fr. honti's 'pananagutan'

"Walang sinuman ang nabubuhay para sa sarili lamang, walang sinuman ang namamatay para sa sarili lamang (No one lives for himself alone, no one dies for himself alone)."

These simple words, plus an equally simple melody, make up the song Pananagutan. I remember learning this and other Catholic Mass songs as a second grader in a school run by nuns. The songs were all very easy to learn, and very "hummable," especially for me and my classmates. At the time, of course, I had no idea that the songs were a result of Vatican II -- and that they in turn would inspire other composers like Fr. Manoling Francisco, SJ, known for Hindi Kita Malilimutan (I will Never Forget You) and Tanging Yaman (One Treasure), and Fr. Arnel Aquino, SJ, of the Lauds series of CDs and tapes.

Neither did I know that I would one day get to meet the man who composed Pananagutan and the first Filipino mass songs -- Fr. Eduardo Hontiveros, SJ, better known as Fr. Honti. I had the opportunity to work with him for his CD entitled "Pananagutan" -- a tribute to him by his younger Jesuit brothers in the music ministry, known collectively as Himig Heswita. By then, he had had a couple of strokes or maybe more. He kept his arm at his side, his hand in a fist.

He could hardly speak but he tried to communicate in other ways. When asked to describe his songs, he bent over and laid his hand, palm down, at knee-level. It was a simple gesture, but it said a lot. He composed simple songs so that the common man, the masa -- anybody -- could sing them, and not just the trained singer or church choir member. In a Catholic world experiencing change after Vatican II, and striving to remain relevant, Fr. Honti was part of that change and part of that relevance. His songs were his pananagutan (responsibility) to all of us as both priest and composer.

Fr. Honti passed away a few days ago. But his songs have made their mark in the Philippine Catholic community. He has helped mold a generation of Filipino liturgical music composers, not to mention a Filipino mass culture. From the humblest chapel to the grandest cathedral, his songs have taken flight. They may not be as well known now as the newer mass songs, but he was the composer who started it all. His legacy lives on. Because of this, Fr. Honti will be remembered as "the father of Philippine liturgical music."

'no to war. yes to peace and human rights.'

The above title is from Worldpress.org's interview with Shirin Ebadi entitled "Follow the Path of Negotiation and Peace" -- a hopeful keynote with which to start the new year, as well as a firm stand against what seems to be the impending US bombing of Iran.

Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian human rights lawyer and the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate -- the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to have been named as such. In 1969, she began serving as a judge -- the first woman in Iran to do so.

Ebadi continues her private practice as a lawyer, taking on cases of national interest, most involving children's rights and freedom of expression. She teaches human rights courses and has written several articles and books. What strikes me most about Ebadi is that, in a paternalistic society, she espouses and represents equality between men and women.

I'm sure I'm not alone in the hope that any and all efforts towards peace -- such as Ebadi's National Peace Council -- will succeed. Let's hope that 2008 will see more of such initiatives.

wishing for a firecracker-free new year's eve

The midday news on TV reported a fire in Bocaue, Bulacan caused by -- what else? -- the spark from a firecracker.

Around this time every year, print, radio and TV coverage of the yearend revelry are full of people -- mostly young children -- injured by firecrackers. Scores of victims are rushed to hospitals everywhere with blown-off fingers or hands. Will we ever learn?

a luxury?
A friend told me of a woman interviewed on a TV news program, lamenting that in previous years, her Php20,000 could buy more firecrackers. This year, the woman complained, the economy has not been as supportive of her firecracker-buying habit, and she got much less for her Php20,000. I didn't catch that news report myself, but I definitely think that woman is lucky enough to even have that kind of money to spend on firecrackers.

While children roam the streets begging -- or worse, rummaging through other people's garbage for food -- many Filipinos do not think twice about spending money on firecrackers. It has become almost a status symbol: one's ability to usher in the new year with the most, the biggest, the loudest firecrackers can make one the object of his neighbors' admiration or even envy. Never mind how big or small your house is, where you live, what you do for a living, or how educated you and your children are. All that matters is that, for new year's eve, you literally have money to burn.

effects on health
What many of us don't know -- or perhaps would rather overlook -- is how damaging firecrackers can be to our bodies.

The most obvious effects are to our ears and lungs. The website stop-fireworks.org lists the following effects of firecrackers (and even fireworks) to the ears:

Traumas due to crackers and explosions of fireworks are caused by impulsive bangs (bangs caused by high pressure blasts). The blast of exploding fireworks can reach more than 130 dB; in the immediate vicinity of public fireworks top levels of up to 190 dB can be reached and around 150 dB at farther distances. (In comparison: 130 decibels are measured at a distance of 100 m from jet enginges; 160 or 170 decibels are louder than a pneumatic hammer.) The hearing organ is not adaptable to acute high pitched sounds (sudden impulsive noise endangers the ear more than continuous noise; it can result in a blast and explosion trauma; ear buzzing and hearing deficiency (tinnitus, etc.); sometimes it results in an explosion trauma followed by tearing apart the tympanum. A trauma caused by a blast with damaged capillary cells in the interior ear can lead to permanent hearing deficiency. ("The incidence of acoustic trauma due to New Year's firecrackers", Stefan K.-R. Plontke, Klaus Dietz, Cornelius Pfeffer, Hans-Peter Zenner, Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol (2002) 259: 247-252, DOI: 10.1007/s00405-002-0451-4)

Children:
Firework, crackers and rockets can injure children's ears permanently. An explosion creates a blast trauma in the sensitive child ear which, besides the initial damage, can end in lasting, non-reparable injuries. [Please take a look at the site "Dangerous Decibels" (A public health partnership for prevention of noise-induced hearing loss) http://www.dangerousdecibels.org/hearingloss.cfm.]

A document entitled "Happy Diwali without Crackers 2006" lists other effects. Firecrackers contain fine particles that we breathe in, which can cause respiratory illness such as chronic bronchitis and asthma, and heart diseases. Particles that remain in the air (suspended particulate matter) can lead to asthma, cancer, restrictive lung diseases, and pneumoconiosis. The sulphur dioxide (SO2) in firecrackers can cause eye burning, headaches, cancer, heart diseases, and respiratory problems such as pulmonary emphysema. Another ingredient, nitrous oxides, can cause lung irritation, chest tightness, viral infections, and airway blockages.

And these are just the effects on humans. Who knows how much more damage fireworks can cause in birds, whose lungs are much smaller than ours, and in dogs, whose ears are more sensitive than ours?

effects on the environment
It's true that new year's eve comes around only once a year. But that means nothing in the face of all the havoc mankind have already wrought on the environment. Firecrackers release gases that affect not only our bodies but also the environment. Aside from air and noise pollution, firecrackers leave behind nonbiodegradable waste -- which will contribute to our already choked-up landfills. After all the discourse on global warming, climate change, and saving Mother Earth, you would think we would have actually learned something. You would think all our choices would be responsible ones.

In all this, what is the government doing? Two cities in Metro Manila -- Marikina and Mandaluyong -- have been declared firecracker-free zones. Kudos to their city officials for taking such a stand. But as I drove along a crowded street in Mandaluyong yesterday with a friend, I had to avoid some firecrackers thrown my way. Apparently, small children have learned from their elders that they must throw the firecrackers as soon as they light them, as far away from themselves as possible. It just so happens that as far away sometimes means onto the street.

I wonder at the uniquely Pinoy way we celebrate our holidays. Just a few weeks ago, we crowded into churches for the misa de gallo (dawn mass). Hopefully, tonight, we won't crowd into hospitals with injuries caused by firecrackers.

A peaceful -- and hopefully firecracker-free -- 2008 to all!

the round tuit

I came across this the other day, while surfing the Internet, and decided to post it as a yearender.

Upon Googling, I found that there are actually different designs, not to mention real -- as opposed to cyber, as in this case -- ones.

May we all get a round tuit!

THIS IS A TUIT.

Guard if with your life, as TUITS are hard to come by, expecially the round ones. This is an indispensable item. It will help you become a more efficient worker. For years we have heard people say, "I'll do it as soon as I get a ROUND TUIT." Now that you have one, you can accomplish all those things you put aside until you got a ROUND TUIT.

With thanks to the Roundtu-it Eco Caravan Park for the graphic.

the fly on the wall

Reading Lillian Ross's book Reporting Back: Notes on Journalism, I came across a phrase I have not heard or read in a long time: "fly on the wall," a technique used in journalism.

Journalists were once thought of as flies on the wall -- that is, passive, impartial observers and documenters who report what they observe and see from the scene of a news event. Do such journalists still exist? Is this technique still effective?

Ross thinks that it is "craziness" to think of journalism in this way, and to teach would-be journalists to use this technique.

A reporter doing a story can't pretend to be invisible, let alone a fly; he or she is seen and heard and responded to by the people he or she is writing about; a reporter is always chemically involved in a story.

The job of the media has long ceased to be that of a mere fly on the wall. I don't know how journalism is taught in other schools, but our instructors never told us to be flies on the wall. They taught us to be active -- to engage both subject and audience, and to anticipate and ask the questions that our audience might ask.

In teaching us that reporting is all about being the public's eyes and ears, Dr. Eric Loo, head of the University of Wollongong Graduate School of Journalism, used the acronym ORACLE. A journalist's job, he says, is to observe, reflect and report, analyze, contextualize, learn, and enlighten.

I prefer the ORACLE framework of reporting, but I don't think Dr. Loo meant it to mean that journalists are supposed to know it all. There might be some "mysticism" to the fly on the wall technique, in a Zen sort of way -- and I have no doubt there are situations when it might be needed and it might actually work as well. But it seems to be a one-dimensional approach to a very complex job.

Observation is integral to a journalist's role, but it doesn't end there.

mariannet's story

When the news about the suicide of 12-year-old Mariannet Amper first broke out, it seemed to be an open-and-shut case. After all, she came from a poor family; that's why she took her own life. She lived with her parents and brother in a tiny house without electricity and water. Her parents took odd jobs: Magdalena earned Php50 (less than $1.25) a day working part-time in a factory and washed other people's clothes on the side, while Isabelo did construction work. So poor were they that other kids in their community in Davao reportedly would not even play with her and her brother.

If not for Mariannet's diary -- a class project -- and an unsent letter to the television program "Wish Ko Lang" (How I Wish), the world would probably never have known what life was like for this little girl. Her dreams were simple -- jobs for her parents and an education for herself. Yet, for want of transportation money, she was unable to go to school; nor did she have a bag and shoes to use. 

So on 2 November -- All Souls' Day -- Mariannet took some nylon rope and hanged herself. End of story. End of life.

Or so everyone thought. Yesterday, the newspapers reported that Mariannet had been raped. And this most likely contributed in a big way to her taking her own life. 

But suicide is never a simple case. Especially if it is committed by a 12-year-old, whose life at that age is really just beginning. After all the finger pointing, the preaching, and the hype Mariannet's suicide has generated, how will the media now report the case? Poverty is not uncommon  in this country. Nor is it something you can hide. You can see it wherever you go. What about the sexual molestation of young -- and poor -- girls, often by people they know and trust? It's not uncommon either. The only difference is that the latter is a more delicate issue. It speaks of a deeper malaise. No one wants to talk about it. 

Mariannet's story has become darker, more sinister, yet no less common -- that of innocence lost and hopes dashed. How many Mariannets are out there, still hoping for a better life? Will their stories even be told?

the princess and the paparazzi

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines paparazzo as "a freelance photographer who aggressively pursues celebrities for the purpose of taking candid photographs." The term came into use after the 1959 film La dolce vita, by Federico Fellini, featured such a photographer whose name was Paparazzo.

The paparazzi -- plural form of "paparazzo" -- feed on the public's insatiable appetite for delving into the private lives of movie and television stars, politicians, and in Europe, royalty. The lens of the paparazzi's cameras function much as the lens of the microscope does: examining, enlarging, and exposing details of these celebrities' lives in the name of sensationalism and tabloid journalism. And for a quick but hefty buck; photos of public figures and celebrities, especially "exclusive" ones, sell.

The truth is, photos can tell a story much more eloquently and dramatically than words can. They have greater impact, according to the rawness of emotion captured through the lens. The paparazzi know this. But their purpose is different. Impact, in the case of the paparazzi, is measured in the fleeting and secret moments in the lives of celebrities, snapped while hiding in the bushes after hours of waiting in the dark, or while chasing the subject down a busy street. It is in what they are able to capture, and when: exclusive photos of this politician dating that actress, the first photos of the pregnant princess, the last photos of the celebrity couple together. And it is in how human or ordinary the stars are seen in the photos: they dine, shop, marry, divorce, make mistakes -- and yes, suffer fatal accidents, as mere mortals do.

Because of their methods -- not to mention the resulting photos -- the paparazzi have had run-ins with the celebrities they cover. The most famous controversy involving the paparazzi was 10 years ago, after a vehicular accident killed Princess Diana, Dodi Al Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul. With the inquest into their deaths having already started at London's High Court, the paparazzi and their practices are once again thrust into public scrutiny.

According to a news report on BBC yesterday, a paparazzo named Romuald Rat called one of the British papers from the site of the accident. He was offering exclusive photos of Princess Diana -- taken as she lay dying -- for GBP300,000 (roughly USD600,000). The inquest also repeated witness accounts of the paparazzi at the scene, taking photos of the princess just seconds after the crash, instead of helping her and the other passengers in the car.

There is something so glaringly wrong with the picture of the crash site painted by these accounts. After all, in real life, one could only hope that anyone arriving at the scene of an accident would call for help or otherwise provide assistance to the injured. The fact that the paparazzi did not -- according to the statements of witnesses -- and even sought to capitalize on the accident, as in the case of Mr. Rat, speaks volumes about the ethics (or lack thereof) of that profession.

The evidence raises important ethical questions. How far will the paparazzi -- and all media practitioners, for that matter -- go to get the story? Would they break rules of conduct, overstep boundaries of human decency? Would the job take precedence over morality? 

Were the paparazzi directly responsible for the car crash, and ultimately for the death of Princess Diana and her companions? Should they be held accountable for it? These questions may very well be not just for the paparazzi, but for the tabloid editors, publishers, and readers whose demand for such photos necessitated the supply.

rituals and remembrances

It's not even All Souls' Day yet, but already the police are on heightened security, maintaining a presence at bus terminals and at the bigger cemeteries in Metro Manila where crowds have descended and are expected to continue to do so. Meanwhile, the news on TV earlier showed cars at a standstill on the expressway as Filipinos head for the provinces to remember the dead. The fact that this is a long weekend, on the heels of last weekend -- last Monday was a holiday, and so are tomorrow and Friday -- contributes to the traffic situation greatly.

It is interesting how deeply rooted in our culture the ritual of remembering those who have gone before is. It has a Christian origin, as the Church encourages the faithful to pray for the departed, especially those who are in purgatory. In fact, commemorating All Souls' Day with prayers and special rituals, after All Saints' Day on November 1, was begun by monastic orders. And with Christians comprising more than 80% of our population, the whole country is on a national holiday to observe All Souls' Day.

But I would think that even before the introduction of Christianity into our culture, the early Filipinos were already practising some sort of remembrance, as Asians. Ancestor worship is important to the Buddhists and the Taoists, and with the strong Chinese undertones in Filipino culture, I would say that our rituals of remembrance leans more towards this practice.

I'm not sure about early or indigenous Filipino practices of remembering the dead, nor about the practices of other faiths in the country (the Islamic community, for one). Definitely, we Filipinos have made these rituals of the East and West our very own -- and then some. We flock to the cemeteries with not just candles and flowers, or incense and offerings, as is applicable -- but also with tents, playing cards, mah jong sets, and karaoke machines. Our version of All Souls' Day has turned out to be not just a day to remember and honor the departed, but more so, an occasion to celebrate being alive, in true Pinoy fashion. I have no doubt that those going out of town are making the most of the trip, by visiting relatives. Or maybe even stopping by the beach.

Those in Manila who are unable to visit their loved ones' tombs in the provinces will have their own little rituals, lighting candles at home and offering prayers for their souls. In all this, we see how much of a melting pot the Philippines is. As with many things, we have integrated two influences -- the Christian practice of the West of remembering our departed loved ones, and the older Asian practice of ancestor worship. This makes us part of a larger community, the rituals of which continue to find expression in our culture.

let there be light!

Speaking of being earth friendly, I came across an interesting cartoon about the incandescent light bulb. Well, I must admit, I never knew there was anything wrong with these light bulbs. But, as the cartoon says, it's so 19th century!

See for yourself:



With thanks to Mike Adams for the illumining idea, and to NewsTarget for the use of the cartoon.

earth-friendly elections

I think we Filipinos have a tendency to overdo things. It's the pandesal mentality at work, the principle behind it being saturation. Take our business establishments, for example. A few years ago, it was pearl shakes -- when the pearl shake business was doing well, there was a pearl shake stall every few hundred meters near residential areas. Nowadays, it's coffee. On almost every street corner in middle- to upper middle-class neighborhoods, you're sure to find a coffee shop. Where there's a call center or commercial area, there will be more than one.

The same principle is at work during election season, when candidates compete for our attention in every possible way. Not an inch of approved space is wasted in hanging posters, streamers, and banners. Campaign jingles blare over and over from loudspeakers. Flyers, pocket calendars, cardboard fans and visors are given away. On election day itself, the precinct grounds get littered with discarded sample ballots.

Besides the stress on our well being from the visual and aural pollution -- because even just the sight of clutter and the noise, of course, do add to one's stress levels -- there is the stress on the environment. If each candidate were to produce some 5,000 (a low estimate) each of their flyers, posters, streamers, pocket calendars, stickers, and other printed campaign materials, how many kilos of newsprint, matte, or sticker paper would it all add up to? How many trees? How many cans of ink? Multiply that by the number of candidates, and you'll get a good idea of how much paper is consumed in the process -- and consequently, how much waste ends up in our landfills.

But that's not all. That is just campaign material. Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez has this to say about the trash this election would generate on the side of the campaign workers alone:

There are 41,995 barangays all over the country. There will be 16 elective positions up for grabs, with each elective position attracting at least one candidate - most will be fought over by two or more. If each candidate - assuming each position will have two contenders (unlikely as some have as many as 5 or 6), and that each contender has 20 campaign workers (barangays have a minimum of 2 thousand inhabitants, and each candidate is allowed 1 campaign worker for every hundred) working for 9 days (campaign runs from the 19th to the 27th), and eating 3 squares out of one styro pack and one plastic bottle, by the 28th of October we will have 6,531,062,400 styro packs and 6,531,062,400 plastic water bottles to dispose of, all over the country. And that’s not even counting the candy wrappers and the plastic baggies (and drinking straws) used to sell soda in, and the torn up plastic packs of various junk food.

A different kind of campaign was launched by the EcoWaste Coalition before the May elections -- a campaign for waste-free elections. Undoubtedly, the May elections were dirtier -- I'm speaking in terms of waste here -- but it would be good to review the guidelines for the prevention and reduction of waste.

With climate change inevitable, we should start voting along the lines of which candidate has a sound platform for zero waste or otherwise earth-friendly policies.

Read Jimenez' post here. And read more about the EcoWaste Coalition's campaign for waste-free elections here.