War, and Peace, and Car

Warning: Fiction, unless backed up with links.

With the recurring blast of the PCSO anomalies, some netizens stated that this could trigger the battle between the government and the church. Not the war that someone need a shell and certainly not the war that where one needs an ancient warship! 

BRP Rajah Humabon (PF-11)

Despite the controversies, Malacanang insisted that they (gossipmongers) should stick with the issue, not with the personalities. Sure thing. (Trying to pretend that they're objective enough.) 

Bishop Bastes of Sorsogon cleared that 'everything was incidental' and that having a gift (SUV is more than a gift) from PCSO is just a result of auditing. One of the anomalies that PCSO is committing. (Trying hard to escape eh?)

What the Palace has to say? "Let's stick with the issues." (Valte) Sounds cliche. K.

However, Bishop Bastes commented on the manner of ongoing Senate investigation as it zeroing in the poor bishops who, according to him, do it for the love of their people. (Bravo!)

"There are many corrupt things in PCSO do not involve 'bishops'." (Yes father.) The incident was just a 'little' thing over many things. (As the sophism proceeds.)

---

Should we be “thankful" to the bishops because they are doing things the government failed to do?

Tondo Feeding Center and Remote Area in Metro Manila

Overseas, peace is now temporarily attained in South Sudan. Yuba is now the capital of the new-birth nation. Now it's people is living at ease (at least), until the US government will come to realize that there's much greater deposits of oil there. 

Back to Pipland, critics were shocked when they heard that PNoy sold his car, Porshe 911. This ultra-mega fast car is worth 4.5 Million. 

Now that PNoy is no-faster, that could mean he's not rushing with his lovelife anymore?

I couldn't tell either.

President Noy is an anagram of Nerdiest Pony.

War, and Peace, and Car

Warning: Fiction, unless backed up with links.

With the recurring blast of the PCSO anomalies, some netizens stated that this could trigger the battle between the government and the church. Not the war that someone need a shell and certainly not the war that where one needs an ancient warship! 

BRP Rajah Humabon (PF-11)

Despite the controversies, Malacanang insisted that they (gossipmongers) should stick with the issue, not with the personalities. Sure thing. (Trying to pretend that they're objective enough.) 

Bishop Bastes of Sorsogon cleared that 'everything was incidental' and that having a gift (SUV is more than a gift) from PCSO is just a result of auditing. One of the anomalies that PCSO is committing. (Trying hard to escape eh?)

What the Palace has to say? "Let's stick with the issues." (Valte) Sounds cliche. K.

However, Bishop Bastes commented on the manner of ongoing Senate investigation as it zeroing in the poor bishops who, according to him, do it for the love of their people. (Bravo!)

"There are many corrupt things in PCSO do not involve 'bishops'." (Yes father.) The incident was just a 'little' thing over many things. (As the sophism proceeds.)

Of Crayons and Colours

I bought myself a 16-colour crayon yesterday. I’m 20 at the moment but numbers just can’t kill the child in me. There’s no point using crayons in my course. I’m in engineering and everyone knows that when drafting our own house plan, it is illegal to have it colored. Figures of houses and its different parts and portions come bland.

Most of the time, when I am still awake during wee hours finishing some portion of the plan, I often ask myself, “If this could have been colored, will the drawing look better?” or “Will the drawing look more vivid?” or may be “Will the drawing be alive?” Until now, I can’t answer it. Still not sure at this moment, I never tried.

Maybe the drawing will look lousy. How would a crayon color the drawing film? Bits and pieces of crayons will not spread thoroughly on film. Maybe it will only crap up the whole plan. Or maybe I still don’t know.

Crayons, colours, and oh papers, we have so much of those in this world. Every country has enough paper, enough crayons to color them, and enough children to let those paper colored.

Sa ngalan ng Ama*

Sa ngalan ni Ama*

Balkunaheng puno ng alala;
Iyon ay dahil sa iyo ama
Ginagambala ng nakaraan;
dumaang panahon na ika’y kapiling pa.

Madalas kang nakaupo
pag-alis at pagdating ko.
Ang sarap sa pakiramdam
na ako’y may madaratnan

sa tahanan. At ako’y magmamano
upang pangrespeto sa iyo.
Pinakamasarap na pakinggan
ang pagsambit mo

ng pangangamusta. Ito ang isa sa pinakakatangian ni ama
na di ko maiwawaglit,
ang pagpapakita niya ng pagmamahal
sa mga simpleng bagay.

Tula't Salamisim

Ito ang produkto ng lektyur sa Pagsulat ng Tula ni Sir Richard Gappi noong 71st Nation Student Press Convention sa Initao, Misamis Oriental noong Mayo 11-15, 2011.

TAYO

Kitty Bantayan

The Warden, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa

Tumabi ka sa akin,

Kinuwentuhan ng panaginip

At nakihagalpak sa hangin.

Tayong dalawa lamang ang karakter.

Ngunit batid ko ang mga matang nagmamatyag.

Mga matang,

…naghihintay kung kailan tayo susuko

… kung kainan tayo mabibigo’t lalakad palayo,

Hindi naman sila sagabal,

Hindi ang barbed wire at mga barikada.

Hindi rin ang pagitan o distansya.

Kundi tayong dalawa

Tayong mga nabubuhay para sa iba.

BASA

Frank David Peñaroya Bayanon

The Vision – University of Southeastern Phil.

Ulos, Ulan, Hangin, Pagsinta

Ulos at Ulan

Ulan - pawiin ang init sa kabuhanginan.

Pakikibaka'y muli mong diligan

Hawiin aming mga alinlangan

Umulos para sa tunay na kalayaan.

*Mayo 26, Pampang, Lungsod Angeles

'Kalbo' on Inquirer's Youngblood

April 24, I tried sending my article of 'Kalbo' to opinion editor of the Philippines' most-read national broadsheet. I never thought that it shall be rejected, nor it shall be published. I just tried (just for kicks). Perhaps, it wouldn't harm anyone though. 

Then after 27 days, (May 20, 6:30 PM) I received a text message from a total stranger saying that he had just read my article on PDI. I asked him if it's in paper, (because I thought that PDI's publishing Youngblood articles on web that do not land on papers.) He said yes. Immediately I texted my sister who was somewhere gallivanting and thus directing her to buy 2 copies (One personal copy, and another for my school publication adviser who will be very proud of me) of the PDI at 7-11 (Newsstands are already closed during that time.) She obliged. Then I was very excited. 

Of course, I could feel the euphoria, as Mina said (http://minatots.multiply.com): "Haha baliw. honorarium (payment sa YB column) lang un. Iba pa rin ung pride at euphoria na makita mo byline mo on national broadsheet. Lalo pag tama spelling, tulad sakin! Hehe.'' 

Here it goes...

***

‘Kalbo’

By Carlo H. Andrion

AT 20, I decided to have my head shaved. For the first time. And for no apparent reason. I just wanted it, and went through it.

Or, maybe, I was just driven by teenage angst (at 20, still a teenager?). Or it could have been because of a word of advice I heard from a professor: “Try everything once, except incest.” Sure enough.

The barber, Manong Gary, asked me the kind of haircut I wanted. When I asked for a skinhead, he reacted as if he heard a joke. “You’re sure?” Despite resurging doubts about my decision, I nodded.

Manong Gary started with a three-centimeter clipper, then took out the 2-centimeter, and finally the “uno,” which was the thinnest. The clipper made some tiny squeaking sounds which annoyed me. As Manong Gary proceeded, I could feel myself increasingly tensing up, and I didn’t know why. Then it was over. Mang Gary’s next words made deafening reverberations inside my ear: “Your hair is gone.”

When I looked at the mirror, the face that stared back at me was unfamiliar. My best friend Imelda had constantly told me my hair was an “asset.” I felt like I have lost something very precious. I felt like crying. But I managed to keep my composure like a real man.

I went home wearing a cap lest I’d scare the bejesus out of friends I might meet along the way. I myself was afraid of the thought of them calling me “Kalbo.”

When I got home, everyone in the family was upset at the sight of the “new me.”

My eldest bro reprimanded me: “Kung anu-ano ang ginagawa mo sa sarili mo. Gago!”

My sis mocked me “Mukha kang itlog!”

The youngest broke into laughter.

And Mama wailed, “Sa hitsura mong iyan, hindi ka na irerespeto.” She was obviously very dismayed. And I knew that if Dad were still alive, he would have been very angry.

I couldn’t fault them for their negative reactions, though their words did hurt me. Words may not break bones, but they can crush a heart. I slept that night with a broken heart but confident that this will come to pass.

Then Monday came. Long hours of classes awaited me. But what I dreaded most was the moment my new haircut would be exposed to all and sundry at school, and my new look being made fun of. My anxiety was justified. My classmates were shocked and puzzled and they wondered if I was losing my sanity. Some called me “Adik.” Others referred to me as “bagong  laya” (just out of prison). And many had their pictures taken with me, with them wearing big, sarcastic grins. Of course, I didn’t want to be the “pikon” and so I played along.

I think Mama is partly right. Some people find “kalbo” ridiculous. I try not to think of this, and I tell myself that what matters more is the advantages a skinhead enjoys. Grooming is effortless—“wash and wear,” so to say. And there’s no need to buy gel. Most of all, this “new hairdo” gives  me a sense of freedom. Now I really feel like a  “bagong laya.”

I have dared to be different. I have challenged the mainstream. No regrets. I’m still a nice guy. And I thank people who still call me by my real name—not by any other name or “Kalbo.”

Now that my head is shaven, I like it.

Carlo H. Andrion, 20, is an incoming senior BS Civil Engineering student at the Pangasinan State University.

***

Bucketlist No. 25: Slashed.