Holy Week goes on, traditional rituals on hold

NO, THE observance of the Holy Week has not been cancelled. The Holy Masses and liturgical ceremonies will go on, albeit within the confines of churches, absent the congregation. But not without their attendance, if only via livestream or through Facebook.

For the Catholic faithful, especially in Pampanga, it will be the first time that the Semana Santa will not be what they were born and bred in. Here’s a piece -- Maleldo: Passion and pageantry – of how it was – at least in my hometown of Sto. Tomas – written a few years back.

Maleldo. A contraction of mal a aldo ­– directly translating to a highly-valued, hence, holy day – has evolved to be the one word comprising the Holy Week and all its rituals. Maleldo is intertwined with kaleldo – summer, the season when it is observed.

The etymology of Maleldo is easy enough to explain. The rituals and practices exclusive to the town of Sto. Tomas are a different thing.

In the absence of written history, the oral tradition – kuwento ni lola – is the only source of information on the rituals of maleldo.

From the Canlas sisters – Apung Mameng (1898-1976) who remained unmarried, Apung Rita vda de Zapata (1901-1980), Apung Bibang vda de Manese (1903-1978) – came the information written here, passed on to them by their mother Demetria.

“Ding apu (grandmother) nang ima mi mig-sagala nala kanu king maleldu,” the sisters were wont to say to their inquisitive grandchildren at the time.    

The Holy Week starts with Viernes Dolores, later moved to Sabado Dolores. The change came in the late ‘60s or early ‘70s – somewhere at the tail end of the Cursillo Movement -- to “circumvent” the rigid abstinence of no-meat-on-the-Fridays-of-Lent.

A triumvirate of women handles the activities: the Hermana Mayora, the Mayordoma and the Secretaria. The three fetch the image of the Mater Dolorosa from the house of the camadera in Barangay San Bartolome and head the procession to the church on Viernes Dolores.

Sabado Dolores

The day starts with a morning Mass followed by a breakfast – courtesy of the Secretaria -- for the Mass-goers on the church grounds.

At lunchtime, presided by the Hermana, the saladoras – a group comprising of previous hermanas, mayordomas, secretarias, as well as descendants of those who served as such but have long gone – gather to choose the successors to the three oficiales.

Choice per position is through bola-suerte. Two jars are used: one contains rolled pieces of paper on which are written the names of the candidates; the other, rolled papers commensurate to the number of candidates – all blank but for one with the word suerte. The name of the candidate drawn from the first jar that matches the suerte from the second jar becomes the hermana, mayordoma, or the secretaria.

In the evening, the image of the Mater Dolorosa is venerated in a procession around town with the hermana and her court, escorted by their husbands, preceding the caro.

The procession marks the debut appearance of the estabats – twelve young lasses that make a choir, accompanied by a manggirigi – a violinist – as they sing hymns to the Blessed Virgin.

Estabats

The estabats are so-called after the opening lines of their Latin hymn “Stabat Mater Dolorosa…” roughly translated to “the Sorrowful Mother was standing…”

Supervision of the Holy Week celebrations shifts from the hermana to a Holy Week Executive Committee after the Sabado Dolores. The committee chair is selected each year and is given the freehand to choose his officers and members.

Domingo de Ramos -- Palm Sunday -- comes with the traditional blessing of…well, palm and olive branches in a barrio chapel – alternately in San Bartolome and San Vicente – followed by a procession to the parish church with the parish priest taking the role of Christ on the way to Jerusalem accompanied by twelve men acting and dressed in the role of the 12 Apostles.

At the four corners of the churchyard or the street fronting the church stand kubu-kubuan where choir members sing hosanna and shower the priest with petals and confetti. The celebration ends with a Mass.

Lunes Santo and Martes Santo were quiet days. Until the cenaculo or reading of the Passion was moved to Martes Santo and Miercoles Santo.

Originally, the cenaculo was held on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. In the ‘70s, it was moved to Holy Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, to give full contemplation on the suffering and death of Christ on Good Friday. Sometime later it was further moved to where it is now being celebrated.

Traditionally, the cenaculo is an affair of the youth. A president from each gender gets elected to chair the festivity which comprises of the reading of the Passion and the serving of -- variably, depending on the collections – ice cream and barquillos or kalame. Of late, the word cenaculo has given way to the Tagalog pabasa. A more appropriate term, so the purists hold, given that a cenaculo goes beyond mere reading of the Passion to include a play or a drama of the Passion.

The second procession of the week takes place in the evening of Miercoles Santo. Here, images of saints who had had participation in the days prior to the death of Christ are put on decorated caros with St. Peter, bearer of the keys to heaven and his ubiquitous rooster at the lead followed by St. John the Evangelist, St. Thomas, St. Bartholomew, St. Andrew, St. Philip, St. James, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Veronica, St. Martha. Second to the last is the image of the Nazareno, Jesus carrying the cross, followed by the apostoles.  The image of the Mater Dolorosa is at the rear, preceded by the estabats and followed by the brass band.

Camaderas

In between the caros are the cofradias and church organizations and the camaderas, the owners or caretakers of the images.      

Maundy Thursday marks the observance of the washing of the feet of the apostles and the Last Supper. The parish priest is assisted by the Holy Week Committee chair and officers at the foot-washing rites.

After the ceremonies, the parish priest and the apostoles take their own supper at the parish rectory and partake of the cordero, a dish of beef covered with potatoes shaped like a lamb.

Rites and ceremonies for Good Friday start shortly after noon with the Las Siete Palabras, homilies and meditation on the final seven utterances of Christ at Calvary, which end at 3:00 in the afternoon, traditionally believed to have been the hour of Christ’s death.

Tanggal, a dramatization in song and verse of Christ’s body being taken down from the cross, used to follow the Las Siete Palabras. The last staging of tanggal was held in 1979.

Taking centerstage in the Good Friday procession is the Santo Entierro. It has become a tradition for the faithful to pluck out all the flowers decked in the caro as soon as it enters the church after the procession. Some claim miraculous attributes to the flowers.

At the procession, the estabats sing mournful hymns and dirges in reflection of the pain and anguish suffered by the Mater Dolorosa over the death of her son.

Sabado de Gloria is highlighted by the evening Mass with the blessing of the fire and water as well as the renewal of the baptismal vows.

Domingo de Pascua – Easter Sunday – marks the climax of the Holy Week celebrations in more ways than spiritual, folk art, aesthetics, socials melding into it.

Pusu-puso

Before 6:00 in the morning, the faithful gather at the churchyard for the Salubong, the first meeting between the Risen Christ and the Blessed Mother.

Under a pusu-puso, a veiled image of the Virgin Mary faces – behind a curtain – the image of the Risen Christ. The ­pusu-puso opens gradually, raining in petals and confetti on the images. At its final opening, comes out a young girl dressed as an angel in a kalo, an improvised swing, singing “Regina Laetare, Alleluia” as she is lowered down to take the veil off the Blessed Mother. At this, the curtain parts, the brass band plays and the faithful applaud to mark the start of the procession.

At the head of the procession are the ciriales, bearer of the ceremonial cross and candles in the person of three ladies in their fineries with their escorts in barong. They are followed by the banderada, the bearer of the Vatican flag.

Sometime in the ‘80s, mini-sagalas were introduced. These are little girls dressed as angels to accompany the incensario, the bearer of the incenser and the incense boat, and the angel who took the veil off the Blessed Mother.

Next come the estabats, singing glorious hymns and raining petals on the Atlung Maria at designated stops along the processional route.

The Atlung Maria symbolize the Virgin Mother, Mary Magdalene and Mary Cleofas. By tradition, the center – the spot of the Virgin – is reserved for the most beautiful of the three sagalas. It is therefore a most coveted spot. Sagalas for the Atlung Maria are exclusive to ladies born and bred in Sto. Tomas or those whose ancestry can be traced to the town. In the social milieu, no lady from Sto. Tomas is truly beautiful unless she has been one of the Atlung Maria.

With the Atlung Maria is the Ciru Pascual, the bearer of the Paschal Candle, always a local bachelor and one whose bloodline comes from the town.

The images of the Risen Christ and the Blessed Mother bring the rear of the procession which ends with a High Mass.

Blasting Judas

After the Mass, the faithful congregate anew at the churchyard for the burning – exploding is more apt here – of an effigy of Judas Iscariot.

Atop a scaffolding, Judas is ignited by pyrotechnic ravens and then twists, turns upside down, rotates and starts exploding from the legs up the arms, the body and lastly, the head with the loudest bang.

Lost in some vengeful glee among the faithful is the meaning behind the burning of Judas: That spiritually renewed with the fire and water of Sabado de Gloria, restored in grace with the Risen Christ, the faithful should cast away all vestiges of sin, of spiritual shortcomings with Judas and burn them away. This is no less a form of a holocaust offered to God. The very essence of the celebration of the Holy Week.

Mayhaps, it is with that thought that in 2010, the Judas effigy made way for an unnamed human form marked with the seven deadly sins. Still complete with the blasting though. In the following years, the human form was totally discarded in favour of a papier-mache globe likewise marked with the seven deadly sins, which blasting symbolize the liberation from worldly sins and the salvation of mankind. Indeed, a more apt metaphor obtaining there than in the seeming scapegoating with the Judas effigy. Two years after, Judas was back though

 

Sabuaga

In 2010 too, the loud bang of the seven deadly sins ceased to be the closing act of the annual Holy Week celebrations in Sto. Tomas. To the old rites was added the Sabuaga Festival.  

Sabuaga comes from the combination of sabuag (scatter) and sampaga (flowers) – the sagalas’ showering of petals on the image of the Virgin Mary in “veneration of her keeping the faith and oneness with her Son in His sufferings, thus her rewards in His joyful resurrection.”

Petals and confetti literally rain on the processional route around Poblacion, starting 2 p.m. of Easter Sunday as revelers join groups coming from the town’s seven barangays in street dancing.

At the town plaza where the revelry culminates, the groups in their most exotic costumes reflective of the product of the barangays they represent will each do its own interpretative dance presentation, on the theme sabuag sampaga, naturally. Judges coming from the arts, culture and tourism sector will proclaim the winners.

A trade and industry component to the festival is provided by the town’s one-barangay-one-product exhibit around the town plaza, with each barangay displaying its produce, notably the pottery and ceramics of Sto. Niño, and the caskets of San Vicente.

Sto. Tomas is known as the casket capital of Central Luzon, if not of the whole country, having at one time supplied funeral parlors throughout the whole archipelago and even nearby Asian countries.

In effect, Sabuaga serves as a one-stop showcase of the spirituality, culture, and industry of the people of Sto. Tomas.  

Sabuaga serves too as a fitting climax to the Holy Week celebration in Pampanga, being the last major event of the season.

More than an altered life

YESTERDAY, March 27, marked the 14^th day – hence, per DOH guidelines, end – of my home quarantine: mandated for having stayed in the same room with, if only for about an hour and some distance from, Pampanga health chief Dr. Mar Jaochico who died on March 24 from Covid-19.

So now I write: There is nothing liberating, nothing of that “live to tell the tale” exuberance, in getting through home quarantine. After all, there’s ECQ for our sufferance ‘til April 13, fingers kept crossed at that.

There is everything enriching though, so I found, in being locked home. And this may serve me well the rest of the ECQ way.

Resistance is a natural reaction to change, an abrupt one most tellingly. The first day of home Q hit as hard as the day I quit – cold turkey – smoking. From three packs a day of Philip Morris 100s for over 15 years to nothing, not even a puff, was absolute hell. Go, ask any quitter.      

Where nicotine once was, a home-only-to-sleep-in mindset is, for years now, my new addiction. Home Q then its unpalatably bitter antidote, and the inevitability of withdrawal symptoms in series of anxiety attacks.

Anxiety at every thermal check three times daily, assuaged somewhat with body temperature invariably ranging from a low of 35.1C to a high of 36.7C – below fever point, throughout the fortnight, plus the absence of cough and dry throat. No symptoms there.

“Oh, missing Eeess-eeem!” Laughed youngest daughter on video call, inquiring how this mall rat is doing as a house mouse.   

It helped a lot that Punto! online continued – the print edition ECQ put in limbo. Aside from affording me breaks from home stress with the stories from our correspondents needing editing, and some limited writing, it gave a sense of continuity to what-now-used-to-be.

Facebook, the supposed to be ready refuge against the isolation, is in the age of Covid-19, no more than a vitriol vat of its own. The rants, the rage, the disinformation, all the fakery trouble the very soul.

TV? Just about any newsbreak or newscast but an outbreak of imbecility in all government instrumentalities: like the virus, epidemic in scale; more damningly, endemic in character.

Reading provided another escape from home humdrum. Alas, only three chapters into Lenin the Dictator, the eyes felt desert dry. Need to preserve astigmatic and myopic sight for the more important, read: financially rewarding, online editing and writing.

Work from home notwithstanding, there were some gaps that boredom, irritability, even melancholy, easily filled in. By the third day – for good or bad – one starts seeing, aye, sensing extraordinariness in everyday ordinary things.

Like the tingling in your skin touched by the morning sun; the red you see facing  up eyes closed is not really red but light orange-red, paling to whitish red hues the longer it takes. Not to miss out on those popping blobs of deeper red. And yes, 15-minute exposure decongests stuffy noses. Wow!

How about the iron window grill where rests your head and shoulders as you sun yourself is good for massage, as you press against it!

The air is cooler and smells cleaner at the sideyard shaded by the jackfruit and guava trees, under which proliferated ferns, sansevierias, colocasia and alocasia, even insulin plants, and where the sun peeked, a potted anthurium.

For too long, bayabas fruits ripened and fell to the ground wasted, swept and garbaged. Ay, it was back to boyhood climbing the tree, picking manibalang fruits, and where the hand could not reach, there was the dependable sungkit.  

By first week’s end, I have come to talking to the plants – a photo in FB drawing a lot of jocularity. And yes, the plants responded – the langka with two sweet smelling ripened fruits, the sampaguita far back the yard in full bloom, even the potted marcotted fig sapling that shed its last leaf in February suddenly leafing. Plant whisperer, anyone?

And dog talker too. Franco, our golden retriever, all too playful for serious conversation though.  

 

There is no grinning, there is only bearing the physical distancing self-imposed at home, especially with my precocious 3-year-old grandkid Baste. He just could not understand why he had to stay six-feet away from me at all times, why he could not hug and kiss me goodnight, or sit on my computer table and look at all his pictures in my laptop. It breaks the heart.

Social distancing though is breached in the web – all the kids and grandkids, the Tokyo set included – with daily viber, skype, and videophone calls. Home Q upholding family solidarity there.

Family solidarity further fortified in prayer. As the Venerable Fr. Patrick Peyton memorialized: The family that prays together, stays together. The Holy Rosary prayed daily before the family altar: in supplication for a cure, for the eternal repose of the souls of the victims, for the comfort of the afflicted, for strength and health of the frontliners.

A most uplifting spiritual retreat – the Holy Mass broadcast daily at 9 p.m. over EWTN global Catholic network. The liturgy imbues one with a deeper meaning of the sacrifice, the Latin hymns and prayers as it were verily lifting one to the heavens – Kyrie eleison deeply penitential, the divine providence in Pater Noster, Agnus Dei of mercy and peace, what the world needs and only the Lamb can give.

Ite, missa est assuming in meaning not only the end of the Mass but a sending – to the world – to live the Faith as the Faith lives in you.

Ah, if only for the anticipation of the family praying the Rosary of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Sacrifice every evening, how can home quarantine ever be hellishly boring?   

A life not really altered but amended here. Benedicamus Domino.

       

On tap

ON TOP of the situation can never be applicable to the Covid-19 pandemic. The situation being in perpetual flux, for now at least.

Local government executives who are wont to say this at every chance they get to reassure their constituents that – under their inspired, caring leadership – everything is alright are in grave danger of falling flat on their faces, once the slightest disturbance pops out. Like one more PUI in the barangay, or even a single instance of the social-distancing killer that is the free-for-all in the provision of quarantine passes and relief goods.

Rather than claiming the impossibility of being on top, LGUs can only aspire to be on tap. Even at that, but a few really can. At least based on what we have seen, heard, read so far.

Top-of-mind awareness of LGUs on tap takes Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto to the very top, with Marikina’s Marcy Teodoro, San Juan’s Francis Zamora, and yes, Manila’s Ko-is Moreno as runners-up, though not necessarily in that order.

In Pampanga, Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda is living up to the highest expectations of the good public servant. In character, so the Capampangan believes, forged as most apparently Delta has been in the crucible of calamities – the perennial floods in the province, the avian influenza, African swine flu; even outside Pampanga, as in the typhoons and earthquakes in Mindanao and, foremost, the Taal Volcano eruptions. His caring persona thus impacted in the national psyche.

At the time Malacanang’s response to the novel coronavirus-19 was the haughty “Sampalin ko pa ang veerus na yan,” Pineda was already starting the mobilization of health resources, staff and facilities, and barangay health workers, and has not stopped since: moving on to administrative measures as the suspension of classes, work schedules, declaration of a state of calamity, to the provision of goods at the time of the lockdown.

All these and more are no mere public knowledge but, more significantly, publicly felt.

Among Pampanga mayors, a number have had their Warholian 15 minutes of fame with singular acts that nonetheless impressed their constituents, and netizens.

At the time supermarket shelves and drug stores were swept clean of their alcohol stocks, there was Apalit’s Oscar “Jun” Tetangco distributing bottles of alcohol house-to-house. Once-damned polluter in town, Far East Alcohol Corp. rising to the occasion there.

There was Guagua’s Dante Torres, arguably the most-suspended, never-convicted, most-cleared mayor in Central Luzon, if not in the whole country, ordering the disinfection of all public utility vehicles, at the time their operations were not yet suspended.

There is Lubao’s Esmie G. Pineda, megaphone in hand, personally going around her municipality, to ensure proper social distancing is being observed in the public markets, grocery stores, as well as in the queues for quarantine passes.           

Missing – superimposed on a picture of City of San Fernando Mayor Edwin “EdSa” Santiago – became a trending meme, hitting thousands of negative emojis and comments.

No, the mayor has not been actually missing from all the action to contain Covid-19 in the capital city. He has been working quietly, far remote from public view, for so long that he was deemed as MIA.

EdSa has since resurfaced – all too publicly – personally delivering relief goods, inspecting the checkpoints, meeting barangay chiefs and LGU employees, etcetera.

Where EdSa was “missed,” Angeles City Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin was, and still is, found everywhere on the Covid-19 front.

Unarguably, no other mayor – in the whole country, I dare write – has issued as many directives or memoranda as Lazatin. He was among the first, if not the first, to declare the suspension of classes, the 4-day work week, the closure of non-essential establishments like bars, nightclubs, spas, massage parlors and the like; the prohibition of entry to the city of buses, billing suspension or payment extension, designation of Covid-19 centers in the city hospital, city-wide disinfection, placement of the city under a state of calamity, free shuttle services for frontliners, limitation on purchase of essential goods to avoid hoarding, food provisions, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

All this points to Pogi verily living up to his name, to use that overwrought cliché.

And yes, on an even metaphoric level, Delta – where a riverine of services flows to that greater body that is the well-being of the Capampangan.  

On tap, literally. That is “freely available whenever, wherever needed.”  

       

Worship in the time of coronavirus

ALL PARISHES are to celebrate the Holy Mass without a congregation until 14 April 2020. Priests are to celebrate only one Mass per day. These Holy Masses are to be livestreamed in their respective parish social media accounts. Parishioners are to be informed on the accessibility of these Holy Masses via different platforms, i.e. parish Facebook account, parish Youtube account, archdiocesan radio station 91.9 Bright FM, etc.

So reads the principal part of the Archdiocese of San Fernando’s directives on Covid-19 issued last March 16, rather late as a number of Pampanga parishes had earlier already cancelled “public” Masses.

Additional directives issued by Archbishop Florentino G. Lavarias are:

Churches and chapels are open.

All chapel celebrations of the Holy Mass are cancelled.

Pilgrimages, processions, and recollections are cancelled.

Church weddings are cancelled. Otherwise, officiate a “kasal disposada.”  (Kasal disposada consists of the basic marriage rites – exchange of vows, blessing, prayers – without the Holy Mass.)  

Parish baptisms are cancelled. Otherwise, administer baptisms limited to the presence of parents and godparents.  

No funeral Masses. Only funeral blessings.

No distribution of communion to the sick by the EMDC except viaticum. (Viaticum is administering the Eucharist to a person near death.)

No home blessings and other sacraments.

For all intent and purposes, the observance of the Holy Week – as we are used to it – is effectively cancelled. No Pabasa. No Holy Wednesday and Good Friday processions. No Maundy Thursday Chrism Mass or Washing of the Feet rites. No Visita Iglesia. No Sabado de Gloria vigil Mass. No Salubong on Easter Sunday. In my hometown Sto. Tomas: no Pakbung Hudas, no Atlung Maria and estabats, and no Sabuaga too.

Cancellations. The spirit and the operative word of the directives verily sum them up as The 8 Antitheses, no relation, not even the remotest, to Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses or the Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences that he posted on the door of Schlosskirche (Castle Church) in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517 spawning the Protestant Reformation.

Of efficacy and power, though, we can reflect on Apung Dong’s directives.

Offhand, the power of the archbishop to impose them on the Capampangan clergy. Quick was the cerrado religioso Ian Ocampo Flora of Sta. Rita in raising the red flag over some priests still celebrating Mass with a congregation, even on livestream after the directives officially took effect.

Maybe, just maybe these “disobedient” padres adhere to some article of faith one of their frater raised when Pampanga clerics started cancelling Masses even before the archdiocesan order, to wit:

Busal na pu ning pandemia a dulut ning Covid-19 virus,
bista man ing gobyerno tamu payabut na ing bawal ing pampublikung pamitipun,
ding Misa king Parokya… ela pu tuknang,
uling ngene tamu mas migit kailangan ing panalangin

at pamanyawad kasaupan king Dios.
Ding mall edo pasara!
Ding tindahan edo pasara!
Uling balu da ing kailangan da ring tau ing basic a pamangailangan.
O’t manyara ya ing pisamban?
Keti tamu sasaklu king grasya at pakalulu ning Dios a makarapat agyang king bage imposibli.
Tuluy pu ing Misa, ding bisang simba, simba kayu.

San Carlos

Which brings to mind the story of San Carlos Borromeo, cardinal of Milan at the time of the plague and famine in 1575. While the civil authorities fled the city, Borromeo, unmindful of being infected himself, fed the population daily and led penitential processions, barefooted, holding aloft the relic of the Holy Nail. Yes, one that was used in the crucifixion of Christ. The faith that truly makes saints!       Alas, the reverend I quoted above, mindful of his vow of obedience to his superior, has bowed down to the directives, thus posting:     

Pauli da pu rening tuntunan ibat king gobyerno at Santa Iglesia,
nung enarin pu kailangan, manatili na kata na pamu kareng bale tamu.

With a call to reflection though:

…Ngening ing bie tamu makasalale ya keng gamat ning balang metung kekatamu, at king pamanupad king tuntunan a pepayabut da kekatamu,
sukat tamung akit ngening Kuaresma na ring bie tamu atilu king gamat ning Guinu at ing pamanupad king kayang kaburian ya ing makaligtas kekatamu…

 Among Ambo

A deeper reflection on the “Mass without congregation,” broadening its efficacy as well, is the homily of Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio S. David, which conclusion went, thus:

Sa tanang buhay ko, ngayon lang yata ako nagmisa na walang sambayanan. Pero, ano bang wala, e naririyan pa rin kayo! Hindi man tayo makapagsama-sama sa loob ng simbahan, binigyan naman tayo ng Diyos ng “digital technology,” upang sa pamamagitan ng “livestreaming,” pwede pa rin tayong magsalo-salo, magkabuklod ng puso at diwa kahit na tayo’y malayo sa isa’t isa.

Kuwaresma naman ngayon, di ba? Kailangang mag-fasting o mag-ayuno. Ituring na lang natin ang “community quarantine” bilang fasting. Sa ngayon, fasting muna tayo sa pag-uusap na malapitan, sa paghahawakan ng kamay, sa pagmamano para humiling ng basbas. Fasting muna tayo sa pagyakap at paghalik, sa pag-inom sa iisang timba, para malabanan natin ang pagkalat ng N-Corona virus na ito.

Tatlumpung araw lang naman po, tiisin na natin…

Makikita ninyo, kapag tapos na ang krisis na ito, magiging mas matindi ang mga pagdiriwang natin. Magiging mas mahigpit ang yakap at halik natin, ang haplos at paghawak natin sa isa’t isa. Hindi ba kaya tayo nagpa-fasting ay para maging mas makabuluhan ang ating “feasting” o pagdiriwang? Ngayon pa lang nami-miss ko na ho kayong lahat. Makikita ninyo, itong panandalian paglayo natin ay magbibigay ng mas malalim na kabuluhan sa muling paglapit natin sa isa’t isa.

Mamaya sa Komunyon, kahit hindi kayo makatanggap sa katawan ni Kristo, sa pagsubo ko sa katawan Niya at pag-inom sa dugo Niya, idadalangin ko na mapanatili Niya tayong magkakabuklod sa puso at diwa, sa iisang Espiritung ating tinanggap upang maging iisang sambayanan ng mga alagad, isang katawan ni Kristo. Pagpalain kayong lahat! AMEN.

Oh, that the warmth of spiritual upliftment in Among Ambo’s homily rub off on the stone-cold rigidity of Apung Dong’s directives…    

Social distancing, class divide

MEMORANDUM 513, Series of 2020 from the Office of the Mayor was swift – issued on the very day it took effect, and succinct, thus:

“In line with the city government’s effort to prevent the spread of Covid-19, all bars, clubs, beer houses, KTV bars, e-games, and other similar non-essential establishments in Angeles City are hereby directed to temporary close down their operations from March 16, 2020 until further notice.”  

Its ramifications though are long, the city being veritably founded, and flourished, on entertainment of the adult kind in its incarnation as Basetown, USA. And therefore complex, the entertainment industry serving for the longest time as main engine of the city economy. So, hasn’t it been bruited about from then to now: Remove Balibago, and Angeles City becomes a sitio.

No need to wonder then that a tsunami of gut issues instantly swamped the Facebook page of the City Information Office where the memo was uploaded.

Here are but a sampling (original text form edited):   

Mawalang galang na po, sana ginawa nyo to inisip nyo paano mga pangangailangan ng mga nagtatrabaho dyan. Hindi lahat may sapat na ipon hanggang sa magbukas ulit yang mga yan, tapos tuloy tuloy ang bills ng kuryente at tubig at kung nangungupahan pa sila, so paano na? Ela keng virus mate reng tau, mate la keng danup at stress dahil keng gewa yu. Sana apakisabyan yula pu pati deng electric and water company mamye kunsiderasyun keng gewa yung ayni!...

Sana stop din nya yong mga bayarin like bahay, tubig, kuryente din. Magbibigay sila ng food sa mga mahihirap tulad namin kasi mahirap po talaga. Saan kami kukuha ng pambili ng pagkain namin, pambayad ng upa ng bahay, may tubig at kuryente pa po. Buti sana kung isang linggo lang magsasara, e kung matagal pa po? Mamatay na lang po kami sa gutom… Paano po mga anak namin kung magsasara na ang mga bar? Yan lang po trabaho namin at weekly may sahod. Kahit papano, kahit tama lang kinikita, at least po nakakaraos kami. May pambili sa araw-araw na pangangailangan ng mag-anak namin at makakabili ng tig-iisang kilo na bigas araw-araw. Ngayon, ipapasara nyo na po paano na kaming nagtatrabaho lang sa bar? Wala na po kaming maaasahan…

Mawalang galang na po sa city information office natin, please ask the owners of those establishments na ipasasara na bigyan ng kahit konting financial support ang mga empleyado nila. Kawawa nman sila. They also have their families na papakainin and mga bills na dapat bayaran…

Paano na po ang mga bills ng kuryente, tubig? Halos one month walang trabaho karamihan ng tao. Mabibigyan kaya kami ng discount sa kuryente at tubig? Mabibigyan din kaya kami ng relief goods kapag naubos na ang kaunting naipon naming pera?  Gusto naming sumunod sa gobyerno pero, sana pakinggan din ang aming hinaing…

Willing naman po makipagtulungan ang lahat eh, ang point lang sana yung mga bills from electric and water mabigyan din ng konsiderasyon. Kasi saan kukuha ng pambayad ang mga tao na walang trabaho? Kung mapuputulan naman sila ng tubig magiging prone pa din sila sa sakit dahil mawawala na ang proper hygiene…

Kahit di man libre, kahit postpone lang muna mga due dates, like yung Globe nag bigay ng one-month palugit sa mga bills ng postpaid…

Korek i-hold muna ang mga bayarin. Intindihin muna nila ang sitwasyon ngayon. Lalo na ang mga walang ipon at sapat lang ang kinikita. Hindi tulad ng maraming ipon, ok lang. Paano naman kami na walang ipon. Kaka sad naman. Kawawa talaga ang mahirap sa mayayaman…

Dahil kung sa mga mayayaman, puede na hindi sila magtrabaho. Pero sa katulad namin na umaasa lang sa trabaho, e paano kung walang trabaho? Paano makakakain ang aming pamilya?...

The rich surviving. The poor starving. Social distancing – one more prescription to avoid the virus – getting not only a different but a just definition, its rightest meaning, here. Class stratification, all too plain.

Die from the virus or die hungry. Whichever way, die. Simplification of the consequence to the closure of the bars – as indeed to the bigger issue of lockdown, er, community quarantine – seemingly taken to the extreme there.

On second thought, stark reality impacted there. The mishandling of the Covid-19 menace by government from its inception to its escalation, where the poor are most disadvantaged, hewing closely, all too closely, to Duterte’s utter disdain of that very class that handed him the presidency.

Or have we forgotten the venom he spat at jeepney drivers and operators protesting his government’s patently anti-poor transport modernization program? Mahirap kayo? Putang ina, umalis kayo. Magtiis kayo sa hirap at gutom, wala akong pakialam.”

Be afraid of the virus. Be very afraid of government.    

Only in his own mind

TINGNAN MO, gamit nila ang pera

kinontribute nila doon sa yellow-yellow.

Tingnan mo ang nangyari,

wala tayong bishop ngayon.

Di mo ba alam? Tinanggal.

Binigyan lang tayo ng caretaker

ngayon na pari.

Walang bishop ng Maynila.

Nagalit si Pope

kasi nakialam sa pulitika.

Iyan ang totoo diyan.

Kaya binigay sa atin officer-in-charge na lang.

Wala tayong bishop.

Tagle was out.

He was investigated.

Iyan ang open secret.

Malaman ko kasi nakikinig ako sa lahat.

(Arranged in sophomoric poetic form did I the latest unpresidential ramblings, in line with the evolving new craze on his pronouncements, shamelessly copycatting that on Covid-19.)

So babbled, in his characteristic nonsense, His Excellency President Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the General Assembly of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines in Pasay Tuesday.

So, pray, tell, what has got Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle’s assignment to the Vatican got to do with the mayors? Or, with the encroaching vee-rus – as Duterte puts it – not only posing, but verily imposing, all-too clear and present danger not only to the ways and means, but to the very lives of their constituents? Way off the rational mark, as always, Duterte there.

On record, Tagle served as Manila archbishop from 2011 until this February when he was appointed by Pope Francis as prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of People, reputedly second only to the Secretariat of State in the hierarchy of the Holy See.

The position has primed Tagle to being a papabile – a favorite candidate for pope in the next conclave. If that is some sort of punishment for Tagle or a measure of “galit” of the Pope as Duterte ranted, then every prelate would be praying for Bergoglio to impose papal wrath upon them.

While the Manila archdiocese is sede vacante – vacant seat – the administrator the Pope appointed – Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo – is an even more staunch critic of Duterte. A case of the gauntlet in place of the glove smacked at the president there.

Aye, an absolute hallucination makes of Duterte’s allegation. Which, conversely, makes right of his saying Malaman ko kasi nakikinig ako sa lahat. Ah, what voices only Duterte can and does hear. Which brings to mind that old Tagalog maxim: Ang maniwala sa sabi-sabi, walang bait sa sarili. Proximate, dangerously proximate, to another Tagalog phrase that literally translates to the English “broken good.”

Indeed, that proximity came full manifest only last Monday at the meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases in Malacañang with Duterte at his illogical, incoherent worst.

Now immortalized in the net is Duterte’s rambling of historical hodge-podge that one netizen said could only make sense if viewed as a “stream-of-consciousness surrealistic verse.” Thus, The Kit:

Can be distributed

to the different health centers,

but at this time kung kulang

they can be brought to a testing station,

to RITM.

Kokonti lang kasi.

Eh the kit, is the kit,

meron namang lumalabas pa.

I think that ... sabi ko nga ...

in every epoch, maybe meron nung una,

Bubonic Plague, mga gago ang tao no'n,

tamang-tama lang.

Tapos yung Spanish Flu,

right before the wars…

kawawa yung mga tao.

pero mas kawawa yung sa Middle East.

the so-called Roman Empire.

You have read the Inquisition,

kung may birth mark ka

you are a witch

and you are burned at stake.

That line -- I think that ... sabi ko nga ... Surreal indeed, the unconscious, rather addled, mind finding expression in the irrational juxtaposition of verbiage.  

Fentanyl? Dotage?

Aregluhan sa Paskuhan

Ibinibigay ko ang espasyong ito mula sa hinalaw na privilege speech ni 3^rd District Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr. noong Peb. 24, 2020 tungkol sa isang napakabigat na isyu na sa aking pagtaya ay hindi nabigyan ng kaukulang pagpapahalaga sa media)

 …NOONG NAKARAANG taon, napag-alaman ko po na mayroon ding namumuong usapan sa pagitan ng pamunuan ng Lungsod ng San Fernando, Pampanga at mga representante ng PCI [Premier Central Inc.], patungkol sa aregluhan ng nasabing kaso.

Napag-alaman ko rin po na sumulat sa OSG [Office of the Solicitor General] ang Panglunsod na Pamahalaan ng San Fernando at binanggit doon na hindi daw po ako kumokontra sa anumang usapan para magka-aregluhan ang lungsod at PCI.

…sobra po akong nabagabag at nabahala. Hindi po totoo na pumayag ako sa anumang aregluhan patungkol sa Paskuhan Village!

Dahil dito, sumulat ako sa OSG at sa korte para liwanagin na wala akong sinang-ayunan na kahit anong aregluhan at bentahan patungkol sa Paskuhan Village.

…naniniwala akong labag sa batas ang bentahan ng Paskuhan Village, kaya hindi ako pwedeng sumang-ayon sa anumang bentahan o aregluhan patungkol dito.

Nito pong Jan. 14, 2020, nakatanggap muli ako ng sulat mula sa Lungsod ng San Fernando, Pampanga…tuloy na tuloy na ang aregluhan ng kaso sa pagitan ng lungsod at PCI.

Nakakadismaya…

Nitong Jan. 16, 2020, bilang isang miyembro ng Kamara at representante ng ika-3 distrito ng Pampanga…naghain ako ng Urgent Motion for Leave to Intervene na pinadidinig ko sa Jan. 20, 2020. Kasabay nito ang nakatakdang hearing ng korte para sa Compromise Agreement at Joint Motion to Approve Compromise.

Pero noong Jan. 20, 2020, wala po ni isa sa mga mosyon ang dininig ng judge ng San Fernando Pampanga RTC Branch 42.

At hindi lang po iyon…Laking gulat ko po nang malaman ko na may hatol na pala ang judge noong Jan. 15, 2020!

Hindi po ako abogado, pero parang may mali sa proseso!

…Nagtataka nga po ako, paanong nakapaglabas ng desisyon ang judge noong Jan. 15, kung may nakatakda pa palang mga hearing noong Jan. 20?

Nalaman ko rin po na naaprubahan na pala ng judge ang compromise agreement sa pagitan ng OSG, Pamahalaan ng Lungsod ng San Fernando, Pampanga, TIEZA at PCI sa nasabing araw.

Aba‘y nauna pa po ang judgement kaysa sa hearing!

…Kung iligal ang bentahan ng Paskuhan Village gaya ng sabi ng OSG, bakit magkaka-aregluhan ang mga partido sa kaso?

Paanong mangyayari iyon kung bawal aregluhin ang anumang paglabag sa batas?

Bakit sumang-ayon ang OSG sa aregluhan ng Lungsod ng San Fernando at PCI, samantalang abogado lang sya ng gobyerno at hindi talaga partido sa kaso?

Kung ang Kamara mismo ang nagpa-sampa ng kaso para ipawalang bisa ang bentahan ng Paskuhan Village, hindi ba ang Kapulungan ring ito ang dapat na sumang-ayon sa anumang usapan patungkol sa nasabing kaso?

Sabi sa aregluhan, magdo-donate ng 5,000 sqm ang PCI sa Pamahalaan ng Lungsod mula sa kabuuang sukat na 9.31 hektarya.

…Sa tingin nyo po ba maganda ang inaalok na donasyon para sa Lungsod ng San Fernando?

Tingnan po natin muli yung mga sukat ng lupain…Makikita niyo naman kung gaano kaliit ang inaalok ng PCI sa aregluhan. Kayo na po ang humusga.

At isa pa pong malaking tanong: Bakit ang Lungsod ng San Fernando ang kinausap ng PCI sa bagay na ito? Hindi po ba dapat ang national government at ang Kapulungan na ito ang dapat kausapin ng PCI?

Eto pa po ang isang depekto sa desisyon ng judge. Masdan po natin muli itong Acknowledgement ng Compromise Agreement.

…Puro blangko po! Wala pong nabanggit na kahit isa man lang ID ng mga nanumpa daw po sa harap ng notaryo publiko! Sa palagay nyo po, tama po ba ang pag-notaryo na wala namang naipakitang mga ID sa notaryo publiko? Hindi po ba kapag walang nakalistang mga ID, ibig sabihin walang nagpakita sa notaryo publiko?

Isa pa pong nakapagtataka dito, ang representante ng PCI ay nasa Pasay. Nasa Pasay din po ang representante ng TIEZA. Nasa Pampanga ang representante ng Lungsod ng San Fernando. Nasa Makati naman po ang OSG. Lahat po ba sila sabay-sabay na humarap sa notaryo publiko? Duda po ako dyan…

Nabastusan po ako para sa ating institusyon nung nalaman ko kung anong nangyari sa kaso ng Paskuhan Village. Pakiramdam ko po, hindi na ginalang ang Kamarang ito.

Isipin nyo, miyembro po ako ng Kamara at isang deputy speaker. At gusto ko lang pong ipunto, ang pinag-ugatan ng kasong ito ay ang imbestigasyon na ginawa ng ating Kapulungan! Pero sa kabila po ng lahat ng ito, binalewala po ang ating mosyon sa korte!

Ang masakit pa nito ay ganoon lang kadaling inareglo ang kaso at nawala sa ating mga Pilipino ang Paskuhan Village! Tama po ba na sadyang isinantabi ang Kapulungang ito, na para bang ayaw tayong kilalanin ng korte?

Tama rin po ba na dinadaan sa aregluhan ang lupang pag-aari ng gobyerno?

Dahil dito, ako ay nagsumite ng Omnibus Motion natin, para ma-rekonsidera ang nasabing hatol ng korte. Pina-schedule ko sa korte na dinggin ang ating mosyon sa Feb. 7, 2020.

Sa kasamaang palad, hindi na naman po dininig ng judge ang ating mosyon.

Sa katunayan nga po, ang pinarating na mensahe ng Clerk of Court ay ayaw dinggin ng judge ang ating mosyon, at hindi na raw nya aaksyunan ito dahil pinal na daw po ang desisyon nya.

Sobra na po ang pagbalewala ng judge sa kasong ito. Ito po ay isang malaking insulto sa ating minamahal na institusyon! Isinumite ko po ang ating mosyon para igiit ang kapangyarihan ng Kongreso…

Wala po akong gustong kalabanin patungkol sa isyu na ito. Isa lang po ang aking layunin…Ang maibalik ang Paskuhan Village sa ating pamahalaan, para maipamana po ito sa susunod na henerasyon ng Pilipino!

Hangad ko po ang muling pagkabuhay ng Paskuhan Village, at nang muli nating maipakita at maipagmalaki sa buong mundo ang naiibang tradisyon ng pagdiriwang ng kapaskuhan…

I therefore move, Mr. Speaker, for this august chamber to direct the Justice Committee to conduct an investigation, in aid of legislation, as to:

The circumstances that surrounded the Paskuhan Village case before the RTC Branch 42 of San Fernando, Pampanga; how the said court resolved the case; and

why the court’s ruling on the Paskuhan Village resulted to the disadvantage of the Filipino people...