The Music Of A Revolution

As I felt growingly orphaned while watching the coverage of the funeral of freedom icon Corazon C. Aquino, specifically when the singers started warbling songs, not the newer ones, but the anthems associated with the era of 1983-1886, I realized that the EDA revolution was not only the most peaceful, but also the most musical.  Music played a bigger part in winning that revolt than we realized.  We were rallied during the darkest of moments and our collective courage nailed to its sticking place by strains of “Bayan Ko” or “Ako Ay Pilipino” or Ninoy’s “The Impossible Dream” or even the “Mambo Magsaysay Song”.  And at the moment of deliverance and freedom, two songs rang loudest as the new themes for a new era.  And when I heard the newer versions during the final mass for our fallen heroine, I was taken back instantly to the mid-80′s with the first few notes of the songs.  So I thought of revisiting the original versions, and I was glad to find that they are available on YouTube.

Magkaisa

Handog Ng Pilipino Sa Mundo

Somehow, I wonder where all that hopefulness went.  Where we are now, somehow isn’t where we thought we would be, back in the innocence and naivete of 1986.  But maybe we still are in a development stage.  23 years may seem long, but for nations’ histories, it could be a mere moment.  What Cory gave us was not a quick fix, an instant just-add-water Camelot, a panacea for all our political and social ills.  If you expected that, then you will feel that that whole episode in our history was all in vain.  I prefer to think she bought us an opportunity to prove ourselves worthy of self-rule.  Maybe we’re still finding our way, electing crappy leaders for now, hopefully in order to learn from our past mistakes.  Maybe we’re still a work-in-progress.  At least if we elect unworthy leaders, it was our choice; we would have deserved them.  Cory gave us the God-given right to mess up our own lives.  At least we have the freedom to vote crooks and lunatics into office.  It’s the freedom Filipinos throughout history fought for.  But it’s not too late.  Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Who knows, maybe we can still live up to the promises of 1986.  We won the the right to opt to be either a great nation or a sucky one.  What do you say we surprise ourselves? And may we live long enough to see the day when we finally sing a different tune.

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I was never good with bolahan, that’s why I struck out as often as I did.  The plain truth was hardly effective when wooing someone.  Oh well, all’s well that ends well.  It’s hard to go funny when the weather’s like this and you’ve just watched the necrological services for President Cory.  I really feel sad.  I’m so not related to her, but I feel the loss as if I were.  Oh well…

December 8, 2008 → The Top Ten Bolahan Moments – Jose de Vengenge

1. No name/Filjohn – “Para kang NFA rice, ang sarap mong pilahan.”
2. GRACiA – “Marunong ka bang mag-gardening? Gusto ko sana magpadilig.”
3. GRACiA – “Para kang basketball player, 3 points ka kaagad: tall, dark and handsome!”
4. Frederique – “Hindi ka ba nalulungkot? Kasi nag-iisa ka sa puso ko eh…”
5. Dru – Ibarra: “Maria Clara, ang iyong kagandahan at hinhin ay walang katulad.” Maria Clara: “Tit* mo!”
6. Green Miser – “Sabi ng doctor malala na raw yung sakit ko sa puso, dalawa nalang daw options ko. Either ICU or U C me.”
7. Dox – “Napakarami na talagang mga banat ngayon. Wala na tuloy akong maisip…kundi ikaw.”
8. Luxurious Chic – “Ide-delete na kita s friendster…kasi ayoko na ng friends lang eh.”
9. No name – “Frontview, sideview, rearview, topview, sa kahit ano pang view. . .Iluview.”
10. Chinita/Astroboy – “Bastos ka din no? Hindi ka man lang kumakatok, tuloy-tuloy kang pumasok sa puso ko!”
11. Dr. Delectable – “Nasaan ka kagabi? Wala ka kasi pa panaginip ko…”
12. JC/Tofi – “Magaling ka ba sa algebra? Pwede kang i-substitute sa EX ko?”
13. Kid Bukid – “Nagpapa-cute ka ba? Pucha, ume-effect eh!”
14. Tresebry – “Miss kahoy ka ba? Ang sarap mong sibakin eh.”
15. Bottom Dweller – Wala akong balon, wala akong gripo, pero may poso ako…na nagmamahal sa ‘yo.”
16. Lara - At a coffeeshop. Miss: “Excuse me, bakit ang tabang ng kape ko?” Barista: “Ay sori miss, akala ko kasi tama na yan, dahil sa tamis ng iyong mga labi.”
17. Vianne – “Alam mo, tumataba ka. Bumibilog. At unti-unti kang nagiging MUNDO ko!”
18. Ang Manunusok – I once had a diabetic patient. Me: “Sir, ang taas nanaman ng blood sugar niyo.” Patient: “Ikaw kasi eh, ang sweet mo.”
19. Geyp – “I always look at your boobs because I know that behind them lies your heart.”
20. Astroboy – “Naka-anaesthesia ka ba? Bakit hindi mo maramdamang mahal na kita?”
21. Eytin91 – Boy: “Can I call you mine?” Girl: “No, because I’m yours.”
22. No name – “Pag tapos mo nang sagutan yung exam mo, pwede ako naman ang sagutin mo?”
23. Acer – “Panadero ba tatay mo? Ang sarap ng buns mo eh!”
24. Appen – Gusto mo ba apelyido mo? Para kasing gusto kong palitan…”
25. SC – “Hindi ko naman gustong maging akin ka. Ang gusto ko lang, maging sa iyo ako.”

Corazon C. Aquino (1933-2009)

Cory Aquino will always be indelible in my memories of my years in college, as I was a sophomore in U.P. Diliman when People Power made the unassuming widow the 11th President of the Republic of the Philippines.  Since I live right next to Camp Aguinaldo, I had the inglorious task to stay behind, alone, while the entire clan left for safer grounds.  On the final day of the EDSA revolution, I was awakened at dawn by a phone call from a very panicked uncle, whose frenetic voice grew even shriller when his greatest fear was realized when I answered the phone.  He said he was hoping no one would answer because that would mean the house was already vacant.  He said that he heard on the radio that Malacañang ordered the tanks to open fire any minute now and that I should run as far away from the area as my then 19-year-old feet could carry me.

I was shaking like a leaf.  I never thought that my death would be served in such a dramatic manner.  But soon, fear gave way to curiosity, and I thought, if I was going to die, I might as well be with people, and not alone, like those bodies in Pompei, curled up alone in their beds.  So against all better judgment, I locked up the house, and walked to EDSA.  When I got there, all fear left me and what I saw was not a revolution, but practically a fiesta.  People were singing and dancing and praying and everything else that you could imagine.  I saw a Fiera that was distributing sandwiches, a car that had free drinks, and people giving away rosaries.  And besides, I was just so flipped out at the thought that there I was, in the middle of EDSA, partying!  I decided to go where the tanks were and my timing couldn’t have been more perfect.  As I got to where the former Tropical Hut was on the intersection of EDSA and Ortigas, they announced that someone just arrived to lead everyone there in prayer.  And who should it be: Cory Aquino.  I had goosebumps seeing her there, as she lead everyone in praying the Our Father.  At the time, it was like seeing a spiritual leader.  Being born in 1967, I had never known any other president except Ferdinand Marcos.  And there she was, mere meters away from us, the one person who could offer deliverance.

In the succeeding years, Cory Aquino’s popularity waxed and waned, sometimes hailed as a hero, and in the next breath, a huge disappointment.  But for people like me who were quite young and naive at the time that she rose to prominence, she will always have a special place in our hearts.  She wasn’t just a politician, she was a liberator.  Of course many would gladly shatter my rose-colored version of what happened in February 1986, and offer a more realistic and less romantic analysis, and maybe they will prove right.  Maybe they can correct my history, but they will never take away the impact she had on a nation thirsting for change.  Maybe I’m romanticizing the days of my youth, but what happened during the EDSA revolution was special.  I felt history unfolding beneath my very feet.  And at the very heart of it, was Cory Aquino.  Without her, none of that would have happened, at least not the way it played out.

Few people at the dusk of their lives can look back at what they’ve done with their lives and see what Cory Aquino saw.  It’s ironic that despite of all the accomplishments in her life, she considers the 3 years in exile they quietly spent in Boston as her happiest.  She never wanted the kind of life that eventually defined the rest of her life.  Yet she lived it, for better or for worse, out of a sense of obligation to her husband and her people.  This is a well-deserved rest, for someone who just wanted a quiet life, but had everything but.  Rest in peace, Madame President.

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There’s an age when it’s a shame to not be a virgin, but you also reach an age when it’s unthinkable if you still are.  For me, too much ado about virginity.  It’s nice if you treasure it and it goes to your first and one tru love, but otherwise, too much of an issue about a tissue.

December 5, 2008 → The Top Ten Signs That Someone Is Or Is No Longer A Virgin

1. Ehd/C.VanillaBen – Pag virgin, AMOY MELON. Pag di na virgin, MELON AMOY.
2. Maomao – Ang virgin, pag tinanong mo kung virgin, mao-offend. Ang non-virgin, pag tinanong mo kung virgin pa, ang sagot, “Siyempre oo noh! Virgin na virgin pa noh!”
3. Jeckerkll/Curt Smith – Ang tunog ng wiwi ng virgin, “Psssss…” Ang tunog ng wiwi ng non-virgin, “Wooosh!”
4. Maomao – Ang virgin, pag kinalabit mo, “Ano ba, wag diyan!” Ang non-virgin, “Tara, game?”
5. His Cuteness – Ang virgin pag umuwi after mag-burger with her bf, malinis ang lips. Ang non-virgin, may mayonnaise sa labi.
6. No name – A virgin would say “STOP IT, STOP IT!!!” A non virgin would say “STUFF IT, STUFF IT!!!”
7. Bocaio – Ang virgin, mahilig sa beer. Ang di na virgin, mahilig sa hard.
8. SPY Shadow – When taking medicine, virgins prefer oral while non-virgins would rather be injected.
9. Yñaki – Ang non-virgins, bago kainin ang iltog at chorizo sa umaga, hinihimas muna.
10. SC – Pag piki, virgin. Pag sakang, di na virgin.
11. SPY Shadow – Ang non-virgins, laging madumi ang pusod.
12. Specialist – Ang virgin, hatid sundo. Ang non-virgin, sundot hatid.
13. Ronnie – Drop something on her lap. Ang virgins, iipitin ang mga legs. Ang non-virgins, bubukaka.
14. Specialist – Virgins say, “Thank you!” Non-virgins say, “Please come again!”
15. No name – ang non-virgins, mahilig sa aso. Kasi, nagkakatuta.
16. Bocaio – Ang virgin, mahilig sa bihon. Ang non-virgin, mahilig sa canton.
17. Yani – Virgin: “Hihihi…” Non-virgin: “HAHAHA!”
18. Siver Bullet/ – Virgin: “Bakit mo ko dinala dito?” Non-virgin: “Bakit mo ko dinala dito? Mahina ang aircon dito!”