Archive for October, 2006

Duffy again

October 30, 2006

Give me a Duffy for Christmas. Please.

Last year, Jeanette Winterson interviewed Carol Ann Duffy for her collection of poems, Rapture. I want one for Christmas. Period.

The poem below is from a different collection called “Mean Time.” Indulge.

Valentine

Not a red rose or a satin heart.

I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.

Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.

I am trying to be truthful.

Not a cute card or kissogram.

I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.

Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring,
if you like.
Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.

– Carol Ann Duffy

Posted in The Word | No Comments »

Abante means homophobia

October 22, 2006

Are you from the 6th District of Manila? If you are, then do the Filipino lesbian and gay community a big favor. Don’t vote for Rep. Bienvenido Abante, who’s been trying to block the Anti-Discrimination Bill, in the forthcoming 2007 polls. From October 12 to 13, 2007, during the marathon session for the 2007 budget, Rep. Abante barred the House of Representatives from tackling Anti-Discrimination Bill. (Read more in LAGABLAB’s blog).

Rep. Abante happens to be the Chairperson of the House Committee on Civil, Political and Human Rights. By blocking the Anti-Discrimination Bill and by calling homosexuality “morally reprehensible,” he committed a patent act of discrimination, thus violating the all-embracing principles of human rights. This proves that the current Chair of the House Committee on Human Rights does not know a thing about human rights, or about his mandate. Shame. He certainly does not deserve to be Chair of the House Committee on Human Rights.

Aside from calling homosexuality “morally reprehensible,” he also said that the approval of the Anti-Discrimination Bill is tantamount to extending protection to pedophiles. If I were a legislator, I’d be very careful with making such medieval assertions. If Abante really insists on attaching pedophilia to a particular profession or sexual orientation, then he should look into cases of sexual abuse against minors: most have been committed by heterosexual men against female children. The prevalence is also high within the religious institutions. If we are to follow Rep. Abante’s demented thinking, then it makes sense to keep straight men (or priests) from our children. The point, however, is this: pedophilia is an issue of power, and not of sexual orientation. Some adults abuse children because they think they can get away with it. Funny, but it is actually the Church that promotes this sense of impunity - the CBCP, for instance, just held a national conference on reconciliation and renewal for priests to address the issue of sexual harassment and pedophilia within the Church when what they should have done is turn over to authorities those who commit and perpetrate sexual abuse.

If you are not from Manila City, then help LAGABLAB spread the word about Rep. Abante’s discriminatory acts. Write him, call his office, and tell him that the lesbian and gay community does not take discrimination sitting down. If he wants to bring his proselytizing in Congress, then he should resign from his position (or from Congress) and stay in the pulpit. Democracy is not anti-God or anti-religion, but it certainly has to have secular institutions. He was elected not as Pastor but as a legislator, which requires that in matters of public interests, he must abandon his destructive sectarianism and work for the general welfare.

For me, his name is now synonymous with homophobia. Let’s kick the bigot out of Congress next year.

Here’s what you could do (from LAGABLAB’s blog):

Please send protest letters to Rep. Abante and demand from him equal recognition of the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. Express your condemnation of his discriminatory actions and of his failure, as the Chairperson of the House Committee on Human Rights and as an elected public official, to respect and recognize the Bill of Rights as enshrined in the Philippine Constitution. Here’s his address:

Office of Rep. Bienvenido Abante, Jr.
Rm. 407, South-wing,
House of Representatives,
Batasan Hills, Quezon City
Phone: 931-5001 local 7248 or 9315691 (telefax)
Email: abante_maynila@yahoo.com

Also, send letters of complaint to House Speaker Jose de Venecia for Rep. Abante’s failure to fulfill his mandate as the Human Rights Chairperson. Tell Speaker de Venecia that as the Chairperson of the House Committee on Human Rights, Rep. Abante is committing a violation of human rights by excluding lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders. Below is Speaker de Venecia’s address:

Office of House Speaker Jose de Venecia
Rm. MB-2, House of Representatives, Quezon City
Phone: 931-5001 local 7446, 9315071 to 9315073
Email: devenecia@pldtdsl.net

Posted in Philippine Congress, homosexuality, politics | 4 Comments »

McDonalds and Styrofoam

October 10, 2006

It’s time to come out. I am actually a closet environmentalist. I passionately follow issues around climate change and how consumerism and corporate greed accelerate what could be humanity’s own demise.

I am posting below a letter being circulated by Gary Granada and the Eco-Waste Coalition on McDonald’s refusal to reduce its use of styrofoam. (McDonald’s also refuses to divulge the nutritional content of its products, but that’s another story).

Why is styrofoam such a big issue? The Philippines produces 10 million tons of garbage every year. 5% of that is made up of styrofoam, while plastics in total (including styros) comprise of 76% of the total waste that we generate. Most of these wastes end up being burned or dumped in unhealthty dumpsites or in our seas.

We actually have a law on solid waste management that is not being implemented. The law advocates for recycling and supposedly regulates dumping of wastes. Under the law, open dumpsites (such as Payatas) should have been converted into controlled dumpsites in 2004, and dumpsites in general should be closed by this year. Unfortunately, local governments prefer burning wastes or dumping them somewhere, both of which have been found to be profitable. Just think of the contracts to buy or rent garbage trucks or to purchase incinerators (which are also illegal under the clean air act, but local governments have ways to go around this prohibition. the denr has actually been found to purchase waste burning machines that may be legal technically but still cause pollution).

One way to regulate the use of plastics is to urge companies, especially in the food industry, to use recycable or reusable materials instead. If McDonald’s takes corporate social responsibility serious, then it should strive to drastically reduce its use of plastics and styrofoam.

Gary Granada, whose love songs have the heaviness of light and the heart-rending sadness of clouds, is asking you to circulate his letter below.

My Personal Ordeal with the Arrogant Managers of McDonald’s

5 seconds

My name is Gary Granada, I am a KaalagaD volunteer, and I need 5 seconds of your time to help reduce the use of styrofoam in fast food chains. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments »

how to kill a fly

October 8, 2006

How to kill a fly

Somewhere in Nueva Ecija, townsfolks dangle clear plastic bags filled with water in their windows to ward off flies. It obviously doesn’t work; even the local people I asked about the practice admitted as much. It somehow reminds me of a rural belief allegedly propagated by a UPLB professor that homosexuality is a product of pesticides. In short, Martial Law babies like me turned out to be gay because of Masagana rice. I really can’t explain why the notion persists.

Going back to plastic bags with water, I think I can offer several explanations:

The first one is from the Wile E. Cayote syndrome. Wile E. Cayote is, of course, the other half in the Roadrunner and Wile E. Cayote tandem. He is a fanatic and would resort to everything just to get the utterly monosyllabic Roadrunner (Beep beep). He would employ various ACME devices, deploy ACME gadgets and explosives, lay down elaborate traps, and still he keeps on failing to catch the rather quick bird.

Anyway, the Wile E. Cayote syndrome (or WECS) states that we all have a little Wile E. Cayote in our hearts. Some pesticides - natural and artificial - can kill some houseflies, but not all of them. So some folks just have to be ingenuous: they hang plastic bags with water and pray that with sheer luck and with a little help from gravity the bags would fall and squash the hapless housefly innocently taking a quick rest just below our simple folks’ weapon of choice.

My second theory involves an idea that I harbored since childhood, which in retrospect is admittedly a little sick. I am scared of dogs. I was bitten by what seemed to be a friendly canine when I was still in pre-school. I wanted to pet it, but it bit me instead.

I believe, or rather used to believe, that the best way to ward off dogs is to get a puppy, boil it, and apply the broth to your body - just like a lotion - to repel dogs. Of course I never implemented this idea, but I honestly believed that dogs would find the scent of the cooked puppy repugnant. I think I began to dismiss the idea when I saw a dog eating adobong aso. But it still might work with houseflies - so all it takes is to catch some flies, boil them, put the cooled broth in plastic bags. Hang the bags in windows to prevent flies from entering your house. (Let me warn you, though, that when applied to humans this formula is completely illegal and that animals, too, have rights).

The last theory is based on one of the Baguio jokes that was taken seriously. The joke supposedly explains that the reason why flies and mosquitos are rare in Baguio City is that in cooler places they find it hard to fly because have to wear heavy sweaters or jackets. Thus, they’d rather stay in hot nd humid Manila.

Anyway, the plastic bags were actually cooling devices, at least in their previous state. They were actually - or formerly - the yelo (from the Spanish word hielo) that you could easily buy for one peso in your suking tindahan. People would hang them in windows to 1. cool one’s house and 2. warn houseflies that the house that they are about to enter is cold. Since we were at the heart of a rural community and buying yelo is difficult, they hang plastic bags with clear water instead, hoping that it would be enough to fool the common housefly.

Send me an email if you have other theories.

Posted in Absurdities | 8 Comments »