Si Vic Vargas at Iba Pang Kuwento

Bihira na tiyak sa mga Generation Xers ang nakakikilala sa sikat na aktor noon na si Vic Vargas.

Bago iyan, isa sa mga paborito ko noon sa serialized comics sa Liwayway ay ang nobela ni Francisco V. Coching at sa dibuho ni Federico C. Javinal na isinapelikula  noong 1972 kung kailan ay Grade III pa lang yata ako. Ito ay ang pelikulang “El Vibora”. Ngayong uso na ang internet, at bilang isa ang pelikulang ito sa bahagi ng aking kamusmusan, diniskubre at inunawa sa pamamagitan ng makabagong lente ng teknolohiya at lulan ng duyan ang pagbabalik-tanaw sa mga bagay na kaugnay ng aking happy childhood.

Ang kuwento ng “El Vibora”, sa Liwayway man o sa telon ng El Mundo Theater ay pwede umanong ituring na halaw sa kuwento ng bayaning si Heneral Artemio Ricarte. Isang kilalang manunulat sa katauhan ni F. Sionil Jose sa aking pagkakatanda ay sumulat rin ang aklat na may pamagat na “Vibora!” noong 2007. Ang nobela ay naglalahad ng buhay ng isang Benjamin Singkol na nag-kuwento ng nalalaman niya sa buhay ni Ricarte. Si Ricarte nga pala, ang tunay na buhay na Vibora, ay marubdob na kontra Amerikano. Nakita niya kung papaano minasaker ng mga Kano ag mga Pilipino habang ang mga elitista niyang kababayan ay dinidiyos ang mga ito noon. Hindi niya masikmura ang pagbubulag-bulagan ng kanyang mga kalahi noon sa panunupil ng mga Kano. Naniniwala ang Vibora sa tunay na buhay na ang mga Kano ay ang siyang tunay na kaaway ng mga Pilipino kaya siya ay itunuring na taksil ng mga kapwa niya lider rebolusyunaryo noon.

Ang bida sa pelikulang aksyon na “El Vibora” ni Ishmael Bernal ay isinilang dito sa Kanlurang Mindoro kung hindi ninyo alam. Siya ang isa sa iilang versatile actors ng bansa at halos lahat na yata ng genre sa pelikula ay nagampanan na niya. Pero bago pa man ang “El Vibora” nauna siyang nadiskubre ni Doc Jose Perez na siyang may-ari ng Sampaguita Pictures habang nagtuturo ng Judo at Karate sa isang program sa TV. Una siyang nakilala nang magbida sa pelikulang “Diegong Tabak” noong 1963 hanggang sa mapansin siya sa mga pelikulang aksyon at drama at itinuring na macho man  noon ng puting tabing. Sa kabila nito, mahusay niyang nagampanan, sa isang pelikulang katatawanan, ang papel ni “Andres de Saya” na isa ring karakter sa komiks na likha ni Carlo J. Caparas. 

Kahit siya ay sikat na, may pagkakataong dumadalaw ito sa kanyang bayang sinilangan, nakikipag-laro ng basketbol sa kanyang mga pinsan ay kabarkada at namamasyal sakay ng kanyang scooter lalo na kapag piyesta sa kanilang lugar. Higit sa 60 pelikula ang nagawa niya simula 1950s hanggang 2002. Sa pelikulang “El Vibora” nga pala ay natamo niya ang “Best Actor Award” sa 7^th Manila Film Festival noon ngang 1972. Bago ito, gumanap din siya sa mga tinatawag na Bomba (or soft core sex) Films sa mga pelikulang pinagtambalan nila ni Rosanna Ortiz sa “Saging ni Pacing” ni Luis San Juan at “Bukid ay Basa” ni Ading Fernando at iba pa.

Ngunit nang tumamlay na ang kanyang karera, nasangkot din siya sa iba’t-ibang kaso na may kinalaman sa droga. Noong Disyembre 7, 1993, naaresto siya ng Malabon anti-narcotics unit dahil umano sa pagtutulak ng shabu sabi sa balitang ITO. Simula noong 1995 hanggang 2000 siya ay nanirahan na sa Taytay, Palawan. Sumapi siya sa Bantay Dagat sa layuning ingatan ang kalikasan doon at napabilang sa Charismatic Movement. Pero siya ay nakulong sa kasong estafa sa Pampanga noong Enero 2003 ayon sa ulat na mababasa DITO. Siya ay agad namang nakalaya hanggang sa ma-stroke at bawian ng buhay noong Hulyo 19, 2003 sa Pasay.

Si Vic Vargas ay si Jose Maria Marfori Asuncion sa totoong buhay na pamangkin ni Maximino Papa na naging alkalde ng Sablayan simula noong 1925 hanggang 1927. Noong 1929 siya ay naging alkalde rin ng San Jose at bumalik ng Sablayan at muling nahalal noong1938 hanggang 1940. Si Papa, na kilala sa taguring Minoy kasama ang ama ng artistang aking ibinibida sa inyo ngayon ay pinatay ng mga gerilya dahil lamang sa bintang na sila ay maka-Hapon.

Si Vic Vargas ay ipinanganak dito sa Sitio Busaran, Brgy. Poblacion, Sablayan noong ika-28 ng Marso 1939, eksaktong 74 na taon na bukas….

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(Photo: Philstar.com. Vic Vargas with Maggie dela Riva in the stills of "Ang Langit ay Para sa Lahat")

Juana

We are now celebrating Women’s Month and its theme made me remember Lola Juana, my mother’s aunt. This year’s theme reads: “Juana, ang Tatag Mo ay Tatag Natin sa Pagbangon at Pagsulong”. They say that this year's celebration of Women's Month pays tribute to the strong and resilient "Juanas" who brought inspiring changes here in the country and across the globe. My Lola Juana, by the way, was the late Juana Delos Trinos- Monsobre, elder sister of my maternal grandmother Bernardita whose family came from San Felipe, Zambales but settled in Mamburao during the country’s Peace Time or Prewar Era. I have other 6 grandmothers who I knew only by their nicknames being Meling, Maring, Iska, Suela, Leding and Insiang. Bernardita or Ditang died of pneumonia just days after she gave birth to her second daughter Arsenia, my mother. Arsenia and her elder sister Ofelia both grew up under the care of our Lola Juana here in Mindoro until they were able to stand on their own. They are my dearest “Juana’s” who rise up and were able to move on despite of life’s challenges and hardships.

The celebration is mandated by, among other legal mandates, by Proclamation No. 224 s. 1988 declaring the first week of March each year as Women’s Week and March 8 as Women’s Rights and International Peace Day. The Philippine Commission for Women is the lead government agency for this particular event. But allow me to add that tomorrow, Friday, March 8, 2014 the Local Government Unit of Sablayan and the KAAGAPAY NGO-PO Network are out to honor a dedicated local Juana in the field of education in the person of Norma B. Taboy, Teacher III and at the same time Teacher-in-Charge at Claudio Salgado National High School in Baloc-Baloc.

According to sources, the 2014 Women's Month Celebration is the best time to highlight the “drivers of change” who untiringly volunteered themselves in times of disaster, conflict and calamity. This celebration recognizes the role of women in the rehabilitation process and their over-all contribution to progress. But allow me to emphasize the word “Natin”(Our) in the theme.

From my standpoint, empowering women, whether in the workplace, at home, anywhere and everywhere is a virtue. But demonizing men and undervaluing the family undermines that virtue. Herstory/history shows that men and womyn (to borrow a word first coined by James Hogg) struggled together while crossing the hostile river of family survival and both sexes must win or the river would submerge both of them, lifeless.

Like how my dearest “Juanas” stick to the Filipino culture of strong family ties which emphasizes the different but complementary roles of womyn and men….

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(Photo: "Pistahan" by Amorsolo from Asiaweek)

Emerging Power in Mindoro Island

The Power Supply Agreement (PSA) between Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (OMECO) and the Emerging Power Incorporated (EPI), Philippines was finally signed last Friday, February 28, 2014 at Sikatuna Beach Hotel here in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro and the speakers, especially those coming from our locality, including the two program emcees, keep on saying, “Walang pulitika ito” and with all honesty I do not believe them. There is politics in everything. Be it in other part of the planet or right here at our very nose.

The event is supposedly witnessed by no less than Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla but he didn’t show up for the day before, all of the five of the geothermal plants in Mindanao bogged down that resulted to massive power outage in the whole region. Malacanan sent him in the area to assess and remedy the situation there. He felt so sorry for his absence, according to reports. Secretary Petilla, on the other hand, is very positive on the realization of Mindoro Integrated Development Plan which is targeted to be funded by the Malampaya Fund.

The PSA between OMECO and EPI is a welcome development. At this early point, I would like to congratulate the OMECO people led by Melito Pasol, Chairman of the Board and Engr. Fritz Dantis, its general manager. EPI is a Mindoro-based power company which is about to operate a 45-megawatt geothermal power plant in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro. The confirmatory tests, according to the EPI executive president Alberto C. Guanzon, gained positive results and they will be drilling 8 wells starting July of this year and gave assurance that the first well with 3MW capacity would be directed to, thus augment power supply in Occidental Mindoro through OMECO.

According to Rep. Josephine Y. Ramirez Sato, EPI assured them that by 2015, we will be getting additional 3.3 MW and expected to increase each year. By 2017, we can all say goodbye to brown outs and other hassles brought about by power outage, we were assured. Our geothermal source has a life span of 50 years and the Contract or the PSA has a life span of 25 years. What we need now are transmission lines and the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR) should upgrade all its transmission lines circumventing the whole island as soon as possible. Sato asked the people from EPI to stand by their commitment. Rep. Rey Umali, of 2^nd district of Oriental Mindoro and chair of the Committee on Energy at the House of Representatives, too, graced the occasion.

From my perspective as a lowly electric consumer and MSEAC member, I think that financially-wise, geothermal is more acceptable than bunker fuel or oil and carbon for it belongs to renewable energy. Our country sells the highest electricity rate in the universe that made the average unit electricity consumption per Filipino household is half that of Indonesia. News reports have it that EPI is slated to drill by the third quarter of this year and will start delivering by middle of 2015, with the full capacity for delivering 20 MW to Occidental Mindoro and 20 MW to Oriental Mindoro by the middle of 2016. Antonie de Wilde, CEO of Emerging Power Inc, Philippines assured that the whole island will be the “capital of the shining light in the country.” Indeed, the geothermal field could also attract tourists just like the so-called Blue Lagoon in Iceland, they say.

In a paper entitled “Toward a Sustainable Energy Future for All: The Energy Sector Directions Paper” released by the World Bank in July 2013 stressed that the access to reliable source of energy is a key component to ending poverty. The undersigned too is into opinion that people living without electricity have fewer opportunities to improve their lives. Indeed, delivering reliable energy services for economic development and providing access to electricity to communities without or lacking such energy services is essential to reducing poverty. "Access to energy is absolutely fundamental in the struggle against poverty," said World Bank Vice President Rachel Kyte. "It is energy that lights the lamp that lets you do your homework, that keeps the heat on in a hospital, the light that lights the small businesses where most people work. Without energy, there is no economic growth, there is no dynamism, and there is no opportunity."  Let us be watchdogs more than ever. Our people cannot afford to be impoverished forever. We deserve more than being poor.

Everything is political. Thus, being the basic social service, the provision of reliable and affordable electricity, is one product of politics’ true intention. And again to emphasize, politics in the strictest sense of the world is sacred and positive. The ugly things are, among other things, when politicians intervene in a supposed to be apolitical (not leaning on any political group) electric cooperatives. In short, how politicians wield political power and authority. When this- and- that politician makes business or makes money out of it. When (s)he uses all the tricks (s)he can afford to legally assert his/her business interest. These are the very emerging concerns that we must be vigilant of as electric consumers.

There is politics in everything. Even silence is a political option and action…

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(Photo grabbed without permission from Robert Asignacion's Facebook account)