‘Di Lang Mangyan Ang May Buntot

Sa isang bahagi ng aking buhay ako ay nagkaroon din ng buntot. Hindi lang ako. Kayo rin na bumabasa ng blog entry na ito, minsan ay nagkaroon ka rin ng buntot (sa likod). Babae ka man o lalake.

Tanong ko sa sarili nang mapanood ko ang episode ng Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho noong Sabado, ika-9 ng Pebrero sa GMA-7, bakit pumapatok  pa ang hoax na ito na noon pang 1900s nagsimula. Una, dapat ay malinawan natin na ang pangunahing ugat ng ganitong mga kuwento ng katarantaduhan patungkol sa mga Mangyan, o sa lahat ng mga indigenous peoples (IPs) o katutubo sa buong mundo, ay ang tila likas nating discriminatory attitude towards them at hindi natin pagiging culturally-sensitive. Kasama na ang paggalang sa kanilang mga karapatan, lalo na ang pagpapahalaga sa kanilang kultura. Hindi ko po sinasabing guilty dito ang nasabing TV show. In fact, mabuti naman at binigyan ng pagkakataon ang mga Alangan Mangyan na mailinaw na ito ay isang mito at likhang-isip lamang at gawa-gawaan ng mga sundalong Kano. Very informative, no doubt, ang KMJS.

Sa nasabing episode ng KMJS ay sinimulan sa pagtatampok sa isang 35-anyos na taga-India at nakatira sa Alipurdar na dahil sa kanyang 14 na pulgadang “buntot” ay sinamba at pinaniniwalaan na reincarnation umano siya ng kanilang diyos ng mga unggoy na si Hanuman. Siya ay si Chandre Oraon at lumabas ang balita noong nakaraang linggo lamang na mababasa natin DITO. Bago pa umutlaw ang pagkakaroon ng buntot ni Oraon, lumabas rin ang isang urban legend noong 1977 na ito umanong si Evonne Faye Goolagong, na isang babaeng tennis star mula sa Australia na umano ay may buntot din. Dangan kasi namang itong si Goolagong (sa tunog pa lang ng apelyido) ay galing sa pamilyang Australian Aboriginal mula sa tribong kung tawagin doon ay Wiradjuri. Ang kakatwang kuwento na ito ni Goolagong, marahil, ay mula sa kantiyaw ng mga tagahanga ng mga nasapawan niya noon sa nasabing laro na dominated ng mga hindi katutubo. Malakas pa kasi sa kanilang bansa noon ang diskriminasyon sa mga aboriginals.

Dito sa Pilipinas, matapos ang Spanish-American War, ang Estados Unidos ay nagpadala ng mga sundalo sa mga kagubatan ng Pilipinas upang magsiyasat sa mga likas-yamang isinuko sa kanila ng Espanya. Lumabas ang ulat sa Amerika na ang mga sundalong Kano ay nakasalubong umano ng isang Igorot na may buntot. Kinunan nila ito ng larawan at ginawan ng kung anu-anong kuwentong paniwalaan-dili. Ginawa pa ngang postcard ang kinuhang larawan na ipinagbili pa mismo ng mga Pilipinong taga-patag sa mga turistang Kano noon. Mismong tayong mga taga-patag ang unang nag-exploit nito para pagkakitaan. Doon unang pumutok sa buong mundo na ang mga katutubo natin ay may buntot. Kunsabagay, hanggang ngayon naman ay maami pa ring NGO na anila ay makatao at maka-Diyos ngunit pinagkikitaan lang ang mga katutubo.

Maraming mga mamamayan sa mundo, lalo na ang mga Kano, sa kuwento hanggang sa ito ay patulan ng United States National Museum na nagsagawa nga ng isang opisyal na imbestigasyon ukol dito. Sa lathalaing TheStraight Dope ni Cecil Adams na lumabas noong July 15, 1977 ay ganito niya ito ipinaliwanag matapos itong idineklarang peke : “Anthropologists speculated that the original confusion may have resulted from imperfect observation of Igorot rituals: one tribal dance required animal costumes, which were made, of course, complete with tails.” At nang lumabas ang kuwento tungkol sa buntot ni Chandre Oraon na taga-India na isa ring katutubo, kamakailan, muling nabuhay ang kuwentong bayang ito na may buntot nga ang mga katutubo sa Pilipinas.

Sa totoo lang, lahat tayo, tulad ng sinabi ko sa itaas, babae man o lalake, ay nagkaroon ng buntot. Ang lahat ng mga human embryo ay mayroong buntot na ang sukat ay about one-sixth of the size of the embryo itself. At habang ang embryo ay na-de-develop bilang isang fetus, ang ating buntot ay na-a-absorb ng patuloy na paglaki ng ating katawan. Dagdag pa ni Adams sa kanyang ginawang research: “Occasionally, a child is born with a "soft tail," described by one embryologist as containing "no vertebrae, but blood vessels, muscles, and nerves, of the same consistency …” Kitam. Maaaring ganoon nga ang totoong kuwento sa likod ng buntot ni Oraon.

Pero tiyak ko na ang pinagmulan ng kuwento ng mga “buntot” nina Goolagong at mga Mangyan at ng iba pang mga katutubo, aboriginals o indigenous peoples, ay may mahabang kawag ng pang-uuyam o pagmamaliit sa likod ng diskriminasyon sa kultura sa ating mga kapatid sa kabundukan….

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(Photo: Barriodeoriente.com)

Mall But Terrible

I have heard from the grapevine that a mall will soon be open in Occidental Mindoro particularly in San Jose, the town where I was born some 624 full moons ago. I am not so excited about this news unlike the Gen-Xers over social networking sites. Development for me is not measured by the presence of malls, be it SM, Robinson or Gaisano, or any building for that matter but by positive figures in an instrument called Quality of Life Index (QLI). According to Wikipedia, QLI is, “…based on a method that links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys to the objective determinants of quality of life across countries.” It dwells on 9 factors to determine the score namely: health, family life, community life, material well being, political stability and security, climate and geography, job security, political freedom and gender equality of a certain municipality or country. If we performed well in all of these factors, this would be the true sign of development before any prominent physical economic barometer used by many like malls or gigantic commercial establishments are put into place.

We need malls but not yet. What we need initially is to pass through a QLI and consequently get a good QLI rating first. In our sister province particularly in its capital town of Calapan, numerous malls exist. First was Citimart followed by Robinsons (neo Calapan) and in 2012, Gaisano and Puregold became both operational. But unlike Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro is still short of important and stable public utilities which is first and foremost is the reliable source of power or electricity including transport facilities and other infrastructures like roads and bridges. Trust me, to shopping mall investors, with this prevailing reality, placing their investment here is foolishness. The province’s five seaports are doorways to neighboring provinces and regions. The people of Oriental Mindoro are united against any project detrimental to their environment that’s why farming will forever be their main livelihood next to tourism. Speaking of which, Puerto Galera is a huge revenue earner.

Compared to Oriental Mindoro, we are far behind in every aspect of QLI. We are politically unstable, culturally diverse, spiritually misguided and socially unaware and as a consequence, we are still economically flaccid.

What San Jose need at this point are not malls but projects and programs both in private and public spheres that would integrally answer those concerns and factors rather than, again, malls that would only siphoned money from the pockets of the masses, the fishers and the farmers. Mall owners and capitalists are channels of “side effects” of the dominant hyper consumerist culture. The shopping mall, for me, is the basilica, the grand temple of our culture of consumption and acquisition where money is god, goods and gadgets are altars, brochures are bibles and the sales clerks are acolytes.

These giant malls are continuous to branch out outside Manila and virtually scattered all over other provinces. Malls to some are extensions of the country’s capital for they offer products that cannot be accessed in the locality. Branded and expensive t-shirts, caps, underwear, bags, cosmetics, modern electronic gadgets, toys, vitamins and practically all those products being advertized in our TV screens. Not to exclude other “health” services like a full body massage, foot spa or liposuction and the list is almost endless. But do we REALLY need them? We cannot find cheap but quality farm implements and inputs or fishing gears at the mall. The things truly needed by majority of our people. Indeed social scientist Henry Fairlie maybe right when he wrote, “The most important fact about our shopping malls is that we do not need most of what they sell.”  But like the gremlins, malls in the country continue to multiply while our eyes are wet with their air conditionings and their food courts are feeding us with foods that are alien to our taste buds. Malls are of course found in such provinces, towns and cities where said business is feasible.    

SM Malls in the country, according to 2012 report, have expanded by 10%. SM Malls have grown from 23 in 2005 to 37 in 2010 or an average growth rate of 12%. In addition, SM Investment’s reported capital expenditures which will fund shopping mall and other property projects has been slated to increase by 16% to Php 65 billion in 2013 from Php 56 billion in 2012, again, according to Wikipedia. If this is development, is this for us or for them? Local politicians who would benefit from it through straight or crooked (as politician or businessman, or both) means included!

While our leaders are neglecting the importance of QLI, having a mall in our midst is certainly not a true priority. This mall of our dream is a mall but terrible…

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(Photo: Skyscrapercity.com)

Darwin and Valentine

Today is Darwin Day and this day aims to commemorate the anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin on 12 February 1809. The day is used to highlight Darwin's contribution to science and to promote science in general. Today is Darwin’s 205^th birthday. The day after tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. The day honoring Saint Valentine, a widely recognized third-century Roman saint commemorated on February 14 and associated since the High Middle Ages with a tradition of courtly love.

Both believers and the non-believers do believe in “love”, no doubt. True, “love” is a more than physical response or biological reaction among humans. For all of us, regardless of our religion, beliefs, creed, nationality, physical appearances, sex and other differences; love is real and not a just myth. To put it more accurately, all humans are believers of love as a concept, feeling or action. Only for the non-believers, all of life is only sensory, only material, thus love is just a biochemical event.

Despite of this, there are people, especially those who favors science over faith, does not believe in anything spiritual or metaphysical. For them, we just evolved from animals so “love” is just evidence that we, humans possess certain instinct or hormones (especially sex hormones!) that are common to animals, our true ancestors. According to those who follow this line of thinking, whenever we express or show love or affection towards another human being, this has nothing to do with spiritual or metaphysical realms and we are just verbalizing our instinct being the highest form of animal to preserve our specie as we evolve as human beings. This is the scientific explanation, according to them, that has evidences in science and not just superstition. For them, nothing is sacramental, metaphysical or spiritual in a loving relationship. But we both agree that love is real. I root love in the soul and its connection with the body, the connection between the metaphysical and the physical and our relationship with God and fellowmen contextualized in the things happening around us. Love, for me, is physical evidence of faith and of spirituality and it goes all the way of all other things and all aspects of life and all experiences of living.

When I get home on Valentine’s Day and I am going to hug my wife and because I am a believer, that way, I am not only expressing my love to my  most cherished and my most favorite organic matter or biochemical mass or my favorite species in the planet whose ancestors are apes. It’s an outright unromantic and idiotic and it does not look like and feel like love. Looking and thinking that way towards my wife, my beloved, would be crazy, if not absurd!

After that, maybe, my wife would whisper to me her “I love you” and give me a kiss that would remind us of our wedding some twenty years ago. In her “I love you”, because she’s a believer, she is not simply expressing her latest interior emotional sensation which is subject to change at any moment for any reason. Her sincere “I love you” to me is as solid as a rock that could be liquefied only through tedious process and extreme circumstances that are beyond imagination. That “I love you” cannot be a profession of the unreliable and the unstable feelings.

This Valentine’s Day, may we reminded of these words from Frank Conin : “Love may be the nearest, most obvious, most unmistakable proof of God’s existence.” It may be true that Valentine’s Day originates from paganism and many Darwinians are atheists. Pagans and atheists, like Christians and other believers, all I know, are also capable of loving and being loved in return...

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(Photo : mrtopp.com)