring kudlit ang “ngunit subalit datapwat.”

And finally my spelling. Yes, my ispeling of certain words: “Coryista” not “Corysta,” “tsismis” not “chismis,” “taumbayan” not “taongbayan,” how was I to know, and what if I preferred “taongbayan”?  Matagal ko ring pinag-isipan ang “aksiyon” at “tensiyon” imbis na “aksyon” at “tensyon” until I saw my “leksiyon.” Sabi nga ni Marra, sanayan lang. Sa pagsulat ng Pilipino, hindi necessarily sa bigkas ibinabatay ang baybay.

Salamat uli, Marra. I remember the big smile you gave me as you rushed off to class (late ka na!) from an Ateneo tribute to Eggie. And I still have our FB chat back in 2018 when I invited you and Pete to an Ishmael Bernal exhibit sa UP Film Center. I so wanted to give you a copy of Pro Bernal Anti Bio (2017) that has marginal notes by Pete on the First Quarter Storm. You didn’t make it but messaged back with kuwentos of dancing the tango with Nick Joaquin in Ishma’s Grey November in the ’60s, and when Pete was arrested in ’74 for sneaking past Marcos censors the acrostic poem “Prometheus Unbound” — hiding in plain sight the bold phrase “MARCOS HITLER DIKTADOR TUTA” — how Ishma would visit you, even asked you for a script, and kept in touch, making sure you were okay. And when Mang Nick, upon accepting the National Artist  for Literature award in ’76, got Marcos to release Pete, it was kind of magical and awesome.

Marra Lanot of the “charmed literary circle,” I wrote of you in a 2017 EDSA essay. To my mind, “charmed,” for having survived martial law despite standing up to Marcos, even displaying, in Mang Nick’s words, “a most enjoyable recklessness” in a “climate of fear.”

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“Prometheus Unbound” by Pete Lacaba
https://ndfp.info/prometheus-unbound/

“The Writer in a Climate of Fear” by Nick Joaquin
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/640001/nick-joaquin

59th U.P National Writers’ Workshop on ZOOM

i didn’t catch all of Likhaan: the 59th UP National Writers Workshop but what i did catch (some 6 or 7 of 12 sessions) i thoroughly enjoyed.  how great that it was open to the facebook public, requiring no registration or hassle of any kind   i’ve never been part of a writers workshop kasi, i’m not sure why, haha, but i’ve heard stories, of course.  and after the first sessions that i caught, i found myself remembering Sesame, a seven-month gig where i learned to face and deal with criticism without batting an eyelash, parang workshop na rin.  the ability to face criticism is good, worth cultivating, if one is to grow as a writer in whatever genre.  but wait, on second thought, there’s a huge difference between my gig-as-workshop and Likhaan.  other than CTW producer tippy fortune who sat me down in several one-on-one sessions through the different stages of rewrite, my regular critics were mostly the production team — executive producer, director, head researcher, art director — who were just as nangangapa as i was.  in contrast, Likhaan’s panelist critics are seasoned writers, most of whom i’ve read at one time or another but never really seen / heard perform other than on the printed page.  and so it was a blast watching / hearing them strut their stuff, so to speak.  jimmy abad, butch dalisay, neil garcia, charlson ong, bomen guillermo, cristina pantoja hidalgo, roland tolentino, and luna sicat cleto, in particular.  comments were focused and forceful, drawn from personal and professional wisdom, affirming and encouraging, questioning and challenging, pointing out the “infinite possibilities of the imagination” from “marvelous realism” to “science vs, magic”, even of an “alternative value system”, why not indeed, along with questions like, to what end?  saan papunta?  sustainable ba?  “sana matamis hanggang dulo, parang tubó” — ang ganda, ang dulas, ng tagalog ni luna sicat cleto, puwede talaga (i should stop with the taglish, LOL)!  but the top take-away for this fag hag, i mean, LGBTQIA+ ally, was all that juicy stuff (from such credible sources!) about kabaklaan being bawal in the communist movement in the ’70s through the ’90s and yet someone very close to joma was gay?!?  (da who!?!)  i sure could have used some of that for the ishmael bernal anti-bio!

sex & writing workshops, social media & lynch mobs

INSTITUTIONAL, NERVOUS, AND OTHER BREAKDOWNS
Katrina S.S.

The first time a young writer came out with a Facebook status (dated August 2) about having been taken “sexual advantage” of in a writing workshop, I shared it with a very clear statement about silence. Fresh from the CNN Life panel for the Readers and Writers Fest where we were asked what is the biggest realization we’ve had about the cultural sector, I said that it is about how much of it operates on silence. We don’t know what’s going on, how things are decided, how the systems work, and all that we ever discuss is what we see on the surface: the finished art work, the published piece, the film, the TV show, the dress. But the work that goes into that, the institutions that come into play, the oppressions that are intrinsic to that system — we are kept in the dark about these things. After all, we can be so aware of power relations and capital, and still deny what that truly means.

Read on….