The perils of SEX

Isyu 18 Sept 95

I came across the special AIDS issue of Benetton’s Colors magazine. Great graphics, plain language. We could use one like it in English and Tagalog to get the reality of AIDS across.

Many Pinoys actually think AIDS can’t touch them. Mga macho kasi na walang kinatatakutan. Actually, only celibates (people who completely abstain from sex with a partner) have nothing to fear. Everyone else, male and female, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight, who is sexually active is a candidate for AIDS. And every sexual encounter is a potential AIDS encounter just because in real life, rare is the male (less rare the female), married and not, who does not indulge now and then in unprotected fornication with a stranger or with a number-two for the pure pleasure of it, thus laying himself open to the virus. Sa madaling salita, bihira ang lalaking hindi nangangaliwa at one time or another; ibig sabihin, bihira ang hindi na-e-expose to the possibility of infection.

It’s easy to catch the AIDS virus. Just one orgasmic session with a person who’s infected and that’s it, chances are, you’re infected too. The problem is, there are no warning signs. You can’t tell by looking if a lover, long-time or prospective, has the AIDS virus or not; one can have the virus and not (yet) be sick; one can have the virus and neither know it nor show it.

Colors explains:

“AIDS starts with a virus, it’s called HIV. Human Immuno-deficiency Virus. . . . HIV exists in order to propagate itself. It competes for space. It forages for food. Nothing personal – it’s just doing its job (which is) to expand and take over its host (that could be you) and then infect somebody else, and so on. When it gets into your body, it invades while blood cells, especially T-cells. Eventually (sometime between two years and more than a decade later) your T-cells become overwhelmed. Your immune system stops working. You become an easy target for pneumonia, cancers, parasites, or other infections. When you are infected with HIV and contract one of these you have AIDS. As far as we know, everyone who gets infected with HIV eventually gets AIDS. And so far, everyone who develops AIDS eventually dies. It’s that simple.”

Bright red splotch of blood on glossy white. “HIV lives in the body fluids of infected people. It lives in blood, semen, vaginal fluid, menstrual flow and breast milk. When body fluids pass from one person to another, the virus can get passed on too. Blood in people who are infected has a high concentration of HIV. Even a very small amount can transmit HIV.”

Smear of semen on white. “Semen not only has a very high concentration of HIV, it is usually transmitted in relatively large quantities. It is the most common carrier of HIV.”

Menstrual red on white. “Menstrual blood is a fluid consisting of blood, mucus, and vaginal secretions. Like ordinary blood, it can contain a high concentration of HIV.”

Smear of white on gray. “Vaginal fluid can contain high concentration of HIV. But the relatively small amount of vaginal fluid exchanged during sex makes it a less likely transmitter than semen.”

Foamy saliva on white. “A small amount of HIV can be found in saliva of infected people. But not always. Saliva contains substances that may prevent the virus from reproducing.”

Drop of breast milk. “Although it contains a small amount of HIV, there have been few reports of infection. HIV-positive mothers in developed countries usually do not breast feed. In developing countries the benefits are believed to outweigh the possibility of infection.”

A man’s lower butt, crotch blacked out. “HIV needs a warm wet welcome. It cannot get in through unbroken skin. It cannot get past a latex barrier. And it cannot live for very long outside a human body. Anal mucous membranes are delicate and almost always tear during intercourse. Risk of infection is greatly reduced by using a latex condom and a water-based lubricant (oil-based lubricants damage latex).”

A woman’s crotch, pubis blacked out. “The vagina is an ideal place for the HIV virus to enter the body. Unprotected sexual intercourse is the perfect way of transmitting live HIV.”

Close-up profile of wet lips. “The inside of the mouth is lined with mucous membranes which tear frequently, like when you brush your teeth. Unprotected oral sex is dangerous.”

You can also get HIV by sharing needles (if you’re into drugs). Or you can get it from your mother (if you’re a baby). Or from infected blood (in case you get a transfusion). And in an operating room (if you go under the knife, scalpel, etc.).

[NEXT: How you don’t get AIDS, AIDS test, safe sex.]

Anybody’s guess may not be as good as Rene Mariano’s

Manila Standard 12 Jan 92

Psychics and seers, led by Rene Mariano and Jojo Acuin, are the biggest TV stars of the New Year. The two were everywhere: not just in sosyal talk shows like Inday Badiday’s Face to Face and Jullie Yap Daza’s Tell the People and Johnny Litton’s Oh no!… but even in conservative political fora like Louie Beltran’s Straight from the Shoulder, Rod Villa’s Talakayan, and Dong Puno’s Viewpoint.

In the beginning of 1991 all our seers rendered dire predictions of deaths and grave disasters for the nation. We only realized how grave when Mt. Pinatubo erupted, rendering millions of people uprooted and homeless.

Of course there is that failed prediction of Manila flooding and sinking. Manila did not flood and sink but Ormoc did. The mistake was in identifying the place to be Manila; and Ormoc did not quite sink the way we imagined Manila would, but it did sink in the sense of being briefly and suddenly flooded as to drown people and land.

A similar case involved Armida Siguion-Reyna of Aawitan Kita fame some years back. Tita Midz used to be very interested in the occult (twice she asked me, in my astrologer days, for birthchart readings), but one day a psychic (I’m not sure which tool – cards, birthchart, palms, vibrations – was used) predicted a possibly fatal attempt on her life. I can’t remember now what the details were but it was enugh to freak Armida out and make her quit on manghuhulas. Nothing happened to her, but sometime after that, Elvira Manahan was murdered.

The psychic’s mistake was in identifying the victim as Armida, which was an easy mistake to make: Armida and Elvira are women of the same mold, parehong alta sociedad, parehong mataray, may pagka-pareho rin ang itsura.

To paraphrase Rene Mariano: psychic vibrations / visions do not usually come in clear stark images, more through a kind of mist. One “sees” enough to sense the basic situation, but not exactly where and when it will happen or who exactly is / are involved.

Our seers are good at what they do. They’re arare breed of “sensitives” with a gift for tuning in to another dimension of reality and accessing a sort of image bank of past, present, and future.

Of all the seers who take to television every New Year, I’d say Rene Mariano is the best of the lot. This is why I listened very closely to his prediction that the next President will be male; he’ll have business ties / connections abroad; he’s not really a politician, “tipong ngayon lang, at hindi pa siya nag-iingay” (as of New Year).

Immediately Winnie Monsod concluded: Danding Cojuangco. I’m not sure. Around that time nag-iingay na si Danding; he was figuring in the nws a lot. Also, he’s not the only presidentiable with business ties abroad. Fidel Ramos would also fit the bill. And between Cojuangco and Ramos, I’ll take Ramos anytime.

Except Ramos, so far, has been disappointing. He quit government just when there was the Pinatubo disaster to deal with. He joined the LDP, only to lose out on the nomination. If he doesn’t get his act together soon, he might have to settle for Vice (which might not be a bad idea), like Joseph Estrada, who has reportedly agreed to run as Danding Cojuangco’s VP (what a twist, if true).

The good news is that Jovy Salonga and Nene Pimentel have joined forces. Between Ramos and Salonga, I’ll take Salonga anytime. I don’t see him as “too old,” rather, as experienced and wise. (We take our elders too much for granted.) I think he’ll be good for the nation, which at this point I can’t say for anyone else.

Keithley’s recourse

Manila Standard 23 Dec 1991

It was quite a story pieced together by June Keithley of the novice Teresing Castillo and the Carmel nuns of Lipa, of visitations by the devil and by a lady in white, of rose petals materializing, falling, from thin air, bringing miraculous cures. A story suppressed by Philippine church officials for 40 years, now out in the open, picking up where it left off, the same lady appearing anew and roses raining down from nowhere.

Given the Christian myths on which we were raised, it is difficult to ignore the visionary Teresing and to remain unimpressed by the apparently super powers of her Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace. However, the Lady’s message, calling for all Christians to reconcile and pray the rosary, is difficult to take seriously. As is usual with Marian apparitions, the suggestion is that only Christians will be saved, in particular, Christians who accept Mary and the rosary, which isn’t quite in the spirit of post-Vatican II ecumenism.

And so, while half-believing Teresing’s story, I find it does not make me any less doubtful of the Church’s version of God, life and death. And I can only wonder anew where, when, whom Marian messages might be issuing from, and what these could mean not only for Roman Catholics but for humanity as a whole.

My favorite theory attributes Marian apparitions to a future time and civilization – when time travel is already a reality – from which vantage advanced minds are trying to tell us something, something mankind needs to know or do that perhaps might change the course of events, perhaps to improve our chances of averting disasters, natural or nuclear.

I imagine that these advanced minds would be sending the same message all around the globe, but using different images and symbols,depending on the spiritual condition of a target population. The message, always, seems to have to do with the power of, and need for more, prayer and meditation, an activity in all religions. The desired effect could be a tuning together of critical human energies in a single wavelength – Muslims, Jews, and Christians together with Buddhists and yogis, TM freaks and Zen masters – and so attaining to otherwise unattainable powers of human consciousness?

Praying the rosary (like meditating on a mantra, a mandala, movement, or the breath) slows down brain waves from 32 – 14 cycles per second to below 14, meaning a shift from an ego-centered rational state of mind to a meditative / reflective state which soothes and renews the physical body while lifting the mind to a state of oneness with other minds and, possibly, with all of humanity.

But Keithley fails to explore the modern implications of a Marian apparition. The heroine of EDSA gets herself mired at the level of church politics and gets no farther than a church investigation. Keithley is so intrigued, and so involved, and just like Keithley, she wallows. She has a good story up her sleeve but she tends to weave too much of her ego and emotions into the telling, and so obscures rather than helps clarify matters.

It doesn’t help that The Keithley Report is a one-woman show, practically a solo act, produced and directed, written and anchored, by her one and only self. For such an important series Keithley should consider getting creative help. Film is a complex medium; two, three heads are always better than one. And it’s time she gave up anchoring (unless she’s willing to be directed); her delivery is awfully distracting: self-conscious, over-dramatic and cloying. As for her looks, well, it shouldn’t matter except she asked for it when she struck that silly pose (favoring her right side) for the entire show.

A little less ego, a little more post-production, and The Keithley Report would be world-class. Surely that’s worth some sacrifice? Praise the Lord! I mean, the lady. I mean, Keithley.

A matter for Buddy, attention Ducky

Manila Standard 1 Nov 1991

Whatever the scenario in 1992 – elections or no elections – Uncle Sam is sure to intervene in our political affairs. The objective: to get pro-bases people into Malacañang Palace and Congress in one fell swoop, the quicker to reverse the senate ruling on the bases treaty and the better to ensure the stay of US military forces in Subic all the way to forever.

Anti-bases people have their work cut out for them: a bases-information campaign to reinforce the anti-bases sentiment that has begun to take hold in the hearts and minds of thinking Filipinos, and also to counter US propaganda claiming that majority of Filipinos remain pro-bases (meaning, intervention is justified).

Ideally it is government, in particular, the Executive department, that should be conducting a bases-information campaign. But having taken a pro-bases line, the Executive can hardly be expected to countenance anything but pro-bases propaganda; not even if, back in July 1990, Press Secretary Tomas “Buddy” Gomez promised on live television (9, Tell the People) that an “objective” info campaign was in the works.

But those were the days when Mrs. Aquino’s options were still open, and Secretary Gomez must really have been trying to come up with something to satisfy both the pros and antis.

Not incidentally, those were also the last days of Noel Garth Tolentino as press undersecretary and director-general of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA). Supremely confident that Malacañang would go anti-bases (a la Health Secretary Alfredo Bengzon), Tolentino made the mistake of preparing an unabashedly anti-bases campaign in February 1990, in time for the exploratory talks. Of course it was rejected by Malacañang, and I suspect that it’s what cost him his job. By November he was out.

For my part, as the writer commissioned by Tolentino to plan and write the materials for the proposed multi-media campaign, I was prepared to be objective. But Tolentino was adamant, he had the primary messages all thought out: one, niloko tayo ng Kanô; two, kaya natin mag-isa; three, kailangan nating maghanda.

Mostly I organized the information into modules, each focusing on a particular bases issue: extent, duration, jurisdiction, compensation, nuclear weapons, AIDS, etc., tracing how each arose and how the Americans responded through the years, from the 1890s to the 1990s. Also I turned out several slogans for stickers and buttons, billboards and streamers; several scripts for radio andTV spots / teasers; a script for a mini-docu; a primer on the bases, for print / leaflets; and translated into Filipino a history of the US bases in the Philippines, for serializing in comics spreads. To collaborate with Fred Llongoren on the comics materials, I called in Iskho Lopez (my on-and-off editor), and he turned out, besides, a couple of poems and script for a film commercial. All of the above duly approved by Tolentino. In charge of production was Leo Martinez, Tolentino’s creative consultant, who had recommended me for the job.

Alas, Leo didn’t get farther than demo tapes of some radio spots, which I suppose was all the Palace needed to say no. And, alas, I am still trying to collect my fee, so I can pay Iskho (so he can pay Domingo Landicho, the poet, who sent in a few verses).

First I was told that Tolentino and Bengzon were still trying to raise funds from private sources. Then I was told that my check was ready but the Commission on Audit was auditing the Tolentino administration’s finances so no checks were being released. Later, I was told that my appointment papers had been sent to the Department of Budget and Management for approval and were stuck there.

Incensed, I wrote to the Officer-in-Charge of PIA, a Paul Alvarez, to complain. I pointed out that my appointment was for two months only, meaning, it didn’t need the approval of the CSC, and that I had done work for PIA before and never encountered any such problem. I intimated that perhaps I was being punished for being anti-bases?

In November I received a response: a phone call from no less than Press Undersecretary Horacio “Ducky” Paredes, whom I had met once, some ten years ago. He came on like an old friend, eager to help out, explaining that there was nothing political about the stopping of my check, only that Tolentino had so juggled funds, they were still straightening things out. He asked for a little time, till the end of the year. Come Christmas I called to remind him. He wouldn’t even come to the phone.

That was a whole year ago. Since then – against all odds, despite Cory’s and the US government’s pro-bases propaganda, despite Pinatubo and the economy’s dire need for aid, despite amboys Dick Gordon, Sonny Osmeñá, Joey Lina, Tito Sotto, and Joey de Leon – the Senate has ruled on the bases, the Terrific Twelve saying NO to the proposed treaty. I was so high, I forgave and forgot Tolentino and Paredes.

One year or three years to withdraw, it almost doesn’t seem to matter (given how long we’ve waited), so long as the withdrawal process is irreversible. And if the Terrific Twelve, along with Luis Taruc, Solita Monsod, Renato Constantino Jr., JoeCon, and others like them, were to run and / or go all out to campaign for anti-bases candidates come 1992, tiyak, may tulog ang Kanô.