Tops in Cebu (May 2012)

At "Tops" (as the locals like to call it).

           The night was cold and my eyes were feasting on the dancing lights below me. At that moment it felt like nothing can ever touch me. The world could leave me alone even for just a little while. 

        How could I forget such moment when nothing seemed to matter? 

        Someday, I might come back here. That moment in the future seems distant, but my memory can always take me there. I shall someday dance with the lights again.

Ocean Man

     I have always been fond of going to the beach. I find peace in the sound of waves hitting the shore and ebb away towards the open sea. The cool ocean air calms my soul as I inhale it and exhale every single negative thought in my system with a whisper that only the wind can hear and carry away into the infinite abyss.

     But this time was a completely different experience and it brought me to priceless euphoria. Rain started pouring from the heavens and I've never seen the beach so breathtakingly perfect.

     My body was below the surface of the water and suddenly I can see nothing in the horizon but just a white blanket of smoke, right where the picturesque view of Davao used to be.

     Suddenly I'm surrounded by thousands of little white jumping tadpoles that were created by the raindrops as it touched the smooth surface of the ocean. And they seemed to be racing each other towards the limitless body of water. When truly they just become part of the ocean forever as I was at that very moment, nostalgic as my mind is swimming in the tides of yesteryears when that child, who has grown up to be the man in the middle of the ocean, once played in that shoreline not caring where tomorrow will bring him.  

In Defense of Mindanao

(as published in Sun Star Davao, Sunday Essays, December 3, 2011)

illustration by: the hobo who has access to Adobe Photoshop

     “MY NAME is Khan and I am not a terrorist.”This line is from the film “My Name is Khan,” a movie about a Muslim man in a quest to meet the President of the United States to tell him those very words. He wanted the world to know that not all Muslims are of notorious intentions. Whenever I think of Khan, I am reminded of a certain group of people: the Mindanaoans.

      For the past years, Mindanao has been projected by the media as the most dangerous place in the Philippines. It was labeled as a warzone, murder capital, the list could go on and on. All these were brought about by the seemingly endless war among the different rebel groups and the government.

True, Mindanao is the home for all Moro Liberation Front, Communist guerillas, Abu Sayyaf, etc. But it is not the entire island of Mindanao they occupy. They only live in some specific parts and the wars are not happening in the entire island.

      The generalization done by the media about Mindanao makes its people raise their brows. Because of the sensationalized stories from the national press, tourists are discouraged to pay a visit to Mindanao for the fear of abduction, chaos or any form of danger.

The Mindanaoan Press has been finding ways for so long now to carry their message to put an end to the sensationalism of stories about Mindanao by the media people in the northern part of the country especially the ones from Luzon. Unfortunately, their cries have fallen on deaf ears. Until now, the national press continues to make Mindanao appear like a giant deathbed to anyone who dares to enter.

It’s sad to know that these stories come from the sector of society who believes that no story is worth a life, yet they are sucking the life out of Mindanao and its people by the way their words destroy the island’s reputation.

      The Mindanaoans are not denying the existence of war. They simply want to end the fallacies fed by the national press. Mindanao is a beautiful and productive place. That beauty doesn’t deserve to be shadowed by dominant images of war and chaos. 

Service, Ser? (Service, Sir?)

(as published in Sun Star Davao, Sunday Essays, November 20, 2011)

illustration by: the hobo with access to Adobe Photoshop

          “Serbis, ser?” (Service, Sir?)

           This is exactly what I expected to get and lo and behold, I got it the moment I reached my destination.

           It was out of curiosity, and not of phallic urge that I decided to explore the infamous world of the sex workers in the downtown streets of Davao City. I’ve heard stories and somehow the skeptic in me wills to see and experience it myself before I believe the existence of such.

          As I walked the squalid street of San Pedro a few minutes past midnight, I was welcomed by this lengthy array of women in minis and “kigol shorts” who are accompanied by their “manager-slash-employer”, or in our local dialect is known as the “bugaw.” These potbellied individuals are in-charge of negotiating with possible customers hoping to get a good share of pecuniary interest.

          There I was. All around me was a spate of sexual offering. And for a moment I felt like these red-blooded women are feasting on me with their coruscating eyes looking at me like they want to rip my clothes off. But that short moment of vanity vanished when the bugaw told me how affordable their service was. It was my wallet they wanted to rip off, and so are those of other passersby.

          For them, everybody’s a prospective customer. Even if you will not make any eye contact or any sign of interest whatsoever, when you pass in front of them, they will still offer you their flesh like you were in some sort of public market.

          It is unnerving to think about how these people survive in this underground economy of leasing their bodies for a few hours and be used as a tool for sexual catharsis. I wonder how they are willing to reduce their selves to lesser human beings just to earn money. I pity them.

          There is no denying that a huge percentage of our city’s population is aware of these activities and so do our local government officials. It’s all happening under our noses and no one dares to do something about it. Everyone seems to tolerate this kind of immoral behavior. I pity us more.

         I stopped walking for a moment; scandalized by all those “servicers” I’ve encountered. It was weird because I sympathized them but I’m still disgusted of what they are doing. Then I asked myself, could I really blame those women?

        Suddenly, a voice came out of nowhere disrupting my meditation. “Serbis, Ser?” I looked back and I saw this thin man. I cringed. Just when I though it couldn’t get any worse. 

Hard Candy (a movie review)

It has been a few days now since I started bumming around. But who can blame me? I just graduated. Being in school for almost two decades, I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

However, even if I am relishing my moments of unemployment, I’m not entirely being useless. I store myself with knowledge from the things that school life deprived me. I’ve been reading novels and magazines, but somehow those things require a little bit of work. Because you have to change positions every now and then, you have to flip from page to page. Same thing is true with gallivanting all over the city, in malls and thrift shops, because it requires, well, moving.

But don’t get me wrong. I love doing those things. But I sometimes prefer the lazy way of gaining knowledge: watching a movie. Lazy might be a negative way of describing it, but I don’t mean it that way, nor am I saying that people who watch films are lazy. It’s lazy because you just lie down in front of my laptop and let the story unfold before your eyes.

Anyway, I was looking through the long compendium of movie files in my external drive and I stumbled upon this movie that I’ve planned to watch a long time ago but was not able to do so because I had student duties. The title is “Hard Candy.” Before I get on with my review, here are the real reasons why I wanted to watch it. First, Ellen Page is in it. After Juno, I swore to grab every opportunity to watch a movie that she stars in. And second, Ellen Page is in it.

Ellen Page in Hard Candy. Handsome?

Hard Candy (2005) is about a precocious fourteen year old girl named Hayley Stark (Ellen Page) who meets up with a guy she met on the Internet, Jeff Kohlver (Patrick Allen), a thirty-two year old photographer.

Despite the age difference, the two agrees to meet up and make out. When they finally met in a coffee shop, the two started flirting with each other, not really caring about their age difference.

When Jeff brings Hayley to his house, what started out as a something seemingly romantic has turned into a terrifying scenario involving Jeff being tied up on a table, half naked, and ready castrated by an amateur surgeon that Hayley has suddenly become.

As the story progresses, secrets are revealed putting Jeff in a hopeless situation. Hayley refuses to budge from whatever desperate bargain or bribe from Jeff. Giving only two ends, unending suffering, or a tragic end to it.

The gore was sufficient. It has an unusual mix of horror and delight. The plot is unpredictable. The impressive use of color transition in depicting the bipolarity of Hayley’s character is commendable. Depicting the two main characters to be despicable but someone you will still pity was not an easy task, but it was surprisingly accomplished.

Overall, I give it a 3.5/5. It would’ve been a four if I did not know beforehand that (WARNING! Spoiler alert) his balls will really be cut off and if he showed even just a hint of struggle in walking after losing two very important parts of his manhood.

Bloody and Chunky shot

Something to keenly watch out for: the Little-Red-Riding-Hood look of Hayley could mean something. A reference to the real character of the fairy tale girl, maybe? (wink) But don’t trust me, I’m not an expert.

red hoodie