“It is now obvious that the country is headed by a President whose policies and actions are aimed at maintaining her grip on power, even resorting to murder in her helpless attempt to quell her dissenters… The number speak for themselves: more than 700 deaths of activists and journalists remain unexplained since Arroyo took office… A similarly alarming count is the 200 victims of forced disappearances, including the two UP students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan.

[...] The deployment of the military and police in this year’s SONA [State of the Nation Address], the largest in our history, indicates that the President is willing to inflict brute force just to be able to deliver her litany of deception…”

That was from the latest issue of the Philippine Collegian. Download the latest issue here.

Last Sunday, after watching the UP-Ateneo basketball game at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, I took the LRT to U.N. Avenue after my mom SMSed me that my grandfather was rushed to Manila Medical Center all the way from Cavite.

Just the previous day, we had the usual extended family lunch at Emerald Garden Restaurant along Roxas Blvd. We’ve been spending the extended family lunch at the said restaurant for almost a decade now. It has become a tradition. I’m honestly very close to getting tired of going there, not aided by the fact that the elders order pretty much the same things over and over again all these years. The past years, every time I had a good excuse not to come along, I’d use it. That’s not saying that I don’t like it there. I love Chinese food. It’s just that the tradition has become monotonous, and engaging in the elders-talk was never really my thing. Anyway, I decided to come along last week because I somewhat felt that the tradition’s days are numbered. The only reason we have extended family lunches is because of my grandfather, and it is due to his preference that we’ve been going to Emerald all these years whenever he has his medical check-ups in Manila.

My gradfather’s health is continuously deteriorating. I’m not keen on how long we can all hold on to things. If my schedule permits me, I’ll be at the next family lunch, or the next, and the next. And I’ll be thankful.

Cheap kikiam sold near our college. Helped myself to several orders before attending a UP MCO general assembly last Tuesday.

I watched the gala premiere of Donsol, an entry at the 2nd Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival last night at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

The synopsis of the film:

Love is an ocean of emotions.

Whalesharks, magnificent creatures of the deep, visit once a year the turquoise waters of Donsol.

Daniel, the young guide who swims with the whalesharks, finds himself drawn to Teresa, a woman as beautiful and mysterious as the visitors of the sea. Burdened by past heartaches and uncertain of the future, the two find sanctuary in each other as love surfaces anew.

As the tide rises and recedes in a cycle of loss and renewal, Donsol provides the breathtaking backdrop to a story of heartbreak, and the healing power of love.

I like Donsol. It was a very beautiful film with a simple story. I appreciated how it did not romanticize the setting (that much). As with other movies taking on the names of places as the film’s titles, I was half-expecting the film to come off as a quasi-tourist advertisement. On the contrary, it actually showed the struggles of Donsol and the butanding intercut and parallel with the struggles of the two main characters. The whalesharks weren’t there just make the movie stay true to its namsake. The actors also portrayed their roles well. I also appreciate how they made the characters really speak in Bicolano.

This film deserves mainstream exhibition.

The UP Fighting Maroons lost to the Ateneo Blue Eagles in their basketball game last Sunday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. The last time I watched a UP-Ateneo game, the Maroons lost too. Sad. But I’m sticking to this team.

Classes were suspended in most of the country last Thursday because of typhoon Florita. The initial announcement was that classes would be suspended until Friday–which was why, despite the bad weather, I asked my orgmates if they wanted to watch a movie in the cinema since the assumption was that there were no classes the next day. I skipped all my homeworks and went off with my friends to SM North to watch Pirates of the Carribean. At the middle of the film, I received text messages from other friends telling me that it had just been announced that classes would resume the next day. Right after the movie, I rushed off to have prints of some of my digital photos developed, aside from running a few other errands. I also had to go home earlier than my friends to accomplish more stuff for the next day. That was a bummer.

The prints I had developed were for my Conceptual Photography class the next day. I’m starting to appreciate photography more because of this class–more than its traditional aesthetics and confines. There are time I start feeling like I’m not artsy enough or my concepts aren’t “weird” enough. I haven’t had enough artistic inspiration lately.

For last Friday afternoon’s Film Production I class, we just had a small film language workshop to re-familiarize ourselves with, what else, a whole bunch of technical terms and to re-orient ourselves with what it feels like to do productions again, since it’s been a semester (for most of us in class) since our last production class.

While walking outside the Ishmael Bernal gallery, I came across a corpse of a cat. It doesn’t appear to have been run over a vehicle since the body appears to be in-tact, except for the eyes whose balls have come out from the sockets. The poor thing was probably one of Florita’s casualties.

I spent the rest of my Friday night at Green Papaya in Teachers Village for an art circle discussion with Sir Jason Banal, our Film 115 teacher. Nosebleed alert! It feels pathetic to feel un-artsy enough.

I went home yesterday soaking wet with squishy shoes. I would’ve enjoyed getting myself drenched in the rain if I wasn’t commuting with my digital camera. I’ll have to put that in my to-do list. Gusto kong maligo sa ulan one of these days.

I spent some time with my UP CAST (UP Cinema Arts Society) orgmates and blockmates under the Mass Comm skywalk after our Scriptwriting class. At around lunch time, together with Patti, Tope and Kid, I went to SM North to shoot some photos for my Film 115 homework. I was supposed to take some portraits of pedestrian strangers but approaching strangers isn’t really my thing. I’m grateful for Patti for asking random strangers for me. Before going back to UP, we had sundaes at an ice cream shop.

Please participate in my survey, if you haven’t done so. No one’s obliged, but I’ll appreciate it Thank you.

It’s been raining really hard the past days. Last Tuesday, because it was raining at the college’s parking lot, UP MCO (UP Mass Communicators Organization) decided to hold its general assembly (GA) at the main building’s second floor lobby. Sadly, because we are short on funds, we decided to postpone our anniversary week for another week.

After the GA, I rushed off to Vinzons Hall to attend the General Assembly of Gender Advocates (GAGA) meeting of the University Student Council. After talking about the Subic rape case, people started sharing stories about various sexual harrassment issues in campus. I wasn’t planning or keen on sharing it, but the ball got rolling, so I narrated my experience and shared my friends’ experiences with a notorious professor from the university’s Filipino department. I was encouraged to file a case together with other people I can find who’ve had similar or worse experiences. I don’t know what to do, I didn’t know there was anything I could do about it so I have let the issue fade away after more than a year.

By the way, if you haven’t participated in my survey, please do. The results of the survey I did last March are here, by the way.