Montserrat
December 6th 2008 13:07
Montserrat (entry # 3/ 29.11.08)
“Mountain”; “Monte”; “Ser” “To be”; “Sierra” “Land”... These are what her name suggests -- my Filipina friend from Madrid who cooks Paella with a Passion.
She is worried about WHALE SHARKS who LOST THEIR WAY (“Migrated to more hospitable waters”, I thought) due to the GLOBAL WARMING’s effect on Ocean Currents.
She hails from SORSOGON where the GENTLEST CREATURES ON THE PLANET the Plankton-eating whale sharks (we locals call “BUTANDING”) have migrated making the place a tourist trap all year round.
After cavorting in a deep cove with the friendly whale sharks, a tourist can take a banca ride down a river lit up like the Louvre at night lined on either side; not by romantic french streetlights but by fireflies populating the riverbank trees. The banca ride ends by entering not a Gothic Cathedral but a Cathedral Cave. I have gone as far as the cavorting part but the banca ride we missed and my high-school friends are planning a trip there and I am sorely tempted to come.
We are from a country where the MOST CHILDISH & MOST CHILD-LIKE PEOPLE ON THE PLANET, the Filipinos, hail from.
Not two years ago, the VATICAN declared that it was FINALLY LEGAL for Filipinos to VENERATE the CHRIST-CHILD (we locals call THE SANTO NIÑO and we have been dressing up the CHILD in all manner of garment and feasting in HIS NAME for centuries).
A place called “Muntinlupa” (meaning “little earth”) an hour’s ride to the South of Manila prides itself in its town fiesta celebrating the feast of its patron, the Santo NiÑo, with 40 brass bands parading the narrow streets each year and every home serving a welcoming feast (according the financial capacities of the hosts but a feast, no less) to all the visiting relatives and friends.
To this day with half the population allegedly living below poverty line, one can die very early from cholesterol overdose and/or liver failure and/or diabetes if you make a career out of attending town fiestas in this country.
NOW WHAT DOES ALL THESE IMPLY IN TERMS OF SPIRITUAL AND CULTURAL RESURGENCE?
Culturally, we are the FRENCH in this part of ASIA. (Yes, people, I am entitled to my opinion.) Haute Couture and other arts we RULE in this part of ASIA. We are natural Fashionistas and the UKAY-UKAY is a GODSEND because with it we can indulge our HUNGER for ART IN CLOTHING.
We are the largest Per Capita consumer/user of CELLPHONES and PRE-PAID/POST PAID LINES WORLDWIDE. But this is also a GODSEND because with it we keep in touch and keep our beloved safe despite the harsh environment we have allowed ourselves to live in -- because of our CHILD-LIKENESS.
We are the largest Per Capita EXPORTER OF HUMAN RESOURCES WORLDWIDE and our relatives abroad survive on the highest EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT to adapt to and survive any and all prejudice and strange situations that present themselves. But the new generation of export products undergo a Diploma-Mill-Far-Away-From-Ho me process that hardly equips them with the EQ survival kit.
We Love MANNY PACQUIAO and when he’s in a fight, the whole country coops itself up indoors and the crime crime dives down to zero to watch the fight.
But IF we are a country and IF we are one people, WHAT DOES A COUNTRY OF CHILDREN DO WHEN THEY GROW UP?
An archipelago is a very fragile ecosystem ... forested watershed to headwaters to rivers and streams emptying into deep bays where BUTANDING open their gargantuan mouths to filter krill CANNOT eat soil, silt, mercury and mine tailings along with it.
If the world’s gentlest whale sharks leave our shores where do they go next?
And what do we do when the richest soils (“Give us the island of Mindoro and we can feed your whole country; give us the island of Mindanao and we can feed the world” -- anonymous Israelite), the longest coastlines, the most gentle and charming people (caregivers all by natural constitution), GIVE OUT from SELF ABUSE with politician CHILD-ABUSERS holding the reins of power?
We look to MONTSERRAT and all who are like-minded and morally-fibered as she for the answer to that question.
Those courageous Filipino men and women whose whitening hair and reading glasses no longer pose a problem but has actually become part of the solution to our daily grind.
With visibly white hair they can literally slap (if necessary) some sense into the lost youth and the corrupt latak (Tagalog for what’s left under your coffee cup after you drink un-strained brewed coffee) who have taken over the country by default with little or no repercussions and even stand to gain a modicum of respect after the scandalous event.
We call on the MONTSERRATs of the WORLD to COME BACK to save the bled & still bleeding Motherland.
“Mountain”; “Monte”; “Ser” “To be”; “Sierra” “Land”... These are what her name suggests -- my Filipina friend from Madrid who cooks Paella with a Passion.
She is worried about WHALE SHARKS who LOST THEIR WAY (“Migrated to more hospitable waters”, I thought) due to the GLOBAL WARMING’s effect on Ocean Currents.
She hails from SORSOGON where the GENTLEST CREATURES ON THE PLANET the Plankton-eating whale sharks (we locals call “BUTANDING”) have migrated making the place a tourist trap all year round.
After cavorting in a deep cove with the friendly whale sharks, a tourist can take a banca ride down a river lit up like the Louvre at night lined on either side; not by romantic french streetlights but by fireflies populating the riverbank trees. The banca ride ends by entering not a Gothic Cathedral but a Cathedral Cave. I have gone as far as the cavorting part but the banca ride we missed and my high-school friends are planning a trip there and I am sorely tempted to come.
We are from a country where the MOST CHILDISH & MOST CHILD-LIKE PEOPLE ON THE PLANET, the Filipinos, hail from.
Not two years ago, the VATICAN declared that it was FINALLY LEGAL for Filipinos to VENERATE the CHRIST-CHILD (we locals call THE SANTO NIÑO and we have been dressing up the CHILD in all manner of garment and feasting in HIS NAME for centuries).
A place called “Muntinlupa” (meaning “little earth”) an hour’s ride to the South of Manila prides itself in its town fiesta celebrating the feast of its patron, the Santo NiÑo, with 40 brass bands parading the narrow streets each year and every home serving a welcoming feast (according the financial capacities of the hosts but a feast, no less) to all the visiting relatives and friends.
To this day with half the population allegedly living below poverty line, one can die very early from cholesterol overdose and/or liver failure and/or diabetes if you make a career out of attending town fiestas in this country.
NOW WHAT DOES ALL THESE IMPLY IN TERMS OF SPIRITUAL AND CULTURAL RESURGENCE?
Culturally, we are the FRENCH in this part of ASIA. (Yes, people, I am entitled to my opinion.) Haute Couture and other arts we RULE in this part of ASIA. We are natural Fashionistas and the UKAY-UKAY is a GODSEND because with it we can indulge our HUNGER for ART IN CLOTHING.
We are the largest Per Capita consumer/user of CELLPHONES and PRE-PAID/POST PAID LINES WORLDWIDE. But this is also a GODSEND because with it we keep in touch and keep our beloved safe despite the harsh environment we have allowed ourselves to live in -- because of our CHILD-LIKENESS.
We are the largest Per Capita EXPORTER OF HUMAN RESOURCES WORLDWIDE and our relatives abroad survive on the highest EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT to adapt to and survive any and all prejudice and strange situations that present themselves. But the new generation of export products undergo a Diploma-Mill-Far-Away-From-Ho me process that hardly equips them with the EQ survival kit.
We Love MANNY PACQUIAO and when he’s in a fight, the whole country coops itself up indoors and the crime crime dives down to zero to watch the fight.
But IF we are a country and IF we are one people, WHAT DOES A COUNTRY OF CHILDREN DO WHEN THEY GROW UP?
An archipelago is a very fragile ecosystem ... forested watershed to headwaters to rivers and streams emptying into deep bays where BUTANDING open their gargantuan mouths to filter krill CANNOT eat soil, silt, mercury and mine tailings along with it.
If the world’s gentlest whale sharks leave our shores where do they go next?
And what do we do when the richest soils (“Give us the island of Mindoro and we can feed your whole country; give us the island of Mindanao and we can feed the world” -- anonymous Israelite), the longest coastlines, the most gentle and charming people (caregivers all by natural constitution), GIVE OUT from SELF ABUSE with politician CHILD-ABUSERS holding the reins of power?
We look to MONTSERRAT and all who are like-minded and morally-fibered as she for the answer to that question.
Those courageous Filipino men and women whose whitening hair and reading glasses no longer pose a problem but has actually become part of the solution to our daily grind.
With visibly white hair they can literally slap (if necessary) some sense into the lost youth and the corrupt latak (Tagalog for what’s left under your coffee cup after you drink un-strained brewed coffee) who have taken over the country by default with little or no repercussions and even stand to gain a modicum of respect after the scandalous event.
We call on the MONTSERRATs of the WORLD to COME BACK to save the bled & still bleeding Motherland.
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