blame my gun

(O huwag mo kalabitin ang aking gatilyo)

"The lesson today is how to die..."
Which Strange Little Girl would you be?
You have a strong sense of justice, and believe that ultimately people should pay for their crimes.

Mga pangyayari sa loob at labas ng Neptune naytklab

Inaamin kong puta ako.
Inaamin kong hindi ito ang unang pagkakataong
tinanggap ko ang kamay
nilang mga lipakin sa giyera--
Smith, Barris, Carpenter,
Lara, Silkwood, Duplantis,
ang ilan lang sa kanilang
isinayaw ko nang magdamag
sa kamandag ng hain na alak
ng mga pumirmang bugaw
sa Visiting Forces Agreement
noong nineteen-ninety-nine.
Pitong taon na ang nakakaraan
nang muling ibukas sa halay
ang katawan kong may lapnos pa
ng deka-dekadang pangungupahan.

 

Ako ang nagpapaligaya sa mga haring
hayok sa aking minahan, lagusan
na pang-estratehiya, hiyas na matatagpuan
sa bawat sulok ng arkipelago kong
malaman. Kaya't kung nais ninyo
akong iuwi at isakay sa van,
ilang dolyar na ayuda lang naman
at bulok-bulok na helikopter at sasakyan
ang hinihingi ng mga bugaw kong
mapaglangis sa inyong amo.

 

Kung nais ninyo akong pagtulungan
hubaran, nakasaad ito sa ating kontrata.
Kung nais ninyo akong saktan,
iipunin ko ang mga pasa
tanda ng inyong kapangyarihang
puting semilyang inihahasik sa buong mundo.

 

Pero ang sabi nila, sa batas na 'di umiiral
sa orbita nitong naytklab, maging
ang mga puta, may karapatang humindi.
Ang mga puta raw ay maaring maghuhumiyaw
at mag-aalpas at pigilan pumalaot
ang dambuhalang barkong tangan
ang kanyang dangal.

 

Minsan ko nang napalayas ang mga kostumer ko.

 

Hindi habambuhay puta ang Pilipinas.

 

*Para sa Pilipinang nakaligtas sa panggagahasa ng anim na US Marines noong Nobyembre 1, 2005 at 52 o higit pang kababaihang di pa nabibigyang-hustisya ang sekswal na pang-aabuso sa kanila ng mga tropang Kano.

posted by: ilangq at 18:01 | link | comments |

Two pledges

Being a fellow of the recently concluded 14th Lopez Jaena Journalism Workshop meant my allegiance to two pledges.

The first, given the theme "Media and Gender Sensitivity," is obviously to practice gender-sensitivity in my craft. Being a woman and a feminist at that, I honestly thought I was always gender-sensitive in everything I did. That was until I realized I still used terms like doktora (when doktor was fine because why underscore the fact that a professional is a woman?) or prostitutes (prostituted women would be the more accurate term).

Identifying sexism in media was both fun and depressing. It was fun to uncover and bash but depressing to actually contemplate how deep, widespread, and taken for granted gender stereotypes are. There I was during the day, discussing the negative impacts of gender stereotyping, and during the night I was being sold baby tees printed with the exact same stereotypes. (My good friend from high school last Friday happily brandished baby tees that read "iyakin," "selosa," "maganda," "seksi," and "prinsesa." Grudgingly, and with killjoy admonitions that she just laughed away, I finally bought one that read "diyosa," which had connotations of power, at least.)

As workshop fellows, we were highly ambitious, aiming even to have the Philippine Journalist's Code of Ethics changed to be more gender-sensitive. I didn't notice it before, how the Code actually contained some sexist provisions like:

I shall presume persons accused of crime of being innocent until proven otherwise. I shall exercise caution in publishing names of minors and women involved in criminal cases so that they may not unjustly lose their standing in society.

First of all, why single out minors and women involved in crime? If the provision is referring to the right to privacy of minors and women who are survivors of violent crimes such as rape, which is often violated by the media especially TV, it must be clear and stressed in a separate provision. Also, it is assumed that victims of violence will lose their standing in society once their identities are revealed, an assumption that merely reinforces minors and women's "victim" status.

The second pledge I took was the pledge to uphold community journalism. The Lopez Jaena Journalism Workshop, initiated by the UP College of Mass Communications in 1985, really was meant as a service to community journalists who lack the training accorded to Metro Manila-based journalists.

In fairness, majority of this year's fellows came from the regions and may fit the definition of community journalists. But to roughly quote Prof. Ben Domingo, one of the workshop's pioneers, "Sana mas marami pa yung nanggaling sa mga sulok-sulok..." I guess our bunch, save for a few "macho-types" that he didn't identify, were already considered progressive.

I've always wished I were a writer with roots-- one who was born and grew up in the countryside, both gifted and afflicted with the particular culture of a certain locality I can claim as home. Unfortunately, I am 100% Metro Manila-bred, used to chaos, pollution, and national politics, and this has reflected in my work as a journalist. But maybe, knowing my limitations as a "rootless" writer is also the reason why I have strived hard to as much as possible write about local issues in places that I visit or pay special attention to "countryside issues" that concern farmers or fisherfolk or indigenous people.

What made our batch's harvest of articles highly interesting was flavor that came from community journalists such as Agnes Dimzon on women organic farmers in Iloilo, Joey Garalde on female New People's Army guerillas in Bicol, Alan Pelayo on the sexist use of the Bicol word "oragon," Grace Albasin on prostituted mothers in Cagayan de Oro, among many others. (Hello to all my fabulous fellows!)

It actually rather pained me that my own article on breastfeeding--a national issue-- won the workshop's grand prize over its closest contender, which was a community piece that tackles an issue also close to my heart.

But I guess the challenge really for community journalists is to be able to effectively situate community issues into the larger social context, expose their national significance and even show how global policies affect these. Of course, given the realities of community journalism, that is easier said than done. But perhaps, there is even more hope for community journalism than in the mainstream national media increasingly used to serve elite ends.

According to Prof. Domingo in his paper about community journalism entitled "Pudpod na Mongol sa Ibabaw ng Mesang may Di-ginagamit ng Kompyuter,": "Sana, darating ang araw na mismong ang mga mambabasa ang magmamay-ari sa mga pahayagang pampamayanan upang ang kanilang interes ang maitanghal at nang sila ang higit na makinabang sa sistema ng peryodismong lokal."

I agree and ditto for national journalism!!!

posted by: ilangq at 08:23 | link | comments |
peryodismo

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